The Late John Joe Brosnan Sports Editor John Barry pays this moving tribute to a dear friend and work colleague in John Joe Brosnan. On life's path, you can be lucky to meet special people. Through work, Through sport, Through normal, everyday activity. I met such a man a long time ago in John Joe Brosnan and news of his death has hit hard. He wasn't just a work colleague I respected, somebody who contributed enormously to the success of The Corkman newspaper. He was more, much more. Most important of all, he was a dear friend, a man of enormous honesty and integrity, and you know that a light has gone out in your life with his death. No more the regular phone calls to Meelin Post Office. No more the cheery voice at the other end. No more the requests for the Cork angle on a Kerry-Cork confrontation. No more a run-down on what should be covered on the Duhallow GAA front on a given weekend. Yes, John Joe Brosnan is dead and never again will we see his picture/by-line with the Duhallow GAA notes or with a match report or preview. In those same Duhallow GAA notes, and in those same match reports and previews, you could always count on one thing. It would be a professional job from first paragraph to last, with not even a single comma to be changed. John Joe Brosnan might not have gone to any school of journalism in his day, or learned how to ply his trade at a third level learning institution, but he was a master craftsman when it came to construction and presentation of words. He made them come alive, he could brilliantly capture the excitement of a good game, and everybody out there, in the circulation area of The Corkman especially, knew that only too well. Through all his writings, the honesty of the man himself shone through. Things came from the heart with John Joe Brosnan and on those occasions when he had to deal with 'delicate' situations in matches, well, we always knew where he stood. Not for John Joe the sensational story or the sensational headline. That was for others. He would wield the stick in his own way and you knew, coming from him, that the strength of application would be appropriate . It always was. I well remember my first real contact with him back in 1960. I happened to be playing for Kerry against Cork in the Munster junior hurling final at the UCC grounds and John Joe was covering the game for both The Kerryman and The Corkman. As it so happened, Cork were rather lucky to win the game and needed a substitute by the name of Ray Sisk to come to their rescue. Afterwards, I well remember going to the Imperial Hotel for a meal and then waiting for John Joe to finish the match report on his typewriter so that I could bring it back to the office in Tralee. In the hackney car on the way home, I read that report and I always remember how well it was put together. All those years ago, the genius was there and, without question, that genius blossomed with the passing years. So did our friendship. Your heart would lift when John Joe would arrive in the editorial office from Meelin on a Monday. He'd always enliven the conversation and never once can I remember him having even the smallest fall-out with any member of the editorial staff or with any member of staff in any other department. To all of us, he was the finest gentleman it was possible to meet. So very honourable too. Indeed long-time colleague, Eamon Horan, and myself always maintained that if you were to place your life in somebody's hands, then the safest hands of all would be those belonging to John Joe Brosnan. People in Meelin and the wider Duhallow area, especially those who shared his ferocious love and commitment to the GAA, probably know John Joe Brosnan better than myself and Eamon Horan. If so, it is easy to understand their grief at his loss. Truly, we are talking about a most exceptional man, a man who won enormous respect and affection within his own community , and a man who, I might add, never thought for even one moment that he was somebody special. He would come down to Tralee for retirement parties and other functions, make wonderful speeches (he also had the gift of the gab!), and yet he hated the idea of being honoured himself. There wasn't much he could do about the presentation which was made to him in February by the Duhallow Board, in recognition of his incredible service to it, because it was an ordinary meeting of the Board and, although his illness was well advanced he made it his business to be there. Board chairman, Sean McAuliffe, paid this lovely tribute to him: " He is the rock that makes Duhallow, and Duhallow is his life." The dozen words summed up John Joe Brosnan to absolute perfection and his name will live on as long as the Duhallow Board itself. He set the most amazing record in being Secretary of the Board for more than fifty years and, for four years before that, he was Vice-Chairman of the Board. Today, people want restriction put on the periods of office being served by GAA officials, presumably because they believe that enthusiasm wanes with the passing of time. But that never happened with John Joe Brosnan. The man lived for Meelin, for Duhallow, and he set standards of efficiency that were never other than incredibly high. On top of it all, he was one of the greatest gentleman God ever placed on this earth. A big statement that but, having known him for 40 years plus and having worked very closely with him for most of that time, I use it unhesitantly. One had only to listen to the various tributes paid to him at the funeral Mass in Meelin and afterwards in Clonfert cemetery, where former GAA President Con Murphy, gave a graveside oration, to know that John Joe Brosnan was very exceptional in many, many ways. He might have resided in Meelin, but he was High King of all Duhallow, and his own people gave adequate testimony to that last Sunday. It was an emotional day for a lot of people, especially his wife, Noreen, and three children, and beautiful and haunting music made it more so. But Noreen, Kevin, Deirdre and Siobhán are left with a treasure trove of memories that they will always cherish. So will the rest of us fortunate enough to gave known him. Sleep well, dear friend. Courtesy of the The Kerryman March 2003 Tweet

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