O'Sullivan, John
August 16, 2012
On Saturday one of Ballyhooly's favourite sons, John O'Sullivan was laid to rest. Johnny, as he was always called, was ill for some time but his death on Thursday afternoon was still hard to believe.
Johnny had a very varied life; he was a successful farmer, worked for Dairygold for a number of years and when he took early retirement he became a popular and successful Ballyhooly publican for a period. He was an avid sportsman all his life, had a great interest in horses and also had a number of successful greyhounds. He was also a great GAA man and hurling was his big love. He hurled with Ballyhooly in the late 50s and when the club disbanded in the early 60s he threw in his lot with neighbours Castletownroche.
He was ever present on their teams for a number of years and was a key player in their North Cork and co junior hurling championship win and later in their 1964 co intermediate hurling championship win. He was back with his native Ballyhooly when they contested the 1967 North Cork junior B hurling championship final. Johnny continued his GAA involvement and was a mentor with many Ballyhooly juvenile combinations when sons Kevin and Declan were playing in the late 80s and early 90s and of course daughter Emer is continuing this tradition - she was an excellent juvenile club runai for a number of years and is a team mentor of our present successful U13s and U14s.
In 1995 Johnny was a selector o the Ballyhooly team which won the North Cork and co junior hurling titles. He remained an avid follower of Ballyhooly and Cork all his life and rarely missed an important game. He was also always available to help out with various tasks, fundraising activities etc for the club, community sports field etc and sponsored many GAA and community activities as a local publican. It was always a pleasure to meet Johnny. He had a ready smile, a wide circle of friends and a great sense of humour but of course one had to be wary of that dry humour and when in his company.
The huge attendance at the removal from his home on Friday evening and his funeral Mass on Saturday was testament to his popularity. He was a lifelong member of Fine Gael and they provided a guard of honour at the church on Friday night awhile on Saturday Ballyhooly and Castletownroche GAA and Ballyhooly Juvenile GAA formed a guard of honour. Most off all, of course, Johnny was a great family man and he will be sadly missed by his wide Bridget, daughter Emer, sons Declan and Kevin, sister Ann, brothers Eddie and Michael and their extended families. Ar dheis De go raibh a anam dílis.
(Text courtesy of The Avondhu 16/08/2012)
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