John Moynihan, (1921 – 2017) President of Dr Crokes GAA

John Moynihan, our esteemed President, passed away on St Stephen’s Day 2017. If ever anyone deserved the accolade of club President, it was John.

His contribution to the Dr Croke club over more than 70 years has been immense. Luckily enough, the work that he did during the ‘40s and ‘50s has been recalled to us over the years by his contemporaries of these periods.

John Moynihan, late of York Terrace, became Secretary of Dr Crokes shortly after he joined the Killarney Mineral Water Company in 1939. The manager of the company at the time was that great Dr Crokes Clubman, Eugene O Sullivan, who along with another clubman, Johnny O Halloran, recognised his ability and persuaded John to become secretary of the club, John held this position for the first half of the 1940s. As John once recalled, “my father asked Eugene for a job for his son and Eugene said I will give him two jobs – one here in the mineral water company and another as secretary of the Crokes”.

The second World War was raging in the ‘40s and during this time, employment was at a premium. Many players had to emigrate and John, who was secretary at the time (and later Treasurer) was to the fore in keeping the club alive. On the day of a game, the club secretary had to get enough players, supply a football, boots, togs and stockings for those in need. That was some task in those hard times but John was the supreme provider. His connections with St Brendan’s College were important as they often helped out in the ‘kit department’. Boots were a particular challenge as very few players had them and this required a huge effort from John to get these, more often than not from the trainee priests down in ‘The Sem’.

Later on as Treasurer, John maintained that the club was solvent once we had a football – as can be gleaned from the financial sheets of the time, auditors were superfluous.

It is also reported that John would be as drained as any player after Dr Crokes games giving his all from the sideline and he immortalised the catchphrase ‘Watch the Break’.

Back in those days, transport to games was mostly by bicycle. There are numerous instance of ‘heroic exploits’ on the bike such as the one of John, Donal McMonagle RIP and Donie Corkery RIP riding to Barraduff for a match on a single machine – bar, saddle and carrier fully utilised and each taking a turn on the pedals !

John’s total commitment was rewarded in 1944 when the club won the Junior East Kerry League and they celebrated with the first all-male club social held in Scott’s Hotel on November 29th . Club historians often point to these events in 1944 as the turning point for the club as prior to this, hard as it may be to believe, the Dr Crokes club was very close to going out of existence.

John also has great memories of the Fitzgerald Stadium Project. As secretary of the Dr Crokes, he was to the fore in raising funds to keep both club and ‘the Stadium’ in a good financial position.  

Even though John ‘emigrated’ to Tralee in the ‘50s to work with Fitzgeralds Bros., he still remained a loyal Dr Crokes man. He continued as a loyal member and benefactor and went to support our teams whether they were in Killarney, Croke Park, in Kerry or further afield.

In the last number of years, he regularly came to Killarney for vital County Championship games. However, during these games, John was more likely to be found in a local cemetery praying that we might get a right result. Clearly, with his beloved Dr Crokes winning seven county championship titles in this century, John’s prayers were very often answered.

John was a deeply religious man with a great sense of humour. He was a staunch ‘Black and Amber’ man whom we will all miss greatly. It was an honour and a privilege for our club members to form a guard of honour and to carry John’s coffin at his funeral on Thursday and Friday last week. Everyone in the Dr Crokes family extends their sympathies to his family and friends but especially to his daughter Geraldine who looked after him so well for so many many years and who brought him to be with us on great days of celebration in recent years.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam

Na Crócaigh Abú

Denis Coleman, Chairperson.