Conroy, Daniel
May 03, 2013He had done everything in this life to earn his degree - he would be a teacher. He had handed in his final project; it was a replica of a traditional sailing boat on the western waters - a Galway Hooker. His 10,000 word thesis on the composition of the sailing boat was completed.
Then as his last days in college beckoned Daniel Conroy passed away at the age of 23. This past week the University of Limerick has given Daniel Conroy his degree posthumously.
"He is a teacher, he has reached his goal," his mother Margaret Ann said this week at the family home in Gleann Mor in Cill Chiarain. Margaret Ann, her partner Kieran, Daniel's sister Patricia and his brother Kevin along with Kevin's girlfriend, Molly, talked in their sitting room and remembered. The April skies brighten over the hills but the dark clouds has defended on the valley.
Daniel is at rest just a quarter of a mile away; his funeral took place to Cill Chiarain cemetery last week. "He lived his life to the full. His illness was sudden and he died peacefully in his sleep. We have lovely memories," says his mother Margaret Ann. "But we are devastated". The comprehensive thesis on the Galway sailing boat is looked at again and the replica has a proud place in the home.
"I was a little wary of him taking on such a difficult project," says Kieran. "But he persisted and he did a great job. It is the first time that the Galway Hooker was taken as a project in the College's woodwork and wood skills section". There is no set template for the Galway Hooker sailing boat. But Daniel moulded the idea into a computerised plan. He went to a companion from the football field Michael Cloherty in Mynish and discussed the shaping of the boat. He discussed the project at length with boat builder Jim Horgan in Furbo. He dug for information anywhere he could.
"It is a case where the picture does not tell the full story," says his brother Kevin. "The intricate work such as getting the curves and the angles right on the structure of the boat is highly detailed; they will tell you that if the curves and the angles are not right that the boat will not sail as she should.
"There are 30 lats on the teplica and each one would Jake at least an hour to attach with nails meticulously hammered in. The sail is the material that would be used in a sailing boat and the colour is maroon," he adds. "He would finish whatever he would start and set out to do," says his mother Margaret Ann.
Michael Coyne, in the pub and restaurant in Cill Chiarain, bears out that description of Daniel. "Daniel started up dart playing here," Michael said. "He was the first person to get it going. We then formed a team. Daniel would actually travel up from Limerick for a night to take part in games against other pubs in Connemara. He was very good at it too .. .and he was equally good at pool".
His mother says that he followed in his late father's footsteps in that regard. "He was a sportsman certainly," says his brother Kevin, a student in Construction Management in DIT in Dublin. "He liked a game of pool and darts. Gaelic Football was a huge part of his life. He lived football and he was proud to be a member of the local club Cama/Cashel".
"It was a great when they won the County title last year," says Kieran - Margaret Ann's partner.
"They were hit very badly by emigration back here but lads like Daniel did them proud. He was the youngest member of the team. They will find it hard to win trophies in the future; the players are getting scarcer and now Daniel is gone too".
Sean O Cualain had better reason than most to remember Daniel Conroy's contribution. Sean is the manager of the Cama/Cashel senior team and he recalls that they had a problem in the full back line last year as they set out in the Intermediate championship.
"Daniel always played in the forwards, but we asked him to move to comer back. He made no complaints and he played there in every game throughout last year's champ onship, which we eventually won out. That's the sort of lad he was - totally unselfish and putting the club ahead of himself," he says.
The Cama club called a meeting last weekend in the aftermath of Daniel's death "It was difficult" said Sean 0 Cualain. "Everybody's spirits were battered. In the end we asked 'what .would Daniel want us to do' ".
The senior team will go back to training next week and try to find inspiration from their departed team-mate. But as Cill Chiarain Bay alternated between dark shadows and shimmering brightness early this week, the Conroy family remembered, most of all, a good young man.
They remarked on how he took over the role of a father figure in many ways when his father Patrick Conroy died in a road accident in 1995. He always made time to help his younger brother and sister, Kevin and Patricia. But it extended beyond that; his school mates at Scoil Phobail Mhic Dara remember him helping them with different subjects. His student mates in the University of Limerick remember how in the midst of revelry he instinctively handed a blow-up guitar to a child in a lift in London.
"It seems he sensed that the child was overwhelmed with the design of the guitar and he handed it to him," says his sister Patricia. Part of his act on that student trip was to do an impersonation of Elvis, says Patricia, who is a Fifth Year pupil in Scoil Phobail Mhic Dara, the Secondary school in Cama.
Daniel's only surviving grandparent Maire Ui Chonaire lives in Coillfn in Carna. Daniels death is another tragic blow; she has lost her sons Patrick (Daniel's
father) and Mairtin as young men and her husband Paraic died in recent years.
Alongside his immediate family, Daniel is survived by uncles and aunts on his father's side - the Conroys from Coillin in Cama - and his mother's side - the Flahertys from Coill Saile in Cill Chiarain. He is also survived by many cousins, relatives and friends.
The family says that the community has helped them in every way since the tragedy of Daniel's death. "They have kept us going" they said.
That same community is also shrouded in sadness. The Cama number four jersey will not be worn by anybody this year. The flags are at half mast in the Plantation football field. The replica sailing boat has returned to Cill Chiarain without its skipper.
A young footballer, a young man... and a young teacher...has been called ashore.
Last week's Connacht Tribune carried a photograph which purported to be of Daniel, playing in last year's County Intermediate Final. It was in fact of his team-mate Colm King, but had been mistakenly captioned.
We apologise for the distress this caused to Daniel's family and to the Kings, and to the people of Cama/Cashel for our error.
Courtesy of The Connacht Tribune Tweet
