Legends of the game die within days of each other
Edwin McGreal
AS the Mayo footballers prepare for Sunday’s National League final, another link with the All-Ireland winning teams of 1950 and ‘51 was broken with the death of John Forde on Sunday night.
The Ardnaree man, who played at corner-back in those finals, died after a brief illness and his death comes at the end of a week in which Castlebar lost three great GAA supporters.
Businessman and hotelier Tony McHugh, who died last Thursday, was a leading sponsor of both Castlebar Mitchels and Mayo GAA teams.
Another former Mayo player, Mick Ruane, died on Friday morning after illness. Poignantly Mick Ruane had been in the bed beside John Forde in Mayo General Hospital last week.
The Mitchels club were dealt a further blow later on Friday when news came through that another great clubman, Donie Murphy, had died.
News then of John Forde’s passing, just before 10pm on Sunday, sent further shockwaves through the county.
Paddy Prendergast, who played at full-back beside Forde in ‘50 and ‘51, remembered a ‘great friend’.
“Forde was Forde. He was very special,” Prendergast told The Mayo News from his Tralee home yesterday. “He was an unyielding defender and he gave Mayo great service. He had enormous determination and was a massive presence. I always rated him as one of the best right-full backs ever. He was a great friend through the years and we had built up a great bond.
“I called to see him on my last visit west and he was in great form, he didn’t change one bit in the last forty years. He was totally committed to Mayo football and with Forde everything took second place to the football.”
The death of John Forde means that of those who played a part in Mayo’s last All-Ireland final victory in 1951, only five remain - Paddy Prendergast, Joe Staunton, John McAndrew, Padraig Carney and Fr Peter Quinn.
“The players from that era are going one by one. It really is upsetting that there are only five of us left. It was a special time then, a great time. We had lasting friendships that have sustained for over 50 years. That was the greatest thing about those times.”
The town of Castlebar was in mourning all this week with the deaths of Tony McHugh, Mick Ruane and Donie Murphy within 24 hours of each other.
All three were heavily involved with Castlebar Mitchels, Tony McHugh as a sponsor, Mick Ruane as a player, supporter and pitch manager and Donie Murphy as a coach and club president.
“In different ways all three have impacted very significantly on differently people in this town,” said Castlebar Mitchels club chairman Michael Diskin. “Tony certainly transformed the town of Castlebar. A lot of people are very grateful for the amount of development and employment that his company has brought to the town.
“Tony, with his business partner James McTigue, is in his tenth year sponsoring Castlebar Mitchels. He was a passionate supporter of Castlebar and Mayo. He was never found wanting. As recently as February 26 last he donated a portrait of the martyr John Mitchel, after whom the club is named, and that will be hung with great pride in An Sportlann.
“Mick played with the club for years and also managed Mitchels teams that won county titles. In the last 20-25 years he was involved in pitch management at McHale Park and would take great pride in having the grounds looking immaculate for big Mayo games and would work every hour possible in the run-up to these games in getting the ground ready.
“Donie was a wonderful coach. He put great emphasis on skill and on long kicking, catching and sportsmanship and did wonderful work with so many young footballers,” said Diskin.
Ardnaree Sarsfields were also in mourning with the death of John Forde, a club founder. A resident of Healy Terrace in the town, until the last couple of years when he moved into his son, Liam’s, house. Sarsfields PRO Vincent Duffy remembered a ‘great clubman’.
“John would have been playing with the (Ballina) Stephenites until Ardnaree was formed in 1949 and he gave the club great prestige because he was Mayo captain in 1948. He played for the club for many years after retiring from Mayo and he coached and managed the club in the 1970s and 1980s and was club president for the last number of years. He was a very highly thought of man and was an absolute gentleman.”
John Forde’s remains will repose at the residence of his son Liam at 15, Quignalecka, Sligo Road this evening (Tuesday) from 6pm to 10pm and will repose at McGowan’s Funeral Home, Ballina on Wednesday from 6.30pm to 8pm with removal to St Muredach’s Cathedral, Ballina. Funeral Mass will take place on Thursday morning at 11 o’clock with the funeral proceeding to the Leigue Cemetery.
