O'Gara, Conn
October 30, 2007
With the death of Conn O'Gara at the age of 83, Glencolmcille has lost a colourful character, a gifted raconteur, and a staunch supporter of Irish cultural activities, particularly Gaelic Football.
Conn was born in 1924, at a time when there was little hope of earning a decent living in Glen. Like many of his contemporaries he took the boat to Holyhead in 1949 to work, at first in the sugar beet industry. Next he went to London and made his home in Clapham, where he and his wife Úna kept open house for everyone from Glen who came visiting. At the weekends their home became a meeting place for all of us who were in London at the time. Conn was an attentive host and Úna an untiring hostess. Arriving at their house on Saturday evening was like being back in Glen again, and Conn kept the crack and the fun going until it was time to go to work again on Monday morning.
He wasn't the kind of man who would be content to take orders from anyone or live for long anywhere except in Glen. He came home in 1975 and built a spacious house in Gannew for himself and his family. From then on he was his own master. He bought a boat so that he could fish pollack, glassan, mackerel, and cod from Log na dTruán. He bought a hand-loom so that he could take up weaving again. He took great delight in making rugs and in designing the most complicated patterns. In his late seventies he was one of the few active hand-loom weavers left in south-west Donegal. Any rugs he didn't sell to the locals, he would sell to passing tourists and Glen people home on holiday. They went all over the world, and, like himself, they were long lasting.
He had a great interest in all things Irish. he was a nifty footballer in his youth, and he was one of those who were active in the revival of Gaelic football in Glen in the 1940's. He played in the forward line for Glen football team and subsequently for Roscommon county. In his later years, he was an enthusiastic supporter of the Glen football club. Over the years he rarely missed any match when either St Columba's or the Donegal county team was playing. Even in his late seventies he could be seen cheering his team in his unmistakable resonant voice from the side-lines.
He was a great Irish language enthusiast. He spoke Irish to anyone who could speak it, and even in old age he continued to read books in Irish, particularly those by Donegal authors. His favourite Irish book was Caisleáin Óir, from which he could quote whole pages. Another favourite was Suipín and Iolair by the same author, Séamus Ó Grianna ('Máire').
He knew everyone in the parish, and he had a funny story or anecdote for every occasion. He himself had seen both bad and good times in Glen. Though he had no wish to return to the misery of the 1930s and 1940s, he was too perceptive to be entirely uncritical of every modern development. He was particularly saddened by the steady dilution of the old Glen culture. Whenever an Irish speaker died, he would say, 'A rake of Glen history went under the sod in Cashel today.' The same could now be said about Conn himself.
He is mourned by his wife Úna, by his son Sean and three daughters Carmel, Geraldine and Christine, by his sister Brigid in the USA, his nephews and nieces, and many friends in Glen and further afield.
Adhlacadh Conall Ó Gadhra i reilig an Chaisil i nGleanncholmcille ar an 10ú Deireadh Fómhair. Sár-scealaí a bhí ann, fíodóir cumasach, agus duine uasal fial flaithiúl. Cé go ndéanadh sé callán go leor in amanna bhí sé gan cháim gan urchóid. Ní dhearna sé éagóir ar éinne ariamh. Dá bhfeiceadh sé comharsa i gcruachás, bheadh sé ar leic a dhorais i bhfaiteadh na súl le láimh chuidithe a thairiscint dó. Ba mhinic me ag airneál agus ag cuartaíocht aige, agus níor fhág mé a theach ariamh gan deoch a ól agus sult a bhaint as a chuid scéalaíochta. Bhí Úna, a bhean chéile, chomh lách cineálta leis féin. Ba mhór an stór scéalta a bhí aige, an mhórchuid acu fá dhaoine a raibh aithne aige orthu nó fá eachtraí greannmhara a tharla sa pharóiste le na linn. Bhí aois mhór aige agus bhain sé sult agus só as na blianta fada go dtí gur bhuail an tinneas deireannach é.
Ní bheidh do leithéid i nGleann arís, a Chonaill, grásta ó Dhia ort.
I líontaibh Dé go gcastar sinn.
Courtesy of the Donegal Democrat. 18 October, 2007.
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