Passing of Mick Grealish leads to widespread sporting tributes
BY JOHN FALLON
IT’S a measure of the esteem in which he was held that within hours of his death last Thursday messages of sympathy for Mick Grealish began pouring in from the Aran Islands to the Pacific Islands and many, many places in between.
He was one of those rare people who only saw the goodness in people, because that’s all he looked for in a person, and that trait served him well in the many activities in a life lived to the full.
His main contributions over 60 years were to Our Lady’s Boys Club, Connacht Rugby, Liam Mellows hurling and Galway Rowing Club. Everything he contributed to those organisations was voluntary, none of it self-serving and a lot of it unseen.
His working life was with the ESB, a considerable part of it bringing electricity to the three Aran Islands and Inishbofin. He forged strong friendships with the islanders, people who recognised his own ability to be creative and make the most out of everything.
Machinery and equipment were often basic back then and they needed to be resourceful, but Mick had learnt that growing up one of twelve children to Michael and Winifred Grealish at Waterlane in the Bohermore area of the city.
After school in St Brendan's in Woodquay and a couple of years in the Tech on Fr Griffin Road, he worked with Crown Control and with his father in Corbett’s, having got an early taste for work delivering milk with his brother ‘Doc’ Grealish. In 1965 he joined the ESB, working as a labourer for two years before training to be a linesman and then working his way up through the ranks to be an engineering officer before he retired in 2004.
His introduction and love of sport came via an organisation set up in the city three years before his birth in 1944. Our Lady’s Boys Club was founded by Fr Leonard Shiel, a Jesuit priest who sourced a base for the club in Sea Road, and its main function was to provide a sports and hobby outlet for the youngsters in areas such as the Claddagh, ‘the West’, Shantalla and Bohermore, who might not have the same opportunity as others.
Mick Grealish tried out the various sports after joining up when he was ten, but he was particularly drawn to the rugby section when it was set up and so began a lifelong love of the game.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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