Kneecap star Ó Dochartaigh gives back to his boyhood club Sean Dolan's

Kneecap’s JJ Ó Dochartaigh (DJ Provaí), showed he hasn’t forgotten his Creggan roots by donating a coffee cart and some group merchandise to help with fundraising at Sean Dolan’s GAC.

Ó Dochartaigh was the special guest at the club last Wednesday night as he officially handed over the coffee cart ‘Pitch N’ Coffee (named by under 11.5 player Odhrán Mellon) and Kneecap items, signing autographs and taking pictures with several fans as he did so.  

It has been quite the journey in recent years for Ó Dochartaigh and his Kneecap companions as they have hit the headlines nationally and internationally, but a trip back to his boyhood club took him right back to his formative years in Creggan.

“I lived probably about 50 yards away from here in Creggan Heights and this was the outlet for the young people back in the day,” he said.

“We could just come up here, kick the ball, and we were playing since we were under six. Dolan's offers that for the young people up here. All these young people up here, they're the best side of Creggan because they have this grounding up here and they have this sense of community that you don't get when you're running around the streets with all the head the balls of the day who have no direction.

“There's a big family thing up here with the Mothers & Others and all the da’s have their own teams. That’s all the boys I played with when I was growing up, so it has a big community theme. It gets everybody in the whole of Creggan to come together and gives them space. They also have plans to get Irish language running again in the club, so that community feel here is hard to whack.”

Ó Dochartaigh was part of the successful Dolan’s team which won the treble in 2009, and it has been impossible not to notice how successfully the club has evolved since those days. The change at Sean Dolan’s in the last 10 years alone has been extraordinary.

“It’s been massive,” he agreed. “We didn’t have football nets whenever we were playing. This was Piggery Ridge, but it has changed so much, even with the housing around it that feeds into the club. It’s the centre of the community, as lots of GAA clubs are in rural areas, but it’s good to see in a city setting as well.

“I was part of the squad which won the Senior Championship in ’09. I was up here when Hugh was the manager, then Geoffrey McGonigle, the glory days. We won a few things at underage as well, with various managers over the years, blitzes and leagues, so it’s good to be back up here.”

“This is where I grew up, so it’s nice to feel grounded again, especially when you’re in the public eye, and you’re running around an you just don’t know who you’re talking to and getting pulled left, right and centre, but this is a place where you can come and feel grounded. I know these people, and I know all these families, and I just feel comfortable here.”

Community

Sean Dolan’s Chairman Eamon McGinley insisted that Ó Dochartaigh’s donations to the club show just how humble he remains in the face of international stardom.

“Anyone who comes into the club, we always point out the fact that JJ was a member of our club and he's a good member of the Creggan community,” he explained. “He contacted us last year about the coffee cart and said that he'd like to donate it to the club. Since then, we have trained up a number of the young people, and we use that as a social enterprise, so whenever there's parties on or matches on, the young people would operate that. So again, it's about him giving back to the club, but also with all the fame and everything else that comes along with it, he's never forgotten where he has come from and I think that's really important to point out.”

For McGinley, the generosity of Creggan natives like O’Dochartaigh and James McClean provide great examples to the many young members of the club today.

“To me, Sean Dolan’s is an integral part of the Creggan community,” he continued. “More and more over time goes on as the club grows, it's great to see and it’s great to see here now, all the young people, that are here. But, again, it's that sense of identity, positive identity, and it fits very much into what Kneecap are doing around the Irish language, around the Irish culture, showcasing that and all the good that it is. I know there are times that people try and spin the negative, but looking past all the bluster, this is the bread and butter of what it actually is about.”