Nally Heritage Centre Opened
Sunday 22nd March proved to be a momentous day for the An Chárraig Mhor football club as it saw the culmination of over 5 years work with the completion of the Nally stand project at Pairc Colmcille. An Uachtarán Cumann Luthchleas Gael, Nickey Brennan was in attendance to officially open the ‘Nally Heritage Centre’ in the complex and was joined on the day by An Chárraig Mhór Chairman Mick Daly, An Chárraig Mhór President Peter Mc Callan, Pat Darcy Tyrone County Chairman and Tom Daly Chairman of the Ulster Council. A large crowd of dedicated members and supporters of An Chárraig Mhór listened to Mick Daly as he welcomed all the distinguished guests and expressed his delight at the opening of the heritage centre in the club grounds after a lot of hard work and commitment from club volunteers. He thanked the ‘steering committee’ of the heritage centre for working so closely with the club to allow this day to be reached.
Chairman of the ‘Heritage Centre Steering Committee’ Larry Sheeran commended all those involved in the project for their hard work and commitment to the vision of establishing a centre of knowledge within the Nally Stand. He expressed his gratitude to those who were involved in the construction of the facility and to those who were responsible for producing the exhibits now on show. Larry thanked the Lottery Heritage Group for their financial assistance. Speaking on their behalf, Angela Lavin thanked the club for their invitation and commented on the state of the art facilities available in the Heritage Centre. Going on to congratulate the organising committee on creating a facility that was second to none she expressed her pleasure that the heritage fund was able to provide financial assistance to make this dream a reality.
Finally, fear a tí, Cormac Mc Aleer, invited special guest Nickey Brennan to speak. An Uachtarán, expressed his delight in being asked to attend and spoke of the special place that the Nally Stand had in his heart having sat in it with his father at his first All Ireland Final. Later he went on to play in front of it many times and now he stated that he finds himself once again drawn back to the Nally Stand in most unusual circumstances. He went on to pay tribute to P.W. Nally expressing the sentiments of many when he said that he was as significant as Cusack and Davin in the founding of the GAA. The President then pointed to the significance of the club within the organisation. It was the grass routes, he said, that are the life blood of the GAA and nowhere more so than in places like Carrickmore who have been at the forefront in providing an environment for the growth and development of our games and culture.
The ‘Nally Heritage Centre’, he said, was yet another example of the foresight and ambition of An Chárraig Mhor football club. ‘Working closely with the Termonmaguirc Historical Society they have managed to create what is an exceptional centre for the preservation of local and national history’. He encouraged the young people in attendance to use the facility and to become involved in the work it is doing and stated that it is the responsibility of each generation to hand the organisation on to the next ‘in at least as good a shape as they were handed it’. He concluded thanking everyone for the welcome he received and spoke of the enjoyment he has had during is term meeting club volunteers the length and breadth of the country. It is they, he said, who have kept the GAA alive and he praised them for the immense pride they have in their local areas. As long as we have these people in every club, he said, the GAA is in safe hands.
At this point, everyone reassembled outside where the president unveiled a plaque to mark the opening of the facility. The heritage centre was then open to the public for the first time and large crowds moved through it well into the late hours.
