Richard Canny An Appreciation
Richard Canny was founding Chairman of Éire Óg GAA club and prior to that had been Vice Chairman of the Michael Glaveys club. At the time of his death Richard was Vice Chairman of Éire Óg in addition to holding the position of President. From the start Richard was a steadying influence on the development of the club and assisted in bringing Éire Óg from Formation to Senior Championship status in just ten years.
Richard can be described in many ways using many words, such as fair, craic, family, decent, kind and many, many more but for me, Richard and big are the one and the same. Richard Canny was a big man, with a big smile, a big wave and a big hearty laugh. Richard did big things for big places and yet Richard was a quite private man.
I first got to know Richard Canny when he coached us in the wood on a Sunday (before the Éire Óg days). He always praised the good work and offered great advice. I remember him quoting Dermot Earley’s advice to us attentive 10 year olds. “Kick the ball at the gable wall of the house and catch it. Keep doing that and you will play for Roscommon”. For us at that time all we wanted was to play for a team, to get a chance and men like Richard saw that and set up our club. Later Richard was a neighbour on the bog and of course my father counted him as a close friend bringing him card playing to the O Rourke Centre on a Sunday night. We as a family knew Richard by a pet name and even last week prior to his death my brother and I were talking about “Big Dick” and the wonderful hearty laugh and big wave. He was one of about four people in Loughglynn that he enquired about.
The first many Roscommon GAA people knew of the death of Richard was when Mons. Flanagan prayed for him at the Roscommon Banquet in New York on Friday April 29th. The kind words expressed to me by many on that night summed up the esteem in which Richard was held by those in Roscommon GAA circles. They like me were sad that they missed his funeral.
In writing about Richard I can recount many stories and in the middle of each one is his sense of fun. He loved telling stories and it did not matter if it was about the time he gave the penalty to Glaveys in a match against Éire Óg in Tony’s field or the night he ate the Chinese belonging to a certain photographer not a hundred miles from Loughglynn on the night of convention two years ago. Really though the story that sums him up are the days of the silver Starlet. Richard Canny and Tony Coleman between them often brought a full team in two cars Tony had a big Fiat but Richard had the Starlet and I believe Richard could fit more big men in his car than many a bus man could get on a bus. The priority was to bring the lads to the match and home again the car was secondary the football was king.
Lest anyone think that Richard was just out to have a laugh then you are gravely mistaking. Richard Canny was a family man who put Kitty and his six children first. When work was hard to find in Ireland Richard hit off to Manchester and then on to the Falkland Islands where he was involved in the building of Mount Pleasant Airport near Port Stanley following the Falklands war. This was just an example of the sacrifice that the man made without question. When Richard spoke about his family he filled with pride as he spoke about the twins, the lads, Catherine, Patricia, Matt, James, Tom or Richard jnr. and like all grandparents he loved to mention all the grandchildren. When it came to family he had a lot to be proud of.
O Casey told us “memory is the only friend that grief can call its own”. I hope that as long as Éire Óg play football, the name Richard Canny will be remembered. His selfless contribution to the development of the GAA in the parish of Loughglynn, Lisacul and Gortaganny and prior to that in Britain is worthy of memorial and the finest memorial we can have is to be spoken of, to be remembered and occasionally to be quoted.
Go ndéana Dia trócaire ar a anam dilis.
This appreciation appeared in the Roscommon media in May 2011.
