The Late Johnny Ross
Mullingar Shamrocks has learned of the death last month of John Ross, following an accident at his home, at Grangecon, County Wicklow. John was a member of the Mullingar Shamrocks’ minor team and a senior panellist when the club won the minor-senior double in 1966. He was also on the St Finian’s panel that was defeated by St Jarlath’s of Tuam in the All-Ireland Colleges Final; Jimmy Duggan who starred for St. Jarlath’s in the final later that year won a Senior All-Ireland football medal as a member of the famous three-in-a-row Galway team. John represented Mullingar Shamrocks for a number of years and in his final year with the club was team captain. When Mullingar Shamrocks held a reunion of the 1964 and 1966 championship winning teams in Bloomfield House Hotel, John Ross was one of the guests on the night.
In 2006 John Ross spoke to Hogan Stand about his time playing for Mullingar Shamrocks.
"It [1966] was a good start to my adult career alright, but we should have won the senior championship the following year. Shamrocks had a very strong side and were tipped by many to win, but we met an excellent Moate side in Athlone and they caught us on the hop in the last few minutes," he explained.
The beginning of his football career coincided with a surge in migration and people being forced to travel elsewhere for work, which left teams struggling for numbers.
"That was just the situation during those times, lads had to go elsewhere for work and even if it was to Dublin, this meant that their football careers would be hindered as travelling was not as easy then," he revealed.
“Many of the star players were away but some wonderful clubmen stayed at home and kept things together through the bad as well as the good times. There were players like the effervescent Paddy Cole, the Daly, O’Dowd and Lambden brothers. There were the stalwart supporters like Jim Dalton and Peter Lynch and selectors Jimmy Bennett, Jimmy Traynor and Mick Reynolds. Mick always brought his sense of humour with him even on a filthy winter’s day in Ballinacarrigy. I well remember sixteen of us in the dressing room, fifteen players, some dragged out of their homes, and Mick, the only selector. He interrupted his announcement of the team, saying that he wanted to make it very clear that this was a unanimous selection!”
"The last year I played for Shamrocks I was captain of the team and we were controversially beaten by Kinnegad after a replay, that was my last game for the club."
On moving to Dublin, he concentrated on rugby and athletics and represented UCD, Lansdowne and Mullingar in the oval ball code. In the early eighties, John moved to Wicklow where he settled in Grangecon on the outskirts of Baltinglass and re-laced his GAA boots. In 1983, in his first year with the local club Stratford-on-Slaney, John earned a Wicklow intermediate football championship medal, 17 years after winning his last honour in the game. A member of the Kildare Hunt Club, John Ross was a former vice-chairman of Punchestown Racecourse.
John Ross prospered academically and professionally in Dublin. After completing his legal studies, he decided to take an economics degree and then commenced work as a Chartered Accountant with Coopers & Lybrand. He then, took up a position with Vincent & Beatty Solicitors based in Fitzwilliam Square. After eight years as a partner in the firm, John opened his own business along with Michael Hayes and in 1985 Ross & Hayes Solicitors was established with offices on Dublin’s Mespil Road.
The club extends belated sympathy to John’s wife Mary and to their children Graham, Joanne, Yvonne, Gordon and Don, to his brothers Gordon, Robert and Jim, and to members of the extended Ross family and friends.
