Munster Express Online

The late John Delahunty, Life Vice-President of Roanmore GAA Club, passed away on Wednesday 17th February 2010 at Waterford Regional Hospital. John’s removal took place on Friday evening the 19th February from his residence at 17 Ashe Road to the Holy Family Church and he was buried in Ballygunner Cemetery on Saturday 20th February.

The funeral both on Friday night and Saturday morning was attended by very large crowds and by many officials, both past and present, from the GAA. The family of John were particularly happy at the large crowds that came to his home in Ashe Road on the Thursday night and sympathised with them and they would like to thank everyone for their attendance at this and at the church and burial as well.

John was elected as a Vice-President for Life of Roanmore GAA Club several years ago after his years of service on various committees within the club. But his dedication to his family outshone any allegiances he had to the GAA over the years. His family was what mattered to him at all times and though he really enjoyed his hurling, life still revolved around his family in the earlier days of his children’s lives. John as we all know was a Kilkenny man but came to Waterford across The Bridge when he was a young man to work.

He started in Waterford Ironfounders when he was 22 years of age in 1945 and worked there until his retirement in 1988. Of course, many people at that age would be content to sit down at home, relax and put their feet up for the rest of time but no, John still had plenty to give and when his son, Kieran, took over the Garden Shop in Delaney’s, O’Connell St, this was where the next stage of his life began. He spent 15 happy years in the shop and he became well known to a whole host of new people over those years. He had a great knowledge of gardening and he brought this with him when he started working with Kieran. Delaney’s was the stop-off for many hurling people over the years who came along maybe to buy something for the garden but mostly for a chat about hurling and more often or not about Kilkenny hurling. His presence working in the shop drew many people from South-Kilkenny into there and Kieran admits that it definitely helped takings when his father was working there. As Kieran said at the funeral mass, “There was only one boss in the shop and it wasn’t me!”

John of course was Kieran’s father and he really enjoyed following his displays for Roanmore and Waterford during the time Kieran was playing with the Waterford senior hurlers. He was also the father of twins Brendan and Anthony Delahunty who played for Roanmore in their earlier years, and daughter Teresa whose son, Sam, has played with the club as well. Alma his other daughter was a former Secretary of Roanmore GAA Club and served for many years on the Executive Committee of the club and her son Shane played and won many juvenile trophies with Roanmore as well.

All in all, both John and his family are steeped in the tradition of Roanmore GAA Club and, as such, his passing will be mourned even more.

Divided loyalties

Of course none of us really knew deep down whether he ever wanted Waterford to win an All-Ireland during that time or even recently because as everyone knows John, even though a hurling man through and through, was also an out and out Kilkenny man at heart. He used to say over recent years with the success of Waterford that he would like them to win one but we all knew that if Kilkenny were still going strong that at the end of the day he would still want Kilkenny to win the title. Many a night’s slagging went on in the Roanmore field whenever Kieran was playing for Waterford against Kilkenny during those times. It was all light hearted stuff and of course in later years as Kilkenny have taken over the All-Ireland series John enjoyed every triumph as much as their first one. John used to boast about how many All-Irelands he had attended and out of these how many Kilkenny had had been in and won. He loved hurling, he loved Kilkenny, had a smaller love of Waterford but most of all he loved his wife Mary and family.

Many tributes will be paid to John over the coming days and weeks, but it is a tribute from a former player from Roanmore, Oliver Cunningham, that I think really captures the essence of what John Delahunty meant to us in Roanmore and in gereral. This was posted on the Roanmore website by Oliver and it is fitting that it should be shared here as well.

“I was deeply saddened to hear of the passing of The Great John Delahunty. He was such an inspiration to all of us as we came up through the ranks and I loved the man dearly. I can always remember the time when chatting in Christy Doyle’s after one of our many victories that it came to light in our conversation that I had relatives in Kilkenny, and John’s response was predictable, ‘now that’s where you got your hurling boy’. We were all so lucky to have men like him around us as we matured as young boys into men. He stood for so many things that are good and pure in life and in his very simple way was able to impress that upon us. Many a time I had looked to the line with concern, doubt or need for guidance and the same faces with calm and reassurance never failed to ease the burden, John, Sonny, Danny, Michael, Paul Curtin, John Collins and so many others that sacrificed their time to make us feel like Kings of the game of Hurling. It is sad to think he won’t be walking those side-lines now, but I will be happy to know he is another Big Man in my corner from above. A hero of old passes away and another leaf falls from a tree that at one time had so many. I will miss John.”

All the tributes are well deserved but as his son-in-law I would just like to say it was a privilege knowing the man for as long as I did and he will be sadly missed by all his family in the years to come. John was a true gentleman.

All John’s family, his wife Mary, sons Kieran, Brendan and Anthony, daughters Alma and Teresa, grandsons Shane, Sam, Kevin, Ollie, Luke, Ross and Dylan and his own brothers and sisters and extended family will all miss John and are thankful for the long and fufilled life that was given to him. May he rest in peace. Ar dheis de go raibh a ainm. Noel Browne