The Late Tommy O'Riordan It was indeed with great sadness that the Gaels of not alone Leitrim, Limerick and Dublin heard of the death of Tomas O'Riordan but in a special way his many friends and aqauintances of St. Mary's who came to mourn the loss of a fior gael and gentleman. Tommy arrived to work in the Post Office in Carrick-on-Shannon in 1947 on promotion from the Ballinasloe office and continued here until further promotion in 1971 marked his departure to Dublin. During those years he met and married Lily Reynolds who was an employee of Leitrim Co. Council and together raised a magnificant eleven children, Kathleen, Sean, Eamon, Maura, Una, Siobhan, Grainne, Rory, Tomas, Niall and Orla. The later three brought much excitement to the town since they were triplets, while first day in school, First Holy Communion and such important occasions brought about the usual photographic recording of that time. Tommy, being a family man, was so proud of his children and cultivated his love of all things Gaelic in all of them. Tommy's love of Gaelic soon saw him become involved with St. Mary's and in his first year, 1947, he was a member of the club's Senior football winning league team. His long playing career saw him collect a staggering nine Senior Hurling Championship medals in 1953, 1957, 1958, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1967, 1970 and 1972 while he collected a Senior Football Championship medal in 1958 when St. Mary's won the double. His Senior Championship Awards were added to by being a member of the League winning teams at Senior level in 1960, 1963 and 1964, Junior Championships of 1953 and 1956 and Junior League success of 1952, 1953, and 1956. While hurling was Tommy's first, his ability as a footballer was noted by the selectors of the winning Leitrim Junior team of 1962 when selected as a corner forward on the Connacht Championship winning team. A motion to the Leitrim Convention of 1953, inspired by Tommy, saw the setting up of the separate Hurling Board. This was the catalyst that saw Leitrim Junior hurlers capture consecutive Connacht Championship winning team. At National level, Tommy will be remembered as an administrator. He was secretary of the Leitrim County Board from 1953 to 1970 while also representing Leitrim as our Connacht Council delegate during that time. Despite the demands associated with the above, work commitments and his large family, he still had time to manage the Leitrim Minor hurling team of 1965 to win a Connacht title only to be defeated by his native Limerick in the All-Ireland Semi Final. He was too an active founder member of the Pairc Sean Committee and was the driving force behind the magnificant Souvenir Programme, now a collector's item, that marked the opening day of Pairc Sean in 1964. Despite being domiciled in Dublin, Tommykept in touch with all of our club activities. His contribution to St. Mary's saw him being made an Honourary Life President and he was always delighted when success came our way. He was present for Championship success 1995, 2003 and sent his best wishes by phone in 2007 when because of failing health he was unable to attend. Two of his last visits to Leitrim were to celebrate GAA events, the success of the Leitrim Minor team of 1956 where he recieved a standing ovation and in July of this year when he was a special guest at the opening of the New Stand in Pairc Sean. The county senior team success of 1994 was very dear to the heart of Tommy. Our visit to Dublin in August gave him an opportunity to bring the St. Mary's Club to his adopted Ballyboden St. Enda's for a challenge and the usual entertainment that we associate with such events. Board Failte would have been proud of his ability to find accomadation for all of Carrick-on-Shannon in the Southside of the city! Tommy's overall commitment and dedication to the GAA is legendary. When Scor was introduced he travelled the countryas both a Quiz master and adjudicator. His commitment to the improvement of playing standards were recognised by his appointment to the newly formed Croke Park Committee, Foras Oiliuna in 1974 under the Chairmanship of Derry's Jim McKeever while throughout the 60's and 70's, he was ever present at coaching courses organised by the GAA in Gormanstown, as a tutor. His annual Secretary's report to the convention were both forward thinking and inspirational and generally commented on by the National Press for its contents. The "power of one" can sometimes amaze us. It is very true in the context of Tommy O'Riordan. His example in his own home permeated to his family; Lily and Kathleen represented St. Mary's in Camogie, sons Sean and Eamon all played for the club at senior level while Tomas was the top scorer for the county in 1987 and 1988 at inter-county level. Kathleen has been an active Scor promoter at National level and is married to Mickey Colreavy a former Leitrim footballer while Sean and Niall are now both living in Leitrim. Tommy's involvement as Secretary to the County Board coincided with Fr. Sean Manning's time in charge of great Leitrim teams in the 50's and 60's. While many changes have taken place since then it has always being recognised that player welfare was close to his heart making him popular with the players not alone during their playing career but becoming lifelong friends. Tommy was Honourary Life President of Leitrim GAA from 1971 to 1986 when he himself requested that it should become a three year term so that the contribution of others could be recognised by the County Board. Such a gesture was typical of the man who always saw the bigger picture. Ar Son Naomh Mhuire gabhamid buichas duit a Thomais as ucht a rinne tu duinn nuair a bhi tu in ar measc, as ucht an muintearas a lean, de bharr na h'oiche spoirtuil greanmhar abhi againn agus na cuimhni ata againn anois. Is trua mor duinn do bhas agus ar son an club ba mhian linn comhbron a ghabhail do do bhean cheile agus do chlann. Suaimhneas Siorai ar do anam dhilis. Courtesy of the Leitrim Observer 11 January 2008 Courtesy of the Tweet

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