Obituary: John Lonergan from 'one of the great Swan families of our time' - Kilkenny Live

Carrick Swan Club members were deeply saddened to learn of the passing of their club vice-president John Lonergan who passed to his eternal reward on Wednesday November 19, 2025.

Although not in good health for many years John’s passing still came as a shock to all who knew him after an illness borne with great dignity.

John Lonergan was born on June 28, 1953 to his late parents Sean and Annie who lived in Ard Mhuire, Carrick-on-Suir, and was youngest of eight children - John was pre-deceased by his siblings Eily, Mary, Peggy, Anna, William and Noreen and is survived by his sister Phylis.

When one talks about great Swan families of our time you need only look at the Lonergan family, they all followed the Swan, I can still picture John’s late mother Annie with her daughters and grand-children down at the old Swan Club wall waiting for the bus to take all the supporters to the matches.

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For those of an older vintage it would be clear why Annie ensured her children were Swan as her own brother Nicholas Connors (John’s uncle) was a legendary full back with the club and was on the team that won our first senior hurling title in 1933.

No wonder then that John did likewise with his family when they came along and they would also end up following the Swan wherever they played and supporting the clubs various fundraising initiatives.

John himself played up to U21 level and was successful on a lot of underage teams as he lined out in the full back line, he was a hardy uncompromising player as you had to be in those days.

The real ability of John however lay in the years following his own playing days as he helped the club in whatever way he could, from trying to balance raising a young family with his work life he still found time to help fundraise and being a selector on various teams in the club to being elected Chairman of the club in 2010 and at the time of his passing was Vice-President of the club , a position he assumed following the passing of his brother William who was also Vice-President when he passed in 2014.

It was during John’s term as chairman that the idea of purchasing a site for field development was first brought to the club committee and in 2012 a sub-committee called the field committee was formed with John among its members.

John never failed to attend our annual general meetings and always gave his opinions on club related matters; he never shied away from asking questions that required answers, he believed that the AGM was the place to ask questions and that it was the duty of club members to attend.

Back in 1972 John caught the eye of a young lady named Dolores Kavanagh who hailed from Griffith Avenue in Clonmel, they met at the Collins Dance Hall which was a mecca for young people back then during the showband era, they married in 1974 and welcomed their children over the coming years.

They had many happy years and then devastation hit them when in 2009 the family were rocked to their core when their beloved daughter Sarah passed away so young after illness, this was a particularly traumatic time in all of their lives and Sarah’s loss is still very much felt today, in her honour the Swan club play a tournament final every year as Sarah was one of our great supporters.

In his working life John started out working in the local Tannery and in the early 70’s started work on the construction phase of the Merck/Sharp & Dohme factory in Ballydine where he then got a job in 1976 and worked there up to his retirement.

John had a great sense of humour and one story he told so well was the time the family were thinking of moving to the country to build a house, this is where the forward thinking John Lonergan clicked into gear,  once it got dark outside he loaded his young family into the car and drove out to the proposed site where he drove into the middle of the field, turned off the lights in the car where it became pitch black and to quote John “the like of the screaming in the car decided there and then that they weren’t cut out to live in the country”

John was also a very charitable man and was one of the main organisers of the Galway to Carrick-on-Suir cycles that took place in the early 80s to help raise funds for St Bridget's Hospital and Carrick Day Care Centre.

John was laid to rest in St Mary’s Cemetery on Saturday, November 22, after requiem mass celebrated at 10.30am in St Nicholas Church by Father Paul Waldron.       

Prior to the mass, family members did him proud as they lined both sides of the hearse from Walsh’s Funeral Home to St Nicholas Church and passed the old Swan Club enroute where so many times in the past John attended as both boy and man.

The mass itself will be remembered for a moving eulogy delivered by John’s son John Paul who spoke about the wonderful husband, father and grand-father John was. 

His family played a major part in the funeral mass, the offertory procession was done by John’s two daughters Sinead and Pamela while gifts were brought to the altar by some of his grand-children Rebecca, Kieran, Sarah and a family friend Pauline.

Readings were done by John’s son-in-law Peter and daughter-in-law Claire and the singing was beautifully done by Andrea Ruth Houlihan.

After the mass John was carried from the church by family members and was then accorded an official guard of honour by Swan Club members as the cortege made its way to St Mary’s Cemetery.

Following prayers at the graveside, John’s nephew Dermot Foley gave him a great send off when he sang a rousing rendition of the Tipperary anthem “Slievenamon”.

All were then invited back to the Swan Hall for some refreshments. The Swan Hall of course is synonymous with the Lonergan name as John’s late brother William was the driving force behind its acquisition and subsequent renovation.

Above all else however John was a family man who adored all his family, he took great pride in all their achievements be it academic or sporting.

He will be dearly missed by his loving wife Dolores, his children John Paul, Sinead and Pamela, sister Phylis, sisters-in-law, brothers-in-law, grand-children Rebecca, Kieran, Sarah, Annie, Tommy, Rhys, Kaiden, Caoimhe, Erin and Fiadh, sons-in-law Peter and Patrick, daughter-in-law Claire, nieces, nephews, relatives and many friends.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.