Gladly a GAA man

Delvin native Patrick Doherty, the GAA's Games Administration and National Match Officials Co-ordinator, acknowledges that many local GAA fans would gladly swap jobs with him.A full time employee of the GAA since 2008 when he left his role as an accountant with well known Mullingar firm E. Hamill and Sons to join the ranks of the press office in Croker, the former PRO of the Westmeath County Board admits that while it was a “wrench” leaving his employees of ten years he is thoroughly happy with his change of career.One of his most important roles in his current position as the Games Administration and National Match Offficials Co-ordinator is communicating any changes in the rules to referees, managers and RTÉ and TV3's armies of commentators and analysts. As a former press officer for the association, he knows the important role that the media play in the promotion of the game and has a good relationship with many members of the fourth estate, but he admits that he gets annoyed at some of the criticism directed at referees by people who “don't always know the rules”.“Without question referees make mistakes, they're only human. But some of the criticism is uncalled for particularly when the pundits or public are actually wrong in their interpretation of the rules. Referees are amateurs just like the players and by and large they get it right a lot more than they get it wrong”.Earlier this year Patrick was one of the officials entrusted with explaining the rule changes in the Compromise Rules code to Anthony Tohill's Irish squad and was full of praise for the way the current crop of elite footballers applied themselves to the job.“It's a great honour for these guys to represent their country and they take it very seriously. They were incredibly committed to improving their knowledge. I was massively impressed by them.”As for this year's compromise rules series, Patrick believes that the media were unfair in their criticism of the Irish players, particularly after the first test in Limerick.“The game mightn't have been a great spectacle in terms of scores, but it's not as if the players went out to play badly. The second game was a lot better and the Irish team gave a much account of themselves in the second game.“A proud Gael, Patrick says he inherited his love of the GAA from his father Eugene. Like many young men, Pat's own playing career, which saw him represent his county in both codes at Under 21 level, began with his home parish while he was still in national school. He enjoyed many memorable days on the playing field with Delvin and was a member of the junior hurling and football championship winning teams of 1988 and 1989.The year after he married Denise Gowran from The Downs in 1991, he transferred to her parish, which is where the couple have lived since, and began a new phase of his footballing life.A few short years later he added to the county titles he won with his home club when he won the Senior League in 1995 with The Downs.One of his finest moments on a football field occurred in 1983, when he was part of the Coláiste Mhuire team that claimed the school's first and, up to this point, only Leinster Senior Schools' Championship.The history making team featured a number of future county stars including Tom Ormsby, Paddy Walshe, Mick Conlon, Mark Kelly and Mickey Reilly but for Patrick the main man was Sean Hynes.“Sean was just class act. He was not only a magnificent footballer, but also a terrific leader. He was the captain of that team and was a great score getter. He had it all. Unfortunately his career was racked by injury afterwards.”Patrick hung up his boots in the lates 90s, but it wasn't too long before he was heavily involved in the administrative side of the GAA. He became the PRO of the County Board in 2000, a position he held until December 2007. He looks back on his years as part of the team at Cusack Park with very fond memories. Two men that had a profound influence on him during his time with the Westmeath County Board were Seamus O'Faolain and Paddy Collins.“They were superby administrators, there is no question about that. Certainly Seamus would have influenced me greatly as I worked very closely with him at the time.Both of them were a terrific support to me in my role as PRO. “A proud father of four boys (Conal (18); Fergal (16); Philip (13) and Donal (8)), Pat's sporting interests extend beyond the GAA.Although he will generally watch most sports, “bar horseracing,” he has a particular interest in that most quintessential of English pastimes, cricket.“I prefer the speed and snappiness of the one day internationals and the new Twenty20 game, but I love the different skills that are displayed during the Test games.”While enjoys watching cricket and enjoys watching the English team in action, Pat joked that, as an Irishman, he is incapable of supporting England in the Ashes series that is currently underway in Australia.However, his true sporting love will always be the GAA. The key to the organisation's longevity and central status in Irish society doesn't lie with the Colm Coopers and Henry Shefflins of this world, he says, but in the hard work and dedication displayed by men and women the length and breadth of Ireland every day.“It's the people, the volunteers at the club and county level that make the GAA what it is today. Without them the organisation is nothing.”