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Tribute to Ronnie Lawlor RIP
Ronnie Lawlor was a
stalwart of cricket not just in Limerick, but in Munster and Irish terms also.
He was the only Limerick cricketer to have won three Munster Junior
Cup medals, having won with Catholic Institute in 1956 and with Limerick
Cricket Club in 1988 and again in 1992, when he captained the winning
team. He was Vice-Captain of the first Limerick
team to win a Munster Senior Cup Final in 1982, and won other Senior Cup
medals in 1988 and 1994.
Behind these
statistics, Ronnie did Trojan work for the game he loved. When there was
a pitch to be laid, grass to be cut, or any one of the many things needed
to enable a cricket match to “happen”, Ronnie was always at
the forefront of the activity. Indeed, the sight of Ronnie, together with
his son, Gay, who inherited his father’s love for the game, and the
ever faithful family dog, Yogi, was an inherent aspect of Limerick cricket. Ronnie and Gay took great
pleasure and pride in contributing together to help Limerick
win the Munster Junior and Minor Cup Finals in 1992.
Ronnie’s
interest and involvement in cricket stretched beyond Limerick.
He became a selector of the Munster Senior Team and subsequently of the
Irish Cricket Team. Indeed, when Ronnie first fell ill in June of last
year, he was Chairman of selectors of the Irish Cricket Team. Ronnie was
only the second member of Limerick Cricket Club to hold this honour,
following in the footsteps of his great friend and current President of
the Irish Cricket Union, Eoin McCann.
While
Ronnie rubbed shoulders with the “aristocracy” of cricket, he
was never too proud to put in the groundwork necessary to keep the game
going. One outstanding example of this was the work that he put in,
single-handed, to clear standing water from the pitch prior to the 1988
Munster Junior Cup Final at Limerick.
Ronnie spent several hours from early light clearing the pitch so the
match could take place. He duly had his reward, as he captured the last
wicket to win the match, having bowled over 20 consecutive overs to take 3 wickets for 48 in a spell of sheer
determination which was so typical of him. He will be sorely missed by
his wife, Betty, daughter Zoe and son Gay, and
by his many friends and colleagues in cricket.
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