Mayo icon Paddy Prendergast remembered as a ‘football God’ at funeral

In his eulogy to his father, Mark Prendergast remembered a ‘football God’ and how ‘everyone wanted a piece of Paddy P’

Mayo flags fly from the hearse carrying the remains of Paddy Prendergast, the last surviving member of the Mayo team to win the All-Ireland in 1951, arriving at St John’s Church, Tralee for Mass. Pictures: Don MacMonagle

To the strains of ‘The West’s Awake’, the green and red draped coffin of Mayo football icon Paddy Prendergast left St John’s Church in Tralee, Co Kerry, at the end of his Funeral Mass.

The 95-year-old Ballintubber native died in his adopted home of Tralee at the weekend and is the last member of the Mayo team which won the county’s last All-Ireland in 1951 to pass away.