CIARAN McKeever’s phone would be hopping every Sunday night. Ping. Ping. Ping. Another reported casualty in a local south Armagh derby.
‘Is your mum working in Daisy Hill tonight, Ciaran? One of our players took a bad hit.’
Majella McKeever worked as a nurse in the Newry-based hospital for over 40 years. She was a quiet, reserved, altruistic soul.
“Everybody in south Armagh would have known mum,” Ciaran smiles.
“You were virtually involved in local derbies every other Sunday down here. You’ve Newtown’ three miles down that way, you’ve ’Cross six miles that way, Silverbridge maybe three miles that way, Culloville seven miles the other way.
“We’d all be sitting at the breakfast table on Sunday morning and mum knew there’d be a local derby on and that those games can take on a life of their own, and she’s going to work in A&E in Daisy Hill.
“Dad [Michael] would have been one of the selectors in Cullyhanna and Peter [Ciaran’s brother] and me would have been playing on the team.
“People think I’m bad – I would have been the calmest out of the three of us!
“Before she’d go to work, she’d pop her head in and say: ‘Now, youse behave today.’
“She was more or less saying: ‘I’m working, and I don’t need any extra stress with boys coming into A&E after a local derby!’
“You’d be guaranteed after every club match in Armagh, that house phone would ring or I’d get messages on my mobile phone asking: ‘Is your mum working?’ That was people looking to jump the queue in Daisy Hill with an injured player. I’d say every GAA player in Armagh that went into Daisy Hill, she bumped them up the line because she’d recognise the club jersey.”
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BORN in Newry, Majella’s life changed forever one night when her mother died suddenly from a massive brain haemorrhage while making dinner. At a young age, she was thrust into a mothering role to her younger sister and brother, the latter who was born with Down’s.
She never drank or smoked and spent most of her youth in Crossmaglen among the McMahons – the clan of her late mother’s.
She worked in the maternity unit of the hospital and later in the Accident and Emergency department.
Majella (née Fearon) married Michael McKeever and they had four children [Ciaran, Peter, Eilish and Michaela]. They settled in Cullyhanna, south Armagh and lived a happy life together.
She retired at 55 but she couldn’t stay away for too long from the profession she loved, and was soon back at the coalface of A&E.
“The house was just GAA,” says Ciaran. “And when she got all of us reared, she had more time for herself and she saw an opportunity to start up Ladies football, which I don’t think Cullyhanna ever had.”
“She probably thought she’d find an interest for herself,” says Michaela, Ciaran’s sister. “It was something away from work and family and caring for her brother. Going to football was her social life.”
Majella was highly sought after at St Patrick’s, Cullyhanna because she had boundless energy and invariably got things done. The Club Person of the Year award was usually a foregone conclusion.
YOU can get lost along the winding roads of south Armagh. It’s a damp Friday morning – the day before Armagh face Monaghan in the All-Ireland quarter-finals at Croke Park.
Outside the McKeever homestead, orange and white flags and bunting flutter in the warm breeze.
The house is alive with happy grandchildren.
Michael exudes a quiet authority around the house.
The Skylon is already booked for the night. Takes the stress out of negotiating the snarling traffic of Drumcondra on match-day.
The living room is a perfectly understated homage to Majella – a wife, mother and grandmother – who lost her six-month battle with cancer in July 2021.
They’re eight days out from the second year of the Majella McKeever Memorial Blitz at the Cullyhanna club where hundreds of nine and 10-year-old girls will descend on the field and enjoy a festival of football – a fitting tribute to one person’s ceaseless efforts to provide football for girls in the area.
You need friends like Paul Toner.
Chief organiser of Majella’s Day, Paul’s praying for dry weather on Saturday July 8; he’s still sourcing a few reluctant referees and the senior girls are on board to help with refreshments on the day.
“Majella was Ladies football in Cullyhanna,” Paul says matter-of-factly.
“I don’t think there was a ball kicked until Majella came on the scene.
“I know people say nice things when somebody passes away, but Majella was just the best person you could imagine.
