The reaction to the news of John O’Mahony’s passing last weekend told its own story.

From all across the country and beyond, tributes were paid, messages of condolences were relayed, and memories were recalled from his life less ordinary.

His 71 years were well-lived and, to use one of his own favourite phrases, he seemed determined to ‘seize the opportunity of a lifetime in the lifetime of the opportunity’.

Johnno’s All-Ireland winning captain in Galway in 1998, Ray Silke, said last week that he and the players held that quote more than any other during that run to winning the Sam Maguire.

He was a family man, a teacher, a football coach, a politician, a friend, a confidante. Johnno was all of these things, and so much more besides.

Ballaghaderreen came to a standstill in the days following his passing.

Scores of mourners came to Tower House in Ballagh’ to pay their respects, the same Tower House outside which John’s wife, Gerardine, had erected a sign in the days after the 1989 All-Ireland Final loss to Cork.

‘Keep the Faith’ it said, echoing the words that were written on the banner that was captured in that iconic Henry Wills’ photograph that was taken on the pitch just moments after the final whistle in that All-Ireland Final.

The sight of a young John O’Mahony, Mayo’s crestfallen manager, standing in the foreground of the photo, just underneath that homemade flag, meant that the photo has taken on iconic status in the years that followed.

Especially with Mayo still trying to land that elusive All-Ireland all these years later.

Fr Stephen O’Mahony said his brother was a man of faith in his homily at John’s funeral. He described him as someone who gave example by the way he lived.

“Pauper and prince got the same respect, and with that attitude, he was a life-giver,” was how Fr Stephen described his brother’s approach to dealing with people.

He also went some way to explaining why John was so successful in the various different aspects of his life; it was something that came from a fiercely competitive spirit.

Fr Stephen even recalled Johnno ‘working out how best to get the ring from the traditional Halloween brack’ during their childhood days in Kilmovee. “He would do whatever it took to win. That famously meant attention to detail, where he often talked about the difference between success and failure, coming down to inches.”

It was the same when it came to working with football teams, from Mayo underage teams to St Nathy’s College, to Galway, to Leitrim, to Ballaghaderreen, and all the clubs teams that he worked with right up until Salthill/Knocknacarra last year.

Working with the Galway city side in 2022 and 2023 turned out to be Johnno’s last stand as a manager. Alongside Finian Hanley and Seán Armstrong, he led them to a county final and a semi-final in successive seasons. Both were lost narrowly, but there was so much more to his time there than just winning and losing football matches.

That was obvious from Colin Sheridan’s words in the Irish Examiner last Monday.

The following days and weeks will be filled with worthwhile testimonials to John O’Mahony’s transformative impact on the GAA in Mayo, Leitrim and Galway.

There will be many, many mentions of his ability to enable players to excel beyond themselves.

There will be justified talk of his devotion as a Gael, a husband and father, and as a teacher and politician. Perhaps his last contribution to Gaelic football with Salthill is the easiest forgotten, but it tells the story of a man who put one thing above all others, the one thing he asked us all to keep; Faith.

We all have our own memories of meeting Johnno over the years and I was fortunate enough to interact with him in many different arenas over the course of more than 30 years. But one day stands out, a gesture he made that showed the measure of the man.

It was in the spring of 2009, just hours after my father had taken seriously ill at a National League match between Mayo and Derry in Ballina. John O’Mahony was the Mayo manager at the time and, by extension, a very busy man.

But he still took the time later that evening to come to the hospital in Castlebar, still wearing his Mayo tracksuit, to enquire about my father’s health and to offer his best wishes. Our family will never forget that gesture and the sight of Johnno, and the Mayo captain, Ronan McGarrity, walking down the corridor to show their support in a time of need.

Like so many other things he did, it showed his integrity and his empathy.

He was a man of great honour who never lost the faith.

May he rest in peace.