ON the face of it, Medtronic is a global leader in medical technology, employing approximately 2,500 people in Galway City. Underneath the surface, though, the company is a community in itself, sharing much the same hopes and dreams as villages and towns around Ireland . . . and these are no more reflected than through its sporting endeavours.

No doubt, Medtronic is a company that takes pride and encourages sporting activities among its employees and the old mantra of ‘work hard, play hard’ would seem to be very much alive in Ballybrit. The company fields a team in the Galway & District soccer league – they are currently top of Division 3 – it has an active golf society and, just last year, a new cycling club was established to cater for the needs of the ‘community’.

Of course, with many of the employees hailing from GAA heartlands across the West of Ireland and indeed further afield, the company has a strong presence in this discipline, despite the fact that GAA activities were only revived two years ago after a lengthy hiatus. In any event, Medtronic will be contesting both the All-Ireland inter-firms senior hurling and junior football finals this Spring. A notable achievement.

The first of these finals will take place on Saturday when Medtronic’s footballers travel to Cookstown in Tyrone where they will face building contractors, McAleer & Rushe (2pm). Within Medtronic, the national decider has generated some excitement, with a large following expected to make the trip north.

Manager of the football side is former Portumna hurling and Salthill/Knocknacarra boss, Jimmy Heverin – who took on the role this year – while his backroom staff consists of Cormac O’Conaire (Na Piarsaigh) and David Morris (Corofin), both of whom do the training.

O’Conaire has been involved since the rebirth of Medtronic’s inter-firms teams in 2010 – a move which was keenly sought by a number of employees, including Caherlistrane’s Pat Monahan. “There had been GAA in Medtronic before, and in CR Bard before that, but it had died away,” explains O’Conaire.

“So, we kickstarted it again two years and we actually beat Galway Gardaí in the Galway final in our first year. However the way inter-firms work, they progressed to the senior and they won the All-Ireland senior. Meanwhile, we went into the junior competition and got beaten in the Connacht final by Sligo/Leitrim Gardaí.

“This year, though, we won the league [comprising of junior and senior teams], beating Galway Gardaí, and then in the junior competition, we beat Thermo King in the Galway final up in Crestwood. In the Connacht semi-final, we played a company from Castlerea in Roscommon before we beat Mayo Gardaí in the Connacht final in Corofin.”

For more, read this week's Galway City Tribune.