Every club should have a PJ Meehan. Doohamlet O'Neills are the lucky ones. Kevin Carney reports. PJ Meehan isn't quite sure whether it was in 1984 or '85 that he first became an officer of the Doohamlet club. But, hey, after all these years, who's counting. Certainly not the footsoldiers at the great O'Neills. Truth is, the fear abroad in the most gaelic of gaelic milieus is that if our man Meehan was reminded of his marathon service to his beloved club, he might just think about taking a deserved and arguably much-needed sabattical. Those who know Monaghan's Club Official of the Year for 2003 will tell you though that PJ would doubtless age overnight were he to cut the umbilical chord which has connected him to his beloved Gaelic club for more than two decades. PJ and Doohamlet GAA go together like Patrick Kavanagh and stoney grey soil. Talk about one and the other's ears are burned. Truth is, there aren't many gaels around Doohamlet who can remember when the two weren't as one. For, before PJ assumed the role of Treasurer of the club, he had been a hard-working backbencher on the parent committee. So he had a fair apprenticeship served by the time he was handed the club's purse strings. Of course, the mantra that decrees that if you want a job done, ask someone that's busy was tailor-made for Doohamlet's Meehan. And, sure enough, he had hardly made the moneyman's sit warm before he was commandered to take on the role of Secretary which he duly did for a twelve year spell. And then along came the millennium and with it another big-money transfer for PJ. This time the job of Chairman became his to embellish. So of all the jobs he has done over the years, which taxed him the most? "I'd say being Secretary was the most demanding. There's probably a bit more work involved in doing that job. "But, having said that, you can get a lot of work to do if you want to work hard at the job. "I did the job of team-manager too and it involved a fair bit of work," PJ says in a matter-of-fact manner. In an area like Doohamlet and with a club like the O'Neills, it's a case of all hands on deck - well nearly always. Like most clubs across the length and breadth of the country, a small coterie of die-hards have generally kept the club going on a straight line. The speed going forward might vary from year to year but the O'Neills can rightly say that they have invariably progressed, year-on-year. "It's a tightly knit club and in the area everyone knows everyone else so there's a fairly good spirit in the community. "A few new people have come onto the committee over the last couple of years too which is good to see because you can't beat a bit of new blood," PJ opines. Ah, but we'll not hold our breadth PJ for the time some new, young gun stands up to the plate and contests the chair! "You never know when you might be challenged," PJ responds with the merest hint of tongue in cheek syndrome. It has to be said though that sometimes the 'oul blood is the finest, the most pure. Like, maybe, old friends are best. And in PJ Meehan, Doohamlet O'Neills GAA has one of the finest workers any GAA club would wish to have on its side. It's not today today or yesterday, of course, that, as Treasurer, PJ made a huge imprint in the running of his native club by playing a major role in the funding, purchase and subsequent development of that most tidy of grounds, O'Neill Park. As Secretary, there was no chance that PJ would limit himself to merely recording the minutes of the various meetings held by the senior committee. PJ has given everything he has ever done for the club 100% of his energy, time and commitment. Who better in Doohamlet to succeed clubmate Brendan Farrell (1999) as Club Official of the Year. Who better to invite, welcome and recruit into the club those people who have settled in the raft of new houses which have sprung up in the area over the last few years. "Apart from the people who have come into the area, it's pleasing to see some ex-players becoming involved in the club again, whether that's on the committee or at underage coaching level. "And the fact that some of the senior players are helping out with the coaching of the youngsters is great too. "We have one of the smallest picks in the county and it's very important that every single person who has an interest in football is gotten on board and ones that have no interest are encouraged to take up the game and join the club. "We're sandwiched in between 'Blayney, Drumhowan, Cremartin and Blackhill and we can do with every player that we can get our hands on. "Numbers aren't brillant any year. We couldn't field a B team at adult level last Summer but that was because of a lack of numbers, not a lack of interest on the part of the players in the area," insists PJ who readily admits, that with no football pedigree, he's a maverick in the Meehan family. As modest as the day is long, PJ genuinely felt taken aback when he was awared the Club Official of the Year award last January at the Northern Standard/Monaghan GAA Annual Awards night in the Hillgrove Hotel. It was PJ's first award, he tells us. Amazingly for a man identified with Gaelic games in Doohamlet for so long, PJ doesn't have a single medal to his name. "I played very little. I was no good; didn't even play minor football and had nobody belonging to me that did either." Strange one indeed. But just imagine how many clubs in Monaghan and elsewhere would love to have such an unlikely eager-beaver in their midst. Predictably, PJ says that he was drawn into the GAA locally "because there was nothing else to do." Ah but the proof of the pudding in this case is the longevity of the gael's service. So what batteries is he on anyway? "I wish I knew," he quips in return. "I've always been the enthusiastic sort I suppose." Does he never get cheesed off, never feel like getting off the roundabout and taking a breather? "You can get a bit fed up at times but that feeling soon passes. It's always easier to keep going when the club is doing well." The club didn't fare too well at adult level in 2004. After losing out in both the intermediate league and championship finals in 2003, last Summer's fare was expected to present some antidote. Not so. "We should at least have beaten Aghabog but the injury to Shane McManus was a big blow," PJ recalls. Understandably, PJ isn't too eager to rewind the tape of such near-misses. But what of 2004? More was expected surely? "There was, but the team got off to a bad start in the new year. "Maybe there was still a bit of a hangover from 2003. But a new team-management came in around April and slowly things turned around and the lads responded well to training under Dessie (McBennett). "There was no shame in losing out to Ballybay in the championship play-off either, considering they went on to win it out. They were hot favourites against us and we really never looked like causing an upset that day." But there was a good degree of the silver-lining about Doohamlet's cloud in 2004, PJ hastens to add. Two cups at minor level were scooped, for instance. "There's a lot of good stuff coming through and I'd be optimistic for the future. Some of those minors even got experience of intermediate football during the past year which will hold them in good stead. "And with the likes of Shane McManus, Ciaran McManus, Martin Hughes and Ted Duffy in with a good chance of making the senior county team, those young fellas will not want for good experience and talent alongside them." Off the field of play, meanwhile, PJ says that continuing success of the club's take-your-pick fundraiser and the weekly lotto may prompt the development of a training pitch adjacent to O'Neill Park sometime in the future. He says the workers are there in the club to see such a project through. His short term ambition? "I'd love to see the club go senior. They've never been senior in my time with the club and that would be a dream come through. "There'll be others, like Donaghmoyne, Emyvale and Inniskeen, trying to stop us but we'll give it our best shot and hope that that will be good enough." Tweet

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