Mayo teacher and hurling legend Luke Fitzmaurice to be buried tomorrow in Ballina

LUKE Fitzmaurice, Bohernasup, Ballina, who died peacefully at Galway Clinic last week, was a retired member of the teaching staff at Stella Maris Secondary School in Ballycastle and a former chairman and secretary of the Mayo Hurling Board.

A native of Kilkelly, Luke was an eloquent and articulate gentleman who had that lovely ability to make everyone so at ease in his company. There was a decency to Luke that always shone through and he was an absolute credit to the small but very loyal Mayo hurling fraternity.

Hurling was his favourite sport and he was delighted to spend several years involved with the Mayo Hurling Board where he served so admirably in different administration positions.

Jackie Coyne from Tooreen, a retired principal of Knock NS, said Luke never forgot his roots in Kilkelly and always had a special fondness for Tooreen. “Luke was a special person with wonderful attributes. He was a gift to the Mayo Hurling Board and had such a love and passion for Gaelic games but especially hurling.

“Whether it was Tooreen or Ballyhaunis or the other clubs, he was delighted to see the game make progress and told me recently how pleased he was to see a few new clubs take root in the county.

“During his years as a delegate to the County Board, he always pushed to have hurling on the agenda. He was a learned man with great knowledge of current affairs and world affairs. Luke was the best of company, always compassionate, level headed and with the height of commonsense. He brought a calming influence to so many things and only wanted what was best for everyone.”

Huge passion

Former Mayo Hurling Board chairman, Jimmie Connor from Tooreen, said he was so sad to learn of the death of Luke. “He was one of the nicest people you could hope to meet and a gentleman of the first degree. Luke was a mild and unassuming man with a huge passion for hurling. We all had huge respect for him and his views always carried weight. We had a minute’s silence for him yesterday (Sunday) at the Tooreen v Moytura game in Tooreen.”

Patricia Govin, Kiltimagh (nee Twohill from Ballycastle), paid a special tribute to her former teacher. “Luke was a brilliant educator and a true gentleman. I have great memories of him from Stella Maris Secondary school in Ballycastle where I was fortunate to have had him as my Geography teacher.”

Remaining true to his teaching vocation to the end Luke has donated his body to aid in silent teaching in his Alma Mater University of Galway.

Mass of the Resurrection will take place in St Muredach's Cathedral, Ballina, tomorrow, Friday, July 5, 11.30am.

Luke, who was predeceased by his parents Kathleen and Peter Fitzmaurice, his brother Noel (Manchester), brother in law Cyril Gibbons (Kilkelly) and sister-in-law Sally Gibbons, will be greatly missed by his wife Patricia (Gibbons, Belcarra), daughters Gillian and Vivienne, his sister Maura Durcan (Curry), his brother-in-law Bernard Gibbons (Belcarra) and sons-in-law Mark O'Brien (Wexford) and Ciarán Clarke (Ballina), grandchildren Hugh and Teegan O’Brien and Heather and Luke Clarke, relatives, neighbours, the Mayo GAA fraternity, and many friends.