“Everybody said the same thing at her funeral, just brilliant to have about the club. Obviously, she was a nurse and if somebody got hurt, you were always glad Majella was there.”
On this grey Friday morning, there is every conceivable emotion in the room. The laughter, spawned by happy memories of a mother and wife, often gives way to tears.
“I think this will help today, sitting down and chatting about mum,” says Ciaran.
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CIARAN McKeever’s head is spinning. Armagh are a couple of days out from their 2021 Ulster Championship opener with Enda McGinley’s Antrim team at The Athletic Grounds.
Slowly coming out the other end of COVID lockdowns, there are still restricted numbers at games, you’re never more than six feet away from a hand sanitiser, there’s still talk of vaccination boosters, facial masks and social distancing.
Grim days...
Ciaran sends a text: ‘I’ll not make training tonight, Geezer.’
‘Take as long as you need,” the reply comes back.
Majella finally retired from nursing in August 2020. Michaela had been noticing her mum wasn’t looking well and asked her to go see about it.
On New Year’s Eve, her mother was diagnosed with cancer.
Peter was his mum’s designated driver to the City Hospital in Belfast for her chemotherapy sessions.
“They were tough journeys,” Peter says, with a sharp in-take of breath. “The hardest part was waiting on mum coming out...”
By April, the treatment had run its course.
“Mum was going through treatment, and you always had that hope that there would be a bright ending,” Ciaran says.
“It was made tougher because we were sitting outside in chairs, none of us wanted to come into the house and put her at risk. We were sitting speaking through the window for four or five months. We were trying to protect her and hoping that the treatment would work.”
Ciaran’s partner Ciara gave birth to Senan during the time of Majella’s illness.
From the overwhelming feeling of becoming a father for the first time to the crushing reality of knowing his mother hadn’t long left were life’s cards he was dealt.
“Senan was a maybe a release at times for me,” Ciaran says. “It was brilliant to have him because it took your mind off what mum was going through.
“We probably knew Senan wouldn’t get to see mum a lot as it was going to be short-lived. He was going to miss out on that. So, we took Senan over every day, and we sat outside the house. But at least mum got to see him and that gives you massive comfort.”
Ciaran was torn between staying with his mum and hooking up with the Armagh squad just before the Antrim game.
“The squad and management would always meet the night before a match, just for a chat and a bit of food. We were sitting with mum; she was still conscious and she said: ‘Are you not meant to be in Armagh tonight?’
“I said: ‘I’m going now’. But I never went because I thought if I go, would that be it? The next day was the match and mum said to dad: ‘He’s going to that match today.’
“I didn’t know whether I’d go or not because we knew at any moment she could pass. I spoke to all the family and they encouraged me to go.”
Played in front of a restricted 1,700 people at The Athletic Grounds, Antrim faced mission impossible. They boxed clever in the early exchanges, keeping the ball away from Armagh before wilting in the second half.
Rory Grugan, Tiernan Kelly, Conor Turbitt and Rian O’Neill grabbed the goals as the Orchard men booked their place in the Ulster semi-finals with the minimum of fuss.
“You’re there, you’re in the middle of it, you’re in that environment. You’re in the changing room and your head goes elsewhere. You win the game and there’s a feel-good factor.
“And then I remember Denis Holywood coming into me and saying: ‘You’ve to go home’.”
“Mum was able to get up and sit on the reclining chair and she watched every kick of that match,” Michaela says.
“And she was so relieved when she saw Ciaran on the TV. She really enjoyed that match, she had ice-cream and when it was over, she got back into bed. She got great peace out of that match.”
Ciaran got back up the road as quickly as he could.
“Thankfully I got in to see her and she said: ‘Well done’. And I’d say about five minutes after that she went into an unconscious state.”
Ciaran and Ciara had to postpone their wedding three times.
“The third time we planned it, mummy took sick. We probably knew she wouldn’t make that date, so we pulled the wedding forward to the 10th of July and that was the day that mum died...”
Ciaran’s voice fades away.
Majella also passed away on her brother’s 60th birthday.
The McKeever family were blown away by the thousands of people who came to pay their respects and to remember the life of Majella McKeever.
