Death of an extraordinary, revered Offaly business, GAA and community man

THE death has taken place of one of Offaly’s great personalities, a remarkably successful business man who contributed powerfully to his native county and parish in a wide variety of ways.

Kieran Keenaghan, a hugely popular individual, died on Thursday after a lengthy, very bravely fought battle with illness.

Synonymous with Banagher Concrete and St Rynagh's parish, Kieran Keenaghan’s business achievements were recognised when he was honoured at the 1996 Offaly person of the year in the annual function organised by the Offaly Association in Dublin.

A truly extraordinary man, who achieved high, he did exceptionally well in business and was very high up on the pantheon of Offaly's great native entrepreneurs. Yet possibly his biggest successes was in remaining grounded, humble, humane, in touch with his roots and accessible. A native of Lumcloon in Cloghan, he remained very proud of his background and where he came from throughout his long, well lived life.

While his business achievements will be the big part of his legacy, his GAA involvement brought him to the attention of his wider county and earned him an almost hidden but very important lasting place in the county’s GAA story. He never served as a County Board officer but was absolutely pivotal to the success of two of the county’s biggest infrastructural projects: O’Connor Park in Tullamore and Faithful Fields in Kilcormac.

He was one of the main men on the fundraising committee for those, the most important in many ways as businesses across the county and further afield were asked to dig deep into their pockets. His business mentality served him well in these roles, he was in no way daunted by big finance, aware of what companies could afford to contribute – he also felt that they should be contributing to the biggest sporting organisation in Offaly and he was not a man you could say no to very easily.

He contributed very generously himself, both from his business and private resources and he was a huge factor in the fundraising targets being met for both. O’Connor Park was redeveloped in the mid 2000s after the County Board took out a long term lease from Tullamore GAA Club while the development of Faithful Fields in the second half of the 2010s was instrumental to the revival of Offaly’s playing fortunes in this decade, giving a state of the art training base for all county teams.

Remarkably, Faithful Fields was built debt free and the voluntary County Board officers could not have done this on their own back. The were excellent GAA workers but simply couldn’t bring in funds of that magnitude and they required the outside assistance of GAA supporters from the business community. Several of these answered the call and Kieran Keenaghan was invariably the first point of contact, with acceptance generally guaranteed. He generally headed up these committees with former Offaly hurler and footballer, later County Board chairman, Michael Duignan working alongside him with others. He had also been on the latest Faithful Fields fundraising committee after the County Board secured the lease of an additional 20 acres of land beside it – they are currently awaiting planning permission for an all weather pitch but fundraising efforts have commenced and Kieran Keenaghan had played his usual active role in this until his health went against him again quite recently. It is a measure of the man that he remained engaged and committed to this almost to the end.

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He was a high achiever from an early age, awarded a scholarship from Lumcloon National School by Offaly County Council and going to St Mel’s College in Longford. He had a passionate interest in football and hurling from a young age, taking unauthorised leave from the college to listen to the 1961 All-Ireland senior football final where Offaly lost to Down – strangely St Mel’s also declined permission to their pupils to see the college in action in the All-Ireland colleges senior football final two years later and Kieran was one of the architects behind a “mass escape”, with many getting to Croke Park to watch St Mel’s defeat famed Killarney nursery, St Brendan’s.

After his Leaving Certificate, he became only the second Offaly student to receive a scholarship to UCD, graduating with a degree in civil engineering in 1967.

He took up employment with JJ Scallan and Sons in Down in 1968, working on road construction and returned to Banagher in 1969, working in Bantile until 1973. He then took up employment with Golden Vale in Charleville, Cork, marrying a local woman, Sile Murphy that July. After the closure of Bantile in 1975, he returned to Banagher and formed Banagher Concrete along with fellow Cloghan man, Paudge Mulhare, John Butler and famed Tullamore business man and long time councillor, John Flanagan.

Banagher Concrete's predecessor Banagher Tiles was formed by a local family, the Kenny's in 1949 with James Kenny's son Kieran establishing Bantile in 1965 – manufacturing precast concrete units for schools, hospitals, club houses and buildings all over Ireland. The units were precast by Bantile off-site and then put together on-site. Kieran Kenny also formed Concrete Structures Ltd in 1965 and they were the first company in Ireland with facilities to produce prestressed bridge beams.

Bantile went into liquidation in the mid 1970s in the midst of a global recession caused by mushrooming oil prices. The loss of 120 jobs was a huge blow to the area but Kieran Keenaghan and partners stepped into the vacuum and had their replacement, Banagher Concrere up and running in 1976. It was a brave move but yielded rich dividends as they became the leading precast supplier to the civil engineering industry in Ireland.

Kieran Keenaghan was an innovative business man with a tremendous vision and at times, it almost appeared that he could see around corners, into the future as he took chances, embarked on ambitious projects with success generally the inevitable outcome.

