GAELIC STUFF, But this was quinnies sport, or one of tham, so RESPECT. A TRUE friend, a great character and one of the best footballers of all time are just three of the countless memories that Niall Cahalane has of Kerry GAA great John Egan (59) who passed away at his home in Cork city over the weekend. In what was a friendship that transcended the Kerry and Cork sporting rivalry, former Rebels' football star Cahalane and six-time All-ireland winner Egan lived, for many years, just three doors away from one another on Elmvale Avenue in Wilton, Cork. And Cahalane counts himself amongst the very lucky ones, for a very simple reason: he knew John Egan as a friend, a neighbour and a footballer. "In a way we were both out-of-towners that had landed in Cork city, and even though it was still Cork to me it was 60-odd miles from home," Cahalane explained. "We had similar interests in sport and we developed a friendship right up to his day. It was a friendship that got closer and closer. It wasn't just with John, it was with his wife Mary too. I can guarantee you that if you hit the wall or were in trouble in the morning you could not ask to have a better woman on your side. "We could not have asked to have better neighbours or friends. It made life easy for us in Cork. The one thing about John is that you probably couldn't have asked for a better friend." Cahalane can recall many days when he returned home from work to find Egan playing football with his kids, and the high esteem that all of Cahalane's seven children hold John Egan in is a testament to the Sneem man. "I obviously admired him as a footballer but outside of all that we knew John Egan as a person," Cahalane said. "If you want to know someone you need to look at them through your kids' eyes, and all of my seven kids absolutely adored the ground the man walked on. That was because when he called he gave them so much time, he was a great man for telling stories, even about his playing days. "My kids would all be natural left and right footed in football and left and right handed in hurling, and a lot of that would be down to John Egan. He would call to the house and ask that if they were working off their weak side and he would help them with the small, important details. "I have a nine-year-old, Jack, who cried himself to sleep after he heard John was gone." Not even the Cahalane's decision to move to a different area of Cork city affected their great friendship, as he explains. "Even when we moved that didn't stop the two or three times a week when we would be calling back and forth," Cahalane said. "There were times there when I wouldn't even bother reading the newspapers because I would know that Egan would have them read cover to cover. All I would do is call to him late at night and he would tell me all the news worth knowing and everything that went on in the The Kerryman, The Examiner." From a football perspective, Cahalane hails Egan as one of the greats. His incredible trophy haul in Kerry's green and gold is evidence enough. "He was probably one of the greatest footballers of all-time. He was definitely the greatest corner forward of alltime. Bar none," Cahalane said. "If you look at some of the players today they are afraid to take a man on but every time John got possession he was going at you as a forward. And I presume he put up with a lot of punishment in his day but he never complained. That's a sign of the man. "When you used to see him solo up the left-hand side of the field it was one of the great sights. We will all miss John." Meanwhile Egan's former Kerry team-mate Páidà à Sé added: "John was a complete gentleman who kept very much to himself but at the same time he was a friend to everybody. He is a Kerry great, there is no doubt." RIP, from Sunderland.
