Donovan, Billy
February 18, 2014
On the hill in Raheen we laid Billy Donovan to rest, his earthly journey at an end. Over eight decades and come and gone since Billy first saw the light of day. It was a great journey, filled with many wonderful moments and cherished memories over the year. Willie Stackpool and Leo Kavanagh relayed the sad news to me of the passing of Billy Donovan. And something stirred deep down ... a lonesome feeling that knows its own river to the heart.
Billy was the quintessential Laois man ... or "Leix" man as an uncle-in-law of mine (Tom Davin) who hails from near Rathdowney and who lived in London for years, insists on calling his birthright.
The peace and quiet of rural Laois strummed a melody in his heart and he danced to that gentle rhythm. He was in tune with the soundtrack of the midlands, a gentle soul who knew the contentment of a mind at peace.
I first got to know Billy Donovan in the late 1970s. I was working in the Bank of Ireland in Abbeyleix at the time. Being from Mayo, I knew absolutely no one in Laois at the time. It was a strange county for me ... away to the east.
Noel O'Brien from Garryvoe in East Cork, who now resides in Co Kilkenny, was manager of the creamery in Raheen at the time. We were staying in digs with Mrs Kitty Keyes on the Ballinakill Road in Abbeyleix.
Noel mentioned to me about the Colt Club in Raheen which he had joined a short time earlier. I decided to venture out to Doogue's field one evening. I never looked back. My love affair with Laois hurling and Colt was underway.
Johnny Hearns, John Grace and Billy Donovan were among the first people I got to know around the Raheen area. I will never forget the kindness they showed me, a complete stranger in their midst. There was a nobility in the welcome that has endured.
I joined the club at the time when one of the stand-out players of the era was John Galvin. I made so many other great friends from that time too ... Dan Scully, Austin Kavanagh, Sean and Dominic Hearns, the Walsh brothers, the Daltons, Sinnotts, Dowlings, Scullys, Keegans, Moffitts, Grants, Barry McGill, Rhodie McEvoy, John Talbot, Mick Holland, Tony Ryan (in later years) and so many more. Richie McHugh has since passed on, so has the great and legendary Ned Dea who played football with us in Colt and hurled with Ballypickas. I recall other names whose input to the club was always special and sincere ... Richard Lalor Fitzpatrick, Billy Morgan, Mick Murray, Jimmy Hearns, to name but a few.
Though many years away from Laois and back home in Mayo for three decades now, my fondness and respect for the people of this region has never dimmed and, like the swallows returning each summer, there is something that keeps calling me back to this part of the midlands.
I can hear the soft accent of rural Laois as memories of Billy waltz through my mind. It is homely and welcoming and of the soil, rooted in a tradition that goes back in time.
Billy Donovan was a hurling man. The native Irish game was in every sinew of his being. He was a good one ... and he knew the game inside out. When he togged out for Colt in former times, they tell me he was a rare one. He played the game fair and square, a team player with the love of the parish branded on his heart. When Billy spoke at a meeting, people listened with respect. He did not say much at the gatherings but what he did was carefully chosen and embellished with the wisdom of the ages. That was Billy, imbued with a huge sense of place. He loved the area around Raheen and it is fair to say that all who knew him down the "boreen" loved and respected him too.
Because Raheen Church was closed for repairs, the Requiem Mass was celebrated by Fr Jimmy Kelly in Shanahoe Church. This is the same Shanahoe where the poet John Keegan wrote those homely verses back in the 19th century. His tale of Pinch and Coach O'Leary endures to this day. Austin Kavanagh, on behalf of the Colt club, referred to the things that matters most in the life of this revered soul in the parish of Raheen. He referred to Billy's abiding Christian faith that provided him with a compass for life. No one kept better time than Billy, he was always the first to arrive for Mass.
The GAA, and especially hurling, was interwoven in his life all down the years. He was a Colt man above all else ... and he had a great respect for all the other clubs and county teams as well. The bog and love of nature shaped and moulded Billy and provided him with an amazing calm disposition which was palpable when you were in his company. The simple things in life meant everything to him. Austin recalled how Billy was an early riser and loved to go for his walk every morning around 7.30am down towards Tynan's and back. He loved to see the changing seasons and breathe the fresh air of his beloved Laois. He enjoyed socialising and dancing and was a regular at the dances in Durrow and other places up to the last few months, always impeccably dressed and with that famous wave in the hair.
"Billy was a man commanded fierce respect in the parish and beyond. He was a great Colt man who served our club so well and he will always command a special place in the hearts of all of us who were privileged to know him. May he rest in peace," said Austin.
Billy Donovan was one of those constant links with the heartlands all down the years. It was always special to meet Billy on my trips back down to Laois. And when they gave me the wonderful honour of Club President two years ago, Billy sent me a lovely card to mark the occasion.
Every time I travel the road between Abbeyleix and Portlaoise, I always look across to Raheen on the hill. Billy has now joined some great friends who sleep the long sleep in the cemetery nearby.
My mind always drifts back to other times and days when summer danced to the beat of eternity. The clash of the ash in the evening echoes down the years. Billy Donovan, like so many other great people from these parts, was part of those special years in my life.
God rest your gentle soul, Billy, you truly were one of the grand old stock of Co. Laois.
Leinster Express, 18th February 2014
Most Read Stories