Late Bro Larry Ennis laid to rest in Dublin

By Gerry Buckley

“There is a temptation when somebody dies to exaggerate the achievements of the deceased, but in Bro Larry’s case it has been a struggle to find words to do him justice.”

So said Seamus Woods, the chairperson of the All-Ireland Post Primary Schools Council, in his tribute to one of Westmeath’s most decorated Gaelic football managers and administrators, Bro Larry Ennis, at the end of the Coralstown native’s funeral Mass in the Church of Laurence O’Toole last Wednesday morning.

A large crowd gathered in Baldoyle, despite the driving rain, to commemorate the life of a man who was revered nationwide, but especially in Ulster, for a six-decade contribution to education, where mathematics were his forte. Also, the fostering of Gaelic games in all the schools where he taught, and at club and inter-county level to boot.

Local parish priest, Fr Peter O’Connor, was the Mass celebrant and he lauded the faith of a man who “encountered so many people in his life, and they were all the better for meeting Bro Larry”.

He then called on Therese Casey, the daughter of Bro Larry’s only surviving sibling, John, to speak about the gifts presented. Hurleys and footballs adorned the altar, and a range of jerseys – including the maroon and white of Westmeath – were placed on the coffin.

“I always had to watch the Sunday Game ahead of ringing my uncle for a chat,” Mrs Casey joked.

Mr Woods spoke in glowing terms of Bro Larry’s contribution to education, where “he produced legendary results in the classroom”, but he honed in mostly on an unprecedented career in fostering Gaelic football wherever he was based.

“His supreme achievement came when Omagh CBS won the Hogan Cup in 2007, and I will always remember his expression that day on the hallowed turf of Croke Park,” Mr Woods added.

He went on to state that the young Bro Larry was a fine footballer when those in the religious life were barred from playing, but he did so under assumed names. Indeed, one of Mr Woods’ predecessors, Bernard Dunne, told this writer that it was as ‘Sean Mulryan’ that the deceased had won Tyrone SFC medals.

“Bro Larry was a humble, uncomplicated and unpretentious man. He was also a man of great faith and I regularly saw him at the top of team buses reading his breviary before and after games. Ní bheidh a leithéad ann arís,” Mr Woods concluded.

After the Mass, Bro Ennis was buried in the cemetery at the Marino Institute of Education in Griffith Avenue.