A father fanatical about Latton; evenings on the Hill (Clones and Croke Park); a teddy bear named 'Nudie'; a deep love of Irish culture . . . inside Siobhan McQuillan there burns an insatiable passion for Irish culture. Gerry Robinson speaks to the Rockcorry lady and County Board PRO about her love of the GAA and all things Irish. County PRO Siobhan McQuillan hails originally from the Latton area but last October marked the 28th anniversary of her move to a quaint abode that has become the family home just outside the fleeting village of Rockcorry. Siobhan is married to Oliver McQuillan, a former Chairman of the Rockcorry club who also served as first team manager on a number of occasions. With Siobhan, the apple didn't fall far from the tree - her deep love of all things GAA-related is an inherent part of her very psyche. As she explains, it was an inextricable component of her father's genes: "My father was a fanatical Latton supporter and it never mattered in his eyes what they did or how they played - as far as he was concerned, Latton could do no wrong. He just loved the club and the local people, and that was it." Unconditional love. Passed on from generation to generation, although Siobhan's allegiances were more towards Rock' than Latton. It wasn't a big leap geographically: "We're neighbouring parishes under the one administrator [PP Fr Quigley has replaced the legendary Fr Ferguson, who retired last year]," she notes. Can Siobhan put a specific time on when her interest in the GAA was conceived? "It's just always been there," she reveals. "Dad used to take us by the hand to matches and it became a huge part of our childhood. He used to make a particular point of bringing us to the Ulster final every year. "You could say we were privileged because at that time it didn't matter how many children an adult brought with them to a game, they were always admitted free of charge. You never had to pay in for kids and it was the same when I started to bring my own children to The Hill, which wasn't all that long ago. It just goes to show how things have changed and how the family element is disappearing out of the GAA, which I disapprove of strongly." Siobhan is a devoted mother and family woman first and foremost. Her six children have grown up at this stage, aged between 15 and 26. Gaelic culture was an important part of their upbringing and Siobhan has a veritable treasure trove of fond memories to hold and enchanting stories to relate. Here's one: "Grainne, who's now 18, was a toddler when we brought her to Croke Park in 1985 and she slept on my knee through the national league final. Nudie Hughes was at the height of his fame back then and I remember Grainne getting a teddy and christening it Nudie. Football and the GAA was just such a big part of family life at the time." Siobhan McQuillan professes to having a love of everything Irish and all aspects of the Association. She has been Cultural Officer on the County Board for nine years, is extremely active in organising Scor competitions and also organises the Gaeltacht scholarship interviews. She sees the GAA as a wide-ranging association and makes time for all the 'separate' entities therein: "I think all the activities should get their share of recognition and we should make time for them all. There is a cultural side and a playing side to the Association and there is often a misunderstanding between the two, but I think they are both equally important. "Of course, I recognise that we are primarily a games association but we have to find space for all the various activities that fall within the broad scope of the GAA." Siobhan's first involvement with her local Rockcorry club was singing for them in Scor and she also featured prominently on 'Question Time' teams that scooped numerous county titles. Ten years ago, in recognition of her heavy involvement in the cultural side of the club, Siobhan was asked to go forward for the position of County Board Cultural Officer. She was defeated on her first attempt but put her name in the ring again the following year and came up trumps. She has been Cultural Officer ever since. In relation to this position, she points out: "There should be a cultural officer in every club and it's an aspect of the Association that simply should not be neglected. Michael Cusack intended us to promote all things Irish and all aspects of our culture." Two-thousand-and-one saw the Rockcorry lady become County PRO: "I had been asked previously to give it consideration and I decided to go for it because I felt I was in a position to do a good job. I'd imagine it wouldn't be easy for an individual who hasn't already sat on the County Board to come in and do it. But I had experience of how the Board worked through my time as Cultural Officer and knew what I was letting myself in for... " ... which was a lot of work, time and effort! "It was a very busy first year. We started to introduce multi-game championship programmes which covered whole weekends at a time and a lot of work had to go into those. The Foot & Mouth also threw a spanner in the works as everything came to a standstill and there was a lot of uncertainty. "However, I must pay tribute to everybody in the county, notably the fixtures committee, as we managed to get the entire season finished by Sunday November 25th. That was a great achievement considering the delays caused by the Foot & Mouth as well as the fact that with the introduction of a back door system, we had a lot more championship games in the county than usual." It's been all go for Siobhan since she became county PRO. What does she see as the most important requisites of the job? "Giving a good results service for Aertel and for local and national radio and newspapers. This proves particularly valuable to people who are living away from home - it's great for them to be able to pick up a paper and see how the local team is getting on back home, and it's up to the PROs to make sure those results are there. "We're also looking at developing a website and that's something we'll be working on in the coming year." Siobhan believes more could be done to make life easier for club officers: "I would like to see some system in place whereby club officers receive more training and I believe there should be better facilities made available to all club PROs and Secretaries. Perhaps this could be funded from higher up in the Association. At the end of the day, the clubs are of primary importance. "From a personal point of view, I have to say it has been a real eye-opener to see the sacrifices that people are making behind the scenes and they are doing this solely because of their loyalty to the Association, through a love of their club and their parish." Of course, when one sits on the County Board, they must cast aside all club allegiances. "There are 33 clubs in the county - 29 football and four hurling - and I look upon each as I would any of my six children. They're all equal and they all need to be treated equally. As County Board officers, we are not here to be serviced; we are here to service the clubs of the county and we must never fail to realise that." What did Siobhan make of Monaghan's performance on the intercounty stage in 2001? "We had a poor year in hurling but I'm happy with how Jack McCarville and his team are shaping up and I'm looking forward to greater things next year - and I fully expect them to come good. I've been greatly encouraged by the success of our minor and Vocational Schools teams and by the form of our U21s. "Jack started out with a very young squad of players and we went out against Fermanagh with only two players - Glen Murphy and Declan Smyth - in the team who had experience of winning an Ulster championship match. They had a bogey to lay and they went out and did it magnificently. "The only thing that let them down in the Ulster semi-final against Cavan was their inexperience. One lucky break of the ball, and they could have been through to an Ulster final and who knows what might have happened at that stage? Those games will definitely stand to them for this coming year and I'm confident they'll do well. We needed that win and there's a real sense of optimism in the county now." Siobhan's son Gabriel has been playing with the Monaghan hurlers and is a teacher at St Fintan's in Sutton where he promotes football and hurling. All five of her daughters have competed in Scor Na nOg and Scor Sinsear, while her husband Oliver is still a member of the Rockcorry committee. For Siobhan McQuillan, family life and the GAA have always been seamlessly interwoven. It's still the case today. Tweet

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