SLIGO GAA LEGENDS APPOINTED AS HONORARY OFFICERS

Sligo GAA is delighted to announce the appointment of the following Honorary Officers following a County Board meeting on Wednesday last, April 7^th.

The new Uachtarán of Sligo GAA is Mícheál Kearins who succeeds Tommy Kilcoyne who stepped down last December at county convention. “The Maestro” is widely accepted to be one of the greatest forwards to ever play the game of gaelic football. An Allstar recipient in 1971, the inaugural year of these awards, he was also a Cú Chulainn award (pre-cursor to the All Stars) winner in three consecutive years 1964-66. He won a Connacht Championship medal with Sligo in 1975 to crown his 17 years of dedicated service in the black and white. He also represented Connacht with distinction and holds two Railway Cup medals together with 7 County Senior titles with his club St Patricks. Following his playing career Mícheál took up the whistle and rose to prominence as one of the top referees in the country. "I am genuinely honoured by this appointment. I know there is a lot of great new young talent coming through Sligo football now. That reminds me of great days we enjoyed as players and I am proud to support them and lend my voice to their efforts” said Mícheál after confirmation of his appointment.

Barnes Murphy has been appointed to the new position of Leas-Uachtarán. Barnes captained and coached Sligo’s Connacht championship winning side of 1975 and won Sligo’s second All Star award in 1974. A defensive lynchpin, the Castleconnor native first came to prominence through his displays in many successful campaigns for St Nathy’s College. After working together with Gerry Conway and others to combine Craobh Rua and Muire Naofa, he also enjoyed tremendous success at club level winning several 5 County Senior titles, 2 Connacht Club titles and a Connacht and All Ireland 7’s with St Mary’s. He was instrumental in the formative years of St John’s GAA club winning Junior titles with them in the 1980’s. Following his playing career, Barnes continued coaching teams throughout Sligo at underage and adult levels. Accepting his appointment Barnes commented “As a supporter and through my club I have watched the great work done in recent years to build the coaching structures and facilities in Sligo. The GAA is a real force for good in difficult times and I am delighted to take this appointment and look forward to seeing all that work bring further enjoyment to players and supporters alike. I will help in any way I can”.

The position of Patron was held until recently by the late Kieran McDermott RIP. As a mark of respect, the formal announcement of Kieran’s successor will be deferred until a later date.

“We’re delighted to be in a position to confirm the appointment of such legends of Sligo GAA to these honorary positions” said Chairperson of Sligo GAA Seán Carroll. “We felt it was fitting to honour former players for outstanding service and not just the excellent administrators that have contributed at Board level. And who better to start with than our first two All Star winners as we reach the 50^th anniversary of those awards” he added.