
Jack McSharry, whose sudden and totally unexpected death last Monday caused widespread shock and real sadness, was a free spirit and he was never tamed, his lifelong friend, John O’Leary, told the congregation at his Requiem Mass in Killarney’s St Mary’s Cathedral this Friday.
He said such was Jack’s nature and his love for conversation that he was probably now up at the pearly gates having a chat with St Peter, telling him to clean up his act and wondering what was going on inside.
“That’s the way he was,” John said.
He recalled that Jack left Killarney in the 1980s with a group of friends and moved to London, New York and San Francisco and he had a lot of great stories from those days, most of which related to his diligent and passionate success in avoiding strenuous work – even when he was on a job.
John said on his return to Killarney 25 or 30 years ago, Jack built another life. He was a rock for his sisters, Maureen and Eileen Anne, and he never forgot his parents or his nephew, Leon, who passed away before him, and he very regularly visited and tended to their graves.
He also looked after the resting places of relatives in Leitrim and in Portmagee and he loved to keep in touch with relatives and locals in his mother’s native South Kerry where he often embarked on cycle trips with John and very often on his own.

John said Jack had a constant faith and travelled to Medjugorje on a number of occasions with their close friend, the late Fr Donal O’Connor, who also passed away suddenly in 2023.
He said Jack’s focus in recent years was on his son, Mark, to whom he devoted so much time and he passed on a real love of nature, the outdoors and movement.
“He did a great job,” said John, who added that Mark will remember those great times when he grows up to be a fine, strong man like his dad.
John said Jack loved Killarney and he considered every day to be a holiday in the town he loved.
“Killarney is going to miss him. He was a great character and we won’t see his like again. May he rest in peace,” his great friend said.
Earlier, celebrant Fr Kieran O’Brien told the packed cathedral that Jack’s sudden death, at the age of 61, was hard to believe and a real eye-opener for everyone given that he was so active, full of life, full of energy, fit and healthy.
“Life was taken so quickly from him and he was also swept from his family and his friends,” he said.

“Many tributes have been paid to Jack online and in our conversations. We can’t stop talking about him over these last few days. He was a man so well thought of, highly regarded and well respected,” Fr O’Brien added.
“He was a great friend to this town. He loved Killarney and he knew everyone,” he said, adding that Jack was always out and about and meeting people.
Fr O’Brien said when one would see Jack approaching on his bicycle it meant an automatic stop and a chat and people wouldn’t want to be in a hurry.
“That was something Jack often spoke about. He said people today are always rushing. He observed life, he stood back and it amused him. He said people have little time anymore,” the Killarney Parish Administrator told mourners.
“Jack lived in the present; in the here and now. He was practical, a man of great wit, common sense and wise. He went that extra mile without being asked to,” he added.
“Of all the conversations you might have or all the people you might meet in a single day, by evening time you would still remember meeting Jack McSharry and the conversation you had with him,” Fr O’Brien said.

Symbols brought to the altar to reflect Jack’s life included a photograph of himself with his beloved son Mark on the Lakes of Killarney, a football to celebrate his great love of sport, a regatta medal to highlight his success an oarsman, Jack’s trademark hat and sunglasses that he wore when cycling, a poem-a-day book to represent his love of reading and a photograph of Jack as a child with his parents.
Jack was laid to rest in Aghadoe Cemetery, overlooking the town he loved so deeply, after a poignant last journey through the streets that he knew so well and travelled so frequently and where everybody knew his name.
At his graveside his pal, Henry Bartlett, gave an emotional and moving rendition of the Garth Brooks song, The Dance, which included the line: “For a moment, all the world was right but how could I have known that you’d ever say goodbye”.

At the close of the ceremony in St Mary’s Cathedral a prayer that was framed on the wall of Jack’s home on Port Road was shared with the congregation. It was penned by Mother Theresa and presented to Jack by his great friend, the late Fr Donal O’Connor:
“People are often unreasonable, illogical and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies. Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you. Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight. Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous. Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow. Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway.
You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and your God. It was never between you and them anyway.”
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