Connie hadn't the greatest of health in recent years but nevertheless kept going the same as always. One would daily see him making his trips to the village centre from his home just outside it or sitting on a window ledge taking a breather. Connie, a bachelor, was a larger than life man who loved his native place and all the life that went on within it. He had a great knowledge of the village and countryside around it. He was a walking encyclopaedia when it came to his great sporting loves of hurling and Gaelic football. His close friend of many years Cllr Eddie Wade recalled last week that he was an ever-present attendee at games, particularly at Caherconlish Sports Field. One could not but be impressed by his wide general knowledge of things. Having left school early to find work, he nevertheless became a self taught man and was well read in most subjects.
In his younger days he played hurling and football but he was recognised foremost as a handy footballer. He was a selector when Caherline Junior Hurling team first won the East Limerick Junior Championship in 1971. His tenure as a selector lasted only two years but during that time he exhibited a side of him that was most fair. If you were going enough you were picked and you would be told it straight. Blue blood lines and economic circumstances didn't hold up in Connie's eyes when he selected you. He received a Guard of Honour on his removal from Crosses Funeral Home, Ballyneety on Thursday last.
He was good dart player in times gone by and was a member of many successful teams from the village. He contributed through his darts association to many charitable undertakings.
A good mixer in company, and a supporter of all local occasions and projects, he was an adept hand when it came to the debate or 'argument.' In the olden times, the history of this ancient place records that 'the local parliament' used to sit around the enormous big tree that used to stand erect just off the Fairgreen. Under its hanging boughs the most enlightened of them debated, sometimes in heated fashion, the news of their time. That great tree fell one day and consequently left our 'parliament' with nowhere to go but to be 'forced' indoors to the various inns about the place. The venue did not matter and the debates and 'arguments' were still as feisty as that which went before. The tradition of the old parliament was still kept alive by the characters that frequented the new 'seats of power'. Connie was just one in the long list of such characters. At his funeral Mass at Caherconlish Church on Friday last, parish priest Fr Pat Currivan, in his eulogy, said the late Connie had many attributes. He said that Connie was recognised by many in the farming community for his work in the veterinary field when as an assistant to Surgeon John Barry he proved to be a very able and knowledgeable man. "There are those," said Fr Pat, "who recalled that he was even as good as any vet." This aspect of his past work had earlier been attested to by Cllr John Egan, who had first hand knowledge of his skill with animals. Connie later worked in a number of employments mostly in the construction industry.
In the early 90's he was supervisor in a community enterprise scheme which culminated in the construction of a five hundred foot long wall and promenade on the Limerick side of the village. He put a lot of work into it and it's my personal opinion that Connie played a defining part in the completion of it. His debating skills had to be called on more that one occaison to defend the work being done. Notwithstanding all who planned and worked on it, Connie was given the honour to cut the tape on its opening for his great and unselfish input into that project.
His funeral Mass was well attended and the music and song played by Dermot Lyons, a family friend added to the occasion that remembered his passing but also celebrated his life.
We will remember Connie for the good times and in the words quoted by a retiring famous Irish politician of recent times 'the long battle is 'oer, we shall return our swords to their scabbards'.
Connie Dineen; born 1941, died January 2010

- Courtesy of The Limerick Leader, February 6, 2010 Tweet

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