Middle East GAA chairman is home to shout on the boys
Lahardane native Gearóid Cronin, chairman of Middle East GAA, with former Dublin senior football manager Jim Gavin.
It’s not only on the pitch that the folk of Lahardane MacHales have been making an impression of late, but off the pitch as well.
While the club’s junior footballers have negotiated their way to Mayo and Connacht championship titles and now stand just one win from claiming a dream ticket to Croke Park, some 8,000 kilometres away one of their own is to the forefront of the GAA in the Middle East.
Former underage Mayo footballer Gearóid Cronin has spent the past ten years in the United Arab Emirates having moved to Al Ain in 2013 where he took on a job as a sport scientist. He immediately became involved with Al Ain GAA club, keeping his love of football alive while mingling with the other Irish abroad.
Gearóid’s girlfriend at the time and now wife, Crossmolina native Melanie Lavelle, joined him in the UAE shortly after, taking a job as a nurse. The pair met in Gortnor Abbey secondary school and are now living in Abu Dhabi.
A former member of Mayo’s U16 Ted Webb team, Gearóid was a strong midfielder and featured for Lahardane McHales at underage and junior level, winning a county U21 championship with the club.
His passion for the GAA endured even after he emigrated to the UAE, so much so that he is currently the chairperson of the Middle East GAA – a position he has held since 2021. Serving as a great ambassador for the GAA and working tirelessly in this role, Gearóid was central to organising the Middle East GAA’s participation in the GAA World Games in Derry earlier this year. This involved considerable fundraising and engaging with large corporations to obtain sponsorship. Gearóid has also held roles as secretary and vice-chairman of the Middle East GAA, and chairperson of Al Ain GAA where he again travelled to Ireland with the team to participate in the 7’s tournament in Dublin.
Gearóid, who is also a keen traditional Irish musician, has organised and co-ordinated numerous tournaments and events for the GAA in the Middle East and specifically the UAE, providing an invaluable outlet for Irish emigrants and contributing hugely to the vibrant Irish community in the country.
Gearóid’s brother Aodán is a member of the Lahardane team currently preparing for Saturday’s clash with Listowel Emmets of Kerry and Gearóid is home and will be in attendance to support his club and brother. But he’s no stranger to these return trips, having flown home for every All-Ireland final that Mayo has contested this past decade including twice in 2016 for the replay.
He has welcomed some notable names in the GAA to the UAE including the current president, Larry McCarthy, and former Dublin manager Jim Gavin. While he has also welcomed the Sam Maguire cup to the UAE, like all Mayo people he dreams – and is optimistic – of Sam Maguire coming west and holding it again one day in Mayo.
