Camogie star Geary: Father’s death a shock

Cork camogie legend Anna Geary has opened up about the sudden passing of her father in 2022.

Broadcaster and former camogie player Geary’s father, Michael, died unexpectedly in March of that year, six weeks after he received a terminal diagnosis. And her brother Thomas passed away in November of 2023.

Speaking to Carl Mullan on the Phone Truths podcast, Geary recalled how her world was turned upside down. “My dad was in his early 60s. He was so healthy. We used to always joke if he was a farmer, if he spent the night outside in the pouring rain, he wouldn’t even have a sniffle the next day.

“We used to always joke there was meat in the fridge a week old that, only for the dogs, if my dad ate it, he would be grand. He had a stomach of steel,” Geary said.

“He had this invincibility, in my eyes. So to find out so quickly, so suddenly and out of the blue, that he was ill. He had a bit of back pain and then went in (to hospital). They found a tumour and it had spread. Within six weeks he was gone. To find out that, it was hard to believe. I think I took the phonecall and went about my day. It probably hit me in the hours afterwards.” During her camogie career with Cork, Geary won four All-Ireland senior titles, and six All Stars. Her father was one of her biggest supporters.

Geary added: “Our whole life turned upside down and when you lose anybody in your family, particularly a parent, the dynamic of your family shifts. And I was the oldest. Suddenly, then, you are not a child.

“I used to love going home at Christmas time, because, after a busy year of work, veg out on the sofa for two weeks. You could just be a child again for two weeks, have your dinners handed up to you and relax at home. Shut out the outside world, if you wanted to.

“Whereas, when that happened, everything changed in an instant. I had to step up and all the rigmarole that comes with consultants and appointments. It just turned our world upside down. I think, if there are people listening going through that, it is allowing yourself the space to process it, because... I probably didn’t process it until after he was gone.”