Late Tommy Cooney The death of Tommy Cooney of Carron, Cashel on December 2 saw the departure from this life of a highly respected member of the farming community and of a man with a great knowledge and love of the history of his area. Born on September 15, 1915 to John and Alice Cooney, a family with deep roots in the area, he was one of a family of five, a brother, Jim, and three sisters, Teenie Kerwick, Mon Kennedy and Statia Enright. He attended primary school in Templenoe, after which he went to the Christian Brothers School, which was situated on the Dublin Road. He did his intermediate examination there and progressed to matriculation. He passed the entrance examination fort study Dairy Science at U.C.C. but never took up his place. He stayed at home to farm and later attended classes in the vocational school in Cashel. One of his prize possessions was a picture of his school class in the C.B.S. His class mates included Paddy Morrissey, Boherclough, Pat Lacey, Moyglass, Tom Devitt, The Green, Louis Fay, Golden, Michael O'Connor, a brother of Delia Forde, Bob Woods, the brother of Dick, who was a priest in New Zealand. He played hurling as a young man, but not as much as he might have. His mother frowned on the sport, fearing that he would be injured. He did establish himself as a backman of note, usually playing in the corner-or wing-back position. He was associated with the Abbey Rangers hurling team. Tommy used to recall an involvement with a local camogie team in the racecourse area, called the Galtee View Rovers, which existed for a brief periods in 1932 and 1933, and used to play across the road from his farm in Ryan's of the Racecourse. He used also travel into the CYMS Hall on Camus Road to take part in the activities there. Having inherited the family farm Tommy became a successful farmer. He loved gardening and he also followed horse racing. He married Mary Moloughney of Coalfields, Thurles in 1955 and they had four girls, Jacinta (Sugrue), Benny (Butler), Carmel, and Patsy (Downey). His wife died in 1988. As well as farming Tommy had a tremendous interest in local history. He was extremely well-acquainted with is area and made it his business to be informed by reading up books of local interest. He was a greatman for tracing and had a tremendous knowledge of people and their relationships, noted for his knowledge of people's dates of birth. He was also a good neighbour, who helped out wherever he could possibly do so. In later years he would faithfully collect a number of his neighbours and being them into 10.30 Mass in Cashel on a daily basis. He enjoyed good health and recovered well from a fall in the Parish Churchyard about ten years ago in which he broke his hip. He was unfortunate to fall in his kitchen in January of last year and suffer a second broken hip. Having spent sometime in the Assessment Unit on St. Patrick's Hospital, he moved out to Acorn Lodge. It was from there that he travelled to Knocklofty House on September 18 to celebrate his ninetieth birthday with family and neighbours. Some weeks before his death, he was moved to St. Joseph's Hospital, Clonmel, where he died on December 2. Right up to the end his mind was clear and his recall amazing. He is survived by four daughters and by sisters Teenie and Mon. Courtesy of Tipperary Star 14 January 2006 Tweet

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