Forde, John
April 27, 2010
The Late John Forde
A proud son of Ardnaree, Mayo and Ireland was laid to rest last week after a long and happy life. John Forde's name had echoed across the land for decades and he was given a hero's farewell in his home town.
"The swans on the Moy are singing a doleful tune as we mourn one of our finest." The words of Fr Anthony Hannick summed up the emotions in St Muredach's Cathedral as the vast congregation bade farewell to a footballing legend and a man among men.
John was noted throughout the land for his exploits on the football pitch but to those who knew him best he was a father, a grandfather, a friend, a teammate, a colleague, a neighbour and a friend.
Long before the requiem mass began, the crowds flooded in from the bright sunshine in the quiet cathedral to pay their respects. Many paused for a few moments beside the coffin draped in the tri-colour and the green and red.
In the background the tunes of a lifetime played quietly. The boys from the County Mayo, Mary from Dunglow, The Old Rugged Cross and if We Only Had Old Ireland Over Here caught the ear as the pews filled to overflowing.
Various club colours from near and far were on view as football people came to pay their respects to a hero, and when mass started the Ardnaree and Mayo jerseys were proudly placed at the foot of the altar.
John was born in 1921 when the Irish state was breathing its first breaths. His grandfather and two uncles had been killed in the first world war and when his mother died at a young age his grandmother helped raise him.
He served in the Irish Army in the forties and loved the time he spent stationed in Donegal and he even wore the Gold and Green of the Ulster county on occasion.
Fr Hannick told the attendance that John might have been a noted inter-county footballer but he was firstly an Ardnaree man, 'bred, born and reared'. The men and women of the Sarfields were prominent in the attendance on Thursday as sadness and pride vied for space behind their eyes.
"John Forde was a noted footballer but he was equally to be admired as a man. He was a man among men, a caring husband and a loving father," Fr Hannick explained.
We were told later by Chairman of Ardnaree, Johnny O'Malley, that John met a young lady from Moygownagh named Mai Davis on a blind date and fell in love with her instantly. They were inseparable from then on and when Mai passed away some years ago John's heart was broken, but he rejoiced in his children and his children's children and reveled in their achievements.
It was obvious to everyone in the congregation that we were bidding farewell to a legendary, much loved figure. Old, broad-shouldered men stood beside the youthful people of today as all generations come to pay their respects.
John and come within moments of immortality in 1948 when his Mayo team were robbed in an All-Ireland final that was called off well before the end as the Green and Red closed in on victory, but he never let that effect him.
He was magnificent in Mayo's defensive department in 1950 and '51 when Sam Maguire came over the Shannon and he carved a permanent niche for himself in Mayo football history with timely and powerful play that set him apart. Two of his colleagues from that wonderful period, Joe Staunton and Tom Acton were present to bid him farewell.
I never met John Forde but I knew him well, our so I thought. My father had laboured on him as he plastered Shranamonragh National School in the early sixties. In later years I wished that his work wasn't so prefect and that a slab of concrete crashing to the floor might give us a day or two off school, but that was never going to happen.
John Forde was always spoken of in revered tones in our home. My father always told us what a gentleman John was and I felt I knew this wonderful man from the Moy. That's the way it is with heroes people they've never met, revere them.
His children, Paul, Mary, Bernie, Ann and Liam loved him as a father, his grandchildren loved him as their Poppa and Mayo loved him as one of the greatest footballers ever to wear the Green and Red. His likes will not pass this way again.
The swans on the Moy might be singing a doleful tune but they'll also sing a proud refrain whenever the name of John Forde is mentioned.
Courtesy of Michael Gallagher
Western People
April 27th 2010
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