The heartbeat at the centre of a rugby golden era for Ireland
Mr O’Meara, aged 82, passed away earlier this week at his home in Castletownshend, Co Cork, in the care of his family, following a long illness.
Tributes have poured in from rugby and sailing personalities and representatives of the legal profession, a business in which Mr O’Meara was immersed throughout his working career as a partner in Cork-based Barry O’Meara & Son.
Although Mr O’Meara missed out on Ireland’s 1948 Grand Slam and 1949 Triple Crown victories — he was still in school at the time — he made an immediate impact once he registered in UCC and won his first cap against France in 1951 as half-back partner to Jackie Kyle.
That dynamo of Ireland’s brilliant victories in the late 1940s ended up playing with no less than eight scrum-halves throughout his career, but his partnership with O’Meara was the most enduring.
The two fed off one another and played together 19 times, then a record for an Irish half-back duo. Kyle may have got most of the publicity but O’Meara also won a huge amount of credit for the manner in which a brilliantly delivered service allowed the Ulsterman express himself.
Ireland won the Five Nations in his second season: they defeated France, England and Scotland in succession, before being denied a Grand Slam when held to a draw by Wales in Cardiff.
O’Meara was also a member of the touring party to Argentina in 1952, an event noted for the intensity of battles with the Pumas. They played an opening game in Chile before heading to Buenos Aires for the start of a tour that involved nine matches. Ireland won six, drew two and lost one.
The courageous scrum-half went on to win a total of 22 caps, the last coming against Wales in 1958.
Mr O’Meara, who came from a well-known Mallow family, was praised highly in a statement from Dolphin RFC, with whom he was an honorary life member after he led them as president in the diamond jubilee season. He was also club solicitor for many years.
It read: “He won two Munster Senior cup medals with UCC and he captained Dolphin to victory in 1956, a feat we are very proud of. Our condolences go to his wife Clodagh, daughter Tara and sons Barry and Johnny.”
Lifelong friend Ted Crosbie, vice-chairman of Thomas Crosbie Holdings, described Mr O’Meara’s passing as a huge blow to his family and to all who had the pleasure of knowing him.
Mr Crosbie said one of his fondest memories of his friend came through sailing.
“I knew him since 1941 when he was 11 and I 10: from about 1946 on we were always together, crewing on my father’s yacht.
“That went on for years; we celebrated our matriculation results in 1948 together and it was that kind of a companionship.
“He went on to crew in dinghies, he had his own 14-footer in the old Royal Munster Club and he then went on to 505s, which he kept around until about 1965 until he immersed himself in the family business — he, Jack Phelan and his father Barry were the great movers in Barry O’Meara and Son at that time.
“John was just a plain honest and good gentleman, a very skilled solicitor, a very courteous person who was also a real family man.”
He was supported magnificently during his long, final illness by his family and the unending love of his wife Clodagh.
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