GARRY SCOLLARD.
Just seven days after the passing of Tommy McLoughlin and Kevin Barry another Club stalwart – Garry Scollard – passed away peacefully, twenty years ago on this day (Sunday, 27th February 2000). Many people still claim that the Funeral Oration given by Timmy Sheehan in Rath Cemetery on the day of Garry’s burial was the best ever Oration delivered in such circumstances and will be difficult to be surpassed. To mark Garry’s anniversary we give below Timmy’s Oration in full.
“For followers and lovers of Gaelic Games, today we all say a last farewell to one of its greatest ambassadors. The Association is made up of many vital components, each of which, in their own way, help to maintain its existence and ensure that with each passing year it continues to thrive and expand.
Garry Scollard was a model in all aspects of Gaelic games. On and off the pitch, his enthusiasm and application were invigorating. His career wasn’t always laded with success. Indeed, initially, he played through many barren years, both in the hurling and football fields. For Garry and, indeed, for many other super troupers of the Rock club, hurling on occasion spelled heart-break for him. The unluckiest Rock team ever agonisingly failed in three championship deciders – two of which were lost by a solitary point. These were occasions which could well have broken the spirit of the very bravest athlete. But Garry Scollard, as he did throughout all his life, picked up the pieces, refocused his thoughts and energies and triumphed over adversity.
1973 was a year which will forever remain firmly in the minds of Rockies young and old. The 37 lean years were bridged with the ultimate prize – the county senior championship crown. Significantly, Garry was a shining light as a cornerstone in the full-back line, alongside his great friends – and hurling colleagues – John Barry and Mike McCarthy. Fortune finally smiled bravely on three of the club’s most outstanding dual players, as indeed it did at the other end of the pitch where Garry’s boyhood friend from The Hill (Bracker) swooped for a crucial goal – playing in the opposite corner to the man who singularly inspired the golden era of the Seventies – Billy Curtin. At the helm was one of Garry’s greatest friends, Jackie Power. In terms of its significance and the hysteria it aroused it was a special sporting occasion which could never be surpassed.
Two more county championship successes followed in 1975 and 1976, en route to Dublin for the one and only All Ireland club title in 1977. Garry, and indeed all of us who had the honour of being part of the Rockies greatest success, had scaled the greatest peek of all. It was an era when all of our wildest dreams came to fruition and a time when life-long friendships were formed – lasting to this very day.
It wasn’t just the Club that Garry served with such distinction. He wore the green and gold of Kerry on the hurling fields of Ireland with pride and passion and tasted glory with the Kingdom in 1976 when the county captured the All Ireland B title and went within a whisker of eliminating Galway at the quarter-final stage of the senior All Ireland in a never to be forgotten encounter in Limerick.
Tragically, Garry’s career was cut short in 1978 in an accident which left us all shocked and saddened. But the bravery which featured so prominently throughout all his playing career once again surfaced as Garry slowly picked up the pieces and rebuilt his life with the help of his beloved and caring wife, Bridie and his son Gerard, both of whom he loved and admired greatly. His enthusiasm for Gaelic Games and indeed all sports never waned and his support for Club and County was never less than one hundred per cent.
Never one to hog the lime light on a big occasion Garry, with Bridie alongside, supported all grades of competition in all corners of the county and his advice to aspiring Rockie youngsters was always positive and encouraging. He was, in essence, the complete Club man – always in the front line on and off the pitch, an unsung hero in many administrative capacities and an inspirational figure when he crossed the white line with the Black & Amber on his back.
When his playing career was over he never wandered far from his roots, and Connolly Park was a second home for a dual player who will always be remembered as one of the all-time greats. With Garry, all of us ploughed through years of blood, sweat and tears and we shared many wonderful moments together. The laughter and the love will always remain even when the medals and mementoes have lost their shine and significance.
It was wonderful to have known a man whose values of life and sport were impeccable and whose courage was unequalled, on and off the pitch. We will all meet again sometime – a Rockie union in the sky. But, for now, for the moment, farewell my great friend and colleague and as Fr. Micheál was always proud to say – thanks for the memories oul stock”
