The late Jim Flood Reared in Navan Street, later moving closer to the Athletic Grounds with the development of Niall's Crescent in the early 50s, Jim was part of the Ogs set-up since its inception. His huntsman's father Jim (Senior) was an inaugural Committee member while his wife, Jenny took care of the club's first set of jerseys. As a youngster, Jim (Junior) undertook the pivitol role of kit-bag carrier, thus earning certain passage to the team's away games. He graduated to the club's senior panel via the Dodd's McVeigh's renowned Streets League of the mid-fifties on a winning Navan Street team managed by local schoolteacher, Donal Garvey. Within a short time he was featuring at Senior League level for his club while providing inspirational leadership on the "40" to a nascent Minor side, being moulded by the late, famed Sam Johnston. Like many of his generation, Jim was compelled to take the emigrant boat in the very year (1959) when Pearse Og broke through at Minor level with a shock demolition of a much vaunted Crossmaglen in the County Final. But by then Jim was in London - based where he joined Hammersmith club, Gerryown, before moving westwards a few years later to Swindon. Here he featured for the local Shamrocks side, a club he was later to lead to League and Championship honours as Chairman. It was in Wiltshore that he made his home for the the next 40 years, working in the construction industry and where his unique gifted talents of perceptiveness and empathy blossomed in building and maintaining a myriad of relationships with all who came into contact with him, be it in work or leisure. The comforting word, the sympathetic ear, the ready, yet silent, helping hand, all typified Jim and his generous spirit, his welcoming, inclusive personality. He forever, saw the positive in others, the gem often hidden beneath a protective crust. But, throughout his exile Jim never lost contact with his home club and its steady progress to under-age, Intermediate an Senior Championship successes. While his feet may have been in England for nearly 50 years, his heart was firmly planted in Ireland, particularly in Armagh. He was a regular annual visitor to his beloved City and, in recent years, excited beyond his dreams with Armagh's Gaelic football successes at provincial and national levels. Croke Park became a familiar venue for Jim, and friends and family over the past decade and the Armagh flag flew proudly in Swindon, signalling the annual Championship odyssey. Landsdown Road and Parkhead also welcomed Jim and his sporting entourage from time to time and, of late, he was keenly following the ongoing development of Pearse Og Park, and eagerly looking forward to its official opening. The esteem and popularity in which he was held was evident in the overflowing attendance at his obsequies in Swindon, and in the large contingent of friends who subsequently travelled over from Armagh to wish him a final farewell. Jim leaves a grown-up family comprising Marie, Kevin, Jackie, Brian and Michelle in Wiltshire, along with his well-known sister Patsy Connolly and family of Mullacreevie, Marie in Belfast, brother John, Armagh, his loving grandchildren, Philip, Richard, Jamie, Kerry, and great-grandson, Jack, together with a wide family circle locally. Ar dheis De go raibh a-anam. Courtesy of the Armagh Observer 15 March 2007 Tweet

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