Jack McNally RIP Saturday 14th June 2008 will go down in the history of Dromod as the day on which Dromod lost one of its best respected and noblest citizens. Jack McNally was eighty in mid November 2007 and a family celebration was held in their former pub 'The Brandywell', Dromod. Born in New York, his parents were Mary Lizzie Reynolds from Fearnaught and Pat McNally from where D&E McHugh has a large machinery sales unit on the Longford-Clondra Road. Jack, like myself, was into history and family roots and he told me that the 'Rock' Reynolds family originally came from Barrawalla (an almost forgotten townland north of Derrywillow). His parents had met and married in New York and in May 1937, when he was almost ten years of age, he actually saw the famous German airship 'The Hindenburg' fly noisily over New York minutes before it crashed in nearby New Jersey. Soon afterwards the family returned to Dromod and bought Mrs McKiernan's house. The late Michael John Moffatt built their new two storey house and pub. Mary Lizzie was an excellent and gracious host in the pub and she had a phenomenal memory. About 1974, Jack and his wife Milly McGuinness NT (Mohill) built the Breffni Inn and I remember a pub spy from a Sunday newspaper giving it a really top class review. 'Meticulously neat and clean' is how I would describe how Jack and Milly kept their pub. Jack was always full of fun and good humour and he liked to see the funnier side of stories. He was brilliant at telling yarns. When I started to teach in St Mel's College, Jack would often recall his days as a student there, way back in the 1940s. Like his older brother before him (the recently deceased Dr Jim), Jack was prominent on the College teams trained by Fr Manning. His neighbours and great friends Ray Beirne (Killyfad) and Eugene Boland (Derrywillow) were prominent on those teams too and Paddy Fox, Corrig, was his close friend. Jack was always happy to recall college life. He told me of a really freezing morning in spring when the college heating system broke down. They were all called about 7am for mass at 8am. They were shaking and shivering in their seats as they listened to the reading. Jack said the reading for that particular day included the sentence 'Lord, it is good for us to be here' - and, while telling me that, Jack laughed heartily. Jack had an abiding love for and commitment to the GAA and the late Jack Kelleher once told me that he was aware of young Jack cycling down to Fenagh for a county board meeting on a snowy, sleety night when nobody else wanted to go. Jack, like many from the Dromod end of Annaduff, joined Bornacoola and they had many major successes from 1950 to 1957. He was happy to join his friends in a 50th reunion last year. Fr Sean Manning came to Annaduff in 1954 and one of the conditions he demanded for his becoming Chairman of Leitrim County Board was that Jack would be treasurer and Tommy O'Riordan secretary, Jack served as treasurer for twenty years. Together they were to raise the county board and the Leitrim teams to a new plateau of success. Annaduff club was reformed and Jack and many others now played for Annaduff. I remember Jack as a sterling full back and he played senior for county Leitrim for a few years. A founder member of Dromod Development, Jack was always interested in promoting the image of the locality. He loved the various characters who frequented his pub and his stories about them were always good humoured and perceptive. Above all, Jack was a good christian and a family man. He and his good wife Milly raised four excellent youngsters - Padraic, Maura, Anne and John. To them and to all of his relatives and friends we express our deepest sympathy. Removal, this Wednesday, to Annaduff at 7.30pm and funeral tomorrow Thursday. Jack died suddenly about 6pm on Saturday. He had collapsed while walking down home from Mrs Notley's shop. A doctor who was passing in a car saw him collapse and gave first aid. Milly told me she was very impressed at how the good neighbours rallied round. I'm sure everyone in this area feels that he/she has lost a good friend and we'll all miss his bright, cheery attitude and his smile. I expect he is in heaven now and saying with a smile, 'Lord, it is good for us to be here.' Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam uasal Gaelach. Leitrim Observer 20/6/08 Tweet

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