John Maher on the many different aspects of town life

It"s 38 years ago since Tipperary man John Maher moved to Mullingar, to teach in the Commnity College, where ultimately he served for 25 years as school principal. Over that time, he has given countless hours to various local community groups, and is currently president both of Mullingar Golf Club, and of the local Rotary Club.'I was always of the philosophy that if you earn your living in the town then you must contribute to the town, and I think I"ve done that over the last 38 years,' he says.And contribute he has. It seems John has been involved in all aspects of Mullingar life since moving here. Secretary to the Chamber of Commerce for nine years, President of the Mullingar Rugby Club for three, John was even heavily involved in the Arts side to the town at one time, with a variety show called The Revue in the County Hall.'When I came to town first I used to play a bit of hurling but there was no hurling club in the town at that time, Plunkett"s weren"t in operation. So I played rugby with Mullingar Rugby Club, which were based out in Tarket at the time.'He became captain in 1974 and succeeded to President in 1983. During his time there, the Rugby Club won several Leinster cups and the grounds at Cullion were secured and developed into what they are today.'I"ve been busy,' admits John.Good prospects!John remembers moving to the town first, and how on a meagre teacher"s salary, he found it difficult to purchase a house, just like many young couples starting out today:'The funny thing is, when you look at Mullingar now and Mullingar in 1971 when we came here first, I was just after getting married,' says John.' 'I remember coming into the town and looking for a house. The only houses that were available for sale at the time were in Prospect. I think they were about eleven or twelve thousand, which for me - a young teacher having just joined the industry, on a basic salary of £714 a year, I couldn"t afford, so we had to go into rented accommodation in Auburn Avenue,' he said.'I remember the first house we bought was in Newlands and I sold that house for four times what I paid for it, and we bought a house in Beech Grove where we still live today. But when you think about the prices of houses now, it"s a different kettle of fish altogether.'John, and wife Carmel - also a teacher - are parents of four, and love living in Mullingar.'Mullingar has been very good to us and I hope that I"ve given something back to Mullingar,' he said. 'This is my home now, there is nobody left in my home place now, my mother and father have both passed away, there"s nobody there, there"s no attraction to go back there now.'We"ve made good friends here and I"d never consider living anywhere else.'"Foreign Games"Sport has always been a huge part of John"s life. A player of hurling, golf and rugby, his sporting interests are varied, but when he took up what one of 'the foreign games' - rugby - during the time the GAA ban was still strongly in force.'When I was growing up and in university, I played hurling. But, I tell you the ban was in at that time you see, where you couldn"t play foreign games, so I used to play rugby under another name,' says John.'I went to university in UCD and I played rugby and hurling, so I had to use a pseudonym, otherwise my local club would have been in trouble. An awful lot of people did it like you know.'My father, who was secretary of the Juvenile County Board in Tipp, Lord have mercy on him, I remember him bringing me to my first rugby match in Lansdowne Road, and he had to go incognito as well.'I was very very young at the time, about ten years old, but I believe it was the famous game when Jack Kyle kicked the drop goal against Wales.'It"s a game that"s been talked about all the time, it"s in the folklore, but beside us was a very famous hurler from Kilkenny who I won"t mention, and he was there incognito as well!'But it was the way of life at the time, they were the rules and you had to play by them.'His other fieldgame as he said above was hurling:'I think hurling is a fabulous game, very skillful and fast paced, athletic. It demands everything out of the person that plays it,' says John.So what does John think of Westmeath"s club hurling culture?'I came out of Tipperary where hurling would be the primary sport and football would be secondary, but the opposite is the case in Westmeath.'I think that for a county that prizes football more, I think hurling here does exceptionally well. It is concentrated in the north of the county, in Clonkill, Castletown and Raharney, and they contribute hugely to the excitement and enjoyment of the game, and they should be lauded and commended for it.'Golf presidentRight from the get-go John was a member of Mullingar Golf Club, becoming Captain of the Golf Club in 1989 and 18 years later, becoming President. Now in his second and final year as President, his term finishing this coming November, John explains his natural inclination towards the greens.'In the community college at the time, Albert Lee taught with me for many years, and he was very much into golf and was heavily involved in Mullingar Golf Club. So he encouraged me to join, and I did. He was way better than I was of course but nevertheless, I joined and the rest is history.'Albert Lee became President of the Golfing Union of Ireland and is the driving force behind the Scratch Cup - the leading amateur golf competition in Ireland.'The Scratch Cup started in 1963 and the first winner of the competition a very famous golfer Joe Carr, who is renowned as one of the best amateur golfers ever to play the game in Europe, and indeed in America as well,' says John.'The Cup has gone on from strength to strength since then and it"s become part of the golfing calendar. The proof of that is the fact that so many outstanding players have won it. It"s kind of a stepping stone for a lot of players, not alone for the Irish Amature Team but also to the professional ranks.'Darren Clarke won it, last year Shane Lowry won it and then went along and won the Irish Open: it"s the first time we"ve had the Irish Open and the Mullingar Scratch Cup being held by the same person.The Mullingar Scratch Cup has had a long list of famous winners, most of whom have turned professional, such as Padrick Harrington, Paul McGinley, Gary Murphy, Peter Lawrie, Timmy Rice, Johnny Foster, Colm Moriarty, Rory McElroy. So what is so unique about the course in Mullingar?'Mullingar was designed by James Braid and when he designed it he did so very naturally,' says John. It"s a unique type of course in so far as it"s a beautiful course, with fabulous trees and very well laid out. You have to be accurate because Mullingar has teeth, it"s ready to grab players at the first opportunity.'In the classroomJohn took early retirement from the teaching profession six years ago, but said his job was something he enjoyed immensely.'The thing I enjoyed most about it was I had great colleagues, we had a super school and I"ve always said that,' said John. 'We had fabulous kids, the students that came to us were the salt of the earth, they would stand on their head for you.'It always annoys me when I hear people giving out about the young people because they have huge heart and they are capable of doing things that we adults would never even think of. All you have to do is show them respect and motivate them, and that"s the key to it.'And I think anybody who is in teaching, who doesn"t have those principles, they are wasting their time. They"re not going to make it, they"re certainly not made for the profession. You"ve got to prepared to give an awful lot. You set your standards and you maintain them, and I think the only way you can do that is by you respecting them and they respecting you.'