IN-DEPTH REPORT AND PICTURES FROM SCENE
THE Hennessy brothers were known as people who ‘worked all the time,’ according to the public relations officer of Mitchelstown GAA Club, Cyril Kiely.
He remembers that the brothers also had a great passion for hurling and handball but struggled with modern technology.
‘They played hurling for Ballygiblin at a low level and they loved playing handball at the school in Mitchelstown. The court is between the primary school and the secondary school, they played there a lot,’ he recalled.
Like many people who knew them, he remembered that they were simple, farming people.
‘They were sound, they kept to themselves and they were always working. Paddy was a great lad,’ he said.
‘I did a computer course with him in Mitchelstown. We were really just learning the basics, we had put it off as long as we could and we finally had to cave into technology.’
Paddy was ‘mad into hurling and was all about the matches long ago. He was a simple man, and a very nice man’, added Mr Kiely.
Another source in Mitchelstown said that Paddy played hurling ‘for as long as he possibly could, well into his 30s and maybe beyond’.
It is believed that his daughter, Elaine, was the person who made the terrible discovery of the two bodies at the farmhouse, according to several sources.
Paddy Ryan, the former secretary of Ballygiblin GAA Club, Cork, remembers Paddy Hennessy as someone who was always eager to play for the club but never quite made it to championship level. ‘[Paddy[ was a good communicator and I’d often met him in the last six for seven years and have a big discussion about Kilkenny, Tipperary, Cork and Waterford,’ he said.
‘Willie was a bit different. He had an interest in hurling but didn’t really go to matches, unless he was playing.
‘John didn’t really go to matches either.
‘In their earlier days, there were four bachelor brothers living in the one house.’
Their fourth brother Ger, passed away in tragic circumstances some years ago.
‘Eventually, Paddy broke away and got married while the others were single and in the house, Pat’s marriage didn’t last terribly long,’ Mr Ryan recalled.
‘Paddy played a nice bit of hurling. It’s a pity he didn’t make it to championship but some fellas find it hard to perform on the day.’
The current secretary of Ballygiblin Club, Pat O’Sullivan, remembers Paddy Hennessy as ‘a great lad to turn out and play, although he was a bit before my time’.
‘They were ordinary, everyday lads. I knew Paddy from going
‘Paddy played a nice bit of hurling’
into the tyre shop where he worked. He would fix your tyres himself,’ he recalled.
Mitchelstown FIanna Fáil councillor, Frank O’Flynn, said that the Hennessy farm was ‘exceptionally small’ and that the suspected murders are not believed to be a dispute about land. He added that the family were extremely quiet.
‘They would come into Mitchelstown on a Thursday for the mart. It would be even hard to know who was who, they were so quiet. They had no interest in fashion or drinking or putting money on horses. They had very simple pleasures,’ he said.
He last saw one of the brothers walking on the street in Mitchelstown at Christmas.
Their farm offers a view onto the Galtee Mountains and is close to the Limerick border.
The farm is located close to a monument to prominent Fenian, Peter O’Neill Crowley, in Kilclooney Wood, halfway between Mitchelstown and Kildorrery. The area is mixed dairy and beef with some prominent pig farms.
Cllr O’Flynn said that Paddy Hennessey worked at a tyre shop in Mitchelstown that closed down about 20 years ago.
‘He was the type of man who would say “yes” and “no” to your questions. A very deep, nice man,’ he said.
A source who knows the family said he didn’t believe the parents left a will, which may have added to tensions.
‘They were the kind of family in which everyone is very close and the mother and father do everything for them. Then, when the parents die, they are lost,’ he said.
He said that they ‘all wore dark clothes and lived humble lives’.
‘They were known as “The Saints” locally because they were so unassuming,’ he said.
‘Their mother died in the last few years which may have added to problems, because some of them might not be able to adjust.
‘The land there isn’t that good and it’s a very small farm. They had a few cows but income from it was minimal,’ he added.
He said it is believed that a female family member discovered the bodies late on Thursday night and raised the alarm.
Yesterday, before 1pm, a car was later discovered near St Joseph’s Church in Killacluig not far from Mitchelstown and a Garda helicopter located a body in the Funshion River.
‘A very deep, nice man’