OBITUARY: JOHN MORONEY:IRISH RUGBY lost one of its truly multi-talented sporting heroes a week ago with the death of John Moroney, the former UCD, London Irish, Garryowen, Munster and Irish outhalf who also won medals at Gaelic football and in the pole vault before turning his talents to golf.
They don’t make them like Moroney any more.
For a player who won “only” six caps in his day, Moroney left an enduring imprint. Typical of this was the manner in which he established a then Irish points-scoring record with a 14-point haul in the 17-9 win over France at Lansdowne Road in 1969 when selected on the wing.
Long-time friend Frank Hogan recalled earlier in the week: “I can still remember him hobbling down the touchline that day toward the old Lansdowne pavilion. He’d suffered a leg injury earlier in the game and some black bin-liner was covering the plastering on his leg. But he sold two dummies which the French bought and he scored in the corner.”
Ireland won the first five of the six Tests Moroney played in, and he would have won more caps but for his career coinciding with that of, first, Mike Gibson, and especially Barry McGann, who were the outhalves in those six games.
Originally from Cloheen in Tipperary, Moroney won an All-Ireland football medal with De La Salle College, Waterford, before going to Rockwell College, where his three years on the senior team culminated in their winning the Munster Schools Senior Cup.
After two years with UCD, Moroney played with Waterloo Rugby Club while finishing his degree in PE, and then moved to London Irish.
He scored a try in Munster’s 11-8 win over the Wallabies, the first by an Irish side over an international touring team, in January 1967, and, after joining Garryowen, helped them bridge a 15-year gap in winning the Munster Senior Cup in 1969. They repeated the feat in ’71 and ’74.
But, after breaking his leg in the Munster Senior League final against Cork Constitution the following season (and thereby opening the door for a certain Tony Ward), Moroney never played again.
Along the way, in 1964, Moroney won the Irish pole vault championship, beating Mike Bull, who would later represent Britain in the Olympics, and played minor football for Tipperary. Despite the legacy of his playing career, Moroney took up golf and brought his handicap down to six.
Having moved to Waterford, where he was a university PE teacher, he also coached Munster and Waterpark, and served as a selector for Munster and Ireland.
He passed away in the early hours of last Friday, the day Munster hosted Perpignan.
He is survived by his wife, Valerie, and children Julian and Annabel.
GT
