PATRICIA CLANCY is secretary of Leitrim club Glen-car Manorhamilton – a burgeoning set-up that is quickly running out of space.
When Patricia Clancy, secretary of Leitrim GAA club Glencar Manorhamilton, was a youngster, GAA in the parish was the preserve of the boys, so she never got a chance to line out. “I never played,” she says, “there wasn’t any Gaelic football for ladies when I was underage.”
However, that didn’t prevent her from maintaining an interest in the national games and five years ago, as a 19-year-old, she went along to her local club to see if she could help out. She remembers: “I still enjoyed GAA and especially football so I started to volunteer.”
Soon afterwards she began the role of press officer with the club, which was established in 1968 at a meeting in a local national school in Manorhamilton. She was the club’s PRO for over three years before being voted into her current position, as club secretary, last Christmas.
The change has meant a big increase in work-load. “I handle a lot of the club administration, fixtures, registration, the daily correspondence that arrives for the club, match team-sheets, injury claims... we do pretty much everything!” says Patricia. “You really have to do a bit every day; at least an hour an evening, but so far so good.”
Glencar Manorhamilton GAA Club has come to mean a lot to the people living in the quiet parish, and she points out that if it wasn’t there, people wouldn’t really have a lot else:
“Our areas would be rural enough. It’s based near a town of about 1,500 people, but we’ve also got quite a large rural catchment area around it. The club has definitely come to be seen as a focal point. I would go as far as to say that we’re the main focal point in the town.”
The population density of the area may be low, but the club has still managed to attract massive numbers of people and it now boasts nearly 20 separate teams. Among them are a number of ladies teams: under-10s, under-12s, under-14s and both a minor and junior ladies team – a big turnaround from the days when Patricia was that age.
A stronger underage system has borne fruit and Glencar Manorhamilton players are now regularly lining out for their county. “We’ve three that played this year with Leitrim,” says Patricia. “James Clancy, Patrick Gilmartin and Adrian O’Flynn all played. There’s actually nearly always a club representative up there on the county team.”
Things have been quiet enough for the club over recent months, but last weekend was a big one, as the first games of the senior football championship began. “It’s a big one as regards Leitrim football because it’s only been league matches up to this point. To top it off we’re starting with a big game against local rival Melvin Gaels” (a match Glencar Manorhamilton narrowly lost, 1-07 to 0-11).
The burgeoning club is starting to become a victim of its own success: “It is very big. We’ve got both the men’s and ladies football teams, plus all the underage sides – and hurling is also really taking off now.
“Unfortunately, we’ve only got the one field. It’s far too busy; trying to fit everyone in every evening is impossible. There is training for under-10 right up to adult level so we can’t keep everyone happy.”
Back-room staff are examining the possibility of buying a second field but the universal problem of how to generate the cash is rearing its head. “Our club lotto is the main source of funding,” says Patricia. “We have a jackpot at the moment of around twelve grand. We also have club discos; we do raffles, bag-packing.
“It’s a shame there isn’t more money readily available because everything we get is fundraised for – every penny we have had to be raised the hard way. The onus is on clubs, and I know it’s the same everywhere, but I wish there was more money available.”
But despite the cramped conditions and occasional lack of funds, Patricia feels the effort everyone puts in is more than worth it: “I think it is a really good social outlet, you make a lot of friends and you meet different people from different clubs. It’s really good craic.”
