Dan Joe Kelleher

Dan Joe Kelleher played Gaelic football for the Aubane Club when he was in his prime decades ago When put to the test he never shirked a challenge i say of him what happens to be so He was a tall and fit and sturdy fellow one might say a good bloke to have on your side He always worked hard for his honest living in honor he was one who did take pride When i knew Dan Joe he did have a girl friend but i cannot say if she became his wife Or i cannot say if he did father children we all do make our own journeys in life What matter most there was much to like about him a lot of nice things in him to recall And sad to learn that his gift of life has left him for everyone of us a final Fall As a young man he cut down trees at the back of Mushera Mountain in weather often cold enough to snow Across the foothills of the mountain country the chilly winds are often known to blow But Dan Joe did not seem to mind the hard work and he did not mind it when the going got tough On Tullig Hill a hardy breed of people for life's great battle the sort good enough. Dan Joe would have been in his early to mid sixties he did not live to die as an old man I did know him when he was a strong young fellow full of the joys of life's youthful elan He rests in peace now in quiet old St Mary's where many of the dead of Millstreet lay The World was better for him living in it of him that would seem a fair thing to say.