O'Sullivan, Pat 'Tommy'
January 26, 2012When Pat was twenty-three his father died. Being a dedicated and loving son, Pat took responsibility for the family farm and cared for his mother during her long illness until 1985.
Having attended Knockeen National School, he went on to work in the creamery in Ohermong. Pat later worked on some of the most important developments in the south Kerry region in the twentieth century. In the 1950s he worked laying the poles that carried electric cables to the region and in the 1970s he worked on the construction of the IDA factories in Cahersiveen that brought employment to the area.
An enthusiastic farmer, Pat was known for buying and selling everything from chickens to donkeys and being able to judge an animal's weight before it ever went near a scales in the Cahersiveen mart.
Pat will be best remembered for his remarkable football skills. Playing at half-back with his local club Renard from an early age, he went on to have success with South Kerry winning a county championship medal in 1958 and the Kerryman Shield in 1963.
Pat was considered by his contemporaries as a highly skilled footballer but he chose to stay at home and look after his elderly mother and the family farm rather than play football at inter county senior level.
Mick O'Dwyer maintains Pat was one of the toughest opponents he ever faced on a football field, whilst Owen McCrohan- another opponent of Pat's in the 1950s- recently wrote of Pa, "he will always live in my memory. What a brilliant natural footballer he was, a man with impeccable fielding ability, style, strength, heart and guts. Definitely one of the best that came out of south Kerry in my lifetime. He was held in high esteem by al who knew him and rightly so."
Pat, a man of great faith, will be sadly missed by his many first cousins, his neighbours and his many friends.
Courtesy of the Kerry's Eye
26th January 2012 Tweet
