The Sarsfields supporter who wears a lot of different hats

One thing County Camogie Board Secretary Geraldine McGrath could never be accused of is idleness, being a woman who wears many hats. Earlier this week though, she was convinced to take time out of her busy schedule to chat camogie – and, indeed, her own days as a top hockey star.

A wife – she is married to former Galway hurler Michael ‘Hopper’ McGrath – and a mother of six, Kinvara native McGrath (nee Kilkelly) also works as manager at Supermac’s, Loughrea. And, just for fun then, she serves as County Camogie Board administrator! She mustn’t have a minute to spare.

McGrath has been both the guiding and driving force behind Galway camogie in recent years and one thing you could never say is that she is not an extremely hard worker. However, she acknowledges, when some issue blows up it is inevitably the officers – or her – who receives the brunt of the blame.

“I love the game and I want to see camogie progress to where it should be,” says McGrath, who took over as County Secretary last year after serving as Chairperson for the previous eight years and as Treasurer for five years before that. “You do get the blame when things go wrong but at this stage now, I am getting thick-skinned.

“I will always go with my gut feeling and do what I think is right for Galway camogie and as a committee we will always try to do that. The decisions at times might be a bit harsh and people mightn’t like them, but we will always try to do the right thing.”

One venture Galway Camogie Board should definitely be applauded on is the re-development of their pitch in Kilrickle, which they have fundraised for extensively. Along with re-laying the surface, they are also replacing the old port-a-cabins with new dressing rooms. In women’s sport, where securing the use of pitches can be difficult, this represents a major step forward.

“While we are suffering this year with the loss of that ground, you have to look at the bigger picture. Down the road, it is going to be there. It will be up and running next year – the roof is going on the dressing-rooms at the moment.

“We are lucky that we have a fundraising committee there headed up by Gerry Dolan and Marie Porter, along with 15 more people. I have to mention Sean Geraghty, our long serving treasurer. In fairness to him, he has been there 30 something years in camogie and was actually a founding member of Sarsfields in 1983.”

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.