*Damien O’Rourke & Cyril O’Donoghue.
ONE of Clare’s most prominent musicians has died, leaving behind a rich legacy of music and creativity.
Cyril O’Donoghue of Finian Park, Shannon died on Sunday (September 1st) with large crowds attending his reposal on Wednesday while a celebration of his life is to take place on Thursday at 3pm in Shannon Crematorium.
A guitarist, bouzouki player and singer, Cyril was a prominent member of Clare’s traditional music scene. He was a long-standing member of the traditional music band, Fisherstreet and he also played a prominent part in the album ‘Damp in the Attic’.
He also played as a support to Christy Moore and accompanied the late Tommy Peoples on tour. Several CDs from Irish artists also include an accompaniment by O’Donoghue.
In October, he led a tribute to his late brother Paul ‘Swive’ O’Donoghue for Culture Night in Shannon when Pat Costelloe and Johnny Fean were also remembered.
Speaking to The Clare Echo, founder of The Wings Festival and Cuppa Tea TV in Shannon, Damien O’Rourke noted, “It is a very sad and difficult time for music in Clare with the passing of Cyril O’Donoghue, my heart and thoughts go out to his family who must be going through the most awful time with the sudden passing of Cyril, I think of his family at this time. Cyril was a great musician, a great singer songwriter and played regularly in the iconic places of Clare like Doolin such as McGann’s and McDermott’s and in Ennis at Fafa Considines with the likes of Blackie O’Connell at Piping Heaven Piping Hell”.
He added, “He travelled the world playing all the stages in front of thousands of people, when I think about Cyril as a Shannon man I’m proud to say that I worked with him, just over five years ago his brother Swive passed away, I would have been very close to him and after he passed away I grew closer to Cyril and started going to more of his gigs, I knew of his reputation in music and took a more keen interest in hearing him play because Swive talked about him all the time, I fell in love straight away with how he plays, the songs he plays and how he accompanies the traditional players, I grew a deeper love of his music”.
Damien recalled that Cyril was always keen to give a helping hand in whatever way he could to build the music scene in Shannon. “With my own Cuppa Tea TV project I approached him one day about doing a gig in Shannon because I wanted to develop live music in Shannon and he completely bought into the idea from day one, himself and Blackie have played numerous times in Shannon, we did videos during COVID and he bought into that because it was building Shannon as a music town, he was a big part of that and in particular The Wings Festival which happens every February, he played it two years ago, he played an absolute blinder and tore the roof off the place, himself and Blackie. Afterwards I went over, gave him a big hug and said half jokingly ‘same time again next year’, he said ‘of course’, last year three months out from the Wings Festival I text him and asked him to play again with Blackie, he told me we shook on it last year and that it had been in the calendar for the whole year, I thought to myself ‘what a man’, a man of his word. We then talked about him being apart of it every year, it is sad to think that he won’t be part of it next year and that we won’t get to him hear play live again, that is a difficult thing to come to terms with but his legacy will live on, he was the best at what he did, he wrote incredible songs and the proudest thing of all I can say is that I was proud to call him a friend”.
Cyril is deeply missed by his heartbroken family, wife Ann, children Cathy, Bobby, Joanne and Paul, sons-in-law Ken and Jason, daughter-in-law Rosie, his grandchildren who he cherished. Grandchildren Aoibhinn, Jack, Katie, Eoghan, Gabby, Áron and Aoife, and his dog “my Bella”. Brother Michael, sisters Kay and Marian, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, nephews, nieces, extended family, neighbours of Finian Park and his wide circle of friends and musical colleagues.
