Keane, Moss
October 13, 2010A Gentle giant of a player, a truly great Irishman who enriched everyone's life' was the summation of Moss Keane's life and personality by his former Ireland teammate Dick Spring at his funeral Mass in Portarlington on Thursday.
Like so many other tributes paid to the legendary Kerry man on the day, it could have been used as a succinct epitaph.
The Currow native's death last week, following a lengthy battle with cancer, gave rise to an outpouring of kind words from some of the country's leading sports people, politicians and public figures.
But it was his daughter Sarah's address to the congregation at St Michael's Church in Portarlington that elicited the most emotional response of all the tributes, with mourners both laughing and crying at her recollections of a dearly-loved family man.
In an emotional voice, Sarah paid tribute to her 'fantastic father' "He showed us time and time again the importance of dreaming and achieving," she said. "He gave us constant praise and kind words of support. Criticism only featured if it was about himself. He'd always put out the hand -'sure you're miles ahead of me'."
"The lessons he taught us as he neared the end of his life because powerful. He took us down a really deeply spiritual path in order - in retrospect - to equip us with the strength and hope that we'll need now to cope with his passing," told the congregation.
She concluded with lines from a poem she had seen chalked on a Grafton Street pavement some time before: "The wind will blow but you decide the direction of your souls" and dad proved that in the last 18 months, she said.
Main celebrant Fr Thomas Dooley described the off-field courage of Moss Keane late in his life as he struggled with cancer. "His courage and his strength on the field of play are legendary but he fought his greatest and most courages battle for the past two years against sickness and cancer At each setback, there were moments for mossie of doubt and anger, of fear and even despair. But he did not hide these feelings… and he bounced back quickly. "Last Monday evening I brought him Holy Communion for the last time and I watched with him the last three holes of the Ryder Cup.
"He believed in God, he said his prayers. I think he accepted the cross of sickness in the same way as he accepted the crown of glory," Fr Dooley said. Moss's brother Brian then brought the house down with a reading of the final paragraph of the Billy Keane-assisted autobiography, 'Rucks, Mauls and Gaelic football'. I'm not one that thinks of how I'd like to be remembered - or shite like that. I've had many great days and I've been lucky in life."
Moss Keane's graveside oration was given by his longtime friend and team-mate, Donal Spring.
Courtesy of the Kerryman 13/10/10 Tweet
