Iar Uachtaràn CLCG Joe McDonagh passed away tonight.
At lamb dheis Dé go raibh a anam dìlìs.
No doubt him and Jamesie Murray will be belting out the West's Awake in Heaven tonight.
RIP
A nice man and amazing singer. Was he sick ??
Quote from: ashman on May 21, 2016, 12:59:40 AM
RIP
A nice man and amazing singer. Was he sick ??
Heard he wasn't well for a while now. RIP Joe.
In happier times https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YjhL9qFk08 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YjhL9qFk08)
Bhuail mé le Joe nuair a bhí sé ag obair le Foras na Gaeilge. Fear deas stuama ab é. Tá áit spesialta aige I stair CLG.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YjhL9qFk08
Ah, that's too sad. Was watching him just a couple of days ago, on a wonderful TV4 program about the great Sam/Liam presentations & speeches down through the years. He came in at No 1.
RIP
Quote from: 5 Sams on May 21, 2016, 01:12:13 AM
Bhuail mé le Joe nuair a bhí sé ag obair le Foras na Gaeilge. Fear deas stuama ab é. Tá áit spesialta aige I stair CLG.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YjhL9qFk08
RIP.
Is that Bishop Casey in the background when Liam being presented?
Ar dheis De go raibh a anam
Quote from: Beffs on May 21, 2016, 01:50:12 AM
Ah, that's too sad. Was watching him just a couple of days ago, on a wonderful TV4 program about the great Sam/Liam presentations & speeches down through the years. He came in at No 1.
Seen that myself. Good show.
That's 2 former Presidents in a few short days.
RIP.
A great personality. Was just last September he sang on Up For The Match ...
http://youtu.be/ByCbHDzXxzc
RIP.
RIP
Quote from: Ball Hopper on May 21, 2016, 05:52:13 AM
Quote from: 5 Sams on May 21, 2016, 01:12:13 AM
Bhuail mé le Joe nuair a bhí sé ag obair le Foras na Gaeilge. Fear deas stuama ab é. Tá áit spesialta aige I stair CLG.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YjhL9qFk08
RIP.
Is that Bishop Casey in the background when Liam being presented?
Yep. The dirty fécker
Met him at a wedding.
Nice man and a great, great GAA man.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.
RIP.
Johnny Muldoon honoured McDonagh after Connacht's fantastic win this evening. Those rugby bastards, right?
Quote from: Syferus on May 21, 2016, 08:43:39 PM
Johnny Muldoon honoured McDonagh after Connacht's fantastic win this evening. Those rugby b**tards, right?
Could you leave the arguing for another thread do you think??
RIP Joe McDonagh
Quote from: Tubberman on May 21, 2016, 08:56:47 PM
Quote from: Syferus on May 21, 2016, 08:43:39 PM
Johnny Muldoon honoured McDonagh after Connacht's fantastic win this evening. Those rugby b**tards, right?
Could you leave the arguing for another thread do you think??
RIP Joe McDonagh
Ain't arguing. Nice touch by Muldoon.
A remarkable gentleman. Met him a few times out here, he was a great supporter of our efforts to promote hurling internationally.
I interviewed him for this film when he was in San Francisco in 2011, interview starts at 10:59: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKZ5lvDOwVU (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKZ5lvDOwVU)
He'll be missed.
Quote from: Syferus on May 21, 2016, 08:43:39 PM
Johnny Muldoon honoured McDonagh after Connacht's fantastic win this evening. Those rugby b**tards, right?
Cop on ffs!
He became president at a relatively young age and made quite the impression everywhere he went. He was a great asset to the GAA and men like him don't come along too often. He will be sorely missed by all.
RIP Joe McDonagh.
He'll be well remembered throughout Ireland and condolences to a relation of his who posts on here every once in a while.
I had the privilege of meeting Joe McDonagh several times through a mutual friend including a famous night of pints and ballads in Killarney about 11 years ago. A lovely man and a great, great GAA man. Terribly sad to pass at such a relatively young age. Watching that 1980 presentation never gets less inspiring. Hairs still stand up on the back of my neck.
http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/thousands-pay-respects-to-former-gaa-president-joe-mcdonagh-1.2658037
Thousands pay respects to former GAA president Joe McDonagh
Former Galway hurler, GAA official, teacher and Irish language promoter died on Friday
Thousands of people travelled from all over Ireland and beyond to pay their respects to former GAA president Joe McDonagh last night.
