‘Our hearts are ripped out’: Roy Keane pays heartfelt tribute to mother Marie

Olivia Kelleher

Roy Keane has compared losing his mother, Marie to having their hearts ripped out of their chests, whilst telling mourners at her funeral that he and his siblings are comforted by the fact that she is reunited “with people who love her as much as we do.”

The 79-year-old passed away at Marymount Hospice in Cork city last Friday. Mrs Keane, nee Lynch, was predeceased by her husband Mossie, who died in 2019.

The couple got married in the Church of the Resurrection in Farranree in Cork city in August 1963. The requiem mass for Mrs Keane took place in the church at 11 am on Tuesday.

The former Manchester United and Ireland player said that he rarely went against the wishes of his mother. However, he stressed he planned to disobey her on this occasion by making a “fuss’ of her at her funeral.

Keane said that his mother grew up in Fairhill in Cork city. As the second eldest in a family of nine, she had a lot of responsibility from an early age. Romance came calling in the form of Mossie Keane.

He said that his parents were smitten with each other right from the start.

“One day, her brother brought back the handsome teenager Mossie Keane. Standing in her living room, she was in love. They went on to have five children. She would say six, including me, Dad, as he was spoiled more than any of us.”

He admitted that he and his siblings, Denis, Johnson, Hilary and Pat, “weren’t ready for Mam to go.” Keane said that they often wondered who was the favourite of their mother.

“Denis, being the eldest, always thought it could be him. Pat was the youngest. Maybe him. Hilary is the only girl, possibly. I am not sure where that left Johnson and me. But she was loyal to all of us.”

The former Ireland Assistant Manager said that Marie was “pretty cool all the time, but as a mother she excelled.” Keane noted that he had “great memories of growing up.”

“Our Mam didn’t always get what we wanted, but always gave us what we needed.

She was pretty strict with us, and if we were up to no good, she had an amazing skill of throwing a shoe, and no matter where we were in the house, she would always hit the target.”

He also smiled as he remembered the time his late mother “chased some lads down the street who had robbed a tree from our bonfire.”

“She sprinted off, caught them, and came back dragging the tree behind her. It was very impressive.”

Keane said that summer holidays to Garrettstown in Co Cork were always special for him and his family.

“Walking around and getting a bag of chips. I thought life was great. So simple. The two of them (his parents) would be in great form.”

Another firm favourite involved trips to Dublin with his family for the “All Ireland (Final) when Cork used to win.” Keane conceded that they never had a ticket to the match itself. It was a case of “you can’t have everything.”

Marie Keane, he said, could relay a lot with an eye roll, whilst her trademark “wicked sense of humour” was intact until the end.

He thanked all those who had paid tribute to his mother on Rip.ie since her passing.

One man had said that he was “chuffed” when Marie Keane introduced herself to him whilst he was on holiday in Portugal. The man had written that whilst the encounter was short, he could tell she was a great woman.

Keane smiled as he said that the condolence had been penned by Nicky Byrne of Westlife.

“That was my Mam. Never shy to approach a stranger, especially when that stranger was a celebrity!”

He stressed that his mother was a “great help and support” to her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and to her friends and neighbours..

He also paid tribute to his aunts and uncles and the extended Lynch family for their assistance to his mother in recent years.

“I have never known a closer family. We will never be able to thank you enough.”

Keane said that whilst it had been a “tough” couple of years for his mother, she never complained.

“I never heard her complain once in all that time. Not once. What a woman she was. Ultimately, our Mam and Dad were at their happiest when they were together, and they are together again. Good bless Mam and thanks for everything you did for us.”

Meanwhile, Fr Sean O’Sullivan noted that Marie and Mossie had got married in the church on August 10th, 1963. There was a black and white photograph of the smiling couple on the coffin for the duration of the mass.

Fr O’Sullivan said that Marie Keane meant the world to her family. She loved them “not for anything they had done or achieved” but simply for who they were.

“While our hearts expand to love others as we grow, there is a place in our hearts that forever belongs to our mother. That is what makes them so special. It also makes it hard to lose them.”

In addition to her husband, Marie Keane was predeceased her brother Pat, her niece Estella and her nephew Thomas.

She will also be “sadly missed” by her adult children, sisters Ina, Annette and Josephine, brothers Jack, Leo, Michael and Noel, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, daughters-in-law Linda, Theresa and Mary, brothers and sisters-in-law, nephews and nieces, extended family, her great neighbours in Mayfield and Rathpeacon and her friends. Burial took place at St Catherine’s Cemetery in Kilcully, Co Cork.