Athy rallies to bring Maurice home

Two Athy women have begun a collection to repatriate a beloved, adopted Athy man, Maurice Cahill (81) who died at home last week.

Judith O’Brien and RoseMary O’Sullivan have set up a GoFund Me page to help lay Maurice alongside his beloved parents in his native Limerick, and already the fund is approaching €4,000 – from a target of €10,000.

“We’re hoping for your support to ensure that Maurice Cahill, our friend and yours, can be buried with the dignity and generosity he carried in life,” said the two women on their appeal page.

“Maurice was born in Limerick but found his way into the heart of Athy, with his wit and wisdom, his warmth and his roguish smile, his generous nature and wealth of stories.

“We know many people whose lives were touched by him, and who in turn would like to contribute to his burial costs. so we’ve set up this GoFundMe to make sure that Maurice can have his funeral Mass here, and be returned with dignity to his beloved Limerick, to rest with his parents,” they said.

“A couple of his friends have organised a lovely service, but it’s not easy to bring him back to Limerick,” added Judith.

“He was a proud Athy man, but he was Limerick to the tip of his fingers.

“He did building, gardening, he was very good with his hands, and had an enormous intellect.

“He had a great capacity for names and dates, particularly about Limerick hurling, and Munster rugby – even for games he wasn’t at!”

 Born in 1944, Maurice was a “devoted Dev man” (Fianna Fáil), and arrived in Athy on what he jokingly called “the Guinness scholarship” to attend the Cuan Mhuire.

“He had a huge circle of friends, and was incredibly well-known in town. Everybody had a good word to say for him,” said Judith.

“The GoFundMe page was just decided by the community to give Maurice a dignified send-off,” said RoseMary.

“It’s ironic, my grandfather’s first cousin was WT Cosgrave (Fine Gael) and so when my mother Mary ran for the council Maurice said he had to break every rule in the book to vote for her!

“There’s people who live in mansions, and have billions who don’t have as much as Maurice.

“You can see on the GoFundMe page there’s people from all facets of Athy society.

“He really did reach everybody.

“The former speaker of the Dail Sean Ó Feargháil will do the eulogy.

“Maurice would always be invited on special days like Christmas to people’s homes where you’d only expect family."

RoseMary concluded: “This fundraiser is a real community effort, and anything left over will be donated to Cuan Mhuire."