Derry O Brien,an appreciation.

Dermot William O Brien,for this I believe was his birth name ,was one sound man.And I will tell you why.
First he and his wife Mary (Newman )had three children ,one sounder than the other.Ian and Eunice we all know,love and respect,but there is another who Derry is now hugging and cajoling in the Place where no pain exists and where the other Angels worship the Lord.
Denise (pet name Dolly ) was born with a cndition I cannot currently spell,which involved irreparable brain damage and massive physical disability and of which most sufferers die fairly promptly.
Yet the loving and incessant care lavished on their treasure by Derry,Mary,Ian ,Eunice the Newman family and neighbours resulted in her reaching her teens before she succumbed.A world record in compassion I believe.
They say that the most distressing pain a parent can suffer is the loss of a child.Derry and Mary suffered this pain.And never flinched nor sought sympathy.Ian nd Eunice suffered the loss of a sibling and it is perhaps no coincidence that Eunice chose nursing as a profession.
I have often wondered how Derry and Mary felt when they heard the womb raiders screeching for the murder of perfectly healthy preborn children as a right and have no doubt but that Derry and Mary have more decency in a discarded fingernail than the totality of these child killers.
Secondly Derry had to make a living all during his married life and help support his family .This he also did as well as shouldering the responsibility of massive shared care for Dolly.And he must have done it well because hundreds of his former colleagues in the old Dept,of Posts and Telegraphs formed a huge guard of honour at his packed funeral in Dunderry last Monday.
Thirdly he himself suffered in silence and with dignity for a good while prior to his death and he  disguised it well.You would never think when you saw him picking up the grand kids at school that he was as sick as he transpired to be.Even towards the end he was the youngest and freshest 66year old I ever saw.
On a personal level I chose a different sporting path than Derry.I am a GAA man through and through.Derry was a soccer man and a referee of distinction I am told.I did see a few Soccer Blazers at the funeral.
His mother is a Heerey ,a most diverse and Sporting family.Two at least of his uncles played foot ball with Dunderry in the forties and fifties.Others were All Ireland champions in cycling,running and golf I understand.
In fact when I was in Navan Hospital as a result of a stroke four years ago an uncle of his was in the same ward as myself.He was a good conversationalist and as modest as be damn about the sporting achievements of his lifetime but he was sicker than I thought and died a short time afterwards.
Derry's mother 95 years old attended his funeral , a mother burying a child who himself had buried a child.A most distressing occasion.
To his loving wife Mary,his children and his grandchildren and his siblings all in Dunderry offer their sincerest condolences.
Ar Dheis De go raibh a hanam.