A tribute to Paddy Craughwell (Menlough) Menlough footballers' recent spirited display in retaining their Senior status for 2008 would undoubtedly have pleased one man more than most: the late, great Paddy Craughwell who passed to his eternal reward on October 14th last. Paddy, who was in his late 80s, gave a lifetime of dedicated, exemplary service to his local Gaelic football club and to his community, a variety of ways - all of them of great value and vital service to the needs of others. He will be much missed, but never forgotten, by all who knew him. Paddy Craughwell was a typical community stalwart: Living through a changing Ireland, from hard times to prosperity, from the early days of enthusiastic volunteerism to a more selfish, materialistic society, where fewer and fewer are prepared to commit to a strictly amateur ethos in the service of others, he was a constant, loyal servant of the village and parish of Menlough, his native place. There he lived a good, happy life with his wife Chrissie (nee Naughton, Vermount, Menlough) and their family, and there he made his mark in the everyday life of his community. Of farming stock, Paddy was always interested in land but he was versatile and resourceful, and in his time he was in the shoe-mending business; he drove a hackney car and he was the parish sacristan for more than 70 years, a job to which he gave outstanding service. Poignantly, the man who was caretaker of the New Cemetery, Menlough was himself buried there on Wednesday afternoon, October 17th after Requiem Mass at St Mary's Church. In lieu of flowers, well-wishers made donations to the Galway branch of the Alzheimers Society of Ireland. Traditionally, the GAA at local level in the area promoted football in Menlough, in an organised way from 1891 on, and hurling in the Skehana part of the parish. Menlough scored a notable victory in 1936, when they won the County Junior football championship, a competition of huge prestige at the time, and they briefly but unsuccessfully tried to hold their own in the senior grade two years later. The tried again in the early 1940s but it was too difficult for such a small rural club and it was mainly in Junior that they excelled in the decades up to and including the '60s. Paddy Craughwell, rated a good forward in his youth, first appeared in a Menlough team picture in 1938, but he had brought a Connacht Minor medal to the club the previous year, as a member of the Galway panel, which meant a huge amount to him. He played on for Menlough as long as he could, before turning to the club's officer board and the management of its team. Local records show that he was Club Chairman in the early 1960s, but such official positions didn't have restricting parameters: Paddy, like his fellow officers and the other long serving team mentors, simply did whatever was needed to be done to run the club efficiently and with commitment: pride in the parish jersey was an important to a club officer as to the player who wore it and Milo Costello, a present day driving force in the club, recalls as follows: "No matter how bad things were, if a match was lost or a team failed to gain promotion, or young lads went off doing something else, Paddy would always say: "Let's keep our little club going, let's go at it again the next day." All his life, his love of the club came from his love of the game. But he was a progressive thinker, too. As trustee of our pitch when major developments first took place there, he had ideas many years ahead of the times that were in it, and he brought a wisdom to everything he said that in hindsight we know was inspirational. Indeed, Paddy gave the club a field to play on before we got one of our own, which surely says a lot about his generosity and his civic spirit. "Looking back on it now, we can appreciate the huge contribution he made to the club and of course the same applies to how to served the community. In his personality and in every way he was a great man and he was especially a great Menlough man." There were many other interesting aspects of Paddy's eventful life: Cards figured prominently; people smiled when they saw the cigarette bobbing in the dark as the man himself made his way to the Sunday evening 25 game in the Centre. He wasn't shy in his politics, Fianna Fail was up there with his football and going to mass. He kept old newspaper cuttings of happy times on the football fields, and as recently as early this year he proudly showed an old Tuam Herald to the legendary Frank Evers who was, of course, a Menlough man by birth. And there's a fascinating story behind Paddy's surname: Craughwells, Armstrongs and O'Neills came to Menlough from the North of Ireland, not today or yesterday but as far back as Cromwellian times. Paddy knew the history of that, and he enjoyed it. His friends always said, too, that he set a wonderful example by showing respect and courtesy to young people; that included the very happy times he spent with his own grandchildren, who were a constant delight to him, while he had similar affection for the club's players and the esteem was mutual. In late October last year, when Menlough gave a magnificent display to win the County Intermediate Football Championship final against St James's at Tuam Stadium - to regain Senior status - Paddy Craughwell told local people it was the proudest day of his football life. Twelve months later, that team joined the young footballers of Menlough to carry Paddy's coffin on the road to his final resting place. Ar dheis De go raibh a anam dilis - JC The Late Paddy Craughwell When Paddy Craughwell passed away to his eternal award in October. He left after him a legacy of wonderful memories of his work, in his beloved Menlough. From an early age he was Sacristan in Menlough Church and was very proud of the fact that he was the third generation of Craughwell's to do so. When I say 'serve' that meant cleaning, sweeping, polishing Brasses, as well as the Church, serve morning Mass, accompany the Parish Priest to the Stations which were held in every village during Lent and Autumn. No job was to big for Paddy and he did it with enthusiasm and good humour. He was proud man when he was honoured by Pope John Paul when he received the 'Papal Medal' for his lifetime service to the Church. Paddy's name will always be remembered when we talk about football, but especially his local club. He loved his club so much that the gave his 'Field' - known for years as 'Craughwells Field' for the use to the club members- young and old, to train and play their matches in. Paddy gave sterling service to the Club and played with them from the mid thirties until the early fifties. A good footballer, he played with Galway Minors and won a Connacht medal with them in 1936. My involvement with Paddy was in the early sixties when after the Club had lapsed for a couple of years he called a few of us together to re-organise the club. Paddy was elected Chairman and the Club took on a new lease of life and he was exceptionally proud when we won the North Board title in 1967 and the County Final in 1969. He continued to work hard for the club but despite his best efforts we went through a bad patch in the late'70s, resulting in the club disbanding again. But in 1983 Paddy called us together again and said we would have to have a Club up and going to celebrate 100 years of the GAA in 1984. We did get the club together again and had a great celebration of the 100 years in 'Craughwells Field'. The club went from strength to strength in the eighties and Paddy was always there encouraging and advising. In 1987 he was to the fore again, on the Committee formed to start proceedings to provide our club with new pitch and dressing rooms. He worked tirelessly for the next few years and was a proud and happy man in May 1991 when the pitch was opened by the President of the GAA P. Quinn. He was very positive thinker and his love of the club and ability to bring people together was the stone on which the pitch was built on. Paddy continued to support and encourage all the teams underage, intermediate and he attended the County Final in November 2006 when Menlough went Senior again, after a lapse of five years, he said to me that evening 'this is the icing on the cake for myself and yourself and everyone involved in the Club over the years". In January 2007 we had a very successful Social to celebrate with our young people and present them with their County Final winners medals and it was a special honour for me to have the opportunity to present him with a "Lifetime Award' to one who had really earned it - Paddy Craughwell. He will be sorely missed by family and friends but he has left a wonderful legacy behind him. Ar dheis dé ar a hanam dilís. T.J.S. a tribute from Menlough GAA Club Courtesy of the Connacht Tribune 14th March 2008 Tweet

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