The Late John Barron When we laid John Barron to rest in Ballygunner cemetery last Wednesday we said goodbye to the greatest hurler the club has ever produced. Jon was a De La Salle man from the cradle to the grave. His uncle Richard was a De La Salle brother who taught in South Africa and it was only natural that John went to school in St. Stephans. As he progressed there he was observed as having potential as a hurler in the school yard games. Brother Josephus, the hurling coach, took him under his wing and by the time he entered De La Salle college he was marked down as a future star. He won a Coholan cup medal in his first year and soon progressed to the Dean Ryan and Harty teams. He was not content to merely play in the college but with his friends on Saturdays he would go up the "Knock" to hurl mixed matches. He also played with Morrison's Road in the city juvenile leagues. He was selected on the Munster colleges team in 1953 and 1954, winning an All-Ireland medal in 1954. John played with our minor team and although we had no success he was selected on the Waterford team. From there he moved up through the ranks and made his senior championship debut against Limerick in Cork in 1956. He played in three All-Ireland finals (four if you count replays) winning the last one to come to the Decies in 1959, as well as three Munster medals. He travelled to New York soon after to play against the home team when it took a plane almost 24 hours to reach that distant shore. With Waterford, he also graced Wembley stadium in a game against Kilkenny. All the honours of the game came his way. Selected for Munster and the Rest of Ireland on many occasions, he won League and Oireachtas medals. Raymond Smith in his book Decades of Glory wrote, "There was something in John Barron's hurling when he was at peak form that impelled attention, a style and grace that put him amongst the classic exponents of defensive play". Such high praise would be dismissed by John but there is no doubt it was acurate. All the while he was playing at this high level, he never let down the club. His one regret was not winning a Waterford senior medal. However he was a fine footballer too and fifty years ago this year he helped bring the only senior title to the club having been on the successful minor team of 1953 and junior of 1956. In 1954 he steered us through the junior hurling championship to senior ranks. Our senior stint was not to last too long but he with others set a juvenile section in motion which produced the first great crop of young players and he was delighted to be with them to win the Sargeant cup abd the intermediate championship in 1965 and return to senior ranks. John also refereed the Waterford senior hurling final of 1964. Last October during the early part of John's illness, he was reading a local newspaper when he saw a photograph of a young De La Salle with the city league U-12 cup. A few days later a letter came through the boy's letterbox congratulating him and telling him how much it meant to him "to see a De La Salle captain raise aloft the cup of victory". The young lad will never forget it. He was an icon of the club, a paragon of honest humility. We extend our deepest sympathy to his wife Joan, daughter Margaret, sons John, Brian and Donal as well as his sisters Statia and Terri. Ar dheis De go raibh se. Courtesy of the Waterford News and Star 9 May 2008 Tweet

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