Games Promotion Officer has key role to play at St Eunan’s - John Haran

John Haran hopes that St Eunan’s employment of a full-time Games Promotion Officer at O’Donnell Park will help the club retain a solid foothold in what is a seriously competitive sporting landscape in-and-around the Letterkenny area. 

The closing date for applications for the post has now passed and St Eunan’s chairman Haran says the club’s decision to seek a GPO was one that had to be heavily weighed up before finally giving it the go-ahead. 

“It all came down to money, finance and could we afford it? We’re paying for this ourselves. We needed to have a really good look at this to see were we in a position to pay someone a full time wage for a year?  

“We’re very lucky to have the likes of Ollie Harvey, Damien Daly and Conall Dunne on the finance committee. They’ve done a great job processing all of this. When we were originally looking into it, there were loads of clubs, many a lot smaller than St Eunan’s elsewhere in the country, employing a Game Promotion Officer. 

“The likes of the Leinster and Connacht Councils are supporting those clubs by subsidising part of those wages. Unfortunately, that isn’t happening in Donegal and Ulster so we’ve had to bite that bullet ourselves”. 

As well as competition in terms of other GAA clubs in the locality, Haran explains that a wide variety of other sports means there is that constant battle to capture the attention and even the imaginations of kids in the area. And that task will also fall under the GPO’s remit. 

“I think it’s something like 22 other sporting clubs or organisations in the Letterkenny area with that same aim of attracting youngsters through their gates. It’s not just the likes of Letterkenny Gaels and Glenswilly in that traditional sense that provide an alternative. 

“We’re doing our best to promote Gaelic Games in Letterkenny. And that umbrella obviously covers all aspects of the GAA. Football, hurling, camogie, Scór, the Irish language, there are a number of boxes that have to be ticked. 

“We have ten or 11 national schools in our area and one of the tasks for the GPO will be to promote Gaelic Games as best they can there. Jim Clarke, who did such a good job previously in the schools has now retired. So it’s a broad job description in that sense”.