Spotlight on the sidelines
Kilbehenny scrubbed up as RTE's cameras came to town for the latest 'reality' caper, Celebrity Bainisteoir.
THE WIND has been teasing Kilbehenny all morning but by the second half it's getting boisterous. A camerman perched atop 30 feet of scaffolding looks down nervously as the braces start to wobble.
"He needn't worry about them" shouts one voice. "The trees will be on top of him in a minute."
The match and the crowd and the snappy weather are the furniture of any given Saturday at John O'Mahoney Park. It's the fluffy microphones that give the game away. Perched on the sloping bank behind the corrugated dugouts, the supporters don't know where to look.
Galtee Gaels, the unassuming parish heroes, are locked in a magnetic tussle with looser, quicker opponents. But the pitch isn't the centre of attention.
The grimaces and flailing arms of Jon Kenny, the parish's 'Celebrity Bainisteoir', are annexing more interest from the scattered cameras and huddled crowd. Intermediate football dramas have long dropped anchor in Kilbehenny. But they don't usually bring a television audience with them.
The Gaels are taking on St Mary's of Faughanvale, who have travelled all the way from Derry for a contest at the roots of the Galtee Mountains.
A parallel competition is unfolding on the sidelines between Kenny and journalist Nell McCafferty, his celebrity opposite number.
The entire occasion is rich with an air of novelty that all the argumentative wind in the world can't undo. For one overcast Saturday, an entire parish has mobilised for a broad display of local fervour. The cameras have come for the scenery. But they'll leave having sampled some local charm and five euro sandwiches.
Ger Condon is development officer with Galtee Gaels GAA club, a position he describes as a "general dogsbody".
For the past few weeks, his job description has meant helping to craft a standard of presentation fit for such a remarkable event.
"A lot of work went in. A lot of work. That said we were fortunate to get a home game. Even then until the film crew came here and saw the place they weren't sure. But the scenery alone changed their mind."
Once the fixture was set, the buffering began. Goalposts had to be painted, the wire nets sewed. Stewards in high-vis vests had to be found to divert the swells of traffic into the field next door.
"If this wasn't on, our dressing rooms would probably be levelled," Mr Condon admits. The dressing rooms, it seems, are why we're all here. All this Celebrity carry on isn't without substance: a cash sum is the prize for the club which emerges as overall winners in the competition.
For Galtee Gaels, victory means new dressing rooms.
Celebrity Bainisteoir featuring Jon Kenny and Nell McCafferty is on RT One on Sunday April 13 at 6.30pm.
*For the full version of this story see this weekend's Limerick Leader
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Weather for Limerick
Monday 21 May 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 12 C to 18 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 13 C to 18 C
Wind Speed: 18 mph
Wind direction: South
