Gerard Callaghan: A giant of Inishowen

By Michael McMullan

There would have been few prouder people at The Scarvey in Buncrana this weekend than Gerard Callaghan, who sadly passed away in recent weeks.

With four Inishowen clubs going head-to-head in the semi-finals of the Intermediate Football Championship, he’d have been bursting with pride.

He was a native of Burt, a giant of Gaelic Games, a Donegal man, an eloquent writer, an encyclopedia and a gentleman.

It’s a disappointment that I never met him but thanks to the deep knowledge from his many social media posts, I feel like I did.

“If you had cut Gerard, he would have bled Inishowen,” said Donegal Communications Officer Sinéad Breen on the latest episode of the Gaelic Lives podcast.

“It’s no coincidence that the profile picture on his social media was just the cutout of Inishowen.”

It’s hardly surprising he was an integral part of the county’s PR and Marketing committee.

He championed everything in the county, especially within Inishowen. Whether it was his own club Burt winning the Ulster hurling title, Naomh Pádraig Uisce Chaoin’s run to Croke Park or the female codes, it didn’t matter.

“The ladies were given the exact same treatment as the men,” said Malin Chairman Pat McLaughlin, who served alongside Gerard.

“We had U8 and U10 girls’ blitzes before a lot of others started them and Gerard thought up those ideas.”

The motto was simple. Let them play and the more games the better.

Sinéad and Gerard were guests at Naomh Pádraig’s dinner. The conversation flowed all night and always came back to the same place – Gaelic Games.

“He was a true Gael,” she said, “and it’s not something he picked up later in life, he was just always a GAA person.

“He had a passion for it that was absolutely unrivalled. There was an enthusiasm to cover every single thing that he possibly could, from U6 up to seniors, if it was happening, he was covering it.”

When he began the joint schools’ initiative, Coláistí Inis Eoghain, his knowledge spread far and side.

Pat recalls Gerard showing him a photograph of Conor Glass playing Corn na nÓg football, commenting how he was going to become a star.

When Steelstown won the All-Ireland intermediate title, Gerard unearthed a photo of one of the players pictured at a blitz the club had attended over the border in Inishowen.

“If it was five generations ago and there was an Inishowen or Donegal link, Gerald knew it,” Sinéad added.

“He was phenomenal for that. I just used to love how he’d find these wee bits of information that nobody else would ever know, but he just always had it.”

Before Go-Games became a thing, Inishowen GAA Board would have blitzes and internal leagues to keep young players engaged.

Instrumental

“That was another idea Gerard had,” Pat added. “He was one of the men that was instrumental in the coaching. For 20 years, we had a great coaching system within our primary schools.”

When the funding was diverted elsewhere, Gerard just kept on pushing for progression in Inishowen.

“We had bands and we had youngsters marching behind them which was unheard of in a divisional competition,” Pat added.

“When we had the final, he always built it up and suddenly we were having gate receipts of over a thousand euro at an U12 final.”

While an underage competition wasn’t the biggest deal in the world, and winning certainly  wasn’t everything, Gerard’s passion rubbed off on the players. They felt as if they were walking around Croke Park.

In terms of planting a seed in the youth of Inishowen, Gerard’s plans were simple yet absolutely massive. The greater GAA leadership could learn a thing or two from him.

There was a weekend when word filtered around Inishowen that legendary Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh was in the area.

After a few enquiries and calls, the broadcasting icon was invited to an U11 final in Moville.

“The other thing that Gerard was so special with was words,” Pat added.

“We lost a young lad, Lewis Kelly this year, he was 19 years of age and our minor captain in Malin last year.”

“When I introduced them to Gerard at his wake, they hugged him and told him his words were lovely, the way he would write about everybody. That, to me, was a big thing.”

Every week, he seemed to have a message on his social media, remembering a Gael that passed away or pointing out an anniversary. Whatever method he had of keeping a note, he never missed anyone. That was Gerard.

What is Gerard Callaghan’s legacy? A difficult question about someone who was such a cornerstone. Sinéad ponders.

“He’s left a pride and an identity in every single person that he met in Inishowen and that is a fact,” she said.

“The effort that he put in, he had girls playing football in blitzes before anybody that I know of across the country.

“He pulled in every single solitary person. He was a firm believer that there was a place for everybody in the association.

“No matter what, everybody counted and he had a lovely way with words.

“That’s probably the saddest thing, losing somebody of his calibre and that the ability to write like that is gone. He has left so many people inspired by what he did.”

Pat also attempts to sum Gerard’s input. It also comes back to the same theme. It was his knowledge and passion for promoting games.

“Last year, we had a final that went to extra-time and penalties,” he recalls.

“This reserve competition might have attracted 500 people came to Moville for a pre-season competition fina, all because he built it up.

“During the game, he was giving updates on how it had gone to extra-time and them to penalties.”

Since Gerard’s passing, Pat bumped into a Gael in West Donegal who spoke about his loss, and how any text message query for a result anywhere in Ulster would always have a response.

“He loved these GAA stories from all over the place,” Pat added.

“He was able to collect books. He would know if something went on in the Glens of Antrim or in South Armagh or in Tyrone.

“We used to go up to the U10 blitz in Bellaghy. Gerard came with us one year.

“He would be able to tell you a story from every club that was there. So, most certainly, he will be missed.”