McDermott putting his shoulder to the wheel for Galway

A man with a big personality, charismatic Galway Ladies Football PRO John McDermott’s popularity hit an all-time high when he was feted as the ‘PRO of the Year’ at the LGFA’s annual award ceremony in Croke Park last February.

The awards night, at which Galway LGFA Secretary Geraldine Heverin was also honoured as ‘County Officer of the Year’, was one of the highlights of McDermott’s life. “As I said at the time, I’ll never get an All-Star so that was my All-Star. I was thrilled with it,” he begins.

Adding to the night was the fact that he was surrounded by family, not only his own immediate family of wife Marion and children Cíara, Martha, Úna and Sean, but also his extended family from East Galway and Dublin and further afield. “I had extra people at it, but they (LGFA) treated us like royalty up there. It was just an unbelievable night.”

Having grown up in the east of the county and now living in the west, McDermott is a well-known figure through his interests in hurling, ladies football, music and fishing. He is also a trader who handles all measures of goods and items, describing himself as “a go-getter”.

“If you want something, I’ll go get it for you,” muses the Ballyconneely father-of-four. “I deal mostly in boats –  I buy and sell boats – and anything like that. The yard is full of stuff if you want anything,” he laughs. “I also do an awful lot of fishing; I bring people out fishing as well. So, I do a lot of boating. My love for the water is endless, especially for the River Shannon and the Western Sea Coast.”

What he doesn’t say is that he also has a very caring and generous disposition, underlined not only by the attention he has shown to the elderly and vulnerable around Ballyconneely during the current Covid-19 crisis but also in the good-natured manner in which he treats people on a day-to-day basis.

In many respects, this could be put down to his country upbringing close to the ancient monastic site of Clonfert, and to his devotion to Our Lady of Clonfert. “She has looked after me several times,” he says.

“I’m from a family of eight. My father (Brendan) passed away three years ago but my mother (Martha) is 80 and is in very good health. She was a Golden Oldies All-Ireland champion singer and is still a beautiful singer.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.

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