Our Chairman Tony Donnelly.

Tony or Straw as he is known to his friends, has been involved with Eoghan Ruadh for nearing quarter of a Century.

A long time within any sporting organisation.

It’s hard to reach that balance between Family, Work and Community.

Like most GAA Clubs, volunteers can be few and far between at times.

Most are based around families, or come through the ranks as players to coach younger age groups.

Tony was a bit different having never played hurling before.

Cathal Mc Erlean – our Youth Coaching Officer approached me and asked would I be interested in helping out at Youth Coaching sessions.

There had been a growing influx of new players at youth sessions and his brother Mickey needed a few willing extra hands.

Now there was a Challenge I wasn’t going to turn down.

Family man.

Married to Lisa and a Grandfather of 6 with a 7th on the way please God, I love having the craic with kids no matter what their age.

Learning new skills as you go along helps keep you young as well.

Hurling was always a great sport to follow, despite being from the North of Ireland, its the traditional hurling strongholds that get all the press and rightly so as they strive for perfection year in year out.

However, our Club was no different and one of the reasons why I fell in love with it.

In my belief, there is not a Club in Ireland that is run as well or has a support network in place so great.

Tedious necessary tasks get done without question.

We are a microcosm of Clubs within a Club.

A collective volunteer network including our Coaching teams, our Events group, our Field Management and Walkway group and our Stewards group.

All these groups have wonderful volunteers that can be called into action swiftly and we are grateful for everything they do.

Like most Clubs, you can never have enough volunteers.

So please don’t be afraid to ask if you are able and willing to help out.

A Proud Moment.

It was one of my proudest nights when I was elected Chairman of the Club in 2020, taking over from Thomas Colton who had decided to step down after many successful years in this role.

I had big boots to fill with Thomas stepping aside.

He was a great ambassador for the Club and continues to contribute as our current Treasurer.

Unfortunately, 2020 delivered a moment of World Wide paradox not seen before in any of our lifetimes.

We had hoped this moment would be brief but it wasn’t to be.

Strict COVID measures where brought into play by GAA HQ in an effort to protect the Country and reduce spreading the virus.

The famous Return to Play online form filling.

Hand Hygiene Sanitation before and after games.

Ensuring Kids had their own water bottles.

All important tasks that had to be overseen and adhered to.

Thankfully as time passed, COVID became a blur in the background and we returned to normalisation.

Deep Sorrow.

No one in our Club had expected 2022 to turn out the way it did.

One of my proudest moments yet was seeing our County Hurlers win the Nicky Rachard Cup again.

This meant a huge step of progression for 2023 including a promotion to Division 2B of the Hurling League.

It was great to see all our own Dungannon Club lads celebrating on the field in Croke Park.

Damian had played the game of his life. Driving his team on and scoring a massive 14 points of the total 1:21 in the win over Roscommon.

A few weeks later sad news arrived from Spain.

Damian’s passing was a huge shock to us all, a lovely lad in the prime of his life and an ambassador for everyone both on and off the pitch.

He was a true gentleman.

Conor Mc Hugh tragically passed away in March 2022. A gifted former underage player.

Former Club Stalwart Ciarán Coyle tragically passed away in November 2022.

Such events hopefully not too many will encounter in their lifetime.

Fortunately, we are a very close Club and Community and I have every confidence we will emerge stronger from this.

The Future.

I am now in my 4th year as Club Chairman.

I am so proud of how much our Club has developed in the last decade.

We have the facilities to attract and host big games.

This year we hosted our first National League game v London in division 2B and recently the Tyrone Championship Round One game between our neighbours Donaghmore and Moortown.

The building of an enclosed stand would be a great achievement for our Club.

It would further enhance our Club’s ability to attract future big games in both Tyrone and Ulster.

I would also love to see the development of our Ball Wall facility into an enclosed 3G area.

I feel this would assist the future progress of hurling and indeed camogie in our Club for many generations to come.

Le Meas.

Tony.

Tony’s first introduction to Eoghan Ruadh was driving the bus to the Kilmacud 7’s.