Few people in his native Mayo were aware of the contribution of Gerry Connolly, a native of Rockfield, Claremorris, to the development and expansion of Athlone IT College over the past 15 years. It was only after his sudden death that news of his central role in various aspects of college life began to surface back home.

Gerry, or Ger as he was known to colleagues and friends in the Athlone area, died earlier this year in the Beaumont Hospital in Dublin after a brief four week illness. He was 64 and still active in the life of the college at the time he took ill.

The recent dedication of the Ger Connolly Atrium at the college reflected the immense regard in which he was held by all who knew him at the college and his great love to see Athlone IT become a central player in the third level college life of the country.

For a number of years Gerry and his wife Teresa (nee Dunne from Headford) ran Connolly's Shop in Shrule village. During that time Gerry was widely known around the border region of Mayo and Galway.

Back in the 1980s, he was comanager of the St Mary's club based in his native Barnacarroll which was more or less the Claremorris junior team at the time. He was a passionate Mayo supporter and attended league and championship games all over the country.

Gerry and Teresa moved to their new home in Breole, Taughmaconnell, a few miles out from Athlone, in 2008. Since 1995, he had been making the regular journey from Shrule to Athlone to attend to his duties.

Family, friends and colleague gathered for the recent ceremony which was addressed by Ciaran 0 Cathain, President of Athlone IT. He lauded the huge contribution of the Mayo man to the college over a 17 year time frame. "In his role as Estates Manager, he curated the expansion and improvement of the institute's campus, including the development of the Engineering and Informatics building. This building is amongst the finest facilities of its kind in the country, and we are honoured to name one of its atria in Ger's honour."

John McKenna, Financial Controller, spoke glowingly of Ger's immense work for the college during a period of massive expansion. He recalled Ger's wide-ranging career in construction and how he had worked in New York and England before returning home to Ireland.

"Ger came to AIT in 1995, initially as a Clerk of Works before becoming Assistant Estates Manager and then Estates Manager. He was involved in a great many projects as well as having a major input into the Institute Master Development Plan.

"He has numerous qualifications including a BSc in Combined Construction and Surveying (First Class Honours) and an MSC in Construction Management (University of Bath). Ger
was a member of the Architecture and Surveying Institute, the Chartered Institute of Building, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and the Association of Building Engineers.

"Ger didn't just do the conventional estates business. He sunk wells on the campus so we wouldn't have to pay extortionate water charges. He was an extraordinary man."

Some recalled a humorous reflection from Pat Timpson's speech at the funeral some months earlier. Pat, who deputized for the college President who was out of the country at
the time, said he only got to know Ger in 2009 but he would never forget him.

"The first time I saw him in action was at a tense meeting, nothing to do with Science. Three external specialists in suits with lap-tops and piles of reference files sat on one side of
the table. On the other side, with his little black notebook and his propelling pencil, sat Ger.

"For those who didn't know the professional Ger - when he went into full frontal confrontation on behalf of the College he was awesome. Like a man of war under full sail and, as
you know, when the good Lord made Ger, he forgot to put in a reverse gear.

"The result was a foregone conclusion - game, set and match to the Mayo man. So I knew I had the man to get the money and deliver on the new labs. And he did - at a time when some geniuses in Dublin had bailed out the banks - he got 1.6m to refurbish Science. I know that Ciaran, John and Cormac, and others, were all involved, but I believe Ger was the man."

Other colleagues referred to the Mayo man's easy going and generous nature which endeared him to so many as a 'man of the people'.

Another friend, Shane McDermott, said everyone had great time for Gerry Connolly. "People warmed to him, he was down to earth and treated everyone the same. He will be greatly missed in Athlone IT."

A number of neighbours travelled from the Barnacarroll and Knock areas as well as Shrule and Taughmaconnell to the ceremony. Among them was Tom Payne from Shrule, his travelling companion to GAA matches for many years.

His wife Teresa was joined by their daughters Maria and Geraldine while his sisters and brothers were among the gathering. Patsy travelled from the homeplace in Rockfield, Barnacarroll while Billy made the journey from Keadue and Dermot (a retired Garda) was over from Roscommon town. His sisters Mary Keane, Knocknagur, Tuam and Renee Flynn (Roscommon) were also present.

The naming of the Ger Connolly Atrium in Athlone IT is a wonderful tribute to a man who gave so much energy and enthusiasm to the college and who carried the Mayo flag with great passion and dignity wherever he went in life.

Courtesy of The Mayo News Tweet

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