Considering he had been in his usual good form at the Fermoy Area Sports & Community Awards in Corrin on Saturday night, it was all the more of a shock when the news broke on Monday that the legendary Mick Dolan had died.
Employed at Teagasc up until his retirement some years ago, Mick was steeped in the Gaelic tradition and was the backbone of Fermoy GAA. He was an inspiring force during his playing days and was heavily involved in administrative duties. Mick became the third Fermoy clubman since the 1952/55 period, to take over as chairman of the Cork County Board, the others being Andy Scannell and Derry Gowen.
Former town councillor John Murphy referred to him as being ‘a great ambassador’. “First and foremost he was a fantastic person, a wonderful husband and father, a great family man. For Fermoy GAA he was a great ambassador, everywhere he went there was always huge respect for him. He had some great friends.
“When Cork hurling and football teams were involved in important games and tickets were hard to come by, Mick did his utmost to ensure that as many fans as possible were able to see the game. One could go on forever recalling Mick’s life. He will be sadly missed.”
Many tributes have been paid from those within the GAA. As well as being a great club man, Mick held a number of positions within the executive of the county board, those of chairman, vice-chair and development officer.
PRO of the Fermoy club Tommy O’Brien, said Mick’s passing is ‘a huge loss, firstly to his family but also to Fermoy GAA’.
“The club has lost one of its true stalwarts and we will be all the poorer for his passing. We have lost a great clubman and a great friend,” he said.
County Board chairman Ger Lane referred to him as being a man who gave sterling service to the Fermoy club, both as a player and an administrator and to the GAA in Cork, spending nine years on the executive as development officer, vice-chair and chairman.
Speaking to the Irish Examiner, Ger Lane said Mick was a calming influence with any issues that arose during his time with the county board.
“He smoothed things over, he calmed the waters and everybody appreciated that. I would best describe him as a grassroots person, he treated everybody the same and he was a great character too,” Ger said, adding that the greeting from Mick was always the same: “How are you oul’ stock? That was a great saying he had for everybody.”
WORK
Mick had spent his younger days in England, worked in the haulage industry for a while when he returned home and was one of the first to take up employment in Moorepark when ‘The Institute’ was established there. He became farm manager in the Ballyderowne farm and worked in the milking amchine department there.
“Mick was a great character – you could say the life and soul of the party, and his death has come as a terribel shock,” Sean Hegarty – a former colleague of Mick’s, told The Avondhu. “I met him on Friday last in Fermoy with his daughter Collette and he was in great form.”
