Tipperary icon John 'Mackey' McKenna dies aged 87

The Borrisokane man earned four Celtic Crosses with the Premier County side of the '60s.

Former Cork hurler Jimmy Brohan, left, shakes hands with former Tipperary hurler John "Mackey" McKenna. Pic: Cody Glenn/Sportsfile

The death has occurred of Tipperary’s four-time All-Ireland senior hurling winner John “Mackey” McKenna.

Borrisokane clubman McKenna (87) was full-forward in two of the county’s four All-Ireland successes in the early to mid-1960s – 1964 and ’65 – having been on the bench in ’61 and half-forward in ’62.

He also won six Munster championships, the aforementioned years as well as 1967 and ’68 and a quartet of National Leagues (1960-61, ’63-’64, ’64-’65 and ’67-’68).

He announced himself at inter-county senior level with two goals in the 1961 Division 1 final win over Waterford and produced five in a round game against Offaly the following year.

McKenna scored five points in the 1965 final victory against Wexford and he found the net in the first half of the previous year’s decider against Kilkenny.

He also earned two North Tipperary championships as well as a Railway Cup medal with Munster in 1966.

In August, McKenna was present to see a monument unveiled in his honour in Borrisokane, which was launched by current Tipperary senior hurling manager Liam Cahill who described him as “a legend”.