THE final piece in the jigsaw was the description used to describe a plaque unveiled at Rathmore Railway Station on Monday evening to commemorate the life and times of Captain Patrick O’Connor, a local recruit to the Irish Volunteers and the IRB, who fought in the GPO in 1916.
Capt O’Connor, later gunned down on Moore Street at the age of 34, left Rathmore station by train on that ill-fated final journey to the capital 101 years ago and relatives and friends felt an inscribed plaque at that location would be a fitting tribute.
Cast in bronze and bearing the O’Connor coat of arms, the piece was commissioned by Iarnród Éireann and created by craftsman Conor Murphy, now in his 70s, who worked with the rail company at Inchicore in Dublin for many years.
Several members of Capt O’Connor’s family, including his nephew, Dan Joe O’Connor, his wife Rita, grandnephew Tom O’Connor and his Killarney-based grandniece Ann Moynihan, attended last night’s ceremony.
The Mayor of Kerry, Cllr John Sheahan, and Mayor of the Killarney Municipal District, Cllr Niall Kelleher, officiated and Brian Kelly of Rathmore Community Council was master of ceremonies.
Speaking on behalf of the O’Connor family, Ann Moynihan thanked all involved in Irish Rail for their work and support and she paid particular tribute to Joy Murray, Gerard Lynch and to the plaque craftsman Conor Murphy.
She also expressed her gratitude to Donal O’Connor and the Irish Rail staff in Rathmore and joked: “They assure me they will be out polishing the plaque every morning”.
An emotional Ann said it was very much the last piece of the jigsaw for the family in remembering Patrick and she said it was a project very close to the heart of her own late mother, Kitty, who was Patrick’s niece.
The plaque was formally unveiled by Mayor Niall Kelleher, a Rathmore native, who noted that the local Fianna Fail branch is named the Captain O’Connor Rathmore Cumann.
“It is very fitting that he is honoured by his own community and I am very proud to officiate as mayor for this ceremony in my own home town,” he said.
The plaque, inscribed in Irish and English, reads: “Patrick left from this railway station to travel to Dublin to play his part in the Easter 1916 Rising. We have loved him in life, let us not forget him in death”.
Earlier this year a monument in Capt O’Connor’s memory was unveiled close to the church in Rathmore village. It was commissioned by the Glenflesk-Rathmore 1916 Commemoration Group and the cost was covered by proceeds from the staging of a musical drama based on Patrick’s life which was staged for four nights in Rathmore Community Centre last year.
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