As the man behind Fresh Choice Foods in Killeshandra and Taravale Foods in Naas, Sean Fay from Drumlane has made a name for himself in the food manufacturing/catering business. To this day, the former Drumlane player remains a keen supporter of his hometown GAA club, which is hardly a major surprise seeing as the Fay name is synonymous with Drumlane Sons of O'Connell GFC. Drumlane GAA club as we know it today was reformed by a group of visionary footsoldiers in 1969. One of these men was Patrick Fay, affectionately known as Packie. Packie was originally from Lavey and moved to Belturbet in 1945 before settling in the parish of Drumlane in the early 1950s. After the club was re-ignited, Packie served on the committee as treasurer for a number of years, alongside the late Frank McCauley (chairman) and the late Mickey McGerty (secretary). The other man who helped rejuvenate gaelic football in the Drumlane area 36 years ago was Jim Charles from Milltown. The wonderfully-named Drumlane Sons of O'Connell club has held its own since, particularly at underage level, and captured more juvenile silverware last year in the form of the 2004 minor league Division Two title. It was a good win for Drumlane - a victory that has its seeds in the tireless endeavour of four men at the tail end of the 1960s. Packie Fay's son Sean lined out for Drumlane in his youth and has since gone on to establish two popular food manufacturing companies - Taravale Foods in Naas and Fresh Choice Foods in Killeshandra. The former was established in 1993; the latter came into existence in 2001. At his two food manufacturing plants, Sean Fay prepares salads, potato salads and related products, which are sold through the retail and catering trades nationwide. Most of the produce makes its way into the deli bars and salad bars in Super Valu and Centra stores all over the 26 counties, for which Taravale/Fresh Choice are the main suppliers. The business has grown substantially. At present, Sean Fay employs 32 in Naas and 22 in Killeshandra. All the fresh produce is sourced locally from Irish farms. It's a competitive business and attention to detail is everything. There are many standards, which must be complied with rigorously, and time is also of the essence. Freshness is paramount in the catering sector and turnaround period on all products is just two days. Thus, organisation is crucial. Sean admits that he's always investigating and considering new options: "We always keep our eyes open. At the moment, we do 38 different salads and there's no doubt this range will increase as tastes change. The Irish palate is very experimental and one of the challenges is to keep up with this. The most recent line we launched was the Loaded Potato Skin, and that has proven very popular." Taravale/Fresh Choice carries its own product development team and all staff are trained to HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) standards. Though the business has gone very well for him, Sean has never lost his love for the GAA club back home in Drumlane. He played in the company of the McCauleys and Kennedys as a young man and still follows the club's fortunes enthusiastically today (though his job makes this difficult, at times). Sean is also a faithful Cavan supporter and is hoping Eamon Coleman's charges can benefit from the rub of the green in 2005: "There's a lot of competition in Ulster and it's not going to be easy to come through. However, Cavan were unlucky against Armagh last summer and they beat Down, which are good signs. They've a good young side at the moment and confidence will increase if they can get over Antrim in the first round. Let's just say we're quietly hopeful…" Sean's brother, Kevin Fay, serves on the Drumlane committee and is also a former chairman of the West Cavan Board. After the club was reformed in 1969, Drumlane won the junior football league in 1971, which was a major success. Kevin notes: "The club has fared exceptionally well, and has remained in existence for the last 35 years, which is an achievement in itself. "We have gone from strength to strength and now field teams at all the various levels from U12 up as well as our adult team and a ladies team. We won the junior championship in 1999, and that was another big success for us." Drumlane did go through a bit of a sticky patch in the late 'eighties, when emigration hit them hard. Indeed, only for the hard work of men like Kevin Fay, Pauric Leddy and Brendan Reilly, they could well have lapsed into oblivion. However, the crisis was negotiated and the club has continued to work very hard at underage level, which has paid off over the past decade and more. "We have been very successful at underage - U12, U14 and minor in particular," Kevin confirms. "We also hope to open a new Prunty pitch, which will be our second pitch, at Milltown in 2006, as well as a new community hall." It's a great success story. The club has become a focal point of the community and Packie Fay, who's still hale and hearty at the age of 90, is an Honorary President. The future looks bright too, as Kevin explains: "Since 1989 [when an U12 Roinn D championship was scooped], not too many years have passed where we haven't met with some success at some level. We have a great pool of players and we got to the quarter-final of the 2004 intermediate championship, but lost to Cuchulainns. "We have Damien Reilly as team manager and he has committed himself for another year. We're hoping to go all the way to the top. Senior football is our target now and I think we're good enough to achieve that. We've been intermediate for four years now and we're well able to compete with any team at that level. The challenge now is to take it a step further and hopefully 2005 will be the year when Drumlane go senior." What a proud day that would be for Packie, Sean and Kevin Fay and everybody associated with the Green & Whites! Tweet

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