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Post by Ballyfireside on Jul 5, 2016 20:00:06 GMT
GAA stalwart, sporting genius, conversationalist and above all, gentleman extraordinaire.
Just heard the news so just spreading the word, I will fill yez in later on some of the life and times of Mick, others will complete the picture, suffice as to say there was a lot to him.
RIP Mick.
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Post by colinsworth1 on Jul 6, 2016 1:11:28 GMT
Sorry to hear of Micks passing one of North Kerry's. Colorful. Characters ever. Mick brought the Sunshine with him wherever he went .
May he Rest in Peace
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Post by Ballyfireside on Jul 7, 2016 11:13:27 GMT
This is a copy of a posting I made elsewhere -
To not have engaged with Mick is to not have lived and anyone he touched is the better for it. Non-drinker and non-smoker but socialiser extraordinaire. I was having a chat of an evening with him and one of the nuggets I picked up was that from 16 years of age, his weight never budged from 12 stone. Now I don't know a lot about boxing but he could pack some punch and they say he was also gifted of a sturdy lowish centre of gravity, canvassing a good few laddos in his day, though never raised a hand outside the ring nor never had the bad word.
A few of his comrades in London would have recalled in later years how he brightened up many a dark day in hard times and his role as a public relations man was no accident as he was the type that nobody could refuse. He even had Tony O'Reilly arranging taxis for him from the airport on arrival. I'd often say that North Kerry were talkers and South Kerry more grafters, so John Murphy chose wisely with Mick as his front man and boy could he tell yarns of those rather interesting times.
I also recall a fella disputing an umpiring decision Mick once made, well about 40 years ago to be more precise, he told Mick "he'd hit him only he was an old man" and to which those in the know might have commented that it was a wise decision, a lucky escape if there was ever one for the would be assailant and he didn't even have to run away. As a friend of his my own father Jackie got mileage out of this one as Mick affectionately refer to him as "Auld Hegarty". I could tell hundreds of more good wans from Lisselton Cross and Urlee. The one thing that always puzzles me is how the Barra Road didn't throw up more silverware, even in later years there was so many football houses, individual families would each have a handful of top class footballers, maybe soccer was part of it but I recall evenings on the hill that you'd have maybe 30 or 40 lads chasing a football. Finucane's yard was littered with balls and you'd see Mick and the boys taking a kick in between chores, soloing in from milking the cows or a carefully taken point between a telegraph pole and a shed, between feeding calves.
The stories he would tell himself would be the basis of many a subsequent literary work and I myself penned "What they think of Mick Finucane in Donegal'. It was after that chat with him that I went to the local and my smile had em asking what it was all about. When I told em who I had just been chatting to they started on their mobiles, checking out the story, etc, doubting Thomses! Anyway we storied 'till the not so small hours after that as a few more congregated and regaled his life and times.
By the way the '47 final was played in The Polo Grounds because Croker was a building site. He would say after that an American admirer commented that 'she couldn't understand a word he said but she loved the sound of his voice', so everything about him inspired of scope, more scope that contradiction.
So all we can say is thanks for the music Mick, RIP.
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Post by Ballyfireside on Jul 8, 2016 21:55:17 GMT
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Post by Ballyfireside on Jul 14, 2016 2:04:38 GMT
A conversation today threw up a few interesting aspects to Mick, one being his spot on prediction on "Up For The Match" in '14 and boy was he careful with his words, cute he was too. 'If Kerry were to win it would be the newer lads that would make the difference' was the jist of his call. Geaney's early goal, Fionn's blockdown and Paul Murphy's man being substituted and him getting MOTM were significant. Ah yes, KD, AO'M, DM, etc played their roles but was it that they matched Donegal while the younger ones won their pairings decisively and the three mentioned were key examples. So Mick could both play and judge the game, even predict, a Kerryman's sixth sense so he had sport's intelligence. a complete footballer.
Hopefully more of us will share our experiences on here, surely I am not the only historian and I'd love to hear stuff that hasn't already been put on record, and while it is still fresh in people's minds!
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Post by Ballyfireside on Jul 31, 2016 0:17:42 GMT
Ah, take a look at the link below, and make sure you aren't wearing tight clothes as you listen to Mick's account of flying in the 40's, and if you have a fear of flying, go to another thread!
And say nought of Aeroplane o'shea!
As well or not as I knew Mick, and for the benefit of those who heard a lot but didn't know him, this You Tube clip would be representative of him in lots of ways.
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