MY CLUB: Garryowen FC
By DAIRE WALSH
HAVING failed to record a win in their opening ten Ulster Bank League Division 1A games this season, Garryowen FC of Limerick rediscovered their form last month with impressive back-to-back victories over Ballynahinch and Young Munster.
Their resurgence has coincided with the appointment of former Ireland head coach Eddie O’Sullivan in an advisory role, and Club President Christopher Barry feels that the presence of the Cork native has been of huge benefit to everyone in the club – which currently fields 18 teams from underage up to senior.
“The background to Eddie O’Sullivan is that Eddie O’Sullivan was a former player, and he answered the call shall we say when Garryowen were going through a pretty difficult period in terms of, we were playing quite well, but not getting the results,” explained Barry.
“Eddie is lending the benefit of his experience to his former club, and what we have found is that new ideas are being received very positively by the existing coaching staff, and hopefully that will bring everybody on.
“It took maybe just a slightly different perspective as to how we might re-engineer our recovery.”
The role of president is a relatively new one for Barry, but his involvement with Garryowen stretches back through a number of decades, even allowing for the fact that the Dooradoyle outfit are not the only club he has represented.
“Thomond Rugby Club would have been my first club, but I got involved as a player (with Garryowen) back in the mid-70s.
“This is my first presidential year. I would have spent 10 or 12 years as PRO for the club and I also had a couple of spells as Assistant Treasurer. I would have been involved in the coaching of the Under-18 team (in the past).”
In the time that Barry has been involved with Garryowen, the sport of rugby has moved into the professional era. In his view, this has had a negative effect on attendances at club games. But despite the problems that the domestic league currently faces, Barry does see a light at the end of the tunnel.
“One of the problems with the whole Heineken Cup set-up, and the RaboDirect, is that all the people that used to go to Dooradoyle, Coonagh, Rosbrien, or Tom Clifford Park, all decided they’d be better served going across to watch Munster play.
In 1994, when Garryowen played Blackrock College in Dooradoyle, there was 12,000 people at the game. You could probably take two noughts off it now. I do think it goes in cycles because I personally believe that the reality will set in, in post-Celtic Tiger Ireland and people will be happy with going down to watch a club game with their kids,” he added.