Joseph Patrick Gillin was born between the bridges in 1880, and attended the Model School. (There is, incidentally, some confusion over the proper spelling of his name: both variations of his surname are used indiscriminately in the press and in Gillin’s own advertising material.) He was proprietor of the Athletic Bar in Darling Street, and his mother ran a House Furnishing Shop and Undertakers in Townhall Street.
 
 In the early part of his footballing life appeared in goal for St Michael’s Hall Celtic, usually known as Enniskillen Celtic, though it is as an administrator and organizer that he made his mark.
 
 An article in The Fermanagh Times in May 1903 covering the supper at an Enniskillen Celtic Dance in the Townhall says that “this department, being in the capable hands of Mr Joe Gillen, left nothing to be desired.”
 
 In 1903 he was club chairman, and Celtic had their greatest season in 1905 when they won the inaugural Mercer Cup, the Wilde Charity Cup, and best of all the prestigious North West FA Junior Cup.
 
 Joe Gillen was appointed Secretary of the League in May 1906 and remained in that position until the advent of the Great War.
 
 Despite his relative youth, he had a major influence on the direction which the then Fermanagh and South Tyrone League took. In September 1906, Gillin and Treasurer George Ford attended the IFA AGM and secured a grant of £50 to help development. The following year, Gillin and Forde represented the League to prevent its assimilation into the North West FA, and persuaded the parent body to create a new Divisional association, the Fermanagh and Western, with a remit as far as Galway, Mayo and Roscommon.
 
 Gillin also secured a number of prestigious matches for the new Divisional Association. The Junior Cup Final of 1908, between Willowfield and Glenavon Reserves was played before a huge crowd, paying sixpence each, at Celtic Park., and the following year the semi-final, and the semi-final replay, of the Intermediate Cup between Glentoran II and Sligo St Mary’s were also held at Celtic Park.
 
 Gillin’s greatest coup, and maybe it was publicity stunt, was when he secured the services of the best-known referee of the time, the Scot, Tom Robinson, known as the King of the Referees, for the Mulhern Cup Final of 1909. Robinson had refereed many Cup Finals and Internationals, including the match where Harry Mercer won his cap, and it is reported that hundreds turned up to see him rather than the two teams, Enniskillen Celtic and Sligo St Mary’s. When Robinson died some twenty years later, the Impartial Reporter carried his obituary, and remarked that the 1909 Mulhern Cup Final was still remembered for Robinson’s appearance.
 
 Gillin’s influence in IFA circles is perhaps best illustrated by his appointment as Linesman for the England-Ireland International of 1909, played at Valley Parade, Bradford. In those days, the role of the touch judge was large an honorary one, rather than an active one, similar to rugby until relatively recently, and Gillin was presented with his linesman’s flag, which is on display at Ferney Park at present.
 
 At the 1909 Fermanagh and Western AGM, the Chairman, Mr Charlton, in proposing the re-election of Gillen as Secretary said that he did not know what they would do without Mr Gillin, not only as Secretary, but representing the Association at the IFA, and attending the sittings of the Rough Play Committee.
 
 In 1910, the Junior Cup Final was again played in Enniskillen, when Derry Guilds met Belfast Celtic Strollers at Celtic Park.
 
 Organised football was suspended for the duration of the Great War, by which time Joseph Gillin had entered the world of local politics, and by the time it resumed in 1919, Gillin focused his energies in that direction. As Chairman of Enniskillen Urban District Council, “he achieved universal acclaim for his wise management of urban affairs and his deep and abiding interest in the welfare of the ratepayers. He presided with dignity and ability at Council Meetings and was respected alike by his political friends and at Council Meetings and was respected alike by his political friends and opponents, for while he remained a staunch Nationalist, he distributed as Chairman even handed justice and fair play.
 
 These last words appear in his obituary in the Fermanagh Herald. Joe Gillin died unexpectedly in 1939 at the age of 59, and the Herald further reports that “the numerical proportions and representative capacity of the funeral cortege was in itself a high tribute.” On his coffin was a beautiful wreath from the IFA.
 
 Joe Gillin’s contribution to the birth and infancy of the Fermanagh and Western cannot be overestimated, and he is more than worthy of inclusion in The Hall of Fame.