The Emo community paid farewell to Eddie Mulhall this week, a highly-regarded man who was one of the founding members of the local GAA club and who served as secretary from its formation in 1956 right up to 1981.
Fondly known as ‘Neddie’, passed away in the early hours of Christmas Day in St Luke’s Hospital in Kilkenny.
He is survived by his brother Shay, sister-in-law Catherine, nieces, nephews – James, Rachel, Suzanne and Philip – as well as great nieces and nephews.
At his funeral mass in Emo on Tuesday, the Emo GAA club gave a guard of honour with club members carrying the coffin which was draped in the red and white flag.
His graveside oration was given by Pat Moore, his neighbour in Morette and long time family friend. Pat also succeeded him as Emo secretary in 1981.
A farmer, Eddie is remembered as an “excellent cattle man” and “a fantastic writer and brilliant scholar”.
“Neddie was a great neighbour to us all in Morette, Cappakeel, Coolbanagher and The Heath,” said Pat, while adding that “his encouragement to the youth and his courtesy to all went way above and beyond”.
Pat described how informal training took place in a field in Morette in the mid 1950s, before a club was formed to take part in the 1956 junior championship.
Neddie was a player in those early years and also to the fore as a club official and trainer and along with the likes of Billy Hynes and Fr John Hayden was hugely influential in bringing through a new generation of players.
In his address, Pat added that it was an era where there were no phones and not many cars, with Neddie walking or cycling to spread the message of club events.
Emo won the junior title in 1962 and intermediate in 1964 but the parish minor team (also involving Courtwood) won minor championships in 1964 and 1965 and U-21s in 1966 and 1967. The Laois team that played in the 1968 Leinster senior final was comprised of five players that had come through those underage Emo teams.
The club claimed the senior championship for the first time in 1972, before losing the 1974 final to neighbours The Heath.
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