Gifted Galway GAA players to get benefits of grants scheme

FORMER All-Ireland winning Galway senior ladies football manager, PJ Fahy, has set up a new sports scholarship scheme for Gaelic games players, male and female, under the umbrella of his hugely successful company, ECC Timber Products, in Corr Na Mona.

Providing financial assistance for young students who are in third-level education or about to enter third level education, Fahy hopes this scheme will support students to maintain a dual focus on academic and sporting progression.

In the inaugural year of the scholarship scheme, Glenamaddy and Galway U20 footballer Conor Raftery and Kilkerrin/Clonberne and Galway ladies footballer Hannah Noone have been named as the first recipients of the generous scholarships, which are worth €10,000 – or €2,500 per completed year – in third level education.

Although two footballers benefit this year, Fahy has vowed to extend the scholarship to four new recipients in 2021 to include Galway hurling and camogie. This will mean that by the fourth year of the initiative, the scholarship scheme could potentially be subsiding 14 Galway athletes.

Congratulating this year’s recipients, Fahy, who is the founder and managing director of ECC Timber Products, says both players CVs speak for themselves, with Raftery and Noone each having captained Galway in their respective codes at various levels, including minor.

“Conor Raftery captained the Galway minor footballers two years and he also plays hurling with Ballygar and, by all accounts, he could easily have been on the Galway minor hurling team as well because he is equally adept at both sports,” says Fahy.

“So, he is a unique young fellow and it’s not just the unbelievable skill he possesses. The way he carries himself and the modesty of the young fellow at his age – I don’t think he is 19 yet – you would not meet a nicer young man than Conor Raftery.”

Indeed, Glenamaddy man Fahy has been a long-time admirer of Raftery, stating it was no surprise to see the scholarship recipient excel in the Galway jersey. “So, I have no doubt he is going to be a superstar and I would be surprised if he is not in with the senior squad in the coming years.”

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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