Family Fortunes: A team photograph of me at industrial school led to romance

This photograph is from a copy of the Connacht Sentinel of July 1973. It was taken in the schoolyard of St Joseph's CBS Industrial School, Salthill, Galway, prior to the City League youth final. I am in the front row kneeling, third from the right.

A few years before this photo I did not make any of the school teams in the industrial school and was envious of the boys in the school colours of red and white. I felt discarded. I decided to fight this humiliation.

On match days I was made to do the gardening and glasshouse duties alone. This gave me my first experience of “me time”, of a tentative and emerging self-awareness. I enjoyed the many impressions of colour, light, smell, the touch of clay and plant and moments of contemplation.

On non-match days I trained to my max with passion against my various humiliations. After a few years I was given the school jersey to represent the school in a city league match.

Pulling on the jersey was the proudest moment of my life and I kept my place on the team. I got as far as two Galway City League finals in hurling, but lost both. I remember for the first final we beat every team, and the organisers decided the two top teams would play again to decide the trophy, despite our protests.

The opposing team had some much new and better players that had not played previously and they beat us. This was a regular occurrence when the industrial school got to a final.

In fact, our school never managed to win a city league final in football or hurling.

This photo was seen by a girl, Collette, who lived across the road from the school. She asked through a friend if I would go on a date with her. I agreed.

On Saturday afternoon I sneaked away from the crocodile queue as our school marched to the Estoria cinema, and Collette and I sneaked upstairs to the balcony. At least I won my beautiful first girlfriend through my sports photo.

We would love to receive your family memories, anecdotes, traditions, mishaps and triumphs. Email 350 words and a relevant photograph if you have one to familyfortunes@irishtimes.com. A fee will be paid