Declan McCaffrey – Volunteer
Erne Gaels Chairman and Public Relations Officer Declan McCaffrey says his desire for football is right up there with anything in life and to watch his beloved Erne Gaels and Fermanagh play is what he loves most.
The 36 years old community Equipment Supervisor for the Western Health and Social Care is from the Belleek area and he along with Tracey have two sons Matthew and Daniel.
McCaffrey played for Erne Gaels for many years with players such as Rory, Raymond and Ronan Gallagher and admits he will always remember the Division 1 League title success in 1996, “Lisnaskea had beaten us in the Championship semi-final that year by a point so it was sweet revenge in the league final, they were hot favourites but we got the better of them and won 1-12 to 0-4 in a terrific performance. Our team that year was magical, The Gallagher’s, Tunney’s, Wards, Eddie O’Reilly along with older players like Arthur McCaffrey and Liam McCauley to name just a few.”
McCaffrey got involved with Erne Gaels Club executive in 2012 when he took charge of the PRO position and Youth officer, as well as holding both to this day he also managed the reserve side in 2012 and 2013. In late 2013 McCaffrey was then approached to take over as Erne Gaels Chairman, “I knew JJ Dolan was stepping down and at first I was reluctant because I felt I was still a bit young and people may think I didn’t have enough experience, but come the AGM I took the post and I haven’t looked back since.”
He continued, “It’s a tough job, behind the scenes there is alot of work running a modern day GAA club, my objectives when I took over was to get the club on the right road and laid down various schemes, Club Maith for example. I wanted a number of different committees up and running, we got parents to come on board of youth players and we now have 30 qualified foundation coaches and 4 including myself as Level 1 coaches.”
The Erne Gaels youth system have recently done exceptionally well with Under-12s, Under-14s and Under-16s all capturing league titles over the last few years while the Minor squad have been in 3 of the last 4 Fermanagh Championship finals, winning 2 of them.
So with the players now performing on the field and a strong nucleus of young players coming up through the Erne Gaels ranks what is next for the Fermanagh/Donegal border club? McCaffrey states there is plenty more still to do, “We are going well with administration, we have got new blood into the Club executive, our facilities are right up there with the best in the County, we have recently completed a tarmacking scheme and finished our floodlights, longer term a new stand for the club is very much needed.”
Overall all Erne Gaels players and supporters want is the return of the Fermanagh Senior Football Championship crown and with people like Declan McCaffrey working tirelessly in the background that time may come sooner than people think.
