One of their own, Oughterard marks centenary of execution of man in whose honour the club is name

The Connacht Tribune 14th April 2023

Dave O'Connell

Seán O’Malley recently published a book “A Life Worthwhile” to the memory of his uncle James O’Malley 1897-1923, available in local shops or from Seán.

JUST over a century ago, he was on the first Oughterard team to ever win a county title; just four years later he was executed by Free State troops at the height of the Civil War – and last weekend, his home club which carries his name paid fitting tribute to one of their own one day before the one hundredth anniversary of his death.

A commemorative plaque was unveiled just one day before the centenary of the execution of Seamus Ó Maille, shot alongside five other Volunteers collectively known as the Tuam Martyrs.

His nieces and nephews were on hand to do the honours – as one of them, Sean O’Malley also published a book on the short but full life of his famous uncle.

Galway Football Board chairman Micheal Geraghty of Tuam Stars was among the special guests for the book launch, unveiling of the plaque and a feast of exhibition games in Oughterard on Bank Holiday Monday – just a day before the actual centenary of the killing of the Tuam Martyrs.

He told the crowd at Corribdale that he had earlier been in Tuam for a similar commemoration – something which he saw as fundamental to both our history and Gaelic Games.

“We should embrace this opportunity to remember with dignity those who have laid the foundations on which this state was built,” he said.

Gerry Darcy sings the National Anthem at the Séamus Ó Máille Centenary Commemoration In Oughterard GAA Club last Monday. Behind (left) are Michael and Phil Hurley, Lackagh, Sean O’Malley and Fr Michael Connolly.

“The GAA is the place where we all belong and the organisation has been instrumental in building bridges and fostering healing in the past 100 years,” he added.

The club is officially known as Cuman Peile Seamus Ó Maille and it also bears his face on its crest – a lasting tribute to a footballer, prized middleweight boxer, fisherman and passionate fighter for Irish freedom.

A Life Worthwhile reveals an ordinary young man doing everyday things – helping out on the small family farm, playing football, boxing and fishing.

Fortunately, like so many more who love the water, he was also a skilled boatman who used the Corrib for safe landing in Headford on volunteer runs.

And it was ultimately because of those Headford excursions – and how effective he was in what would be described now a guerrilla warfare – that he was to pay the ultimate price.

He was also deeply interested in the Irish revival movement, the Co-operative movement and politics – and most of all the fight for Irish freedom.

That desire for freedom ran deep – as it did with his younger brother John Martin. And as Sean O’Malley points out in his book, it could so easily have been his own father arrested – and ultimately executed.

James O’Malley himself refers to this in his last letter to his mother the night before his execution.

“Poor John,” he wrote, “if I were not here, he would be in my boots and I am grateful that I am here to take his place.”

That last letter to his mother, Bridget, written the night before his execution, also on home and his motivation.

“There is one thing you can be proud of,” he writes; “I was the first man in Oughterard to suffer imprisonment, and now I give my final sacrifice – that is, my life, to help save the life of the Irish nation.”

His remains were first buried in Athlone before being exhumed and re-interred in Kilcummin Cemetery – and three years after his death, his club was renamed Cumann Peile Seamus Ó Maille, named in his honour, just seven years after he’d won that County Junior Football title with the club in 1919.

The club’s current crest designed by John Thomas Gibbons sums up what this club represents – the view of the top of the town, the Owenriff, fishing… and Seamus Ó Maille.

A Life Worthwhile by Sean O’Malley is on sale now in local outlets – as club chairman John Gillespie said, a book to learn of the life of a man who served club, village and country so well a century ago.

 

Read Dave O’Connell’s introductory speech in the attached document

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This page was added on 17/04/2023.

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