Former GAA President Liam O’Neill always carried himself with a certain formality and seriousness, appropriate to the office he held, but he was also warm, approachable and possessed of an understated sense of humour.

He was the first GAA President I had the pleasure of meeting in my role as founder of Sport for Business.

We had established the business in 2011, shortly before Liam began his term as the 37th President of the GAA in 2012. At that point, Sport for Business was still finding its feet and seeking to establish a new conversation around the commercial, social and organisational importance of sport in Ireland.

Liam, together with the team in Croke Park at the time, was always supportive of what we were trying to achieve.

Liam, Páraic Duffy, Lisa Clancy, Peter McKenna and many others treated Sport for Business with encouragement and respect. That mattered greatly in those early years.

For a new organisation attempting to build relationships across Irish sport, having the door opened by the leadership of the GAA was important.

Liam understood that sport did not exist in isolation. He recognised its connections with education, community, culture, media and the wider life of the country.

He was never extravagant in his praise or support. His manner was straightforward, sincere and considered, but the encouragement was genuine and valuable.

He had a natural authority and understood the significance of the office he held, while remaining accessible to those he met around Croke Park and across the wider GAA community.

Liam served as GAA President from 2012 to 2015 during a period of considerable change for the Association.

His presidency included the introduction of Hawk-Eye at Croke Park, the black card in Gaelic football and the arrival of Sky Sports as a broadcast partner. He also established important review groups in football and hurling.

He spoke consistently about the need for closer relations between the GAA, the Camogie Association and the Ladies Gaelic Football Association.

That commitment to the wider Gaelic games family has been reflected in the tributes paid to him by the current presidents of all three associations.

GAA President Jarlath Burns said that Liam’s “wit and wisdom were hallmarks of his Presidency” and highlighted his pioneering approach, his commitment to education through Irish and the breadth of his contribution to the Association.

Camogie Association President Brian Molloy described Liam as “a true Gael”.

Liam continued to make an important contribution to Camogie following his GAA presidency, serving as a trustee and as a member of the Association’s Ard Chomhairle. Molloy paid tribute to the time, wisdom and counsel he gave to the game and to his belief in the power of Gaelic games to strengthen communities.

LGFA President Trina Murray said the Association had learned of his passing “with great sadness” and extended the sympathies of everyone involved in ladies’ Gaelic football to his wife Áine, his children Caoimhe, Ciarán and Clíodhna, and his wider family and friends.

Those tributes are fitting because Liam’s view of Gaelic games extended beyond the boundaries of any one organisation.

He believed deeply in their place within Irish life and in the responsibility of those entrusted with leadership to protect their traditions while also preparing them for the future.

My own memories are not primarily of the major decisions or debates that inevitably accompany a GAA presidency.

They are of conversations at matches and launches, of a President who took an interest in what we were trying to build, and of the support shown to a new venture attempting to establish itself in Irish sport.

In the early days of any business, you remember the people who took the time to listen, who treated the idea seriously and who offered encouragement when there was no obligation to do so.

Liam O’Neill was one of those people for Sport for Business.

I will remember him with gratitude and affection and extend my deepest sympathies to Áine, Caoimhe, Ciarán and Clíodhna, to his wider family and friends, and to everyone in Laois and across the Gaelic games community who knew him.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.

 

 

 

The GAA, LGFA and Camogie Association are full members of Sport for Business.

If you would like to be part of the Sport for Business community and see your organisation in our content, on our stages, and in the conversation happening every day around the commercial world of Irish Sport, email us today and let’s see what is possible.

Image Credit: GAA

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