In any community, there are people who are both beloved and relied upon for the skills they have which lead to the betterment of all and sundry. Whether that skillset is their ‘official’ job or a hobby which in turns renders them an invaluable asset to others.
In our locality, that calls to mind the Hanley family, manufacturers of hurls and suppliers of petfood. The patriarch of which, the late John Hanley, was of such esteem and status in the area that he is still spoken of to this day, more than four decades on from his passing.
And then, into the other category you had somebody like the late Tim Murphy who – although fitted with hands like grain shovels – was ironically gifted and sought after for performing the most delicate of work, repairing watches and clocks.
Likewise, if anyone ever had the misfortune of ending up with a dent in a vehicle, the standard and time honoured response has been “Head over to Patsy Farrell and he’ll sort you out”. How many of us did he sort over the years? Lord knows, but, Patsy was a friend and helper to so many. Including performing emergency welding on certain wheelchairs when the need arose!
Though in terms of the latter, I suspect there were times – depending on what part of my machine needed repairing – he mightn’t have even noticed what the piece was or to whom it belonged. But then, such was his quiet and unassuming way, no fuss would be made about it anyway. It would be a case of ‘needed to be done, was done’ and no more about it.
Of course, outside of family life and the music scene, Patsy’s greatest passion in life – and indeed that of his wife Ann (nee Coyne) was Kilbride and Meath GAA. Now, on the club side of things, during the mid to late 1960s and early to mid 70s, Kilbride were The Beatles of Meath football. Not just due to the hair do’s either!
No, they were Meath football royalty. Including but not limited to, the Mighty Quinn brothers and Pat Rooney and Paddy Reilly and Pat Bruton and the Sullivan brothers were the celebrity A-Listers of their footballing times. And, for as good as the players undoubtedly were, there were others who made significant contributions too. Foremost among them two dear friends of mine now reunited in the football field up yonder – Patsy and Tommy Mahon.
Obviously, both men were well into their active service to all things GAA by the time I became properly attuned thereto in the late 1980s and early ’90s. That, however, didn’t preclude one from being wholly cognisant of the role both men had played up to that point and continued to for as long as health allowed in both cases.
In Tommy’s case, that came in the guise of him being a mentor with at least three Meath All Ireland winning teams at Minor and U-21 level. Whereas Patsy’s time to shine came when he and Ann – along with the legendary Jacksie Kiernan – celebrity status now assured after his Prime Time appearance – were among the founding members of the Meath GAA Supporters Club.
Which, as well as providing match tickets and transport to and from matches for those who join up, have raised serious amounts of money for Meath team holiday funds after our lads had brought glory and joy to the masses, contesting and on four occasions winning All Ireland Finals.
Furthermore, as was always the case, Patsy and Ann went above and beyond for the cause. Only late last year when going through stuff after the death of my own mother was the Kilbride Motors calendar for 1997 encountered. Produced and sold in the aftermath of the ’96 Sam Maguire success. With, you’ve guessed it, money from sales going to the All Ireland Champions’ holiday fund.
Then, three years later when there was cause for similar trips in celebration, Patsy, thinking outside the box was to the forefront of working in conjunction with Sean Boylan himself and Kepak in organising and bringing to fruitition a framed, autographed photo of the entire playing panel, backroom team and Co Board officials of the time which I think went on sale for something in the region of £800.
And, in a development for which I am now poignantly eternally grateful, Sean gifted me one of the framed treasures at the end of that year.
Speaking of grateful, one need only look at the condolences pouring in from former Meath players such as Niall Kelly, Jody Devine, Mick O’Dowd, Tommy Dowd, Donal Curtis and others to see how much Patsy meant to so many.
We were blessed to have crossed his path. Ni beidh a leithid ann aris.
Leave a Reply