The Late Patsy Doody Older people across the west of the county will remember the draining of the Deel. The project had been mooted for decades, but finally got the go-head in the late 1950s and work got under way in earnest in the 1960s. Draining the Deel and its tributaries were meant to cure a problem which had build up over literally thousands of years - the river and the smaller streams flowed through the best of land, but that land flooded due to having been laid down as alluvial mud in the form of flood plains over the millennia. The landowners found that their properties were repeatedly of no use, behind under water for protracted periods and pressure was put on government to rectify the situation. The draining of the Deel, which began upriver of Castlemahon and was to include the clearance of a channel serving thousands of acres, was to take many years, but work, once it started, was destined to continue until the cleared river met the tide at Askeaton. Patsy Doody of Broadford was a young man in those years and was taken on by the Office of Public Works as a machine driver on the scheme. He instantly befriended the others on the dredging crews, most of them his elders, but that was not surprising because he had been known as a sharp with in his native village. Many to this day remember the years which Patsy spent with the OPW on the Deel and the many years thereafter which he continued to spend with the same employer. He always loved his village and lived at John Paul Terrace in latter times. His death on Good Friday morning came as a shock to the whole community. Expressions of sadness and sympathy came from far and wide. Patsy had also been a well known sportsman in the local gun-club, the GAA, a greyhound lover and above all the local handball club where he willingly gave of his time as a trainer and coach over more than 30 years and had the satisfaction of seening many of his charges win at county, Munster and all-Ireland level. He had also been a great lover of music, his mother, Hannah, having been a member of the celebrated Sexton family of Monagea. Patsy is survived by his son Pat, daughter-in-law Gillian, brothers Tom, John and Phil, his sister Peggy, his aunts Mrs Curtin and Mrs Greaney and his many relatives and friends. His removal from Sextons funeral home to Broadford Church where his requiem Mass to celebrate his life was said on Easter Sunday by Dr Canon Seamus Ambrose. Dr Ambrose fondly recalled Patsy's sense of humour and his friendship to all. Burial afterwards was in Killough cemetery. His coffin was flanked by members of the local handball club and gun club who formed a guard of honour. Patrick Doody, Broadford; born 1940, died April 10 2009 Courtesy of The Limerick Leader 25th April 2009 By Martin Byrnes Tweet

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