Mother of Roy Keane dies at hospice in Cork

Olivia Kelleher

The death has occurred of the mother of former Manchester United and Ireland player and former Ireland Assistant Manager Roy Keane.

Marie Keane, nee Lynch, died earlier on Friday at St Anne’s Ward in Marymount University Hospital in Cork. A death notice on Rip.ie indicates that she was “surrounded by her loving family.”

She was predeceased by her husband Maurice (Mossie), her brother Pat, her niece Estella and her nephew Thomas. The mother of five is survived by her adult children Denis, Johnson, Hilary, Roy and Pat.

She will also be “sadly missed” by her sisters Ina, Annette and Josephine, brothers Jack, Leo, Michael and Noel, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, daughters-in-law Linda, Theresa and Mary, brothers and sisters in law, nephews and nieces, extended family, her great neighbours in Carhoo Rathpeacon and friends.

Visitation will take place at O’Connor Bros Funeral Home on the North Gate Bridge from 6pm to 7pm on Monday with prayers at 6.45pm.

The requiem mass is scheduled for 11am on Tuesday in the Church of the Resurrection in Cork with burial following at St Catherine’s Cemetery in Kilcully, Co Cork.

Keane had a close relationship with his mother. In 2022 he captioned a selfie of them both on Instagram with the words “The Only Boss I listen to.”

Mrs Keane, who was late of Rathpeacon and Mayfield in Cork lost her husband Mossie in August, 2019.

His funeral mass heard at the Church of the Resurrection in Farranree on Cork’s northside heard that Mossie and Marie were 57 years married the month of his passing.

Paul Murphy, a nephew of the late Mossie Keane, said that his uncle was smitten with Marie from his “first glance” when he first encountered her at his friend Pat Lynch's home. Pat's sister Marie working under the kitchen table cleaning the floor for her mother when a young Mossie spotted his future bride.

The following week at a local dance Marie was chatting to a suitor but "Mossie sized up the opposition, made his move and yer man got blown out."

"The charming original Keano married Marie on August 10th, 1963. Last Saturday was their 57th wedding anniversary. Mossie and Marie were blessed with five wonderful children Denis, Johnson, Hilary, Roy and Pat. They moved to Mayfield where they reared their family in hard times but always managed to get by."

Meanwhile, Mr and Mrs Keane moved from Mayfield to Rathpeacon, Co Cork in the 1990’s. They were present at all of Roy's major sporting moments over the years.

They were also in attendance when he received an honorary degree from UCC and the Freedom of Cork city from the local authority.