Pat O'Loughlin

Pat O’Loughlin discusses the role that Gaelic games played in his childhood – from listening to match commentaries on radio to informal games of ‘rush-in’ in primary school and from organised games in De la Salle in Ballyshannon to the juvenile teams in Belleek. He charts his involvement with Gaelic football from Belleek to London, Belfast and back to Fermanagh, where he received a call-up to the county’s junior football team. He discusses at length Fermanagh’s All-Ireland winning junior championship campaign – including the training behind it - of 1959. This was the county’s first such title. O’Loughlin moved to Castlederg in 1962 and he reflects on the relative status of soccer and Gaelic football in the area when he arrived. He talks about becoming involved with underage teams, his weakness as a trainer, the value of the GAA to young people, the role of sport in communal relations between Protestant and Catholic. In addition, he comments on the growing prominence of women in the GAA and his daughter’s previous experience of Scór. Finally, he stresses the necessity of instilling skills at an early age.