The late Michael O'Brien

It is with profound sadness today that we inform the Carrick-on-Shannon Athletic Club family and the wider athletics community of the passing of our founder, our mentor, our inspiration and our friend Michael O’Brien.

Michael passed away peacefully in the early hours of Tuesday night/Wednesday morning surrounded by the people who meant most in the world to him – his family. To Rose, Mary, Gerry, Fergus and Paul, his grandchildren especially Shane, Brian, Cliona, Enda and Ciaran who all wore the colours of our club, and all his family and friends, the loss is immense and you are all in our thoughts at this time.

Words cannot do justice to what Michael O’Brien meant to our Carrick-on-Shannon AC, they simply can’t but if we can, we can try with the words of one of former chairman John Keenehan who described Michael in many of his addresses to our AGM as simply a legend – never was a word a more apt description for Michael.

One of the original founders of our club way back in 1973, Michael must have filled every role there was to fill in the club. Club Secretary for 25 years, club chairman, church gate collector, Connacht official, starter at Leitrim, Connacht and National events, chief organiser and track marker of the fondly remembered Carrick AC Sports, if there was a job to be done for the Club, Michael did it and did it to perfection because, for Michael, if a job was worth doing, it was worth doing right.

But it is as a coach that generations of Carrick people will remember Michael and it was his greatest love. We can talk of all the All-Ireland medallists and internationals he coached, all the successes he brought to our club but that wouldn’t do justice to Michael, for he was just as proud of the efforts of the youngest child trying their best in their event. Michael had as much time for the greenest novice as he did for the seasoned star.

The High Jump was his speciality and the club’s history of the event reflects the influence of Michael with so many achieving so much under his guidance. His sessions in the complex were a master class in the event and it was no wonder that so many people loved the event thanks to Michael’s tutelage.

In many ways, Michael was a teacher – he taught respect for your event, respect for your opponents, respect for the officials, respect for the rules but most of all Michael had respect for everyone he met. A stickler for abiding by the rules, Michael was one of the best Starting officials we’ve had but he always had the athlete first and foremost in his thoughts.

Michael loved to see Carrick AC athletes compete – he was never prouder than when Gerard O’Donnell representing Ireland at the European Indoors and while he had taken a step back in recent years, the exploits of Gerard, Eanna Madden, Alannah McGuinness, Daire Farrell and the late Joanna Duignan filled him with pride and he had a special bond with Joanna.

It is always a danger mentioning names for the fear of leaving someone out, there are so many who owe so much to Michael, it wouldn’t be possible to list them all but he always described Orla McGuinness as a second daughter while the respect the likes of Siobhan McWeeney, Rachel Carr and Donal Smith, Eadaoin McLoughlin, Sinead McWeeney and so many others had for Michael remains as strong today as it was back then.

To say Carrick AC was Michael’s second family is accurate for he gave so much time and commitment to it right down the years but his love of the sport transferred to his children and grandchildren, Michael coaching his grandson Brian to a high jump medal in the National Juvenile Indoors back in 2015, many, many years after his son Gerry became our club’s first All-Ireland medal back in the 70s. The O’Briens are synonymous with our Club and they followed his lead, Mary serving as our club chairperson for many years while Shane was the latest O’Brien inductee into the All-Ireland medal club when he was a member of our U13 Boys relay team who won a silver medal at the National Indoors in 2018.

To talk of Michael, you can’t but talk of his wife Rose. The two were inseparable, a perfect double act and Rose was just as heavily involved with the Club in the early years, her interest in the athletes every bit as keen as Michaels.

It wasn’t just Carrick AC Michael gave his time to – Community Games played a huge role in his life, again officiating at the National Finals in the long lamented Mosney. He loved his Active Age Group and worked for years with Carrick-on-Shannon Credit Union – continuing a theme of service to the community, one that sums up Michael’s life.

To the officials of Carrick-on-Shannon AC and further afield, Michael was a source of strength, of advice and guidance but most of all, he was great fun. Laughter was a constant when Michael was around and there was never anyone more up for the craic than Michael who was a great friend to us all.  The late Tommy Smith was a great confidante and friend of Michael’s while Mary and Brian Mostyn were lifelong friends of his. Michael felt the loss of Tommy and Mary deeply and I know Brian will miss Michael so much.

Those friends, like Mary O’Donnell Michael O’Hart in particular, will miss him greatly and the sad fact is that so many of us won’t be able to be there to mourn with the O’Brien family when Michael is laid to rest. All we can do is offer our heartfelt sympathy of all our members, past and present, to Rose, Mary, Fergus, Gerry and Paul and the extended O’Brien family and his many, many friends on their great loss, a love we share too.

Words cannot really do justice to Michael but perhaps the best saying is the old Irish saying, we will not see his like again.

Rest In Peace Michael.