Two great sportsmen who brought honour and glory to the West

IN a week of immense sadness for sport in the West of Ireland, it was consoling to reflect on the huge impact made in their distinguished careers by golfer Christy O’Connor, the Galway-born 1989 Ryder Cup hero, and Gerry O’Malley, the legendary Roscommon and Connacht footballer of the 1950s and early ’60s, whose personal popularity took him a long way outside the conventional boundaries of inter-county GAA rivalry.
Christy was usually called “Junior” with his famous uncle of the same name known as “Senior” or, affectionately to his friends, as “Himself”. In January 2006 they were awarded honorary degrees by NUI Galway. They were both born in Knocknacarra on the western side of the city and close to Galway Golf Club where Christy Snr first discovered the irresistible lure of the game, as a caddy, before moving to Tuam G.C. at Mayfield, Dunmore Road. It was in Tuam he met the woman he would marry on October 12, 1954, Mary Collins.
At the NUIG honorary conferring this month ten years ago, Christy Jnr said: “My Uncle Christy is the biggest single influence in my golfing life. I will forever be in his debt. He taught me everything. I always dreamt of being as good as my uncle but I knew I would never be better.”