Bride Rovers’ stalwart Dave Ryan fondly remembered in Macroney

Relations of the late Dave Ryan with John Arnold in Macroney last Sunday at the plaque unveiling.

By John Arnold

On a beautiful spring day close on fifty people gathered in the ancient cemetery of Macroney, near Kilworth on Sunday last. It was on this same Sunday exactly fifty years ago, in February of 1973, that the funeral of Dave Ryan took place in Macroney.

On that day it was cold and wet and the stream of water cascaded down the boreen alongside the burial ground. Dave’s coffin had to be placed in a trailer pulled by a tractor half a century ago. It was so different last Sunday as we gathered in warm sunshine to commemorate and celebrate Dave and his life.

Over twenty of those in Macroney last Sunday had been present five decades ago when we laid Dave to rest …

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