Seán O'Duffy

Seaghán Ua Dúbhthaigh
1st Honorary Administrator of the Camogie Association
In office
1924–1980
Preceded by Áine Ní Ríain
Succeeded by Jo Golden
Personal details
Born 1885
Killawalla County Mayo Ireland
Died October 20, 1981
Meath Hospital, Dublin.

Sean O’Duffy (Seaghán Ua Dúbhthaigh) (1885–1981) was a sports administrator, largely responsible for running the Irish women’s field sport of camogie over a period of four decades.[1] The trophy for the All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship is named in his honour.

Birth and childhood

He was born in Killawalla, outside Westport, County Mayo, Ireland[2]

Career

A soccer player and referee in the early 1910s, he became a founder member of Crokes GAA Club and a GAA referee, handling up to five matches on Sundays and refereeing as far away as Innisfail Park in New York in 1930. He was one of the group of people who sponsored the movement to have the Jones’s Road Sportsground dedicated to Archbishop Thomas Croke. He was present at the reorganisation convention of the Camogie Association under the auspices of the Crokes cub in 1910 which resulted in the spread of camogie to 11 counties.

1916 Rebellion

A member of the A Company of the 1st battalion (Four Courts Garrison) under Commandant Ned Daly during the 1916 Rising and imprisoned in Staffordshire Prison. After his release he returned to refereeing, and played with St Finbarr’s Hurling Club and Geraldines Football Club.

Camogie Administrator

In 1922 he helped re-establish the Camogie Association and served as unpaid administrator of the game in Dublin, which had over a quarter of the clubs in the country in 1930s, and nationally. As “national organiser” he was in charge of the 1924 international between Dublin and London that served as an anti-treaty alternative to the Tailteann Games. He was elected Honorary Director of Organisation at the Camogie Congress in Conachy’s Hotel, Parnell Street, the following April and served in that role until 1980.

Identified with the anti-treaty position of the camogie association in the early 1920s, he was their representative on the Tailteann Committee in 1928 and 1932, refereeing the inter-provincial final, and an advocate of the new All Ireland competitions in 1931.

He was a moderate during the various controversies over the ban and organisation of dances that caused fissures in the Camogie Association between 1933 and 1951. He donated the O'Duffy Cup cup and other trophies for club competitions in various counties and college competitions.

Personal Life

He joined the Irish Civil Service in 1925 and worked there until his retirement, living in 50 Cashmir Road in Harold’s Cross, Dublin. In 1940 he married Kathleen McKeown from Omeath, a prominent camogie referee.[3] He died on October 20, 1981 and is buried in Glasnevin Cemetery.[4]

References

  1. ↑ "Camogie Archive". Camogie.ie. 30 June 2010. Archived from the original on January 28, 2012. Retrieved 30 June 2010.
  2. ↑ Connacht GAA
  3. ↑ Irish Times Aug 1 1953
  4. ↑ [Irish Press Oct 21 1981 Death of Mr Camogie]
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