DANSKE BANK ULSTER COLLEGES GAA

Breaking the Mould – a Tribute to James O’Kane

May 19, 2013

Breaking the mould – A tribute to James O’Kane

James with O’Keefe Cup winning captain Sam Dodds in 2006

Where do you start with James? The man was just so talented in so many different fields, but carried with it all a set of values that are almost of a different generation to that which he lived in. James loved the craic and was always guaranteed to be at the centre of anything that was going on but he also understood the human values of honesty, hard work and respect and these were things that were important to him and things which he always sought to communicate to the pupils – whether in the classroom, the corridors or the pitch. Practically everyone in St Patrick’s has a story about James – that was the appeal he had, across the age span of pupils, teachers and ancillary staff – James wasn’t one of these people who needed a manual of any sort to be a good teacher. He understood the job as being about getting on with people and bringing people along with you and if the modern ‘pupil voice’ was to be asked we would find a great many of those voices raised in a clamour for more teachers like the teacher that James O’Kane was, (check out Facebook or Twitter accounts) – a man with real people skills; he broke the mould that seems to churn out this notion of teaching as being about the robotic repetition of, ‘the policy says …..’ – James brought creativity, imagination and a real spark to what he did.

Surprise, surprise most of my stories centre around James and hurling in St Patrick’s like the Foresters team in his first couple of years in the school – and having reached a final, which we lost, the team were paraded on the stage with James primed as coach to speak to the assembly. As a novice leader of sport in the school I was conscious of how James would present the loss to the pupils – blame the ref, the other teams tactics? Not James – it was like a party political broadcast on behalf of sport in St Patrick’s – the need for hard work, improving your own skills, developing yourself and being honest with yourself and with your team mates; these were the very values that he would demand from the senior boys when he became coach of the Mageean Cup team. But James’ way of demanding was such that his players inevitably responded to his promptings – the evidence trailer heavily weighted down with 7 successive Mageean Cup finals between 2001 and 2007 – he broke the mould for hurling in St. Patrick’s. It wasn’t a case of ‘can we do this’, more a case of ‘why can’t we do this’; not for James the ‘béal bocht’ presentation of ‘nothing is done for hurling’ – with James you did it rather than complaining about it or waiting on others to do it for you.

Getting to finals was great but James was always able to dangle the carrot just that little bit out of reach for his players – finals were great but they also had to be about winning and winning in the right way. 2001 and 2002 put back-to back titles in the record books but then the quest for three-in-a-row was on – emulate the breakthrough years of the ‘80’s as James was always conscious and respectful of the past. It didn’t happen in 2003 but the resolve was still there and 2004 to 2006 would achieve the three-in-a-row. 2004 would also see the carrot moved that wee bit further though – an O’Keefe final appearance, now there was a holy grail! And in 2006 James broke the mould again and brought the O’Keefe Cup to Ulster for the first time in over 40 years.
“It will be our toughest test yet by far, but its one we intend to pass. If we take the pragmatic approach we have done all year and out-work the opposition we can win..” was how James previewed the final, and this after beating a Borrisoleigh team in the semi-final that has since thrown up five McCarthy Cup winners with Tipperary.

Those core values of honesty, hard work and respect were at the heart of what James asked from his players but were exactly the same values that he always tried to show his players in himself. Hurling training on the morning after the Sixth Form Formal, are you serious sir – oh yes he was! If James could go to the formal and be at training at 9am the following morning then why wouldn’t his players? Travelling to watch opponents before Mageean semi-finals and finals, personal winter programmes between Mageean victories and the beginning of O’Keefe preparations, putting up the miles to see O’Keefe Cup opponents, having a good mate from home go and watch the other O’Keefe semi-final while he was playing his own semi-final, taking on overnight stays to the hurling strongholds of the South in an effort to improve as players – James was serious about his preparations and that soon rubbed off on his players. Just ask some of them about his training sessions, his preparations, his ambition for them as St. Patrick’s and as Derry hurlers. James O’Kane broke the mould.

But with all the hard work James also brought the need for respect – of self as a player, of team mates and their dreams, of opponents whether winning or losing and respect for the traditions and the personalities who had gone before him. Being late to or missing training brought sanctions to help instil the discipline and respect of each other which James demanded. A tense 2007 Mageean final went the way of Cross and Passion with a very late goal – James and his team waited for the celebrations to die down, the presentation to be made and then formed a guard of honour as Ballycastle left the pitch. This was how All-Ireland Champions, although dethroned, did things was James’ view – and that was true of everything he did, James believed in doing things with “a bit of class”. As an All-Ireland winning coach in 2006 James often expressed the view that the celebration banquet hosted in the school was a night for Patsy Quigg, (also gone to his eternal reward in the intervening years), and Joe McGurk – the men who had introduced and nurtured hurling in St Patrick’s in the years before James himself. To my mind, this was James breaking the mould of our modern ‘disposable society’ and saying, respect the past, give value to what has gone before – ‘If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants’. Isaac Newton

You lose someone like James and what do you do – nothing…………..; because James’ death confirms our helplessness in the great scheme of life. When we heard of James’ passing we did the only things we could do – we prayed, we talked, we hugged each other, we cried, we remembered the many, many stories we all have to tell, and with James there are no shortage of those. But so many of those were based on things which James did for others, for so many others, and there, in that selflessness, in that sense of giving that was such a part of James, there is the true vocation of teaching and there too when we retell those stories or try to do things in the way James did – there is his eternity.

“What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others remains and is immortal”. Albert Pike

Yes Death has taken James from our sight but the many memories which we all carry of him will always keep him alive and ensure he remains a part of our lives in the times ahead. To Lorraine, Jemma, Pádraig and Seán especially I offer my heartfelt sympathy on the loss of a tremendous family man and also to all James’ extended family our thoughts and prayers. James was a character in every sense of the word – a real honest, thoughtful, caring, imaginative and creative, (add as many adjectives as you can think of and they will all fit), character or as Dermot said to me on Friday evening, “a real true blue St. Patrick’s man”. James has left his mark on so many people – now we honour him best by keeping James O’Kane alive in all of us.

“Our dead are never dead to us, until we have forgotten them”. George Elliot
Go ndéanaí Dia trócaire ar a anam dhilis.