Ciarán Benville – The quiet man
Most of us get up every day and have a list of things that we think are important for our day. For us, we think these items will make or break our day as we go on in our natural bubble. All of a sudden you get a call that stops you in your tracks and puts our trivial things into perspective. Monday 20th December was one of those days when many of us in the club got that call that Ciarán Benville had passed away. The news came as a complete shock and has left many of us stunned and in a trance of disbelief.
What can one say about Ciarán? First and foremost, he was an ultimate gentleman who was widely respected by anyone who had the pleasure of encountering him since he moved to Ashbourne. He never had a bad word to say about anyone and always looked for the positives in everyone. Ciarán was a quiet man but he was a worker. He was a Donaghmore/Ashbourne GAA club man through and through. He was one of those men who had a great ability to think outside the box and look at the bigger picture.
As a past chairman of the Juvenile section, he was a driving force in promoting the dual code ethic at the underage level and put a huge amount of work into changing the thinking within the club. This legacy will now live on after his passing. When he saw that project up and running, he then turned his focus to the Meath County Committee and was instrumental in introducing Go Games within the county. The challenge to get this up and running would make many lads give up but to his credit, Ciarán had a vision and never gave up and these games are now really successful across the county every Saturday morning.
A proud Wicklow man, Ciarán adopted his new county and always wanted the best for the Royals especially if we had club players on the team. He was a devout family man and apart from club or county board meetings he was rarely seen without Mary by his side. He was a very intelligent man and often represented the club in quiz teams at Scór and other quizzes. He was a man who had a great love for the Irish language, music and history and was an encyclopaedia of information on so many things. He was a great man to sit down with and have a conversation about anything. Ciarán was a man who could also produce a nugget of information that could make you go away and think “where did he get that information”
Ciarán had a great interest and love for the Islands of Ireland and wanted to visit them all. He was getting through his list over recent years ticking off each Island as he visited them.
As a club man, Ciarán was a worker and took on many challenges that others may not have had the heart for. He had a great ability to bring people with him and make things work. In recent weeks he was a regular with the club’s weekly lotto and was a driving force behind the Facebook live draw on a Sunday night.
While the loss to the club is one thing, it is hard to comprehend the void he is leaving in his own family. To his wife Mary, daughters Nora and Mary Kate, sons Sean and Sam, son in law John, daughter in law Rosie together with his two grandchildren, JJ and Aoife, and extended family we extend our sincere condolences and support on the passing of such a true gentleman in the prime of his life.
For those of us lucky enough to have encountered Ciarán, the gentleman, we will have fond memories of a fantastic man but we cannot help but be broken-hearted at his untimely death especially at this time of the year. If we have one consolation it might be that his neighbour Dónal Ó Loingsigh will be there to welcome him and they can start another project together for the benefit of others.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam uasal
https://rip.ie/death-notice/ciarán-benville-ashbourne-meath/480299
(Obituary from the Donaghmore/Ashbourne GAA Club)
By Brian Kelly Wed 22nd Dec
