Maureen Grimes: The GAA club president who washed, folded, and ironed the jerseys

How fitting it was that the coffin carrying Maureen Grimes should be draped by a Douglas GAA flag as the club’s former president began her final journey on Saturday.

Standing outside St Columba’s church, where the funeral mass of Mrs Grimes took place, were numerous members of her beloved club, each one sporting the club’s colours, ready and waiting to provide a guard of honour and a final goodbye to a woman who has been described “as a complete and utter matriarch” of the club.

Maureen’s son Richard, during the funeral mass, touched on her deep connection with the GAA club on the south side of Cork city.

“She was involved in every organisation ever known to Douglas village. Sadly, far too many to mention here, but she did always keep a special place in her heart for the Douglas GAA club. She was overjoyed when she was nominated for club president, a role she cherished,” Richard told the packed congregation.

Douglas GAA chairman Aidan O’Connor led the tributes to Mrs Grimes, saying she was a most popular individual who commanded total respect from everyone in the club, young and old.

“She was such a woman. She was quiet and unassuming in how she went about her business and yet, people nearly genuflected when they came across her. She commanded such respect, without ever putting her name up in lights. It was unreal,” O’Connor remarked.

One of the gifts brought to the altar during the funeral mass was a Douglas jersey, Maureen having been renowned for her washing of the club jerseys over many, many years.

“She did everything and anything, no job was too big or small, but what Maureen was iconic for was washing the jerseys. Maureen liked nothing better than to wash two sets of jerseys and see them hanging out in her back garden, which was in the heart of the village.

“When you’d get the jerseys back, they’d be folded, numbered, and she probably went as far as ironing them on occasion. She did that for so long. Up until Maureen got sick, that was the base for jerseys.

“When we won the premier minor county title a couple of weeks ago, Maureen was sick at that stage, but she managed to get a message to me and she said, would you congratulate everyone on that. She was thrilled for the club. I was going in my own head, Maureen, you are sick, but she was still thinking about Douglas.”

O’Connor continued: “There are many generations of players, and you would have seen them at her removal and funeral, who would have such affiliation and affection for Maureen, they would have grown up with her.

“Some of the older players were reminiscing the other night how her home was a base after a game, we’re going back to the 80s and 90s here. Whether you were hungry or whatever you wanted, you could always drop into Maureen’s. Her home was like an unofficial hub in the village. Every club out there has someone like this. We have lost ours. That is some gap to try and fill.

It isn’t like we have a heritage of 30 county titles in our club. Our heritage is our people, at the moment. Maureen is one of those, and she is gone now. There is no replacing Maureen Grimes in Douglas GAA club. She will be sadly missed in the village, so sadly missed.

A post on the Douglas GAA Facebook page paid homage to Maureen Grimes, read: “It is impossible to measure the contribution of the Grimes family to hurling and football in Douglas but given that Maureen’s grandsons are among the rising stars in the underage section of the club, the future of this connection is secure. It is the selfless work of people like Maureen who have gotten the club to where it is today."