Mr McDonagh reposed at the Cillín within Church of Mary Immaculate Queen in Barna in Galway throughout the day before his removal to the church late Monday night.
The former Galway hurler, GAA official, teacher, Irish language promoter and education administrator, passed away on Friday after a short illness aged 62.
GAA players, managers and officials were among thousands from all over the country who travelled to the small village at the entrance to Connemara.
They queued for hours outside the church which overlooks Galway Bay, with the church full to capacity an hour before Mr McDonagh's body was brought from his home a short distance away.
Mr McDonagh, who is survived by his wife Peig, son Eoin and daughters Muireann and Eilis, will be laid to rest at Rahoon Cemetery after noon mass on Tuesday.
He won an All-Ireland medal in 1980 when Galway ended a 57-year wait for the Liam McCarthy Cup and famously sang 'The West's Awake' after captain Joe Connolly collected the trophy.
Mr Connolly said Joe McDonagh was an integral figure in the revival of Galway hurling, but that was just one of the many things he achieved in his life.
"One thing I would absolutely say with certainty, in our era as Galway hurlers we had wonderful fun. We had brilliant fun from beginning to end. The greatest social nights you can imagine of a gathering of people, we had it.
"We took our hurling so seriously, there was a phenomenal spirit engendered in the group at the time, but bang in the middle of all that was Joe. He was just a wonderful raconteur, a wonderful singer, a great hurler.
"In his last few years, rising to the top of the GAA and education, we shared Joe with the country, but for those years we had him to ourselves when we were hurling for Galway," said the former Galway captain.
His former Ballindeereen and Galway colleague Noel Lane said that his long-time friend had left a huge legacy behind him.
"He lived in Barna in recent years and there is plenty of granite out there. Joe has laid granite foundations in so many things in the GAA, in education, in the Irish language. So many things that will benefit communities locally and internationally for years to come," he said.
A book of condolence is open at City Hall in Galway city, while Galway County Council held a minute's silence before their meeting in Abbeyknockmoy.
Lovely tribute from Joe Connolly.
Quote from: seafoid on May 23, 2016, 10:20:48 PM
http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/thousands-pay-respects-to-former-gaa-president-joe-mcdonagh-1.2658037
Thousands pay respects to former GAA president Joe McDonagh
Former Galway hurler, GAA official, teacher and Irish language promoter died on Friday
Thousands of people travelled from all over Ireland and beyond to pay their respects to former GAA president Joe McDonagh last night.
Mr McDonagh reposed at the Cillín within Church of Mary Immaculate Queen in Barna in Galway throughout the day before his removal to the church late Monday night.
The former Galway hurler, GAA official, teacher, Irish language promoter and education administrator, passed away on Friday after a short illness aged 62.
GAA players, managers and officials were among thousands from all over the country who travelled to the small village at the entrance to Connemara.
They queued for hours outside the church which overlooks Galway Bay, with the church full to capacity an hour before Mr McDonagh's body was brought from his home a short distance away.
Mr McDonagh, who is survived by his wife Peig, son Eoin and daughters Muireann and Eilis, will be laid to rest at Rahoon Cemetery after noon mass on Tuesday.
He won an All-Ireland medal in 1980 when Galway ended a 57-year wait for the Liam McCarthy Cup and famously sang 'The West's Awake' after captain Joe Connolly collected the trophy.
Mr Connolly said Joe McDonagh was an integral figure in the revival of Galway hurling, but that was just one of the many things he achieved in his life.
"One thing I would absolutely say with certainty, in our era as Galway hurlers we had wonderful fun. We had brilliant fun from beginning to end. The greatest social nights you can imagine of a gathering of people, we had it.
"We took our hurling so seriously, there was a phenomenal spirit engendered in the group at the time, but bang in the middle of all that was Joe. He was just a wonderful raconteur, a wonderful singer, a great hurler.
"In his last few years, rising to the top of the GAA and education, we shared Joe with the country, but for those years we had him to ourselves when we were hurling for Galway," said the former Galway captain.
His former Ballindeereen and Galway colleague Noel Lane said that his long-time friend had left a huge legacy behind him.
"He lived in Barna in recent years and there is plenty of granite out there. Joe has laid granite foundations in so many things in the GAA, in education, in the Irish language. So many things that will benefit communities locally and internationally for years to come," he said.
