Herlihy, Dr Michael
May 11, 2013There are those among us who seem immortal, always with us, growing old with us and seemingly indestructible.
We can never picture the day when they will be gone, leaving a huge void that can never really be filled. These people are usually defined by their deeds, not by just their words. They seem to possess the power of bi-location and boundless energy, leaving a mark on all our
lives.
To meet these people is to share a rare moment of how great life can be. To meet 'The Doc' was a real pleasure in life. A constant on the sideline with his beloved Dohenys, we met him regularly in our reporting duties and we always emerged from the encounter with a smile on our face. It wasn't just the game in progress that would be the topic of conversation, it could be any GAA topic, club, county or national.
Who was this 'Doc', who loved the grassroots of the association and was always quick to defend them? Nobody who knew him called him anything else but 'The Doc'.
Yes, he was a doctor, but the most down-to-earth doctor we ever met, of the people and with the people. Dr Michael Herlihy, born in Kinsale in the early years of the new Irish State of the 1920s, but a true converted Doheny, could easily have been a member of the GAA hierarchy had he wished but his place was with the players and the ordinary members of the Doheny club. He never wanted more and he never looked for it.
Way back over 40 years ago when we suffered our first serious knee injury playing for Dohenys against Barryroe in a farmer's field in Barryroe, it was the Doc who was there on the sideline to look after it. The following morning it was into the Doc's surgery in Sackville Street that we hobbled, with a brush tucked under our arm as a crutch.
Every time the knee aches now we remember the Doc, who would never take a bob from any player. No matter how serious the injury on the pitch, the Doc never panicked and was cool and calm, which carried through to the injured player.
He carried the same calm attitude in all his dealings with the club, which he served in many capacities, including chairman for a short while when a crisis arose. It was nothing strange for the Dohenys to turn to the Doc in times of crisis.
For a small man he had a huge personality and a huge bearing in a crowd. In all my time knowing him, I never actually saw him sitting down, always standing, as if ready for any emergency. Almost right to the end he was still attending matches and always stood on the sideline. Not for him the offered chair.
One thing that drew us to the Doc down the years was that he was a great hurling man, even in a football-mad town like Dunmanway. In his youth he was a fine hurler himself, with Kinsale and Carrigdhoun, with whom he contested the 1945 county senior hurling final.
Just how good he was,was shown when he went to study medicine in UCC and played on the Fitzgibbon Cup team for each of his six years in college, captaining them to victory in 1947.
Back in the 1940s, Cork were kings of the hurling world, recording four in a row, 1941-1944, and every player on the team was a superstar. The Doc rubbed hurling shoulders with men like Christy Ring, Jack Lynch and Dunmanway's own Jim Young and held his own with the best, so much so that he was on the verge of that great Cork team. In any other era he would have been a regular. He held his love for the caman all his long life and loved talking about the modern game and the great inter-county teams.
There wasn't much employment for young doctors in the Ireland of the late forties so the Doc was forced to take the emigrant's trail to England and took up employment in Liverpool. While in Liverpool, the Doc played hurling with John Mitchell's and, also, the Lancashire county
team. Many years later, his son Barry was to take the same emigrant trail to England and ended up captaining the London team to All-Ireland junior football glory in 1986, his brother Brian being on the defeated Cork team that day.
But, like Barry, who returned to Dunmanway to play a huge part in club affairs, especially underage, the Doc couldn't resist the call of his home place and returned to take up employment as a doctor in the army hospital at Reenmore, Galway
Of course, he played hurling with the army team in the Galway county championship. It was there that he met the love of his life, Ann Joyce, a nurse from Oughterard. They built a sturdy ship that was soon to be crewed by sons Barry, Brian, Declan and Michael.
In 1962, he returned to Cork, taking up a position in Kilmichael and when a vacancy occurred in Dunmanway in 1966 the Doc arrived - a Doheny legend was born. That just happened to be the year Dohenys won the county junior football championship for the first time in 31 years. He was instrumental in the club purchasing a second pitch and in building a fine pavilion, which is the accepted centre of the GAA in West Cork.
The Doc wasn't just a Doheny phenomenon. He was known the length and breadth of the county and was involved with Carbery teams as well as Doheny teams. He followed his sons' careers closely as they backboned many a fine Doheny side, including county titles in junior in 1993 and intermediate in 1995, and wore the red shirt of Cork with pride. Brian is presently a selector with the successful Cork U21 football team.
As the years went by, he slowly assumed the mantle of club 'godfather' and the club honoured him with the position of president. He won other honours too, including the 'Buckley Financial Distinguished Services Award' in 2009. Only a few months ago we had the honour of writing a citation for him when he won a Cork Sports Council award, again for services rendered. No doubt he enjoyed the bit of limelight but it never affected him. He took it in his stride and continued on. Right up until his illness finally laid him low last year, he continued to patrol the sidelines of West Cork. It was our intention to interview The Doc sometime soon, to tape all the great stories and yarns he spun. We thought we had plenty time.
Even when his illness first struck, he fought it with courage and refused to let it get the better of him. We really believed he would go on for years to come but we have left it too late. The Doc is gone, he wasn't indestructible after all but his stories and his yams live on in the minds of those who heard them and it will be our pleasure to collect them, if God spares us. Small of frame but larger than life, they buried a part of Doheny GAA history when they buried the Doc on Friday last.
Truly, he lived life to the full and left us all the happier from knowing him.
To his wife Ann and sons, Barry, Brian, Declan and Michael, and their extended families goes our deepest sympathy.
Mile buiochas for sharing him with us for so long. Go dtuga Dia suaimhneas siorai da anam uasal
Courtesy of The Southern Star. Tweet
