After 17 years as Treasurer, Drung stalwart JJ Fay has decided to become a backbencher for the next 12 months at least. Kevin Carney reports. The uninitiated may not be wholly aware of the changing times. Certainly the Government is likely to get a rude awakening when they scan the results of the latest Census from their ivory towers. Fact is, volunteerism is on the wane in Ireland despite the rhetoric you'll hear to the contrary. The harvest may be rich in 21st Century Ireland but there are fewer and fewer labourers willing to got out into the fields. Those at the heart of the GAA at grass roots know it. Those who have been in place for longer than their hearts may be willing at the local cubs and scouts, athletics and boxing clubs know it. Yes, Drung Dalcassians stalwart JJ Fay is a member of a dying breed and more's the pity for, as they say, his kind just don't grow on trees. It's upon the selfless work of the likes of the Magheratemple, Lisboduff resident that Croke Park, a la February 2007, was constructed but there are less and less people of his ilk around these days. When nearly 82,000 fans melted seamlessly into the bowels of the north Dublin stadium for the Dublin v Tyrone NFL clash and, thereafter, the rugby internationals, it was surely in the direction of JJ Fay we ought to have tipped the forelock. He's been, literally, the man at the gate; the first about the club on match day and invariably the last to leave. It's the likes of JJ Fay that has made the GAA what it is today; not the career administrators within the organisation, those who shell out for a corporate box at headquarters or the GPA. At Drung's recent Annual General Meeting, JJ stepped down from the role of holding the purse strings at the club. "I'd been thinking about quitting for the last three or four years," JJ explains. "I thought long and hard about it and it wasn't easy to go." He did the job of treasurer in textbook fashion for 17 years and he left the post with the satisfaction of knowing that he did his very best and the club is better off by dint of his work. He'll miss being an officer of the club and despite the fact that he's still a member of the parent committee, fundraising will be that bit more difficult for the club all the same. But all with the interest of keeping Drung Dalcassians GAA solvent will miss him more. JJ admits that the business of keeping a small rural club afloat isn't getting any easier. He has every faith though in the ability of joint treasurers Paddy Marron and PJ Keogh to keep the bank manager from the door and make sure it's just the players that are seen in red! It must be said though that the business of raising funds is as easy these days as picking the winning numbers of the lotto the hard-core members of the club are busy flogging over the weekend. Like most rural GAA clubs in Ireland, the weekly lotto is the source of the major part of Drung's income and the sale of tickets in the towns of Cavan and Cootehill is the lifeblood of the club. Unfortunately times ain't as good for the lotto sellers as they were in times past with the decline in the pub trade at weekends hitting funds hard. "There's people in the club still selling away as normal but the money coming in isn't as much as it was. It's quieter since the euro came in," JJ opines. "When our jackpot was five or six thousand a while back, there was great interest but now when its 10,000 euros, there's not the same interest. "Money's not as valuable nowadays," says the long-time club official whose sons Raymond (21) and Sean (24) are like-minded Drung gaels. When JJ first took on the job of club treasurer, there was no lotto and times were different in every way. It took less money to keep the show on the road, he confirms. "It didn't take the quarter of the money to keep the club going back then and it didn't seem as hard to raise the money either," he swears. "You'd run a tea party and that would do us for the year. We hadn't the same amount of expenses or half the amount of bills to pay. "It didn't cost as much to affiliate teams, pay medical expenses - those sorts of things. The job of treasurer was a lot easier. "Money is not worth near what it was when I started in the job. We're lucky to have the lotto and the variety show (now in its fifth year)." JJ sees some irony in the fact that even though GAA players are thought to be fitter nowadays than their predecessors, the medical bills are far higher than years ago, even allowing for inflation. Pointedly he is not convinced that players are actually fitter than those from previous generations. "Players are getting injuries now that weren't heard tell of years ago and why is that? It seems players are more inclined to get injured now and you'd have to wonder how come." Not one who could be accused of looking at the past with rose tinted glasses, JJ recognises progress when he sees it though and he is proud of how Drung GAA has advanced over the guts of the last 20 years. The club's home at Bunnoe is much more befitting Drung gaels than it was in the late 'seventies, for instance. It has much more of a professional look about it these days, a more homely feel about the place. In that regard, it's probably no co-incidence that JJ confesses that the club's achievement in "buying out the field" in 2003 has arguably been the highlight of his time with the club to date. A generation ago, Drung was more akin to a river (shower) and car (dressing-room) club but not anymore thanks to the hard work and due diligence of JJ and similarly sleeves-rolled-up folk in the area. When JJ first took the reins of treasurer there was no dressing-rooms in the real sense and no spectator accomodation. There is now and much more besides. Bunnoe is now a tidy wee ground, compact and economically proportioned to meet the needs of the club. Its facilities are all paid for and the club is in the black. But ambition still runs deep within the club and under the direction of chairman Patsy Fitzpatrick and his parent committee colleagues, Drung is pushing forward to consolidate its past endeavours. The development of a Prunty training pitch adjacent to the playing field is well underway and its completion has been provisionally earmarked for early 2007. It all adds up to surely a return of the good times at Drung; times when the JFC title was scooped (1980) and the ACFL Division Two title (1997). As a player, JJ wasn't fortunate enough to partake in any significant success with Drung with a knee cartilege injury helping to wreak his personal voyage while he was just in his 'twenties. Born and reared in Drung, the fifty-something erstwhile treasurer did pick up a medal though before going out to pasture. That was in 1976, he recalls. When men were men? "Well, the football was tougher then, I'd say. It wasn't as fast maybe but it was more manly and there definitely weren't any yellow cards around the place," JJ quips. JJ says there's a lot of hope in the club right now and the fact that the premier team has been knocking on the door for some considerable time suggests that the breakthrough isn't far off. He says there's "no more than a kick or two of the ball" between most of the sides at intermediate level at the present time and that Drung is as good as any of their rivals. "There's a good lot of young players coming on; fellas that have done well with the St. Finbarr's team getting to the county final which will have given them good experience and given them some confidence. "Drung aren't that far away although it'll not be easy this year in the league with all the derby matches that are lined up. "There'll be a lot of neighbouring clubs playing each other but the two lads (Paddy and PJ) won't mind if there's some good gates!" JJ says he's looking forward to seeing the league up and running and is glad the system of relegation and promotion is back in vogue because he didn't agree when they were "done away with" a few seasons back. "There should be more importance put on the league because that's where most of the football is played and lads learn the basics of competing. "Definitely the championship is the main target but you need a good healthy, competitive league to keep the interest there." And what of Drung's upcoming championship campaign? Does JJ feel that the halcyon days of 1980 can be re-visited? "You could toss a coin as far as the intermediate championship is concerned," the Drung die-hard avers. "I wouldn't be surprised if we won it." Tweet

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