Connacht Tribune
Passing of a man of words with a huge pride of place
Obituary Billy Horan
The tributes poured in from near and far – and from all facets of life – after the death last week of journalist and retired teacher Billy Horan, a man who recorded so much of the news and history of his beloved Ballinrobe over the last 70 years.
Billy Horan, who was also the Connacht Tribune’s long-serving local correspondent for his native area, died suddenly – a month after his 89th birthday – at Mayo University Hospital on Tuesday of last week, surrounded by his loving family.
Ballinrobe GAA Club described Billy as ‘much loved within the community’ and a man who will be sorely missed.
Ballinrobe Racecourse, another organisation to which Billy gave dedicated service for over 50 years, formed guards of honour at the funeral ceremonies in Ballinrobe on Thursday and Friday.
Billy Horan was born in Partry and was the eldest of six children. He was educated in St Jarlath’s College, Tuam, and UCG (now NUIG) and went on to complete a H Dip.
After teaching briefly in Ballygar, he spent the remainder of his career in Ballinrobe – first in the CBS from the early 1950’s and then the Community School when it opened in 1990.
When teaching in the CBS he promoted Gaelic football and was involved in coaching of teams in the Colleran Cup and Flanagan Cup competitions.
English, History and Latin were his subjects, and he engendered a love of the written and spoken word among his pupils, some of whom went on to become reporters and many more to become teachers.
Billy’s love of Gaelic football started from a very young age and his father (Joe) won an All-Ireland Junior Football medal with Mayo.
He was involved in Ballinrobe GAA Club from the very start of his time in Ballinrobe.
He played corner-back for Ballinrobe in the South Mayo Junior Championship. From an early age, he was also involved in the coaching teams.
Throughout the course of his involvement in the club, he was Chairman, Secretary, County Board delegate, South Board delegate, Public Relations Officer (a post he held for many decades) and Scór Officer.
He was heavily involved in the committee that bought and developed Flanagan Park in the early 1960’s. He was also involved in Ballinrobe GAA Club fundraising through the weekly bingo in the old Town Hall and various other initiatives.
Billy was President of the Club and only stood down as President at its AGM last November.
Just last month, the club marked his retirement from the position with a special presentation at the launch of our five-year Strategic Development Plan.
Billy served as Chair of South Mayo GAA Board and was PRO of the South Mayo GAA Board for several decades. He also served as President of Mayo GAA.
Billy was deeply involved in, and had a great grá for, Scór – at divisional, county and provincial levels.
Ballinrobe were very strong in Scór in the 1970s and 1980s, particularly in set dancing and Question Time, and in fact he competed with success in Question Time for Ballinrobe.
Billy had a great belief in preserving Gaelic traditions though, as a Latin scholar and noted teacher, he had broad interests.
He was also a selector for the Mayo Junior team for a time and also served as a referee for a period.
Billy was recognised by Mayo GAA / The Green Above the Red Trust and by the GAA nationally with a President’s Award for his dedication to the GAA.
He started writing the Ballinrobe Notes for Mayo News in 1952. He was to expand his brief over the years and was the longest serving contributor to the Connacht Tribune, a role he filled right up to the week of his passing.
Long before match reporting became such a staple element of the local papers, Billy was an assiduous chronicler of matches.
While his primary interest was the GAA, he was very good at promoting and reporting on other sports in the locality.
Ultimately, the people of Ballinrobe and south Mayo mattered greatly to him, and he afforded coverage to all sorts of sporting, cultural and community events.
Last Monday week, the day before his sad passing, he submitted his final notes for the Connacht Tribune, which appeared as usual in last week’s newspaper.
He loved music, in particular country music, and was an avid radio fan, listening to radio and picking up match commentaries, reports and interviews from around the country through internet radio.
He loved local radio in Mayo and around the country and followed GAA where people he knew were involved very closely.
Billy watched football religiously, and right up to last weekend was watching with great interest the televised National Football League matches.
He also loved horse racing and was a member of the Ballinrobe Race Committee and thrilled to the buzz of the racecourse on race day, meeting and conversing with trainers and jockeys.
He didn’t bet much, but on occasion, after watching a horse that caught his attention over seven or eight-race meet, he’d have a calculated flutter, often with spectacular success though the wager might be modest.
Billy was also involved in the old Ballinrobe Town Hall, Ballinrobe Active Retirement Association, the Town Development Company and the campaign to build An Sportlann, now the Lakeside Sports and Fitness Centre and the running of it in its early years
Billy enjoyed largely good health right until the very end. His passing leaves a sadness in the whole community as is evident by the messages received by his family since his passing from every element of society, including his former students in Ballinrobe CBS and Ballinrobe Community School.
