The gift of time is a phrase that popped up time and time again in conversation with Marie Connolly and her daughter Jane, following the passing of Pat, a former businessman and legend of Skibbereen Golf Club.

BY JACKIE KEOGH

Pat was born in Bridge Street on May 24th, 1933 and was a slip of a lad at 16 when he joined Skibbereen Golf Club. He was young too when, in 1961, he opened his shoe shop business at North Street.

Jane said Pat used to step outside the door of his shop to watch Marie when she cycled past. ‘He was smitten from the start,’ shortly after word went around town that the new Superintendent John Croke had three lovely daughters.

Jane and Marie described how Pat played sport, having played badminton competitively for Cork. He was a dab hand at snooker too, all sports in fact, but golf was his passion.

The way Marie described it is that Pat played a lot with his six brothers and sisters before he instilled a love of the sport in his children: his sons Pat, Seán and Brian, and his daughter Jane.

After retiring from business in the late 1990s, Pat and Marie moved to a chocolate box cottage on Baltimore Road. From here, it was just a stone’s throw to the golf club, and a heartbeat away from the Skibbereen Residential Care Centre where he spent the last three years of his life.

Pat was the longest standing member of Skibbereen Golf Club, and was delighted when he was made an honorary member after 50 years membership.

Sunday competitions and golfing with his friends on Thursdays gave him joy but it was here that he found so many different ways of giving back to the club and the community.

According to Marie, ‘the golf club is a very important part of the community: the wonderful members are so loyal to each other. They have been so loyal to us and so helpful always.’

‘He was always bringing us out to the club to teach us,’ said Jane, who also noted that he invested a huge amount of time in helping new members improve their game.

Of course, Pat won many golf tournaments, but as captain of the club in 1971 he was part of the committee that made the decision to buy the land across the road and develop the final nine holes of the course. And he was delighted when his golfing fraternity made him president of the club in 1987.

Ironically, it is now Marie who is ‘the oldest’ and perhaps the longest female member of the club. Still hale and hearty, she shared Pat’s joie de vivre.

His daughter said: ‘Dad loved sport, and he loved life, but first and foremost he was a family man, very proud of his wife, his children and his grandchildren.

‘He was the epitome of the word gentleman: a really steady, lovely, lovely kind man. He had a great sense of humour; he always had a twinkle in his eye; and he was always ready to smile and chat to anyone,’ she added.

For such a sporty person, it was surprising to find out that he was musical too. Jane said: ‘He taught himself how to play the piano and guitar. He was artistic and loved to paint. He could turn his hand to anything. He was my hero.’

One of the ways that Pat gave back to his community was as a long-serving member of the local St Vincent de Paul chapter, of which he was treasurer.

‘It was absolutely in his nature to be helpful,’ said Jane. ‘He was a natural giving person. He loved spending time with people and would donate his time and attention to anyone he could. In fact, during his long years in business, Pat would bring shoes out to people who could not travel into town either through age, ill-health, or the lack of transport. He was just kind in that way: he gave people his attention and his time.