‘Illness hit me like a tonne of bricks, so did the kindness that followed’

He’s a familiar and popular figure on the terraces of Pairc Tailteann where he acts as steward and indulges his passion for all things Meath GAA. But last October things changed for Tommy Nally.  Someone who had enjoyed robust health all his life Tommy was told the tiredness he was feeling was a major warning shot across the bows and urgent heart surgery was required. He tells JIMMY GEOGHEGAN how his recuperation was greatly helped by the family, friends and strangers who stepped in to tend to his farm.

 

Flabbergasted. That’s the word Tommy Nally uses to describe how he felt. “Massive” and “unbelievable” are other terms he conjures up to express his emotions. 
Tommy sits in the front room of his house in the townland of Irishtown a few miles outside Navan on the road to Athboy and talks about a chapter in his life that was turbulent and dark - but which also revealed the magnanimous, generous, good-hearted side of human nature. 

He chooses his words carefully to underline the the deep-rooted appreciation and gratitude he feels about the way friends and neighbours gathered around to help and support him and his family - at a time when they needed such support the most. 
The origins of the story goes back to last October when he felt “a little breathless.” Someone who had enjoyed robust health all his life Tommy wondered about that and what it meant. One thing led to another; one medical examination led to another. At the end of it all the prognosis was he had to have heart surgery. He had that surgery last December and a new chapter in his life began. 
In the weeks following the operation Tommy continued his recuperation. Initially unable to do any work around his farm he was helped by neighbours and friends who came to his aid. He didn't ask for it, they just showed up to volunteer their services. Happy to help someone who is known far and wide. 

Tommy Nally and his son Thomas. PHOTOS: SEAMUS FARRELY.

“I was flabbergasted the way the community rowed in, the help they gave me and my family, it was massive. The amount of phone calls I received from members of the GAA community, people who live far and wide, that support network, was unbelievable.
“It was really touching the lengths people will go to help, neglecting their own work in order to help out. It didn't surprise me but it's so touching when that happens. I think the day we lose that we will lose a lot but we haven't lost it.
“The illness hit me like a tonne of bricks, I was suddenly in hospital, I didn't know I was going to be kept in at such short notice but everything on the farm continued as if I was still here working away myself.

“I was flabbergasted the way the community rowed in, the help they gave me and my family, it was massive.

“It shows that willingness to help a neighbour, that generosity of spirit is still there in rural Ireland and it's something you can't buy. You'll always remember kindness, you would probably remember the other stuff as well but I have to say I haven't seen much of the other, negative stuff. What I've seen is kindness, that's all.” 
Since surgery Tommy has made some changes to his working life including a transformation from working as a full-on dairyman to a drystock farmer where his work schedule is less onerous. As part of his recuperation he goes for a brisk walk everyday. Tommy has started to do more around the land and, as he gets better, he intends to do more. Life without work is clearly something he finds hard to imagine. 
“I certainly don't see myself sitting in the house all day doing nothing.” That, you suspect, is the very essence of a nightmare for this man who was accustomed to going out every morning and doing what needed to be done around his farm.  

LIFE ON THE LAND
Farming is as much part of Tommy Nally's make up as his Meath accent. He grew up on a 22-acre Land Commission farm; helping out. 
Looking back now Tommy shakes his head and wonders how his parents managed to raise a family of three on such a small holding; his brother Mattie, sister Mary and himself. “They didn't have any luxuries and they worked extremely hard,” Tommy says about the unrelenting work ethic of his mother and father. 

Tommy loved farming and it was always something he wanted to do - the only thing he wanted to do. Life outdoors, looking after and rearing animals he found deeply satisfying work. 
He attended Boyerstown National School and St Patrick's Classical School, Navan but the confines of the classroom couldn't hold him. He wanted to be out there, in the open air, working with nature and the farm animals. 

