THE FUNERAL took place in Co Kerry yesterday of construction chief John J Murphy, who died on May 7th in London.
Mr Murphy had hitchhiked to London in the early 1930s from Loughmark, and was brought home by private jet to Kerry airport 80 years later for the funeral in his native Cahersiveen.
In the interim, the 96-year-old head of what is now international construction company John J Murphy and sons, never forgot his roots, employing Irish men for decades, locals said yesterday.
They pointed to quiet donations in south Kerry, to health facilities, education, to individuals and to the Daniel O’Connell memorial church, the only church in Catholicism to be named after a lay person.
Hundreds of people from all over Ireland and England, mostly men, mostly middle-aged and most of them in suits and black tie, crowded the church for his funeral Mass. Just before the coffin left the church the McCrohan tenors sang The Boys of Barr na Sráide, the anthem of Cahersiveen composed by Sigerson Clifford.
Among the congregation were former Supreme Court judge Hugh O’Flaherty, former Kerry footballer Mick O’Connell, local councillor Paul O’Donoghue, brother of the Ceann Comhairle, and Mr Murphy’s extended family.
Stories about the late John Murphy were “legion” and were now greatly embellished, chief celebrant Canon William Crean, parish priest of Caherisveen, said. The church rang with laughter when he told how an engineer, under pressure from “the boss” to finish a job, remarked to John that “Rome wasn’t built in a day” only to receive the retort “Murphy wasn’t around then”. Canon Crean spoke of a man of strong faith which had anchored him throughout his richly blessed life.
Knocknagoshel native Richard Walsh, who went to work in the welding yard in Camden Town aged 16, told how Mr Murphy always made sure there was a good canteen on building sites.
Until last year, the man whose energy was legendary was on sites at 6.30 each morning. He worked on the construction of RAF runways and airports during the second World War and was heavily involved in rebuilding London after the blitz, the Channel Tunnel in the 1990s and had the contract for the Olympics site in London, it was recalled.
His eldest son, Bernard, said his father demanded “the maximum” of those around him. He had “embraced the country he adopted and did much behind the scenes to foster relations with his native country. He never lost his love of fishing and Kerry football.”
His daughter Caroline said that during his last year he would recite songs, poems and stories of his childhood in English and in Irish. She spoke of the “fierce loyalty” of those who worked for him.
Rosaleen O’Connell, wife of Mick O’Connell, spoke of how Mr Murphy wrote to them after Diarmuid, their child with Down syndrome, was born. “He was a wonderful letter writer.”
Mr Murphy is survived by his wife, Kathy, his son Bernard from his first marriage, and his daughter Caroline and son James from his marriage to Kathy, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
