‘Things like this don’t happen to me,’ says modest Mum of the Year Maureen

GIVEN the demanding schedule she sets herself, it’s a wonder Maureen O’Connell gave herself a long enough break to make it to the finals of the Woman’s Way/John West Mum of the Year contest.

But it’s just as well she because the Tuam, Co Galway, mother-of-four won the top award despite insisting with shock: “Things like this don’t happen to me.”

Maureen, who won out of an entry of over 1,200, was nominated by her 17-year-old son John, who felt she deserved wider recognition for her enormous devotion on the home front and beyond.