Tributes have been paid this afternoon to long time Galway GAA Stalwart Tommie Kelly, whose funeral takes place this evening.
Galway GAA Secretary John Hynes paid this tribute....
It it with great sadness that be learned of the death of Tommie Kelly (Loughrea), a great Gael and wonderful friend of Galway GAA and Galway Football in particular.
Tommie was born in Kildare and played Football with Westmeath before be moved to Loughrea in the sixties, where he became deeply involved in Galway Gaelic Football.
For many years Tommie served in Officer positions in the South Board G.P.C and also on the County Board promoting participation in Gaelic Football. Tommie was involved also with many Galway Teams over the years and he played a key role when Galway won the under-21 Football Final in 1972 and when the Minor Footballer won the All-Ireland Final in 1976. He was also involved with the Galway Senior Football Teams in the 1970's and many of the County players of the era have fond and lasting memories of Tommie and all he did for them.
Tommie struck up a great friendship with the late John Tull Dunne from Ballinalsoe and they traveled the high ways and by-ways of the Country together attending games. Tommie got great satisfaction from attending Juvenile games and Finals throughout the County.
In 2012 Tommie was elected President of Coiste Peil na nOg and he served in that position up to the time of his death.
Tommie was a great servant of the Galway GAA throughout his life.
On behalf of all in Galway GAA I extend our deepest sympathies and condolence to his Family and his wide circle of friends.
Mór ár mbrón. Thomas Ó Ceallaigh imithe ar Shlí na fírinne. Uaigneach muid ná an chailleach beara. Slán a chara.
When Tommie retired from the Galway County Board in 2010, Jim Carney wrote this article in the Tuam Herald...
End of an era as Tommy Kelly retires from Galway Football Board Executive
By JIM CARNEY
A long-lasting link in the chain of Galway football will be broken next Monday night when Tommy Kelly, from Loughrea, retires as assistant secretary of the County Football Board Executive — in his 40th year of dedicated, loyal service to the Maroon and White.
One of Galway's great "constants" in those four decades, a popular, highly respected figure who did his work quietly and without fuss, to such an extent he was probably taken for granted — it can be a compliment to a person — Tommy joined the Football Board at the end of 1970, as East Board delegate; his predecessor in that role was the late Patsy Geraghty of Ballinasloe, who had just retired. Straight away, Tommy formed a close friendship with the county's leading football administrator, John Dunne, and they were inseparable at the G.A.A. venues of Ireland from then on.
Sadly, "Tull" Dunne died in 1990, eight years before Galway regained the Sam Maguire Cup, bridging a 32-year gap, while other senior Football Board officers who Tommy Kelly served with, including Pa Burke, Jack Mahon and Miko Kelly, have also gone to their eternal reward.
Tommy was a selector of Galway minor, U-21 and senior teams for twenty years, and has particularly fond memories of the brilliant All-Ireland winning U-21 team of 1972 who, like the Minors of 1970, defeated a group of young Kerry men who went on to become probably the greatest ever county senior team. "We were better than them; we proved it twice, in Minor and U-21," says Tommy, "but while Kerry immediately put their trust in youth and quickly went to the top at senior level, we held our young players back and paid the price for it. But in general I have very happy memories of all my time in football and it'll always be a big part of my life. The thing I'm most sure of, looking back on the last forty years, is that making friendships with the players gave me the greatest pleasure and the greatest satisfaction. Some of them were rogues, great characters, but they were great lads — year in, year out — and I'll never forget any of them. I have no regrets, only great memories."
Tommy was born in Co. Kildare, in Castlemitchell, near Athy; it was Gaelic football country and he played with the local club before moving to work and live in Westmeath, where he played for the county team for three years and won a Westmeath S.F.C. medal in 1962, with Rochfortbridge.
A qualified fitter/turner, work then took him — as it did so many others — to Tynagh Mines, near Loughrea, and he's been a Galway man since.
He married a Kildare woman, Sarah Wright; they went to National School together, and Tommy is proud of the fact that his wife's nephew Larry Tompkins had the honour of lifting the Sam Maguire Cup in triumph at Croke Park, as the Cork captain in 1990. He is thankful, too, that Sarah's dedication to family life meant he could devote so much of his own life to the G.A.A. "She kept the show going at home," as Tommy puts it, "I wouldn't have had the great life I've had without her."
The Kellys are also very proud to have seen their son Brian play for Galway in the 1973 All-Ireland Minor hurling final, which they were unlucky to lose to Kilkenny; proud that their sons Shane, Declan and Tommy (Jnr.) won Vocational Schools' medals with Galway, and that Sinéad was involved in the medical back-up for several Galway Minor football teams.They've known great sadness in their life together, too: Brian died aged only 50. Go ndéana Dia trócaire ar a anam.
The Galway Football Board Convention at Loughgeorge next Monday night will be an emotional occasion for Tommy Kelly, but he can walk away with his head held high.
As Shakespeare's Othello said: I have done the State some service, and they know it.
Tommie will be reposing in Kilboy’s Funeral Home, Loughrea this Tuesday evening from 5 to 7 o’clock. Funeral cortege will arrive at St Brendan’s Cathedral on Wednesday morning for Requiem Mass at 12 o’clock followed by burial in Mount Pleasant Cemetery.
