By Shaun Casey

LAVEY GAA are holding a double header in their grounds this Sunday in memory of club stalwart Seamus Smith.

Seamus held several positions in the Cavan club down through the years and was a well-respected member of Lavey GAA.

Chairman Ciarán Tierney described the late Seamus as someone who “epitomised everything that we hold dear in the club.”

Not only that, but his family are “steeped in the club”, with son Darren captaining the team to the Intermediate Championship title back in 2009.

“Seamus was treasurer for a couple of years and then he was chairperson. Even his whole family are heavily steeped in the club with all his children playing and his son actually took on the chairperson role and held it for a couple of years as well.

“Seamus epitomised everything that we hold dear in the club. Hard work, great interest in football and he was a friend to everyone in the club.

“He was also a publican then too and after matches him and his wife Marian had the ‘Top of the Town’ the pub in Cavan, it was always a local favourite to go into after all the matches.

“They would have looked after everyone very, very well too.

“On the two girls teams there’s Orla and Caitriona (Seamus’ daughters), Orla’s retired but Caitriona is still playing on the ladies team.

“His sons Darren and Martin then were on the men’s team. Darren was the captain in ’09 when we won the Intermediate Championship and we got to the Ulster final that year, but we were beaten by Cookstown.”

Seamus sadly passed away in March of 2020 and due to Covid restrictions and lockdowns over the past two years, the club have had to wait until now to do something to honour his memory.

“Due to Covid this is the first chance we’ve got to probably remember him and the clubrooms, we’re only after opening our new clubrooms as well.

“It’s not the official opening of the grounds but it’s the next best thing. Hopefully we’ll be having an opening in a couple of years, there’s just general works going on at the minute. But I suppose this is the first chance we’ve got to actually use the new dressing rooms.”

The first of the double header will see CastlerahanDenn ladies team take on Lavey at 1pm followed by Castlerahan and Lavey’s men’s teams facing off at 3pm.

“We’re having a double header. The ladies, CastlerahanDenn are an amalgamation, and they are playing Lavey’s ladies team and then Castlerahan men’s team are playing our men’s team.

“The reason for that is that Seamus would have been born and reared in the parish of Castlerahan and his nephew is actually on the Castlerahan team as well, Stephen Coney.

“There’s family links with Seamus in other clubs and I suppose everyone in the county would have known Seamus down through the years, he was very, very popular.”