We buried Des Ferguson in
Kells, County Meath last Sunday. He died aged 91 after a short illness. Ar dtus bá mhaith liom mo buiochas a thabhairt do
teaghlach Des mór deis a thug siad domhsa ag a caint anseo ar sean chara and
comrade Des Ferguson.
I also want to thank Des for giving us such a fine
day – he was a great lover of nature and he would have enjoyed the
spectacle of family and friends celebrating his life here in Ceannais.
Ba Éireannach, Gael, fear chéile Mháire, athar agus
Daideo, seán Daideo, Poblachtach, Laoch Des Ferguson.
Bá mhaith liom mo comhrón – comh bhrón mo
chroi a deanamh le Mháire agus a theaglach, le Des óg (Níl sé ro óg anois)
Orlaith, Terry, Eimear, Conor, Pearse, Barry, Diarmuid, Rory.
Agus tá muid ag smaoineamh faoi Ronan ar a lá mór
seo.
Agus ar comhrón le a dheirifeacha Rita agus
Deirdre. Agus a dhearthair Liam.
Ba imeoir peile agus iomóna den scoth Des.
Le Naomh Vincent, Baile Atha Cliadh agus
anseo í Mhí le Gaeile Colmcille. And his exploits and achievements, his
prowess in the field of playing is celebrated throughout the Gaeldom.
He was a proud Dub and very proud of the fact that
he won two All-Ireland football medals – 1958 – 1963 – but he always lamented
with a smile not having an All-Ireland hurling medal, particularly after Tipp
robbed Dublin in the 1961 hurling final.
Anytime you talked about hurling or football and it
came up about his achievements and the many accolades he had won he always
mentioned with a wee wry smile; “I would have loved to have had a hurling one”.
He lived and breathed Cumann Lúthchleas Gael and
gaelic games all his life.
And in more recent times, when we couldn’t see each
other as often perhaps as we should have, when I phoned him the talk
always turned to Gaelic games, always turned to what was happening.
He followed the fortunes of the Ulster teams
including Antrim and he had a special grá for his father’s county – County Down
where Des was born in Castlewellan.
I first met Des and Máire in the 1970s.
Any celebration of Des’s life would be incomplete
without a celebration of Máire’s life. Thankfully she is still with us although
she isn’t well at this time.
She and Des were a wonderful partnership and the
family they reared are a credit to them and a core part of their legacy.
Máire and Des met in 1949 at a St. Vincent’s Club
event in the Carlton Hall in Marino.
Dessie was a rising star, a dual player with
Vincent's. At that time Vincent's was the premier Dublin club.
Des and Máire started going out together and were
married five years later on a Monday to facilitate Des’s games and playing
schedule. The story of any GAA home.
They were both from Republican families.
Des’s father Liam was active in the Castlewellan
unit of the IRA in the 1920s along with his Uncle Samuel.
His father played football for Castlewellan GAC and
for Down.
Samuel and Liam moved to Dublin in the 1930s to
avoid harassment by the old RUC.
Interestingly, and Des always told this with a
quiet, contrary type of pride - Des’s grandfather signed the Ulster Covenant in
1912.
In the 1911 census the Ferguson's are Presbyterians.
Des father went on to join the IRA despite his
father’s politics. Or maybe because of his father's politics. Or maybe he just
took after his mother.
Máire’s parents were both active in 1916. Her
father Jack McDonnell was in Dublin’s 2nd Battalion and fought
in the GPO garrison in O’Connell Street.
Her mother Georgina Wright was in Cumann na mBan.
Máire is rightfully proud of her family history.
She and Des shared a love for each other – for
Gaelic games, for their family and for Ireland.
They went on to have ten children. So, it wasn’t
all Gaelic games.
One of their sons Ronán died from a brain tumour
when he was just 16.
By now the Ferguson clann was living in County
Meath; first in Oldcastle and then in Kells.
That’s where I met them. Des was very active with An
Cumann Cabhrach.
Tom Murray who was a stalwart of that organisation
had a little chalet in Aughyneill and Des arranged for Colette and I to go
there when I was released from Long Kesh.
Our Gearóid was 4 and that was the first time we
were together as a family and the start of many, many visits.
Des and Máire were wonderful hosts. Any number of
people could stand here and say that. There was always a welcome. A cup
of tea. Always a bit of homemade scone. Always an interest and a curiosity
about what was happening.
Once they took us to Dublin, along with Florrie
French, another stalwart, to a Chieftain’s Concert.
Many people might not remember or have heard of
Florrie French but she sold more An Phoblacht's than anybody except Eddie
Fullerton and she was a wonderful, wonderful free independent, strong woman.
