GAA’s lost generation

LAST month Eamon Fitzgerald packed his things, said goodbye to his mum and dad and made his way to Sydney via Shannon, London and Kuala Lumpur. It will be some time before he returns and, in that, he wasn’t alone.

Gerry Callaghan, his friend and club-mate from Tournafulla in west Limerick, clutched a one-way ticket of his own. So, too, did three friends from Castlemahon, 20 minutes down the road. Five more young men squeezed out of this island by the economic nightmare.

“I have a brother in Sydney, Anthony. He has sorted me out with a job,” said Fitzgerald, who lost his job after Christmas. “He is there five or six years. I’m happy about it in one way but you’ll be a bit lonesome leaving home. I’ll stick it as long as I can. There’s nothing to do here.”