VIDEO: Mary John B’s advice: ‘Put on your shop smile and hoor it out’

She was a woman of many names. Also known as ‘Mary O’Connor’, ‘Mary the Shop’, and ‘Mary the Pensioner’, it was the title of ‘Mary John B’ that charmed her the most.

Mary Keane’s daughter Joanna told mourners at her mother’s funeral how her parents’ great love story began when playwright John B Keane was “knocked off his perch” at Walsh’s ballroom during Listowel Races in 1949 when he clapped eyes on his future wife, Mary O’Connor, for the first time.

She then became his inspiration and the love of his life.