Legendary Longford ploughman remembered as a "lovely, gentle and friendly man"

The much loved and hugely respected Kenagh man died last Tuesday (July 11) surrounded by his family at Dublin's Mater Hospital.

Managing Director of National Ploughing of the National Ploughing Championships, Anna May McHugh said the industry had lost one of its greatest ambassadors.

"I would have known Eamon for over 50 years," she said.

"He was a good friend, very gentle, kind and a historian behind it. His late wife Eithne was also heavily involved in Longford ploughing circles and whatever spare time Eamon had he would dedicate it to ploughing and particularly horse ploughing."

A former chairman of County Longford Ploughing Association and secretary of the Loy Association of Ireland, Eamon's association with a sector he devoted much of his adult life to extended nationwide.

Anna May said her lifelong friend's appetite for all things ploughing was as unparalleled as it was unique.

"When Eamon would come on the phone you knew you would have to have put aside a good bit of spare time, but he was involved in horse ploughing competitions even up until more recent times," she said.

"In latter years you would be saying to yourself would he have given it up but it was so very close to his heart.

"He was just a lovely, gentle and friendly man, I could not speak more highly enough of him."

There were just as wholesome sentiments from long time friend and ploughing enthusiast John Flynn.

The Leitrim village man cited that while poems from literary greats of the ilk of Patrick Kavanagh, Seamus Heaney and local poet Rose Moran identified the horse and plough as an art, for the late Kenagh man both represented much more.

“While it took centuries to develop the plough it was the lea plough that Eamon best expressed himself,” he said.

“While his achievement on the land is well documented and recorded for posterity there was a recent project of restoration of farm machinery that deserves some attention.

“Items like mowers, swath turner's, tedders and reapers and binders form part of his collection. He would have loved to have put his long and varied life in print but it proved an unattainable challenge.

Having attended his ploughing match in 1957, it’s no exaggeration to suggest Eamon was at his happiest when doing what he did best, working horses on some of south Longford’s finest parcels of land.

Within two years, he had qualified for his first All-Ireland Ploughing Championships, a feat which saw him attend the yearly match on a virtually annual basis ever since.

John told of how Eamon’s level of knowledge about an industry he helped redefine was beyond reproach.

“For the time I spent with him I should have certainly been using the recorder as his intelligence and knowledge were edifying. Eamon had many gifts and it was a privilege to share his journey,” he said.

A large crowd attended the late Eamon Egan’s funeral mass at St Dominic’s Church in Kenagh last Friday ahead of burial to Carrickedmond Cemetery.

Predeceased by his loving wife Eithna and their infant daughter Mary, his parents Joe and Winifred Egan, his brothers Francis and Michael, Eamon's passing is deeply regretted by his children Joseph, Fiona, Brian, Edward and Pauline. His brothers Tom, (Castlepollard), Dominic, (Street) and Paddy (Glanmore). Sadly missed by his daughters-in-law, Helena, Lizzie, Susan, sons-in-law Michael Farrell and Damien Drake. Grandchildren, Bernard, Grace, Niamh, Aoife, Eleanor, Meabh, Alice, Eddie, Jennifer, Riona, Sean. Nieces, nephews, sisters in- law Trina Carty (Dublin), Rose Egan, Gertie Egan, relatives and his many friends and neighbours.