The late, great Seán Mellon, a founding member of Na Magha hurling and camogie club.
By John Harrington
Seán Mellon will be on the minds of everyone associated with Na Magha hurling and camogie club when they play Carrickmacross in Saturday’s AIB Ulster Club Junior Hurling Championship semi-final on Saturday.
The death of one of the Derry City club’s founding members three weeks ago at the age of 74 is still being keenly felt by everyone who knew and loved him.
He was a hugely influential figure, not just in the club, but in the city itself thanks to his pure passion for hurling and zeal for sharing it.
His vocation in life was coaching children, and multiple generations in the city have now grown up with a love of the sport thanks to his mentoring.
“Seán was an absolute totem of hurling in this city,” says James Walsh, who recently finished his term as Na Magha Club Chairperson.
“The guy was an absolute legend. You know the way when someone passes away people will say nice things about them and they don't really mean them.
“But everyone means all they good things they say about Seán. This man was hurling in Derry city and we owe it to him to drive the thing on and to pick everything up and keep going.
“It's a huge gap for us to fill because of that man's 52 years of coaching in the city. Everybody who has picked up a hurl in this city has been in some way influenced by Seán.
“His style was great. He never raised his voice or anything at all like that. He did great work in the local schools, especially St. Therese’s. You’d know if a kid who had just joined the club was a pupil in St. Therese’s just by how well they swung the hurl thanks to Seán’s coaching.
“He's been a giant of hurling in this city, he's kept hurling and camogie going in the schools locally, so there's a huge void left for us that we have to try and fill ourselves now to drive the thing forward.”
Na Magha juvenile hurlers pictured with the GAA's National Hurling Development Manager, Martin Fogarty.
Founded in 1982, Na Magha are the only hurling and camogie club in the city of Derry and exist thanks in no small part to the considerable efforts of Seán Mellon over the years.
Seán believed that the only thing a child needed to develop a love of hurling was the opportunity to play it, and now that he’s gone Walsh says the club is going to honour his memory by making it their mission to give that opportunity to as many children as they possibly can.
“We're now hoping with the help of the County Board to look towards development by having a full-time post in the city in the near future which would encompass going into all schools,” he says.
“Schools are the key because, you know, in other parts of the country where hurling is played kids will be going into school with the hurls and it's just a way of life.
“I took my one of my kids down to a Cúl Camp down in Cork in the summer and she just loved it because it was so normal. There were kids playing hurling in the park, we haven't really managed to engender that into the community just yet.
“People say this is a soccer city and we're really up against it, but I don't believe that. I believe the real thing we have to compete against is this sedentary lifestyle. Once we introduce hurling into people's lives they're in.
“We think Derry City is fertile ground for us to really capitalize on given help and support, but bucking our own ideas really is the most important.
“We need to pull together to drive the club forward. And I just I'm very hopeful we can do it because it's an easy sell from my point of view.”
The Na Magha senior camogie team.
Na Magha have ambitious plans to grow both on and off the pitch in the coming years and are currently undertaking a novel fund-raiser to further develop their facilities.
The club has acquired a two-acre field outside the village of Doochary in the Donegal Gaeltacht and are selling tickets to win the ‘pound field’.
“We're trying our level best to try and get engagement with GAA clubs throughout the world and the Irish diaspora generally to try and help us to develop our club and the game through this fundraiser,” says Walsh.
“So we're pitching on a couple of levels. That we're the only hurling club in Derry city and we're trying to build a new pitch and new facilities and that we also want to further develop coaching in the city to give more children the opportunity to play hurling and camogie.
“We're kind of out of the way where we're situated in Derry City and people don't know where we are. So, we're developing our profile by pushing this as hard as we possibly can.”
Winning an Ulster Junior Championship this year would certainly raise the club’s profile in the short-term, and for everyone involved it would also be the perfect way to honour the memory of the late, great Seán Mellon.
“That's the fairytale and I'm sure the players have it in their minds but you don't want to load up the pressure on them," says Walsh.
“It would be beautiful if they could do that and I'm sure Seán would be smiling from above if it did happen.”
For more information on Na Magha Hurling and Camogie Club, visit their website - www.namagha.ie
