REFLECTING against the black marble are fresh flowers. Yellow, white and coral roses and some dog daisies – hand-picked from Maureen’s garden.
The chapel graveyard sits on the fringes of the village of Cushendall.
Three unobtrusive sounds greet you there: cars rushing by on the nearby road, the stream on the other side of the graveyard and the gentle rustle of lush green leaves on the overhanging trees.
Many McAlisters, McCurrys, McNaughtons and McKillops rest here.
“A local graveyard for local people” is how Terence McNaughton describes it.
It’s approaching ‘Wee’ John McKillop’s first anniversary since he passed away on July 30, 2023. He was aged 60.
The members of Ruairi Og hurling club have decided to mark it with a host of activities across the weekend.
“In true spirit of the GAA we’ll use this weekend to raise money,” McNaughon jokes.
“We’re very much like the Catholic Church when the plate comes out!”
On Friday night, the club invited members to the clubrooms to trace its origins back to 1906 before Neil McManus interviewed Terence McNaughton about his early connections with the Ruairi Ogs as well as discussing his friendship with ‘Wee’ John.
In the sprawling front room of McNaughton’s bar – The Lurig Inn – situated in the village’s main street, there are nine team photographs from different years hanging on its walls.
John McKillop is in each one of the framed photographs. Since knee-high John – who was born with Down’s Syndrome – was weaved into the club’s DNA.
When you walk out to the beer garden of the bar, the first thing you see is a large landscape photograph of John, arms outstretched celebrating another county championship with Cushendall.
Above John’s head, it reads: ‘You don’t have to play the game to win…The Main Man’.
Accompanying the photograph are two permanent fold-up seats.
When the GAA decided to sell off a couple of hundred seats from the Lower Cusack Stand of Croke Park, McNaughton bought two.
“I always had the idea in my head – just for people to take a photograph, to remember him,” he says.
“When you walk out to the beer garden, the first thing you see is John. I didn’t want it to look tacky. And I asked for the number 81 for the two seats because we won our first county title in 1981.”
Saturday afternoon and it’s a typical Irish summer’s day in the north Antrim village - dull with spots of rain in the air.
Low hanging cloud cuts the top off Mount Lurig as the Cushendall and Swatragh camogs get the day’s action underway at the club’s pitch.
McNaughton enjoyed the previous night’s talk where members reminisced about their first county title win in 1963 (minor) and their first senior championship in ‘81.
“Neil [McManus] was doing his Marty Morrissey impression,” McNaughton says, “and at the end he interviewed me about ‘Wee’ John. It was grand.
“I didn’t want it to be emotional because John’s life is to be celebrated. What this club did for John and what John did for this club is to be admired. It’s not something to be sad about, it’s something to be proud of.”
He adds: “John led a full life… As Shane [McNaughton, his eldest son] once said, John made the best with the hand he was dealt…
“John was a wind-up merchant. He played to the crowd. He’d walk behind people and make signs – not always nice signs – and the crowd would be laughing. We had a selector one time who loved his clipboard, and John would be behind him imitating him all the time.”
Castlegar of Galway have made the long trek northwards to play the Cushendall seniors in a challenge game.
From the whistle, it’s hard-hitting and a fine spectacle.
Playing in the full-forward line, Neil McManus is 36-years-old and playing with all the enthusiasm of a 20-something hurler.
In the dying seconds, he catches a ball above two Castlegar defenders and somehow converts this hard-won possession into an awesome goal.
There’s time for one more attack from the visitors – and they also net and win the game by a point.
Watching from the steps on the nearside of the field, McNaughton says: “If you didn’t know John – John was non-verbal.
“Once you knew John, John was verbal. When a good-looking girl went by, John knew she was a good-looking girl. If John wanted an ice-cream, you knew he wanted an ice-cream.
“When he wanted you off the pool table, you knew it. Whenever we were fighting and rowing with each other, John would be pointing his finger telling you off.
“Whenever your head was down after losing a county final, John put his arm around you. He had great emotional intelligence.
“I saw John as often as I saw the wife. I remember the first year I quit. I was sitting in the house and the boys were out training. John arrives in my living room, roaring and shouting and pointing over to the field.
“He was basically saying, I should be over at the field.”
Laughing, McNaughton adds: “John then latched onto Shane and McManus, so he got over me very quickly!”
At the final whistle, it’s all handshakes and smiles between Cushendall and Castlegar.
Nursing a bloodied finger afterwards, McManus says he was blown away by Alex Emerson’s research for the previous night’s talk - from Fr George McKillop to the local blacksmith, all of whom helped establish the Ruairi Og club over 100 years ago.
“In 1977, we moved across the road to where we are now and that had a transformational effect on the club,” McManus says.
“Hurling was played in a past-time nature, and then it became the passion of everybody in the village after we moved to here.
“Last night, we talked about different hurling and camogie teams we had throughout the years and then we chatted about John and how rich we are as a community for having him as part of it.
“John was unique. We’re a year on since his passing – but his life is one to be celebrated, not mourned – and I think the best way to honour John is by giving as much to every scenario that he gave to every situation he found himself in.”
Throughout the game between Cushendall and Castlegar, Maureen McNaughton – John’s older sister – lives every puck.
“The GAA family,” Maureen says, “is unsurpassable when it comes to comforting the suffering… A day passed without making a memory is a day wasted. Thank God we have so many beautiful memories of the time spent with people we love.”
McNaughton says: “I’ve a lot of good memories of John. You’re lucky when people come into your life whether it’s a coach or a teacher – John was one of those people who came into my life and affected it in a good way. The way we celebrate our community and the people in it is by playing hurling and camogie.”