Some thoughts on the passing of Ronnie O'Reilly

Ronnie O'Reilly, fellow player, fellow umpire and highly regarded friend, died yesterday morning.

I first got to know Ronnie in 1980 after I moved from Civil Service to Leinster. I didn't get to know him well that season, because he played regularly for the 5th XI, an exclusive group that contained Jack McDonnell (gully), Noel Dillon (cover point), John Cunningham (extra cover) with Ronnie at mid off, a formation known as Presidents' Alley.

Other gang members included Ronnie's life-long friend and wicketkeeper, Dermot Fitzsimons, Paul Noonan and AJ Ryan. Like other non-members of the gang, when I was dropped from the fourths I did not pass go, I went straight to the sixths.

Ronnie was a useful left-hand bat but more importantly a more than useful right arm leg spinner. He gave his leggie a fierce rip, and needed a keeper as good as Dermot. His wrong 'un was more a top spinner than a googly, but it kept the batsman honest. He took a lot of wickets.

I was subbed in to the 5ths for a cup match away to Man o' War, and on a rainy Saturday Jack Mac batted interminably for 50-odd out of about 120. We had to return to The Nevitt on Monday evening, and after a couple of token overs from AJ and Paul, Ronnie came on and went through the assorted Murphys and Rooneys, taking all nine wickets before 90 runs had been scored.

Number 11 came in, and in true Fingal fashion started flaying the bowling to all parts. They were within half a dozen of victory when the ball was hoisted high in my direction at deep square leg off Noel Dillon's bowling. I took the catch, although I briefly contemplated dropping it to give Ronnie the chance of all ten.

Over the next six years I got to play with Ronnie a lot, as keeper if Dermot wasn't available, and as I lost my deep-seated suspicion of an insurance guru with an orthodox view of economics and he lost his grave reserves about a leftie academic, we became friends.

One season Ronnie was captain of the fourths, with Dermot his regular keeper. One day Dermot wasn't available, so I stepped in. I took four catches and two stumpings, three of them off Ronnie, but next weekend I was back on the fifths. I wouldn't have expected anything different.

I had to give up playing after my motorbike accident in 1988, and took up umpiring. Within a few seasons Ronnie too swapped playing for the white coat, and our friendship really deepened as we increasingly enjoyed umpiring with each other. We developed a trust that included a brutally honest de-briefing session between us after we had showered, something I wasn't able to do with every umpire, although I was sometimes foolish enough to try.

We were both graded to stand in interpros and internationals, and twice travelled north together to stand in Irish Senior Cup semi finals. In the late 1990s and early 2000s the Irish Senior Cup final always had “away” umpires, and I was lucky enough to be appointed to the 2000 final between Donemana and Limavady. Next season there was again no LCU team in the final, and I fully expected Ronnie to be one of the chosen umpires. I was extremely disappointed when he was overlooked, and he never again got the chance because the dominance in the competition passed to LCU teams.

We stood in a couple of internationals involving a West Indies A side, and then in an ODI against a full West Indies side. Our swansong was South Africa's visit to Castle Avenue very shortly after Shaun Pollock had been replaced as captain after the infamous D/L miscalculation that dumped them out of the World Cup in 2003.

The new captain, Graeme Smith, decided to help build team spirit by using Afrikaans as the language of choice. Who was the one player with barely a word of Dutch? That's right, Shaun Pollock. And from whose end did a very grumpy Pollock bowl? That's right, mine.

So while Ronnie breezed through the game, laughing and joking with Makhaya Ntini and Paul Adams, his mate was made to suffer!

We both hung up our boots after the 2003 season, but our friendship now continued to develop because we played bridge in Rathmines each Wednesday, Ronnie usually with Dermot, and I usually with my good lady wife Carol. We all sometimes played as a team of four in the Fanagan Cup, a Dublin-wide inter-club competition which under Ronnie's captaincy Leinster once won.

When Ronnie's wife, Fionnuala, expressed an interest in playing, Carol and I would play against the O'Reillys either at their house or at ours, always a very enjoyable and convivial evening. Last year we held the last of these evenings before Ronnie learned of his illness, and very soon he no longer felt well enough to play even the odd Wednesday in Rathmines.

We got a Christmas card from the O'Reillys with a very upbeat message from Ronnie. So when Robert MacClancy phoned me yesterday with the bad news, I was shocked. But the thoughts of Carol and me are with Fionnuala, whose marriage to a truly first class human being has been ended far too soon.

Stu Daultrey, Wednesday 27th January, 2015.