STUNNED is the only word to describe the feeling of most people when they learned on Saturday that Gerry Barry had unexpectedly died that morning. His death was not something that anybody, least of all his family circle, expected and it was difficult to believe the news.
Gerry was one of GAA’s best known officials throughout Ireland. He served at the highest table and was never backward at battling for Antrim’s cause. He was a lifelong GAA man who lived the sport throughout his life, in many areas, mainly as an official but also as a player in his younger days. He served his club St Gall’s, of which he was a trustee, and Antrim, throughout his life and defended them both to the hilt.
Gerry Barry jumped into the Antrim secretary’s seat in the mid-eighties and kept it warm for around 10 years. He was also fixtures secretary and by Sunday night he, usually, had the Antrim club results and tables well up-to-date. He represented his county, manfully, at Ulster Council level for many years too and he was a regular at Congress where he rubbed shoulders with presidents and fellow delegates alike.
Gerry was a highly efficient secretary. He knew the job and the rules inside out and could not be hoodwinked. Nobody could pull the wool over Gerry’s eyes and he didn’t suffer fools gladly.
He lived life by the letter of the law and, no doubt, the same qualities he showed in his GAA work he also demonstrated in his job as primary schoolteacher, from which he retired a few years ago.
What might not be so well known is that Gerry was a keen footballer and hurler with St Gall’s in his younger days, with hurling possibly being his greater love. Certainly, what few followers of GAA outside of Antrim may not recall is that he managed an Antrim minor football team to win the Ulster title in 1964. A couple of years ago, he received a presentation for that deed to mark the 50th anniversary of the occasion.
Winning that title must, surely, have been a major moment in his life, but others undoubtedly were Antrim reaching the All-Ireland SHC final, against Tipperary in 1989 and St Gall’s winning the All-Ireland Senior Club Championship.
Gerry’s role as county secretary was a hard act to follow and the present full-time secretary of the Antrim County Board, Frankie Quinn, agrees with that sentiment: “When I was growing up, he was the man I always wanted to be. He was my idol as I admired the way he did his work as secretary.
“Since I became secretary of the county board he has been very supportive, dropping in regularly to see if I needed any help. We will all miss him greatly.”
No doubt that is very true, but the ones who will miss Gerry Barry most are his wife Paddy, sister Moyra and the entire family circle. T McG
