The death of former GAA president Joe McDonagh after a short illness has come in the words of his current successor Aogán Ó Fearghail "as a great sadness" to "so many throughout the wider GAA family" and beyond.
His passing on Friday took place less than a fortnight after that of his predecessor Jack Boothman, with whom he contested the 1993 presidential election.
Born in 1953 - in Tuam even though Ballinderreen would be his home - Joe McDonagh had already by the time of his election come to prominence within the GAA as one of the rising generation of Galway hurlers, who were products of the Coiste Iomána initiative to revive the game in the 1960s a scheme with which his father Matt was closely involved in the county.
He played in the All-Ireland minor final of 1970 - one of his team-mates was future Ireland rugby captain Ciarán Fitzgerald - and also in the breakthrough under-21 All-Ireland final victory of 1972.
He was wing back when the county re-emerged as a senior force in 1975, winning the national league - beating Tipperary in the final and reaching a first All-Ireland final in 17 years the following September when they lost to Kilkenny.
Joe McDonagh was captain when the county next reached an All-Ireland final four years later and although the team was favoured to win, having defeated three-in-a-row champions Cork in the semi-final, they again lost to Kilkenny.
On election to the presidency at the London congress in 1996 he said in his acceptance remarks, referring to 1979, that he had nothing prepared, as the only time he had written an acceptance speech, Chunky O’Brien (the great Kilkenny hurler) and his team-mates had torn it up.
His playing career was dogged by a virus which necessitated hospitalisation for a lengthy period but when Galway finally made the breakthrough in winning a first All-Ireland in 57 years he was a member of the panel and made his mark on the memorable celebrations by following team captain Joe Connolly’s rousing speech in Irish by singing The West’s Awake from the Hogan Stand to celebrate the MacCarthy Cup victory.
It was a typical example of Joe McDonagh’s extrovert personality and family influences; for instance his uncle Seán Mac Dhonncha was a well-known traditional singer. A fluent Irish speaker he was a compelling orator either as Gaeilge or in English and also studied the Welsh language.
He rose spectacularly through GAA administration to the point that he contested the presidency when still in his 30s. So strong was his performance in a competitive field that it was said after he had run a respectable second to Jack Boothman that the association had elected two presidents that day in April 1993.
Sure enough he was elected three years later. His comparative youth in the office and exuberant personality made Joe McDonagh an ideal figurehead of the modern GAA as it headed into the new millennium.
The first president to have won an All Star he was also the first to be a registered player and on election he continued to hurl with Ballindereen. At the end of 1996 he fulfilled a life-long ambition to win a county medal, when his club won the Galway Junior C championship. McDonagh’s teenage son Eoin played on the same team.
He also loved football and played Sigerson Cup with UCG.
He showed courage in 1998 in an initiative at that year’s congress to abolish Rule 21, prohibiting members of the British security forces from joining the association, without notice by seeking to suspend standing orders in recognition of the then recent referendum vote on the Belfast Agreement. More conservative voices prevailed but a special congress was organised for this month 18 years ago.
Again his reforming drive was halted and the meeting concluded with a vague statement rather than the desired change but there is no doubt that Joe McDonagh’s grasping of the nettle cleared the way for the rule to be abolished three years later.
The North had already involved him in more sombre duties when 62-year old Sean Brown was abducted and murdered while locking up at the Bellaghy club in May 1997 - a sectarian assassination, which the President described as “outlandish and outrageous”.
Other initiatives during his presidency included a renewed focus on games development and coaching and the revival with the AFL in Australia of the international rules series of which he was very supportive.
He was very young - mid 40s - to be a former president but remained active within the GAA and was one of the drivers of the proposals of the Strategic Review Committee report in 2002, which even if largely resisted at first, succeeded in re-shaping the organisation in the years that followed. He also maintained close contacts with GAA units overseas.
A career educationalist, he worked as a teacher and administrator. Having graduated from UCG with a degree in Celtic Studies, he went on to teach in Colaiste Enda in Galway and later became Adult Education Officer with the city and county VEC, promoting the Irish language.
He had retired last year as CEO of the Galway Roscommon Education and Training Board but was also a fine broadcaster and also worked as Galway Bay FM’s first Head of Sport.
GAA president Aogán Ó Fearghail paid the following tribute: “It was with great sadness that we learnt of Joe’s passing last night and I know that sentiment is shared by so many throughout the wider GAA family.
“Joe was held in extremely high regard and his company was enjoyed by so many over the course of his long involvement with the GAA in so many different capacities, not least as President from 1997 to 2000.
“He and his tenure left an indelible mark on Cumann Lúthchleas Gael and his passion for our games and activities was only matched by his passion for the Irish language. He also had a profound interest in our international network and the further expansion of the GAA overseas.
“He will be sorely missed and I would like to offer my sympathies to his wife Peig, his family and his wide circles of friends and admirers.”
Joe McDonagh is survived by his wife Peig, son Eoin and daughters Muireann and Eilis.
