A ‘legend’ of St Michael’s GAA Club in Galway is to be honoured by the organisation’s president in February in recognition of his outstanding service.

Tom Nally is to receive the GAA President’s Award at a ceremony early next month, having been selected as the Connacht recipient for the prestigious accolade by Uachtarán Chumann Lúthchleas Gael, Larry McCarthy.

And in what is an additional honour for the St Michael’s clubman, he is the only recipient from Connacht of the 11 winners who were selected on a provincial and code basis.

Speaking to the Galway City Tribune this week, Mr Nally said he was “absolutely delighted” with the news which, he said, came as a bolt from the blue.

“I was only told this week. The first I knew of it was when I got a phone call from Croke Park to tell me I was getting it.

“Nobody in the club knew anything about it either,” he said.

Instead of being nominated by club members, the award recipients are selected by the GAA president and Mr Nally said while he was Chairman of St Michael’s, he’d had a number of interactions with the current head of the organisation, Larry McCarthy.

One was when Mr McCarthy was invited by St Michael’s to unveil a headstone for the club’s founding members, Pa Boyle, in October 2021.

“The President visited after I organised a fundraiser to erect the headstone [for Pa] after he died in difficult circumstances.

“I suppose I interacted with him a couple of times as club chairman,” said Mr Nally.

Tom Nally was chairman of the club until December last, when he handed over the baton to Paddy O’Malley, who described Mr Nally as “a legend of St Michael’s whose contribution and knowledge of the club’s history is unparalleled”.

Having played for and managed several teams at St Michael’s down through the years, Mr Nally is also known for his refereeing career and was selected as Referee of the Year in 2006.

The Shop Street barber said he was honoured to receive this latest accolade which will be presented at a ceremony on February 2. This will be broadcast live on TG4.