*Buddy McMahon.
BUDDY McMahon’s role in securing employment for generations in Shannon and captaining one of the county’s greatest hurling teams was hailed as he was laid to his eternal rest this week.
Newmarket-on-Fergus native Buddy worked for forty two years in the historic sales and catering section of Shannon Airport, beginning not long after Dr Brendan O’Regan created the world’s first-duty free shop. His career in Shannon stretched from 1952 to 1994, helping nurture and develop countless careers along the way.
On the hurling field, he was corner back and captain of the Newmarket-on-Fergus side to win three Clare SHC titles in a row in 1963, 1964 and 1965. He finished his playing career with five senior championships before moving into management and was involved as the club won its first ever Munster senior club championship in 1967, they retained the provincial title a year later. At the time of his death, he was President of the club. The jersey he wore with pride and distinction on countless occasions was draped across his coffin and he is fondly remembered as ‘Captain Fantastic’.
He donned the saffron and blue of Clare on two occasions, featuring at corner back on both instances. He was part of the minor side to defeat Kerry 10-3 1-3 played in 1949 in Causeway and lined out in the Kincora Cup in 1958 when Tipperary had a comprehensive 11-12 3-3 victory, Jimmy Smyth was among his teammates for both appearances.
Last Thursday, Buddy died peacefully surrounded by his loving family at Carrigoran House. Huge crowds attended his funeral at Our Lady of the Rosary Church in Newmarket-on-Fergus, the reposal taking place on Monday evening and the mass on Tuesday morning. His burial took place afterwards in Lemenagh Cemetery.
One of McMahon’s many roles within the GAA club was leading guards of honour. He received a President’s salute from Newmarket-on-Fergus GAA members as they gave Buddy a fitting guard both on Monday evening as his remains made its way from his home on the Ennis Rd to the church and again on Tuesday as the cortege departed the village.
Among the gifts brought before the altar on Tuesday were a hurley and sliotar, “a sign of Buddy’s great passion for our national games, all his incredible achievements and handing the gift onto another generation,” Fr Brendan Quinlivan stated.
Family was “the great bedrock” of his life with a book of family photographs “showing his great commitment to Mary, their children and grand-children”. A book to acknowledge his career at sales and catering at Shannon Airport was also brought forward along with a red rose as an ode to his “beautiful front lawn which was admired by all the neighbours”. An aerial photograph of Newmarket-on-Fergus indicated how much the community meant to him, “he made the place a better place for all of us”.
Speaking at Tuesday’s mass, Fr Quinlivan noted that this December was “a time of loss” for the McMahons with Buddy’s wife Mary dying in July of this year while his sister Fanny died less than a month ago. His only sister had been responsible for giving him his nickname, “When she was very young she could not pronounce the word ‘brother’ properly. It sounded like ‘butty’ so ‘buddy’ became a part of me. Even my sons have that nickname now,” Buddy recalled in a previous interview with Tradraí, the annual publication produced by Newmarket-on-Fergus GAA Club.
Losing the love of his life, Mary and his only sister Fanny within four months “must have been difficult for him”, Fr Quinlivan acknowledged.
Moving to matters hurling, Fr Quinlivan said, “There has been much talk about the prowess of Buddy as one of the great corner backs in the hurling history in Newmarket-on-Fergus leading the team to several championships in the 1960s, he was a selector in 1968 and 1969 when Newmarket-on-Fergus won the Munster club. In retirement he faithfully served the club at juvenile and senior level at management”.
His role in the economic prosperity of the region was also discussed. “There are many people in the church here today that owe their livelihood and jobs to good words put in by Buddy. He was a hard worker and he expected the same from others”. Politics was another of Buddy’s passions through his involvement with Fianna Fáil. “I horrified my Blueshirt mother one night when I told her I was at an Ógra Fianna Fáil meeting that the Buddies brought me to,” Fr Quinlivan recalled.
Always at the heart of the community, Buddy was a peace commissioner who was involved in the building of the community centre and then as part of the committee which managed it.
Meeting his beloved Mary who he married in 1965 was a special moment. They later had five children, Una, Brendan, Fergus, Gerard and Joseph. “Of all Buddy’s achievements, his great heroism, his great passion for work, sport and the community, he would always say his crowning achievement was a dark night at a dance hall in Ballybunion over sixty years ago when despite his disfigurement with two black eyes from a sliotar, when he plucked up the courage to ask a young woman from Wexford to dance with him,” Fr Quinlivan said. “The pride he took in the achievements of his grand-children and all those around him, solid unwavering support for Mary in her pioneering work for families with additional needs”.
His son Fergus described his father as their “North Star”. He said, “Dad had a tough start, his mother died when he was a baby which left him, his father and sister Francis or Fanny as we knew her. They were raised in The Lodge in Carrigoran”. Long lives enjoyed by Buddy who was just shy of 96 and Fanny almost 97 were in repayment for the pain they suffered in their youth.
Fergus quipped that his father’s success on the hurling field “skipped at least one generation” but “regardless his commitment to the club endured and he served as Honorary President until his passing”. In Shannon, Buddy “worked diligently” and “formed many deep friendships, some of those continued to this day”.
Close to sixty years of marriage showed the special bond between Buddy and Mary, Fergus noted, “spending nearly all of that time surrounded by our neighbours and friends on Ennis Rd”. Describing his father as “a news junkie,” Fergus added that his father was happiest when the entire family was reunited together. “He believed in getting involved for greater good whether it was the GAA, community hall, Fianna Fáil, disability organisations or Obair. For us he was our North Star, we will miss him but we know he was ready”.
