Tributes have been paid to former Irish Examiner sports journalist Brendan Mooney after his death on Thursday evening. A native of Ballinabrackey, county Meath, Mooney died in Cork after a short illness.
Irish Examiner sports editor Tony Leen said that Mooney “covered athletics, boxing and cycling with greater authority and empathy than we really knew. A fine professional, sadly missed.”
On Twitter, the runner Eamon Coughlan, a former world champion in the 5,000m, added that Mooney was “a lovely kind man and a great journalist.” Olympic race walking medallist Rob Heffernan also paid tribute, saying that mooney was “absolutely brilliant as a sports writer and a person.”
Mooney began his career as a journalist at the Westmeath Examiner before moving to the Cork Examiner where he covered events such as the the Betelguese fire tragedy at Whiddy Island oil refinery in Bantry Bay and the Heremma kidnapping and standoff in Kildare.
He moved to sport thereafter, reporting on every Olympic Games from Montreal 1976 to London 2012. He also covered the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia while during the Sean Kelly and Stephen Roche era.
As an athlete himself, Mooney played GAA, rugby and won All-Ireland races as a sprinter in the 100m, 200m and 400m.
Mooney is survived by his mother and six siblings, as well as his wife Ann Mooney, children and seven grandchildren. Mrs Mooney says above all else that her husband was a “wonderful husband, dad and grand dad” who “loved his seven grandchildren and took great pride in all his family’s achievements.”
