MJQ Irish Cultural Centre honors Donal Gallagher

EAST DURHAM―Irish eyes were smiling this past Saturday during the official dedication of the Donal Gallagher Gaelic Football, Hurling and Camogie Memorial Field.

Located at the Michael J. Quill Irish Cultural Centre grounds, the pitch was one of Gallagher’s proudest accomplishments in East Durham.

“Donal was a special person. He was hardworking, caring and always there to help,” said Ken Dudley, president of the Michael J. Quill Irish Cultural Centre.

“He was dedicated to promoting Gaelic football, hurling and everything Irish,” Dudley added.

Gallagher was a founding member and former president of the Michael J. Quill Irish Cultural Centre and known as “The Veteran” in the world of Gaelic football. He spent decades coaching and managing the Donegal GFC New York and led the team to six championships.

“It was Donal Gallagher’s vision to build a regulation-size Gaelic football and hurling field in East Durham,” noted Dudley.

Gallagher hailed from Killybegs in County Donegal and moved to New York City after finishing secondary school. He worked in the mailroom at Citibank on Park Avenue before working his way up the corporate ladder and eventually establishing his own financial consulting business.

But it was a call from his cousin Nancy Dorrian that would prove to be a turning point in both his life and in the story of East Durham.

Back in Ireland, Dorrian had started a business selling handknit sweaters and asked Gallagher to help market them in the United States. So, he opened a small Irish imports store in the Bronx selling not only the sweaters but other artisan craft work from the Emerald Isle.

Eventually, Gallagher found his way to the “33rd County of Ireland,” officially known as East Durham. He pitched a tent to sell his imports on summer weekends in the parking lot of O'Neill's on Route 145―next door to what would just a year later become his permanent location for Guaranteed Irish, now the largest Irish imports store in the country and possibly the world.

When Dudley met Gallagher for the first time 36 years ago, the self-made entrepreneur was working with fellow local business and resort owners to build an Irish cultural and sports center. The rest is history.

Today, the Michael J. Quill Irish Cultural Centre serves as a symbol of Irish heritage, hosting festivals, events and ceremonies. In addition to buildings and a massive pavilion, it features a reconstructed Irish cottage, brought over stone by stone from Donegal, and the largest map of Ireland with each county and its flag represented. There is a 9/11 memorial with a replica of the Twin Towers and a Mass Rock, symbolic of the clandestine outdoor altars used during the 17th and 18th centuries when public Catholic worship was outlawed in Ireland.

And, as Gallagher envisioned, it boasts a football pitch that is one of only two regulation-size in the country.

Dudley recalled back to July of 2021, when a Gaelic youth football team, the New York Celtics, utilized the field for their Catskills Tournament.

“It was a wonderful event,” said Dudley. “Donal was so happy to see our facility being used and seeing the realization of his dream.”

That sparked an idea and the board of directors for the Michael J. Quill Irish Cultural Centre unanimously agreed that the pitch should be renamed in Gallagher’s honor.

Sadly, Gallagher passed away in December of 2022 at the age of 78.

Kitty Kelly, his widow, said that while her husband would be proud of the tribute, it was not something he would have actively sought.

"He was always behind the scenes. He was the man directing everything... he never wanted any public recognition,” said Kelly.

“He would see this and he would say, ‘Oh, boy’,” smiled Kelly, referring to one of his trademark sayings.

Gallagher, she said, would have been standing in the back of the crowd with his hand on his chin, rocking on his heels with a big smile on his face.

“And when Donal would smile there was nothing like it,” said Kelly. “He would be honored and he would be overwhelmed that this is being done.”