Áine Ryan
‘THE Mother of Westport United’ has been laid to rest. Little surprise the club chairman, Frank Gillivan christened the late Mary Gannon with that maternal soubriquet. Steadfast as a a shining star, and dependable as a rock, she was there, on the sideline in hail rain and snow, by all accounts.
Tragically, after a long illness Mary Gannon (nee Coughlan) was laid to rest at Aughavale cemetery on Sunday afternoon last.
Speaking last night to The Mayo News, Frank Gillivan said: “Mary was a great worker for the club. She may have been quiet on the sidelines but she worked tirelessly for the club. Every weekend, herself and her son Kenneth, our club PRO, would sell lotto tickets at the Quay. Mary had a way of getting people to part with money that was unbelievable.”
He said her sad passing had left a big vacuum in the spirit of Westport United, who marked he passing with a guard-of-honour by club members and the cancellation of all matches on Sunday last.
Mr Gillivan also observed that ironically last November when the club made a presentation to her (see pic), she was very unwell.
“I thought she had the flu on the night but two days later she was diagnosed with the tumour,” Frank Gillivan said.
Giving the eulogy at her funeral Mass, her son Kenneth also praised his later mother’s impressive work ethic, observing that ‘wherever she worked there was no boundary as to slow-down’.
“She gave the term of the rat race a whole new meaning. She was always on-the-go and would never slow down, even the pace of her walk would leave many trailing in her wake. Between Kay Curry’s , her first job, Coughlan’s Bakery, The Washeteria, Nevada’s, The Railway Hotel, the Quay Cottage and Hoban’s Centre, amongst others, she would toil and graft to make her own ends meet and it helped to put us through education and mould myself and Peter into the people we are today,” Kenneth said.
Mary Gannon was the daughter of Kevin, and, the late, Annie Coughlan, formerly of Bridge Street, Westport. She was predeceased, 12 years ago, by her husband Bertie Gannon. Mary is mourned by her dear friend, Michael Gavin, her sons Kenneth and Peter, and sisters Anne (Rocliffe), Martina and Kevin.
In the words of Frank Gillivan Mary ‘will be a hard act to follow’.
