Offaly family dismayed at exclusion of mother from Late Late GAA special

AN Offaly family has expressed their dismay at the exclusion of their mother from the recent Late Late Show GAA Special.

Members of the Offaly squad that were defeated by Tipperary in the first All-Ireland final in 1974 were invited to attend that show but the family of Ballinagar woman, Catherine Dolan, nee Conroy, have expressed their disgust at her not being invited.

Catherine Dolan was a member of that 1974 squad and confirming that their mother is now suffering from dementia, the family have penned a letter to state that no one else should have made a decision about her participation or otherwise without contacting them.

The following is the text of their letter:

Dear Editor,

We, the family of Catherine Dolan (nee Conroy) wish to publicly express our deep disappointment, disbelief, and shock at treatment of our beloved mother, in relation to the recent 50th anniversary celebration of the 1974 Offaly Ladies All-Ireland football team on The Late Late Show GAA special on Friday 5th April 2024. Catherine is a stalwart of Offaly Ladies GAA and indeed, Offaly GAA in general throughout her life.

We as a family have always been extremely proud of her many sporting achievements, both on and off the field of play. Her family aside, we have no doubt that some of her happiest moments in life have revolved around her lifelong commitment and dedication to the GAA in various roles.

Inexplicably, however, our mother, who was a member of the 1974 Ladies Football panel of twenty-four, was thoughtlessly and cruelly ignored completely when it came to the 50th anniversary celebrations on April 5th, televised live by our national broadcaster. Catherinehad also been a member of the ladies senior panel the previous year.

For reasons that were a mystery to us at the time, and which continued to elude us, our Mother was not informed of this event, a hugely significant milestone in Offaly Ladies GAA history, let alone invited to be a part of it. This was a moment that she, unquestionably, had as much right to share as any of the other ladies who were invited to be part of the particular Late Late Show special.

If anyone has any doubts, or feels the need to question our belief of her entitlement of being involved, which clearly should have been the same as all of the ladies on the panel, then we would ask them to question how they might feel if it was their mother that had been treated in such a way. Or, if they were us, knowing that she had been completely ignored, as if her presence and contribution was considered – clearly by someone – as being so insignificant as to be dismissed.

We would like to be very clear about three things.

The first being, we know that this was not an official Offaly GAA County Board event. Our understanding is that this was organized by word-of-mouth alone.

The second is that at no stage prior to this celebration on The Late Late Show, our mother was either informed about this event, or invited to be part of it. There was no attempt to make contact with Catherine directly, or her husband. Also nobody, either directly or indirectly, made any endeavor to correspond with any of her seven children.

The third is, despite some seeking kind of explanation as to how this happened, we have received none that makes sense.

As our mother has been diagnosed with dementia – an affliction so common to so many families in Ireland – we would have completely understood if someone, anyone, had at least been in touch with our father or any of her seven children, in order to ascertain if it would be suitable or feasible for our mother to attend The Late Late Show. In fact, we would have appreciated this as a gesture of genuine care and compassion.

And, had this happened, we as a family could then have decided what might have been best for our mother. But this much is certain: That decision was no-one else’s to make without consulting with us.

Instead, we first learned about this celebration on The Late Late Show GAA special two days beforehand, through a post on Facebook. At that point, we were led to believe that one or two, maybe three at most, of the panel would be there in the audience to talk about the experience, and to represent everyone else. So it won’t be difficult for anyone to imagine our shock as it transpired that so many of the panel were seated on stage for the segment of the show. As far as we have been able to ascertain, with the exception of some who have sadly passed away, and some who are living abroad, all other members of the 1974 panel were invited to be on The Late Late Show, and were present on the night.

All, that is, except our mother Catherine.

Our Mother has lived almost her entire life on the same road, with only moving a mile or so up the road after she got married. Allowing for this and the difference between 50 years ago and today any attempt to reach her would not have required any degree of struggle or investigation. Any lack of contact details for her, as we understand may have been suggested at some point, is nonsense, not to mention unbelievable, and simply adds insult to injury.

The proof of this point lies in the fact that some twenty-five years ago, when mobile phones and emails were far from common, our mother was invited to the 25th anniversary of the 1974 All-Ireland Final for an event at Croke Park, at which she was among those who received a beautiful commemorative trophy in the shape of a football boot, something she has treasured ever since.

More recently, in 2023, our mother was invited to the celebration dinner to mark the 50th anniversary of Tullamore Camogie Club, and was treated with the greatest of respect on the night. No more and no less than anyone else, because she’d never want any kind of attention like that, but her contribution to the club over many, many years, during which time she served as chairperson and continued to play while being a mother to seven children, was clearly known, noted, and appreciated.

In fact, our mother has the rare distinction of not just having played on the same team as one of her daughters, but also of being part of a championship winning team with her in 1995.

Before that, back in 1988, when Ballinagar won the county championship, our mother, despite being heavily pregnant with her youngest child at the time, could not be deterred from creating enough bunting to supply almost the entire village.

Our mother, both in life and on the field of play, has always been a team player. How unforgivable and shameful it is then, that at this stage of her life given the difficulties with her memory that the slight possibility of being able to remember and celebrate one of the brightest days of her life alongside her teammates of the time was cruelly taken away from her. Furthermore, the photographic history of the panel now 50 years on was also withdrawn because our mother cannot advocate for herself any longer, thus she was instead left alone in the dugout.

Yours Faithfully,

The Dolan Family, Ballinagar.