My memory of her at the Chieftains concert is that she had dung on her boots because she had just come straight off the
farm, jumped in the car and away we went.
Des had a great love of nature. He and I also had
memorable times traipsing the hills of north Meath – he brought me to Sliabh na
Cailleach – we saw a fox that day.
Occasionally we went to Leinster games in Croke Park. One
day he noticed that I had holes in both my shoes and we were in Navan and he
disappeared into a shoe shop and he came out with a new pair of brogues and I
sat down on the pavement and put on the new shoes and put the old ones in the
bruscar.
That was the like of him. He was wonderful, he
was loyal, he was kind and a good natured friend and comrade.
Martin McGuinness and he and Máire were very firm
friends. Martin Loved Des and Máire.
Des and Máire were firm supporters of the peace
process. They were firm supporters of the efforts to develop Sinn Féin. Without
doubt we would not be as strong as we are today without their active support and
the support of others like them who bore the brunt of state repression,
harassment, the Heavy Gang, intimidation and censorship and vilification.
It is very difficult to describe the prevailing
mood in this state at that time and how people who put their head above the
parapet – fine patriots like Des and Máire – how they were vilified.
He was imprisoned once by a Kangaroo court – solely
on the basis of a Garda Chief Superintendent's opinion that he was an IRA
Volunteer.
The Superintendent repeatedly refused to answer
questions about the basis of his opinion.
Des got sentenced to a year in Portlaoise.
He told afterward that he got a relatively easy
time because most of the prison officers were GAA supporters and he was a
novelty to be among them.
Martin Ferris would say he also was a GAA stalwart
but that’s an entirely different story. Des won another medal in Portlaoise - a
leather one made by the prisoners. He, Martin Ferris and Joe B O Hagan were on
the same team.
The Coiste Bainitsi – the GAAs Management Committed
discussed Des’s incarceration and in July 1975 they applied for a visit to
Portlaoise.
The state refused to allow them to visit Des
Ferguson.
At the time of his arrest Des was a woodwork
teacher. When he was released he was blocked from going back to his job and
denied his right to his pension.
The GAA protested against this very vindictive
measure and Des and his union fought for that for long ten years
until he got his rights restored.
I remember well when he told me that was going back
to teaching – he was a muinteoir go h-iontach. He was delighted to be back with
his students.
In the meantime between prison and getting back the
right to teach he worked in the building trade.
He really enjoyed teaching young people.
He loved nature. Máire was the gardener in the
partnership but Des loved wood – I have a garden bench – a garden table and a
coffee table all made by Des in his little shed at the back of the house where
he also mended hurls.
Conor brought him and Máire up to Stormont when we
organised a Póc Fada in honour of Edward Carson – An Póc ar an
Cnoc.
He was also in County Louth- I remember seeing him
and Máire at the side of the road- when we brought back Vols. Mairead
Farrell, Sean Savage and Dan McCann on their long journey home from Dublin to
Belfast.
And when we brought Martin McGuiness home they were
there also.
Now we have brought Des home.
His was a life well lived. Rooted in his republican
values of decency, fairness and equality. He used to rail against the excesses
of the Celtic Tiger. He spoke to me of young couples with huge mortgages
spending hours in gridlocked traffic on the way to or from Dublin while their
children were in creches or with childminders. ‘No quality of life’ he would
say ‘Little family time. Stress and more stress. Little time for fun’.
He also stood by the people of the North while the
Dublin government acquiesced to London.
Des kept the faith. He was one of the indomitable
Irish who are probably in every townland on this island and across the world –
who know no matter what bunkum, what guff, what nonsense, what lies come out of
the establishment here in Dublin or in Britain – they know that Britain has no
right in our country - that the British government has no right in our country,
that partition has no place in our future.
This was true in his father’s time and true in our
time.
Now that we have a way to end it – we have a
peaceful way to end British rule – and we can be sure that the young people
gathered around this grave and those who are too young to be here - Des and
Máire’s grandchildren and great grandchildren will grow old in a free united
Ireland.
My last remarks are for the grandchildren and the
great grandchildren. I don’t mind if you are not at all involved in politics,
or what your views are on any of these matters, but when you get to vote in the
referendum to decide our future, do so in the knowledge that your Granny and
Granda helped to bring it about.
Des Ferguson served his county and his country. He
made the difference.
I will finish with a few lines from a poem by
Seamus Redmond – The Hurler’s Prayer.
May my stroke be steady and my aim be true
My actions manly and my misses few
No matter what way the game may go
May I rest in friendship with every foe
When the final whistle for me has blown
And I stand at last before God's judgement
throne
May the great referee when he calls my name
Say, Des you hurled like a laoch; you played
the game.
Go
raibh maith agat Des.
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