He worked with his uncle and in the 1970s he inherited that farm in Irishtown, adding more land to the holding as the years went on but he's humble about his achievements. “I wasn't any better or worse than anybody else,” he adds. “What was in my favour is that I was in dairying, the most lucrative form of farming if we can put it like that. We had, at least, the regular milk cheque coming every month and you had the calves to sell as an aside.”
In the 1970s another very significant event happened in his life. One night in Beechmount ballroom he met Eileen a Galway woman who was working as a Primary School teacher in Beauparc. In 1977 they were married and went on to have a family of five - Padraig, Aine, Mairead, Deirdre and Thomas. 

GAA 
Farming and the GAA. They are two of the pillars in Tommy Nally's life. He recalls going to Croke Park to watch the 1963 All-Ireland football final between Dublin and Galway. The following year Meath played Galway in an All-Ireland semi-final. Occasions like that, the excitement, the drama, the colour engendered a deep affection for the old Association. Other factors were involved. 
“When I was growing up in rural Meath there was nothing else but only football for us, our entertainment was meeting the lads in the evening, playing in the fields in the evening. We hadn't money to go to the pubs, I've made many friends to this day through the GAA. I loved going to Co Board meetings and Pairc Tailteann for matches. Still do. 

“We might criticise the GAA but it's a wonderful organisation that has done so much for rural Ireland, bringing people together. When you see the facilities clubs provide in their local areas - we have to imagine if they weren't there how much poorer we would be.” 
The reality of life as a dairy farmer meant Nally didn't have time to linger too long after games. A visit to Croke Park was invariably followed by a rush home to do the milking. Even when Meath won the All-Ireland finals there was no time to hang around Dublin to drink in the atmosphere. It was back to Irishtown. Back to the Royal County. The cows were waiting. 
“Back then we were an hour from Dublin, we're not even an hour now. I could go to Croke Park but I also had to come home and milk the cows. If I was in Kerry I wouldn't have attended to many All-Irelands. We were blessed in that way. 
Tommy's immediate task is to get back to where he was. He is getting there helped by a brisk walk every morning along the road where he works. It's all part of his recommended exercise regime with his recovery, no doubt, helped by the fact he is neither smoker or a drinker.

On the morning the Meath Chronicle called Tommy's walk was interrupted by someone in a jeep stopping to talk. You get the feeling that's a regular occurrence. 
This most affable of men knows he is fortunate in many ways, not least because he made it through an illness he never saw coming. “I'm just so thankful to have got a second chance, there are others who haven't. I know of people who didn't get a second chance.”
He will never forget how - in his darkest hour - so many people stepped forward to offer their help. It was a manifestation, a reassuring manifestation, that the positive side of human nature is alive and well; that kindness, real, “unbelievable” kindness, is still to be found out there in the big bad world.  
That's something else that causes Tommy Nally's face to break into one of his familiar smiles. 

TOMMY NALLY ON...

HIS LOVE OF THE GAA
"I started playing juvenile football with Dunderry at about 10 years of age and that gave me an interest in football. Another big part of my youth and beyond was listening to Micheal O'Hehir commentating on a Sunday afternoon on the radio. We would sit around and listen with great interest and take in his wonderful commentaries from grounds all over the country. Then I would become Mick O'Connell or Tony Wall or somebody like that and re-enact the games. As a youngster that's the way it was. I had very little ability as a player but the interest, the enthusiasm, the memories from the GAA, and the friends I've made, have been wonderful." 

HIS LIFE IN FARMING 
"I often feigned injury if I can put it like that so that I didn't have to go to school so that I could stay at home farming. School wasn't for me, it never appealed to me, what I wanted was to be working outside, out and about and I don't regret it. Farming and GAA that's what I wanted and 50, 60 years later it hasn't changed a whole lot. You could say I found my niche and if I had my life to live again I would do the same again. I loved what I did, farming." 

ON TWO YEARS HE WILL NEVER FORGET 
"In 1995 Dunderry won the Keegan Cup and captain John Brady brought the cup back to the village with the team. The following year Tommy Dowd returned to the village with the Sam Maguire after Meath defeated Mayo. Two great victories, two occasions I will never forget. They were days when they pride of the parish really showed."