KEITH DUGGANtalks to Mick Galwey about the death of his friend, his neighbour and his hero
MICK GALWEY was on the sideline at Munster training as usual yesterday afternoon and afterwards he answered questions about this weekend’s crucial visit to London Irish. But he could have been forgiven if his mind kept wandering to different times and older games. Word that Moss Keane had died quickly swept through the Irish and international rugby world yesterday and for Galwey, who grew up in the same Kerry village as Keane, it made for a strange day. The death of the Currow man was not entirely unexpected but the strain was etched on Galwey’s face as he recalled his neighbour with a combination of affection and great sadness.
“I think everyone knew Moss Keane. The younger lads; the lads from overseas, because it was people like Moss that Munster rugby was built on. We all harp on about it but without Munster against the All-Blacks in 1978, we would not have had the history we do now. Particularly when I was younger putting on a Munster jersey meant that you were putting on the same jersey as Moss Keane. So we had a big impression on all of us. For example, I remember playing Toulouse in Bordeaux back in 2000. This was before the travelling army. There might have been 3,000 there. And the one face that stands out is Moss and his wife. It was a warm day and Moss had a big Kerry red head on him, you couldn’t miss him. I remember going over to salute him. I have so many memories of Moss. We were neighbours, we were friends. He was my hero growing up. If it were not for Moss Keane, I probably would never have played rugby.”
Keane’s sporting life presaged that of Galwey’s. The genial Currow man only started rugby in UCC but his versatility meant that his Gaelic skills translated so well that his ambition of wearing the green and gold shirt of Kerry were swapped for the Irish shirt. Remarkably, Keane was one of four men from Currow to play for Ireland. Mick and Tom Doyle also represented Ireland before Galwey made the breakthrough. Galwey recalled that he was on a trip to Spain with Moss Keane when word reached them that Mick Doyle, the iconoclastic Irish coach, had been killed in a road accident in the North of Ireland. “So it was kind of eerie, really, that I was with Moss that day.”
When Galwey was selected on the British and Irish Lions team of 1993, Keane was among those who showed up for a celebration in Currow on the evening of the announcement. “They put us up on the back of a lorry and paraded us through the town. It was kind of funny really but we had to do it.”
Galway also recalled Keane phoning him to confirm that he had bad news in relation to his illness. “And he kept saying, ‘I will fight this auld thing’. We played golf a lot together and we were meant to play the Munster golf outing in September and he couldn’t play and we kind of knew he was going downhill. But he was certainly very brave and he wasn’t afraid to talk about it. One of the biggest compliments I can give him is that I never heard anyone say a bad word about him. The world is a worse place for his passing, what he has contributed to rugby and indeed to life in general has been immense. And it was the likes of Moss Keane that made Munster what it is.”
