Thousands pay tribute to Kerry sporting icon Weeshie
IT would have taken more than a bitterly cold November breeze to deter the hundreds of people who lined the streets around O’Shea’s Funeral Home on Tuesday evening.
They came to pay their respects to a man whose voice is synonymous with sporting passion. But life is about more than sport and it was Weeshie’s friendliness and responsiveness towards people that made him a true legend.
Once the large crowd finished sympathising with Weeshie’s wife, Joan, his children, Denise, Carolann and Kieran, they formed a procession behind the coffin on its short journey to St Mary’s Cathedral. A guard of honour by Legion GAA Club led the cortège through the streets that Weeshie loved in life.
Once news of Weeshie’s passing filtered through on Sunday afternoon, it reached far beyond the Kingdom’s borders. So often he was the go-to-guy for national media outlets whenever a pressing issue surrounding Kerry football was in need of addressing.
It’s said of Weeshie that you never told him about sport, you simply reminded him of an event and he took it from there with his own unique slant and encyclopaedic memory.
Moreover, for all the negative attention social media receives as a platform of poor communication, the tributes poured in from people from every county in Ireland – each with their favourite memory of Weeshie.
His close friend, Christy Riordan, said: “You could put Weeshie among the best people in the world and he’d fit in; and you could put him with the ordinary man and he would make that person feel just as important”.
Meanwhile, at Monday’s meeting of Kerry County Council tributes were paid to Weeshie. Cathaoirleach of Kerry County Council, Norma Foley, said that Weeshie’s passing was an immense loss to the Gaelic Athletic Association, to broadcasting and to Kerry.
“The huge sadness that swept across Kerry on Sunday morning when news came through of Weeshie’s passing was testament to the esteem in which he was held.
“Weeshie was, without doubt, one of Kerry’s greatest ambassadors – wherever he went he extolled the virtues of his native county in his own inimitable, humorous and beguiling way,” said Mayor Foley.
“Weeshie was known all over the country and beyond as an expert on Kerry football, someone with an almost unparalleled passion for the game and, above all, a generosity and warmth in sharing that knowledge and passion with everyone he met. As a journalist and broadcaster, his words – written and spoken – are imprinted forever in our minds and in the folklore of our wonderful county.”
Weeshie will be laid to rest today ( Wednesday) at Aghadoe Lawn Cemetery.