Deep sadness as a son of Limerick hurling great Mick Mackey passes away

ONLY a couple of weeks ago Greg Mackey attended the homecoming in Ahane GAA Club to celebrate Limerick’s All-Ireland win in July.

Sadly, the club will gather together again on Monday for the funeral of Mr Mackey - a son of the late and great Mick Mackey and wife Kitty.

Mr Mackey, aged in his mid-seventies, passed away suddenly while on holiday in Lanzarote last Friday, November 11.

Donal Morrissey, chairman of Ahane GAA Club, said news of his passing was "a huge shock to everyone".

"He was a great family man first; he was a great supporter of the club and he was very entertaining company. We were delighted that himself and his brothers Pat and Michael and his sisters Ruth and Audrey were in the Castle Oaks House Hotel earlier this year for the presentation of the new Munster senior hurling championship cup - the Mick Mackey Cup (pictured). That was a great evening for all of the family. 

"Greg was at our homecoming three weeks ago and we had a most enjoyable evening in the clubhouse with Greg and his family,” said Mr Morrissey.  

The Mackey name is synonymous with Ahane GAA. Greg continued to forge that link as have his children and grandchildren.

"The Mackey name and Castleconnell and Ahane are intertwined and they are there forever. Throughout the history of the club there has been Mackeys from the very earliest times and long may that continue

"Only last Sunday we won a county senior camogie final and Greg’s granddaughter Éle Madigan was playing. The Mackey genes are well and truly in the club and always will be," said Mr Morrissey.

Mr Mackey was very proud that his father was a legend of the game of hurling - and arguably its finest ever exponent - but he would never bring up that he was one of Mick Mackey's sons.

"Greg was never one to say who he was or who his father was. He lived his own life, he didn’t live in the shadow of his father or anything like that,” said Mr Morrissey.

The club chairman and Mr Mackey have known each other for the best part of 40 years.

"When I was a young lad in college in Limerick I worked in car hire and Greg was a mechanic so I got to know him all those years ago, and then by coincidence I came to live in Castleconnell afterwards.

"Talking to him regarding the recent All-Ireland success Limerick have had, he was obviously delighted from a club point of view that a new generation would be recognised and it wouldn’t always be going back to his father (Ahane GAA Club had no player in 1973).

"He used to say to me he will be able to rest in peace now that another All-Ireland had come back and that the club were represented," said Mr Morrissey.

Turlough Herbert was Ahane GAA chairman in 2013 when the club erected a statue in honour of Mick Mackey. 

"Greg was very proud. He was fully supportive of it and actually contributed significantly to it as did the rest of the family," said Mr Herbert, who shares a touching anecdote from that time.

"We produced a souvenir booklet at the time of the unveiling of the statue. Greg put a piece together on his experience being a son of the legendary Mick Mackey. The outstanding sense you got from it was that Greg was brought up in a very loving and caring family environment. I suppose that is a side of his famous father that nobody would have known about but that was particularly poignant.

"I know that Greg and his own family were particularly close as well - his children and grandchildren. He had great affection for them in much the same way his parents had for him and his family in their time,” said Mr Herbert.

Both Mr Herbert and Mr Morrissey extend their sympathies, and those of Ahane GAA Club, to Mr Mackey’s beloved wife Bernie; devoted children Karen, Anne, Michael, Tara and Eilise; brothers and sisters Pat, Ruth, Audrey and Michael; grandchildren; extended family and many friends.

Reposing at Meehan’s Funeral Home, Castleconnell on Sunday, November 10 from 5pm to 7pm. Arrival on Monday to St Joseph’s Church, Castleconnell for Requiem Mass at 11.30am.

May he rest in peace.