Doris, Paddy
September 30, 2004
The late Paddy Doris
GAA Minor Secretary Paddy Doris passes on to his eternal reward
In September 2002, Longford GAA paid tribute to the 28 year contribution of Paddy Doris, who had served as Co. Board Secretary since 1974. A 'This is your life' style surprise tribute show held at a packed Longford's Backstage Theatre, and attended by then GAA President Sean McCague showed how much Paddy Doris was appreciated by the entire Longford GAA community.
Little were the audience to know then, that just two short years later, most of them would be returning to pay tribute once again to this remarkable man, only this time on the occasion of his sad passing.
Paddy Doris of St. Mel's Road, Longford and formerly of Cornollen, Newtownforbes, passed on to his eternal reward last Saturday, September 11, and his remains were brought to St Mel's Cathedral. Following funeral mass which was attended by a very large crowd, burial took place in Newtownforbes cemetery, returning Paddy back to where his life journey began over seven decades ago.
Born on St. Patrick's Day in 1929, he was the only son of Brian and Lena Doris of Cornallen, Newtownforbes. At 75 years of age, he is survived by his relative Katie and large circle of friends and colleagues who he encountered throughout his unique contribution to the community life of County Longford.
Paddy was known as one of Longford's true Gaels, who was involved in a wide variety of activities dedicated towards the improvement of underage structures within the Country.
Clonguish clubman Paddy was heavily involved in such great competitions as Og Sport, The Fr. Manning Cup, the O'Donohue Shield and of course Scor. Paddy and the late great Tommy O'Brien were two of the longest and most respected members of the Fr. Manning Cup committee. He was also a founding member of the Community Games committee in his native Clonguish, from the early 70's onwards.
It was his dedication to underage football particularly that marked him out for particular praise and tribute on his retirement, which was led by County Board Chairperson Martin Skelly and including Fr. George Balfe, Seamus Flynn, Brendan Barden, Mick Hopkins, Paddy Clarke, Eugene McGee and Jimmy Fox.
"Word came through last Saturday about the great loss Longford GAA had suffered. Paddy Doris was one of the great servants of Longford GAA, possibly the greatest, and the man will never be replaced. He left a legacy of all that is good about the Gaelic Athletic Association, and was always a true gael. He loved the GAA, and he believed in, and lived the practices and ethos of the association. He loved the games, football and hurling, and he loved the recreational side, the cultural side as seen in his involvement in Scor. He was also always interested in the GAA's most priceless asset, the youth. He slaved away nurturing young talent coming through, preparing lads for u-13 matches, u-14 matches, u-16 matches, and of course for minor matches in the Fr. Manning Cup," Chairman Skelly told the Longford Leader.
With big money pouring into the games, and into the organisational side with huge investments being made in coaching administration and public relations, the GAA is a lot different to the organisation it once was. But the foundations of the modern GAA organisation were built on the past 100 years or more, and his contribution was immeasurable right up until his retirement two years ago.
He happily gave freely of his time and effort, working two jobs reading ESB meters, and as an attendant in the old St. Joseph's Hospital. But his work with Longford GAA, on the administration side of things, with both the minor and senior county boards, was renowned.
Before an office was put into Pearse Park to conduct Longford GAA business from, Paddy conducted all his business from John Joe Reilly's pub on the corner of Main and Killashee Street. during his long reign with he minor board, he got involved with the senior board only in relation to the area of youth development. He also worked with Croke Park on this issue, and over the past few days a large number of national GAA figures paid their respects to his memory by attending either the removal or funeral service, including former GAA president Jack Boothman, Leinster Council Chairman Nicky Brennan, and GAA Director General Liam Mullvihill amongst others. It was perhaps appropriate that the year Paddy Doris retired from his role with the Minor Board, Longford Minors registered their famous Leinster Final win in 2002.
Paddy Dorris first put himself forward at the 1974 County Football Minor Board AGM, the year that Longford lost the Leinster Final and he told the Longford Leader after the glorious 2002 victory, that it was the highpoint of his whole career.
At his retirement tribute night two years ago, Paddy Doris was honoured by a number of players and managers who had dealt with him as an administrator over the years, with Shane Mulligan and Enda Williams of the 2002 Longford Minor Leinster Champions paying special tribute.
A number of former County managers were also on hand to pay their tribute to Paddy including Jimmy Gacquin and Ambrose McGowan, who managed Longford to success in the Leinster Championship and Fr. Manning Cup.
Also in attendance that night, was one of Paddy's longest standing friends and life long companions, his dog Ted, perhaps the most famous dog in the Longford GAA, who travelled everywhere with Paddy.
The celebrations that night were in sharp contrast to the very sombre minute silences observed at Pearse Park on Saturday last, at the Junior Championship Final, and Sunday, at the Senior Championship Semi final. And in an ironic twist to proceedings, a dog ran on to the pitch during Sunday's championship match, reviving memories of what was a regular sight of Paddy Doris running across a pitch to take Ted, who was always an enthusiastic participant in any GAA match he could get loose for, off the field of play.
Longford GAA paid further tribute yesterday to Paddy's memory with a function in his honour after the burial of his remains yesterday. That function was held in Aras Uí Bhrian, which is named after his very good friend, the late Tommy O'Brien.
At that function old stories, of which there were enough for a large book, and good memories were shared between all those who had the good luck to encounter Paddy during his long lifetime of dedication to the GAA, and his memory was toasted.
"It is a cliche, but is very much true of Paddy, the likes of him will never be seen again. I would like to extend my sympathy to his relative Katie, and his good good friends, such as Sean Byrne and Tommy Nevin." Chairman Skelly concluded.
Courtesy of the Longford Leader
September 2004
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