Jimmy O’Keeffe: ‘A true Baalbec warrior who we will miss but will never forget’

THE NEWS of the death of Jimmy O’Keeffe of Charleville and formerly of Kilmallock was met with great sadness in county Limerick and north Cork.

Jimmy passed away on Sunday, November 26. He was one of the greats of Kilmallock hurling. Jimmy wore the green and white jersey with pride and honour from 1959, when he first played U14, to 1981, when he played his last senior game for the club.

He was a brilliant hurler who always did the right thing. You could definitely say that Jimmy played hurling the way the present Limerick team play as he was blessed with great speed and he always passed the ball to his teammates, just short 40 and 50-yard passes.

As the late Tom Moloney used to say about him, “he was a wonderful player and so smart”.

Tributes paid to county Limerick hurling great

Jimmy won many honours with the Kilmallock club, starting off at U14 in 1959, when he won our first South U14 championship. He also played in 1960 when the title was retained.

Next up for Jimmy was when he played on the victorious 1962 county juvenile team when we won it for the first time. In 1964, he was on the Minor team that won the county title which was our third title in that grade.

Also, in these years he won numerous South underage titles. After the Minor win of 1964, Jimmy was picked on the Limerick Minor team for 1965, along with his great friend and hurler, the late Mike Flaherty, who was also his close neighbour.

The team won the Munster title with Mike as captain. Sadly, they lost the All-Ireland. On top of that, the late Jimmy Millea was a selector on that team and the late Pat Joe Murphy was their taxi driver. These people were great ambassadors for our club and we were very proud of them.

Jimmy’s first Senior title was in 1967 when the club won its second county title. This title was hard won, when it took a replay to beat South Liberties in the final.

The late journalist, J.D. Hickey said the drawn game was his highlight of the year. Jimmy received a bad head injury in this game but they bandaged him up and he went back to action straight away. No stoppages for injuries in those days, just get on with the game!

Jimmy’s next county Senior titles were won in the never to be forgotten 3-in-a-row years of 1973, 1974, 1975. Coincidentally, Saturday, November 25, the day before Jimmy died, was the 50th anniversary of our first year of the 3-in-a-row. Jimmy showed his great versatility in these victories as he played in different positions on the field in some of the games.

He mostly always played in the backs but in the 1974 and 1975 finals he played in the forwards. Also, in the 1974 semi-final, he played centre field.

Needless to say, Jimmy was good wherever he played. During those great years, the club were invited to tournaments all over Munster. Playing the game was the main thing for us and we played just as hard in a tournament game as in championship and we always had full teams for those games.

One great story about Jimmy was when we played Glen Rovers in 1976 in Kilmallock, where Jimmy was left half back, marking big Liam McAuliffe, who played with Cork one time. Though Jimmy was only half his size, he played him off the field.
The great Christy Ring was a selector with the Glen and he said after the match that if Limerick had 15 better players than “the small foxy fella” they must have a great team! Christy knew a good one when he saw one.

1981 was another great year for Jimmy. Although beaten by South Liberties in the county final, he gave exhibitions playing cornerback. In the quarter final, we played Claughaun, who knocked out Patrickswell, and were favourites to win the county title that year.

Jimmy was marking the great Eamonn Cregan who was definitely one of Limerick’s best ever hurlers. At the time, Jimmy was 34 years of age and Eamonn was 36 and still playing with the county team. Jimmy was so cute that he played Eamonn from the front. Of course, Eamonn would want him to stay behind him but Jimmy used his speed, skill and confidence to out manoeuvre him. His performance that day was the main reason we were victorious. There is no doubt that Jimmy was a special talent.

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Jimmy was the South National School champion sprinter in his school days. In the 60-yard dash and 100 yards, he was unbeatable.

All through his life he retained that speed and it helped make him the great player he was. He also loved to play handball and, needless to say, he was a terrific player.

Jimmy had a very quiet personality. As a hurler, he never drew a wrong stroke, never swore an ugly word. He was a non-drinker and non-smoker all his life.

He had a great sense of humour and he would join in all the sing-songs and after-match celebrations. He was a true Baalbec warrior and we will always miss him but will never forget him. He was special.

As the saying goes, behind every good man is a good woman and Jimmy’s wife, Margaret, was definitely that person. Theirs was a very loving union. Margaret is a native of Churchtown and she supported her husband Jimmy in every walk of life. She always followed him in good and bad days when he was hurling for the club.

Margaret, we offer you our deepest condolences at your sad loss. Also, we include your sons, Noel and John, grandchildren Max, Adam and Chloe along with Jimmy’s sisters, Mary (Hartigan) and Ber (Noonan). We also pray for Jimmy’s late sister Eileen and brother Pat at this sad time.

As long as the game of hurling is played in Kilmallock, Jimmy O’Keeffe’s name will never be forgotten.

Good luck Jimmy, we will all miss you, may your soul rest in peace.