Clara man to take over as secretary as vote of confidence given to Offaly GAA officers

A CLARA man will be elected as the new secretary of the Offaly GAA County Board in December. Padraig O'Meara replaces Shamrocks' club man Brendan Minnock, who has opted out after one year in the role.

O'Meara has been an excellent Communications Officer of the board for the past four years. He is the only nomination for that position but has confirmed that he will stand as secretary and will opt out of Communications Officer.

That means that a new Communications Officer will have to be found and clubs will be asked to make nominations after Convention, with the position filled at the first County Board meeting of the new year in January.

Those will be the only changes on the Offaly GAA Management Committee for 2026 with all the other officers returned unopposed. Chairman Tom Parlon and treasurer Frank Fitzpatrick will be back for a second year, along with all the other outgoing officers.

Brendan Minnock's decision to step aside after one year came as a surprise but Padraig O'Meara's willingness to take it on is not unexpected. He replaced Brendan Minnock as Communications Officer four years ago and has done great work in elevating Offaly's profile on social media in recent years. This was recognised recently at national level when he won a prestigious McNamee award for his work in promoting Offaly U20 hurlers as they won the All-Ireland U20 hurling title in 2024 – O'Meara was quick to praise a young Edenderry man Mark Forde for his input into developing footage of that never to be forgotten success.

Padraig O'Meara has a wealth of GAA experience. He followed a proud family tradition when becoming secretary of Clara GAA Club, serving for ten years – his father Brendan did 13 years as secretary while his grandfather Paddy O'Meara held that position for 16 years.

Padraig has also immersed himself at county level. Before becoming Communications Officer, he was secretary of Offaly Coiste na nOg for four yeas. He also served on the Hearings Committee for five years, two of them as secretary.

It has been a time of considerable change at County Board level in recent years. Durrow club man Michael Duignan, Clara's Dervill Dolan and Edenderry's Colm Cummins instigated a stunning upheaval six years ago, unseating long established officers with Duignan and Dolan doing five years as chairman and treasurer, Cummins four years as secretary.

Their tenure co-incided with a remarkable playing renaissance as Offaly won the All-Ireland U20 football and hurling titles in 2021 and 2024 as well as losing the 2022 All-Ireland minor hurling final. They generated unprecedented levels of finance and Tom Parlon, Padraig O'Meara and Frank Fitzpatrick will now be aiming to drive things on and continue the development of Offaly GAA – an upgrade of the county training grounds at Faithful Fields in Kilcormac and provision of a new all-weather pitch there is one of their major projects.

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The list of nominations for Convention is:

Chairperson – Tom Parlon, Coolderry;

Vice chairperson – Denis Hoctor, Carrig-Riverstown;

Secretary – Padraig O'Meara, Clara;

Assistant secretary – Pat Teehan, Coolderry;

Treasurer – Frank Fitzpatrick, Doon;

Assistant treasurer – Fr Arnold Rosney, Birr;

Communications officer – Padraig O'Meara, Clara;

Coaching officer – Carina Carroll, Ballinamere;

Irish Language and Cultural officer – Niamh Clarke, Tullamore;

Central Council delegate – Michael Duignan, Durrow;

Leinster Council representatives – Declan Ward, Crinkill and Ciaran Groome, Bracknagh.