Seán Ó Síocháin (24 March 1914 – 2 February 1997) was an Irish

Gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...

er, hurler, ballad singer, broadcaster and

Gaelic games Gaelic games () are a set of sports played worldwide, though they are particularly popular in Ireland, where they originated. They include Gaelic football, hurling, Gaelic handball and rounders. Football and hurling, the most popular of the s ...

administrator. His

championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

career with the

Cork "Cork" or "CORK" may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Stopper (plug), or "cork", a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container *** Wine cork an item to seal or reseal wine Places Ireland * ...

and

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

senior teams spanned seven seasons from 1935 until 1941. Born in

Cill na Martra Cill or CILL may refer to: * Cill or sill, in water navigation, a horizontal ledge in a lock * Continental Indoor Lacrosse League The Box Lacrosse League (BLL) was a senior men's semi-professional box lacrosse league in the United States. In its ...

County Cork County Cork () is the largest and the southernmost Counties of Ireland, county of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, named after the city of Cork (city), Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster ...

, Ó Síocháin was the son of Daniel and Kate Sheehan (née Lynch). His father ran a small grocery business. Ó Síocháin was educated locally and, after qualifying as a national school teacher, moved to

in 1935 where he taught for 11 years. Ó Síocháin first played hurling and Gaelic football with the

Macroom Macroom (; ) is a market town in County Cork, Ireland, located in the valley of the River Sullane, halfway between Cork (city), Cork city and Killarney. Its population has grown and receded over the centuries as it went through periods of war, ...

club and won a county senior championship medal with the club as a seventeen-year-old in 1931. He later joined the Clann na Gael club in Dublin. Ó Síocháin won two more county senior championship medals with his adopted club. After impressing at club level, Ó Síocháin made his debut on the inter-county scene as a member of the Cork minor team in 1932. He subsequently joined the Cork senior team and made his debut during the 1935 championship. After declaring for Dublin he captained the senior team in 1938, however, Ó Síocháin returned to the Cork team the following year and continued to play for them until his retirement in 1941. By this stage Ó Síocháin was known nationally as a ballad singer and did some broadcasts for Radió Éireann on such programmes as ''Ireland is Singing'', ''Round the Fire'' and ''Balladmakers' Saturday Night''. He toured the United States on four occasions with Irish singers and was also a member of the Dublin Grand Opera Society. Ó Síocháin's career as an official with the

Gaelic Athletic Association The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sports, amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include the traditional Irish sports o ...

began in 1946 when he filled a vacancy for assistant secretary, resigning from his teaching post to work full-time with the association. He was elected General-Secretary in 1964, succeeding Pádraig Ó Caoimh. The title was changed to Director-General in 1972, with Ó Síocháin retaining the post until his retirement in 1979. He continued to work for the GAA and was appointed director of fund raising for the new Ceannáras building which was completed in 1982. Ó Síocháin died on 2 February 1997. His daughter, Orla Ní Síocháin, was a three-time

All-Ireland All-Ireland (sometimes All-Island) is a term used to describe organisations and events whose interests extend over the entire island of Ireland, as opposed to the separate jurisdictions of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. "All-Irelan ...

medal winner with the Dublin

camogie Camogie ( ; ) is an Irish stick-and-ball team sport played by women. Camogie is played by 100,000 women in Ireland and worldwide, largely among Irish communities. A variant of the game "hurling" (which is played by men only), it is organised ...

team while his son-in-law, Jack Ryan, won an

medal with Tipperary. Ó Síocháin's grandson, Shane Ryan, was a six-time

Leinster Leinster ( ; or ) is one of the four provinces of Ireland, in the southeast of Ireland. The modern province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige, which existed during Gaelic Ireland. Following the 12th-century ...

medal winner with the Dublin senior team.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:O Siochain, Sean 1914 births 1997 deaths Clann na Gael (Dublin) Gaelic footballers Cork inter-county Gaelic footballers Dual players Gaelic games administrators Irish schoolteachers Macroom Gaelic footballers Macroom hurlers Munster inter-provincial Gaelic footballers Musicians from County Cork 20th-century Irish male singers 20th-century Irish sportsmen