In the mind’s eye, Peter still sees the road outside thick with people, snaking right down to the Mill Bridge, and the ambulances giving their former colleague an escort.
Before she died, Majella wrote her two sons and two daughters a letter each. Peter’s is framed and sits on his bedside table.
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SATURDAY July 17, 2021. Ulster semi-final day. There’s a sweltering heat and the Pairc Esler grass has been burnt to a shade of light yellow.
There’s a sombre feeling in the air.
The tragic death of Brendan Og Duffy, Monaghan's U20 captain, the night before had filtered through, and earlier that week, Monaghan also lost Philip Traynor, the county’s long-time sponsor.
What unfolded was one of the most exhilarating games of football in the modern era. Monaghan cut open the Armagh defence and bagged four first-half goals and had one foot in the final.
The Orchard men looked out of it but somehow launched an unforgettable comeback only to be pipped in the closing seconds by the imperturbable Conor McManus.
If a football match can be life-affirming, this was the game. It was pure escapism - medicinal in every sense of the word.
Standing on the sidelines, however, Ciaran McKeever never felt truly present that day as Armagh suffered another gut-wrenching Championship defeat.
“I was probably in a daze during that game.”
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LAST year, Paul Toner got to work and, with the permission of the McKeevers, organised the inaugural memorial blitz in memory of Majella.
“We were so grateful to Paul and the club for organising it,” Michaela says.
“Paul asked nothing of us because we weren’t ready to do anything that day. Every club representative had a lovely story about mummy.
“I think we struggled because we couldn’t believe we were doing something in memory of mummy. Ciaran was only after becoming a daddy and Eilish was only after becoming a mummy.
“Eilish had her first baby on mummy’s month’s mind. And I was just after having a baby. So, there we were with three new babies, and we were doing a memorial tournament for mummy.
“But it was lovely to see all the girls participating in the blitz.”
Michael and Majella have seven grandchildren – Tommy, Millie, Ruby, Senan, Ceallach-May, Cianán and Frankie.
Majella got to meet five of them.
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LAST Saturday evening the Armagh supporters held their breath in Croke Park.
Rian O’Neill has practiced that shot a million times over, cutting across the ball with the outside of his right boot, and knowing in an instant the trajectory was perfect, curling neatly between Monaghan’s posts at the Davin End.
But just as he did in the sun-burnt field of Pairc Esler two summers ago, Conor McManus – the Peter Pan of Monaghan football – won and converted the equalising free in stoppage-time.
He’s the greatest clutch player the game has ever seen. There’s no doubt penalty shoot-outs have a deflating impact on Gaelic football – an ugly imposter brought on by a madly condensed inter-county season.
What doesn’t break young Callum Cumiskey will make him.
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HAD the game gone Armagh’s way, Ciaran McKeever would have been on a weekend training camp and missed the memorial blitz.
Instead, he’ll be above the holy ground of St Patrick’s Cullyhanna this morning watching hundreds of young female footballers kicking ball in memory of his mother.
Like last year, it’ll be another tough day for the McKeever clan. But, in time, the Majella McKeever Memorial Blitz will be a family’s soothing balm, because nobody truly dies while their name is still spoken.
People like Paul Toner will insist upon that.
Taking refuge in her mother’s lap across the living room, Ceallach-May, the eldest grandchild, wants to tell me that when she thinks of “Nanny Jella” she thinks of Peter Rabbit and Doctor Murphy.
With her voice almost dancing, Ceallach-May says: “Nanny was a nurse and me and her used to play hospitals. We used to do loads of different stuff.”
You ask the family what’s Majella’s legacy, a tearful Michaela replies: “A trail of broken hearts.”
Her legacy is, of course, more than a trail of broken hearts.
“Any ball a girl will kick for Cullyhanna in the future will be because of Majella,” says Paul Toner.
At the fourth time of asking, Ciaran and Ciara will tie the knot in September - and Senan and baby Cianán will be there to celebrate their mum and dad’s special day.
And Majella McKeever will forever live in the hearts of others.
