Doneraile and Shanballymore coursing enthusiasts gather to honour their late secretary and founding member, W

Let us commence our story with a brief synopsis of our club and Willie’s contribution into it. Having graduated from Templemore Garda College in 1966, Willie O’Leary served the communities of Kanturk, Boherbue, Meelin and Ballinhassig, before arriving in Doneraile as a community Garda in 1972.

A Clare man at heart, born and reared on a farm in the townland of Ballymacraven- Gortown in Ennistymon, Willie was no stranger to the countryside and wasted no time in quickly involving himself in the community. He became an active member of the local GAA scene and pulled tug-o-war with Skehanagh in his first year in Doneraile.

As training and racing greyhounds were his passion, it is not surprising that he was the driving force in the founding of Doneraile & Shanballymore Open Coursing Club along with John O’Flynn, David Curtin, Michael Walsh, Ned Lenihan and Billy Mullane.

The club was founded on October 27th, 1980 when its first meeting took place in Fouhy’s Bar, Shanballymore. On the following Sunday, 2nd November, the club’s first outing was at Carker Cross and after a long day, no hunt was recorded. At our inaugural meeting Willie was delegated chairman’s duties and at our first AGM was elected secretary and retained that status up to the time of his passing (18th September, 2022) - a total of 41 years, an amazing feat by any standards.

Though the club was small in membership and dogs in comparison to other clubs, we achieved a good deal of success competition-wise, winning the Bowman Cup on two occasions with Michael Curry successful in the 1981-82 season and Ted O’Connor in 1987-88 season.

The Castletownroche Inter-Club was won by Jim Irwin in the 198283 season. At our own interclub in 1986-87, the Walsh Cup was won by our secretary Willie O’Leary. At county level the club was successful in the John Twomey Memorial in 198283 with a bitch called ‘Gortown Nora’ owned by “you know who”! On a couple of other occasions through the years, we did well in the Cork Cup without gaining ultimate success.

In the early 1990’s and again under Willie’s stewardship, the club hosted a very successful Cork County Open Association League finals.

On the day to day running of the club, Willie had no equal, his knowledge of the rule book was exceptional. On the organising and running of all our events, he ruled with an iron fist, always fair minded and honest in his decision making. Of course, he did not always meet with approval but nonetheless his ruling stood.

For many years Willie was one of our club delegates to the Cork County Open Association and as always, he conducted his business in a most professional manner, representing our interests and that of all involved in coursing. He was very well received and respected within the association and over the years he never shied away from the hard decisions, ruffling a few feathers as only he could.

His commitment to this club was such that he never sought remuneration for all his years travelling on our behalf, and most importantly for our sport to exist, Willie had a great rapport with all the landowners in our catchment area.

The club could not exist without funds and to that end, he tirelessly worked to ensure the success of our fundraisers. Our annual trip to the Hazel Tree Inn were great family and community nights out.

Outside of coursing, Clare hurling was dear to his heart, all we will say on that subject is, thank God they weren’t winning All-Irelands on a regular basis. His other passionate interest was farming and his cattle and sheep. However, a lot of the time he felt that he paid too much for his purchases and on sales day, he sold too cheap.

Willie was also a great community man serving as the local community Garda since 1972 up until his retirement on 04/10/2000, involving himself in many worthy projects over the past 50 years, such as school management, community alert, soap box derbies, the local Credit Union, many charity events and much more.

FITTING TRIBUTE

In acknowledgment and appreciation of the Trojan work put into our club by our late secretary, the club organised a coursing day in his memory on Sunday, 26th February, where approximately 50 coursing enthusiasts, including the entire O’Leary family and extended family were in attendance. We gathered at the farm yard of Paddy and Mary Cronin in Castlepook. As always, Paddy and Mary were most generous hosts providing refreshments, which were very much appreciated by the large gathering.

Before the off, we held a minute’s silence in his honour, following which we invited his grandson Patrick to participate in the draw for our four-dog stake. In the most favourable weather conditions, we headed out in pursuit of game. After three hours of endeavours, we failed to meet the game so we had to revert to plan B.

In the first semi-final, Vincent Fahy just got the flag against Martin Curtin’s dog and in the second semi-final Tom Palmer’s dog got the verdict over Tim Collins. In the final, Tom Palmer’s dog proved too strong and was the deserving winner over Vincent Fahy’s dog to capture the prestigious Gortown Cup.

With our field activities complete, we then made our way to ‘ The Corner House Bar’ in Shanballymore for the presentation of prizes and refreshments. Our chairman, John Casey welcomed and thanked everyone for their support. He thanked Paddy and Mary Irwin for the use of their facility. He extended a special thank you to the O’Leary family for their generosity in sponsoring prizes for the event, two magnificent pieces of glass appropriately engraved for the occasion.

Willie’s son, Patrick spoke on behalf of the O’Leary family where he thanked the club for organising this event, also outlining some of his memories of coursing days in the O’Leary household and describing Willie as a “guardian of the countryside.” He stated the entire O’Leary family were very proud of the legacy Willie left to our coursing club and how the club gave him a sense of belonging in his adopted county.

Patrick then presented the Gortown Cup to Tom Palmer, winner of the stake. Two of Willie’s daughters, Eilís and Niamh, presented 1st prize to Tom Palmer and the runner-up prize to Vincent Fahy. Two of Willie’s granddaughters, Mary-Kate and Aisling, presented their grandmother, Mary O’Leary with a bouquet of flowers on behalf of Doneraile & Shanballymore Open Coursing Club.

With formalities out of the way, we were then entertained for the remainder of the evening by a few outstanding singers and some brilliant traditional musicians, Mary O’Mahony and the “stars of the show,” two of Willie’s grandsons Liam and Eoin O’Mahony.

Let us put on record, that Willie O’Leary was as passionate about coursing and the wellbeing of our sport on the last day he was coursing as he was the first day the club went out all of 42 years ago.

Our thanks to the O’Leary family for affording us this opportunity to honour our great friend and secretary of our club. We can be certain wherever coursing people meet, Willie O’Leary’s name will be on their lips and we in this club will never forget him and will always remember him with affection.

Once again, our sincere sympathy to Willie’s family, to his friends and colleagues in the coursing world. Rest in peace Willie O’Leary and thanks for the memories.