A book of condolence is open at City Hall in Galway city, while Galway County Council held a minute's silence before their meeting in Abbeyknockmoy.
That is class.
http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/se%C3%A1n-moran-joe-mcdonagh-was-ideal-face-of-modern-gaa-1.2659394
Joe McDonagh was laid to rest in Rahoon Cemetery yesterday. His death last Friday came as a shock to many, who weren't aware that he had been unwell and particularly because he was just 62.
There was also the eerie coincidence that saw the death of his predecessor as GAA president Jack Boothman less than a fortnight previously.
It may have been a statistical detail but it was also apt that McDonagh led the association into the new millennium more than 16 years ago. He was the youngest president in modern times, elected at 42, and had the further distinction of still being a player – captain of the Ballinderreen junior hurlers – at the time of his election.
The president is the face of the GAA and the demeanour of the office holder will influence, for better or for worse, the public perceptions of the association. It was a role made for McDonagh. He had a cheerful energy and the ability to communicate fluently that was invaluable for the GAA.
His charisma wasn't built on a relentless "look at me" insistence. He was a natural performer – he appeared on stage at An Taibhdhearc in Galway – and was always called on to wrap up annual congress by singing the national anthem.
Like many gifted orators he could go on a bit, which prompted a mordant if affectionate reference to him as "The Guffnor" but typically when told about this some time later, he erupted into laughter.
That typified his quality of being able to articulate high-concept speeches when required but with an underlying sense of mischief that cut through the pieties of official duties and protocol.
He was of course famous for singing The West's Awake after Galway's historic 1980 All-Ireland hurling victory but it could have been a bittersweet moment for someone who had been a mainstay of the county's revival in the 1970s – an All Star, which would be another distinction on the CV of a president – and who had captained the unsuccessful team a year previously but was now an unused replacement.
Exuberant rendition
If Galway had won in 1979, Joe McDonagh would have had the victory platform from which Joe Connolly gave his immortal speech 12 months later. Instead he was game enough to deliver an exuberant rendition of the haunting Connacht anthem.
Being GAA president isn't, however, three years of music and laughter. His initiative in trying to rid the rule book of the ban on British security personnel was controversial.
He bounded on to the podium of the 1998 annual congress and said he would propose the suspension of standing orders in order to debate the deletion of rule 21. After a few years of dithering, the GAA had its collective mind concentrated fairly sharply.
It became clear after walk-outs had been threatened at a lunchtime Central Council meeting that this reforming blitz wasn't going to work. Instead a special congress was fixed for a month later
McDonagh was quietly – and not so quietly – criticised for spooking the horses and neither bringing the Ulster counties with him on the topic nor listening to the more experienced voices in the North, who could have sympathetically advised a more cautious approach.
The history of GAA reform has, however, always involved initial defeat and although the special congress ended in a watery compromise, the rule was gone little more than three years later after the insistence by McDonagh's successor Seán McCague that the association could not be seen to undermine the formation of a new police force, the PSNI.
A less well-known intervention came in 1999 when, on the first trip to Australia of the resumed International Rules series, a racism controversy broke out involving Meath's Graham Geraghty, who had used a profanity along with the word "black" and directed it at an AFL Academy player.
The incident clearly caused commotion during the match with Australian team officials, led by the late Jim Stynes, protesting that such language was absolutely unacceptable.
No one believed Geraghty was a racist but he had, however, heedlessly trod on a landmine in respect of the AFL's attempts to eradicate racist abuse from the game. An attempted cover-up was blown when the Age newspaper spoke to the young player's family, who had emigrated from South Africa, and broke the story.
Much to the disgruntlement of Ireland team manager Colm O'Rourke, who felt Geraghty's apology should be enough, McDonagh in consultation with the GAA management committee insisted on a suspension for the first Test.
He said at the time that he was as much influenced by the message the GAA needed to send to the growing immigrant communities at home as the urgent need to address Australian sensibilities.
Recalling that he had trained a juvenile side in which a black kid was getting racially abused during a match, McDonagh said he would never forget the sense of anger and shame he felt when the player, panicky about the humiliation, pleaded with him not to take the matter further and that he didn't mind the abuse.
Joe McDonagh's death leaves the GAA bereft of the ease and good humour through which he communicated his passions for the language and broader Irish culture. Yet above and beyond all that, he was a decent and humane man, who brought honour to the community he served.