ON MONDAY-WEEK, Sean MacCumhaills GAA club holds its Annual General Meeting.
This week, Eugene Gallagher will close the club’s annual accounts at his home in Woodlawn, Stranorlar.
It will mark the end of his 41st year in the role of Sean MacCumhaills Treasurer.
“I’ve just had to keep up with the times,” he says, confirming he wants to keep the ledger for another term.
Picture caption: Eugene Gallagher is presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by Donegal County Board Chairman Sean Dunnion. Picture courtesy of Geraldine Diver.
He was first appointed to the position in 1975. It was the year Queen topped the charts with ‘ ‘Bohemian Rapsody’; Margaret Thatcher was elected leader of the UK Conservative Party; Muhammad Ali defeated Joe Frazier at Manila; and Peter Sutcliffe ‘The Yorkshire Ripper’ committed his first murder.
They were different times back then.
The total income for Gallagher’s first year as MacCumhaills treasurer was £8,567. Next week he’ll report income of around €178,000 to club members at the AGM.
In 1975 you could get an All-Ireland final ticket for £2.50 and a weekend in Castlebar for 22 men cost a combined £193.
Gallagher was still a playing member when he was first elected to the executive.
He won Dr Maguire with the club in 1971, but a serious knee injury had cut short his playing career by the time MacCumhaills defeated Gaoth Dobhair in 1977.
“It was great to win a senior medal with the club, but there were loads of good players at that time,” says Gallagher, who was given a Lifetime Achievement award by the Donegal County Board on Friday night.
https://soundcloud.com/donegalsporthub-club-notes/eugene-gallagher-lifetime-achievement-award-winner
Before hanging up the boots, he had already moved into administration. He served as club secretary for a couple of years and 1975 saw him appointed to a post that he has never relinquished since.
He was assistant treasurer to Charlie Faulkener and was involved with the County Fixtures Committee for a time.
MacCumhaills’ oil bill for the year in ’75 was £307; their travel cost £214; they paid an ESB bill of £199 and their levies to the County Board amounted to £46.35.
In 1977, MacCumhaills held a dinner dance in Kee’s Hotel and an attendance of 122 paid £2.50 each for the privilege; while the Butt Hall held four fund-raising dances the previous year.
There, The Mainliners, The Champions, Brendan Shine and The Cotton Mill Boys made profits of £115, £32, £77 and £184 for the club.
The 17,500-capacity Sean MacCumhaill Park, now with its four imposing floodlights and new clubhouse is a world apart from the venue that was in 1975.
But the man ringing the tills is still the same Eugene Gallagher.
“If I gave it up, I would miss it for sure,” he says.
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