Predeceased by his loving wife Ina in January 2021, brothers Aidan (New Jersey), Frank (Luton) and Con (Limerick), Billy will be sadly missed by his sons Michael (Dublin), Liam (Ballinrobe) and Maurice (Tralee); daughters Liz Bree (Westport) and Sara (Ballinrobe); son-in-law Paul, daughters-in-law Teresa, Noreen and Bríd; grandchildren, Dara (Westport and Boston), Patrick and Fiona (Westport), Sinead, Michelle and Emma (Dublin), Ina, Kimberley, Jean and Murray (Tralee), sisters, Maura Roche (Moate) and Carmel Biggins (Ballinrobe), relatives, neighbours and cherished circle of friends.
His Requiem Mass took place at St Mary’s Church, Ballinrobe, with burial immediately afterwards in New Cemetery.
Significant state investment is required to address ‘shocking’ inequalities that leave cancer patients in the West at greater risk of succumbing to the disease.
A meeting of Regional Health Forum West heard that survival rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancers than the national average, and with the most deprived quintile of the population, the West’s residents faced poorer outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.
For breast cancer patients, the five-year survival rate was 80% in the West versus 85% nationally; for lung cancer patients it was 16.7% in the west against a 19.5% national survival rate; and in the West’s colorectal cancer patients, there was a 62.6% survival rate where the national average was 63.1%.
These startling statistics were provided in answer to a question from Ballinasloe-based Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) who said it was yet another reminder that cancer treatment infrastructure in the West was in dire need of improvement.
“The situation is pretty stark. In the Western Regional Health Forum area, we have the highest incidence of deprivation and the highest health inequalities because of that – we have the highest incidences of cancer nationally because of that,” said Cllr Parsons, who is also a general practitioner.
In details provided by CEO of Saolta Health Care Group, which operates Galway’s hospitals, it was stated that a number of factors were impacting on patient outcomes.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
Galway 3-18
Cork 1-10
NEW setting; new opposition; new challenge. It made no difference to the Galway minor hurlers as they chalked up a remarkable sixth consecutive double digits championship victory at Semple Stadium on Saturday.
The final scoreline in Thurles may have been a little harsh on Cork, but there was no doubting Galway’s overall superiority in setting up only a second-ever All-Ireland showdown against Clare at the same venue on Sunday week.
Having claimed an historic Leinster title the previous weekend, Galway took a while to get going against the Rebels and also endured their first period in a match in which they were heavily outscored, but still the boys in maroon roll on.
Beating a decent Cork outfit by 14 points sums up how formidable Galway are. No team has managed to lay a glove on them so far, and though Clare might ask them questions other challengers haven’t, they are going to have to find significant improvement on their semi-final win over 14-man Kilkenny to pull off a final upset.
Galway just aren’t winning their matches; they are overpowering the teams which have stood in their way. Their level of consistency is admirable for young players starting off on the inter-county journey, while the team’s temperament appears to be bombproof, no matter what is thrown at them.
Having romped through Leinster, Galway should have been a bit rattled by being only level (0-4 each) after 20 minutes and being a little fortunate not to have been behind; or when Cork stormed out of the blocks at the start of the second half by hitting 1-4 to just a solitary point in reply, but there was never any trace of panic in their ranks.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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GARDAÍ and the IFA have issued a joint appeal to all road users to take extra care as the silage season gets under way across the country.
Silage harvesting started in many parts of Galway last week – and over the coming month, the sight of tractors and trailers on rural roads will be getting far more frequent.
Inspector Conor Madden, who is in charge of Galway Roads Policing, told the Farming Tribune that a bit of extra care and common-sense from all road users would go a long way towards preventing serious collisions on roads this summer.
“One thing I would ask farmers and contractors to consider is to try and get more experienced drivers working for them.
“Tractors have got faster and bigger – and they are also towing heavy loads of silage – so care and experience are a great help in terms of accident prevention,” Inspector Madden told the Farming Tribune.
He said that tractor drivers should always be aware of traffic building up behind them and to pull in and let these vehicles pass, where it was safe to do so.
“By the same token, other road users should always exercise extra care; drive that bit slower; and ‘pull in’ that bit more, when meeting tractors and heavy machinery.
“We all want to see everyone enjoying a safe summer on our roads – that extra bit of care, and consideration for other roads users can make a huge difference,” said Conor Madden.
He also advised motorists and tractor drivers to be acutely aware of pedestrians and cyclists on the roads during the summer season when more people would be out walking and cycling on the roads.
The IFA has also joined in on the road safety appeal with Galway IFA Farm Family and Social Affairs Chair Teresa Roche asking all road users to exercise that extra bit of care and caution.
“We are renewing our annual appeal for motorists to be on the look out for tractors, trailers and other agricultural machinery exiting from fields and farmyards,” she said.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
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