THE death occurred on Saturday evening of former Down county chairman Charlie Keown.
Just over 80 years ago Charlie was born into a strong GAA family in the townland of Ballymaginthy. His uncle Mick was the captain of the Liatroim Fontenoys team that won the club’s first Down football title in 1905 while his father Pat was a key member of the hurling team that won back-to-back county titles in 1927-28.
Charlie was the eldest of Pat’s family and his preference was the small ball game. He played on the first teams from St Patrick’s High School Downpatrick to take part in Ulster Schools’ hurling competitions during the 1950s.
As Down’s All-Ireland exploits brought national focus to the county in the 1960s, Charlie had begun his administrative journey through the club and county committees and he served both with distinction as hurling took a strong hold in the county.
While I was a young teenager growing up in the parish, Charlie was a driving force for hurling and I spent many evenings in his overcrowded car being ferried to and from matches throughout the county. Many journey times were extended with UDR and British Army checkpoints keeping us on lonely country roads while Charlie used his diplomatic skills to get us released in time to at least play 15 or 20 minutes each way in Killyleagh, Kilclief, Rostrevor and the Ards.
We suffered many defeats during those years but Charlie and others, like Joe McCrickard and the Malones and Browns, persevered with us and a decade later we rose through Junior and Intermediate grades to bring the Fontenoys back to senior hurling.
All the time Charlie was the chairman of the Fontenoys, a post he held from 1970 until 1985. In 1972, he enthusiastically backed the formation of a camogie team that quickly rose through the grades winning their first Ulster club title in 1984 just before Charlie stepped back from the club committee to take over as Chairman of the Down County Board, having already served as Down hurling chairman.
Few could refuse requests from this mild-mannered chairman. He quietly managed to bring people with him as he sought to improve Down GAA on and off the field. During his term as county chairman, the county finances were put on a firm footing and a raft of sub-committees were established.
There was also success on the pitch with an All-Ireland minor football title in 1987, an All-Ireland U16 hurling title in 1985 and Ulster wins in minor and U21 Hurling also in 1985, all laying the foundations for senior successes in both codes in the following decade.
Not surprisingly Charlie’s family were all involved in gaelic games with both Martin and Cahal captaining the Fontenoys to county hurling titles and the three daughters, Mary, Roisin and Briege, collecting county camogie titles through the grades.
Despite declining health Charlie kept up to date with his grandchildren’s achievement and none was prouder when Cahal’s daughter Aoife recently won All-Ireland Intermediate and Division Two league titles with Down’s camogie team and she added an Ulster Intermediate football title a week before her grandfather’s death.
Predeceased by his wife Rosie, Charlie passed away peacefully on Saturday evening at Greenville Nursing Home and his funeral cortege on Tuesday morning will pass through the grounds of Liatroim Fontenoys on its way to midday Requiem Mass in the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Leitrim.
My condolences are extended to his partner Dorothy, his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren, his brothers Séamus, Michael and Patrick and sisters Kathleen and Margaret and entire family circle.
“D'éag a' sean dream a bhi sámh.
Mo thrua 'na ndiaidh nach mór a' chaill é,
Iad bheith scártha uainn mar tá?”