In 2005, the company developed the W Beam, which became the industry norm, , followed by other new beams – both more economical ones and a more environmentally friendly one.

As a business, Banagher Concrete succeeded beyond the wildest dreams of its founders. It initially employed 12 people, making cement stakes and posts, selling sand and gravel. Kieran Keenaghan was the major shareholder and Managing Director and he led the company through quite phenomenal growth. It employed 40 people by 1980, 90 by 1991, mushrooming beyond 150 and then 200 to over 500 in the 2000s.

It was one of Offaly’s biggest employers and indigenous companies, becoming a market leader in slatted flooring and the main manufacture for bridge beams for motorways in Ireland and in the UK, diversifying into international markets. They worked on some huge projects in Ireland and the UK, including the marina at Kilmore Quay in Wexford as well as providing concrete beams for sporting developments such as O’Connor Park, O’Moore Park in Portlaoise and much more.

It was rebranded as Banagher Precast Concrete in 2010 after the Celtic Tiger crashed and workers had to be laid off with younger directors now taking on lead roles in the company while Kieran remained associated with the company throughout his life – the company now employs approximately 270 people.

From the start, Banagher Concrete was a real hive of GAA activity. It was formed in the midst of a golden era for St Rynagh’s as they dominated Offaly hurling and several of their players were employed there over the years, as well as many great Offaly hurlers from other clubs. Paudge Mulhare was synonymous with Offaly GAA, an county footballer and hurler in the 1960s and ‘70s, County Board chairman in the mid 1980s and a selector on All-Ireland winning Offaly teams in the 1990s. The late John Flanagan was a giant of the Offaly construction and political scene for decades and two of his sons, Tony and John jnr worked closely with Kieran Keenaghan on those O’Connor Park and Faithful Fields fundraising committees.

Kieran Keenaghan’s interests transcended Banagher Concrete. He was chairman of the Independent Concrete Manufactures Association from 1991 to 1995, and Banagher Concrete received several prestigious awards under his guidance while he also got individual honours.

Apart from family and business, the GAA was the big passion in his life. He was a keen player in his youth, playing with Dundrum in Down and winning a junior football championship medal with Clyda Rovers in Cork. He was chairman of St Rynagh’s Football Club in 1972 and 1973, served as vice chairman and treasurer of St Rynagh’s Hurling Club. He was a great follower of both codes and spearheaded the development of St Rynagh’s Park in Banagher, culminating in the opening of a new stand and dressing rooms.

He was one of a very important group of business people who didn’t have the time or desire to get involved in the minutiae of day to day life in running the County Board, even though he would have made a quite superb county chairman and would have been assured of election. Instead, he maximised his strengths by doing his bit in a fundraising, financial capacity. He was treasurer of the Offaly GAA Supporters Club for different periods in the 1980s and 1990s – other business people such as Kilclonfert native Sean Maunsell, Banagher native and Tullamore employer, Seamus Dolan, the late Martin Buggy of Tullamore Frozen Foods, Cappincur man, Moss Buckley and many more were representative of this genre at different times.

When there were unseemly rows between the Supporters Club and County Board at the end of the 1980s, into the early 1990s, over the distribution of finance, Kieran Keenaghan was instrumental in bridging the divide and bringing the stand off to an amicable conclusion – some of the people who served in the Supporters Club over the years did not attempt to hide their distaste for the County Board and there were rows but Kieran Keenaghan was among the many who did not have this agenda and simply wanted what was best for Offaly GAA.

Kieran Keenaghan, however, was unique in terms of his longevity and continued commitment over several decades. He invariably chaired training fund committees as Offaly reached All-Ireland senior hurling finals in the 1990s and he was fiercely proud of all county successes. They often raised over £100,000 while he was also instrumental in collecting money for holiday funds for successful teams.

He was involved in other GAA committees, serving on ones charged with recommending the appointment of county hurling managers in the 1990s.

His extra-curricular interests went far beyond the GAA. He had a keen interest in astronomy and was a director of the Birr Scientific and Heritage Foundation, which was the driving force behind the restoration of the great telescope at Birr Castle. He served on the Offaly Enterprise Board and the Offaly Leader Board, Shannon Development, engineering bodies, the Banagher Business Development Committee, which was responsible for the construction of a swimming pool and 18 hole pitch and putt course in the town.

He had a great interest in local history and in 2025, him and Tullamore native, James Scully, a long time resident in Clonfert near Banagher, published a very entertaining, informative, humorous book called “That Beats Banagher” – it gave a fascinating insight into the origins of the famous phrase, “That beats Banagher and Banagher beats the devil”, tracing it back to the 18^th century.

He had a powerful, inspirational devotion to his home. He was a great environmental enthusiast, championing the need to protect the bogs and not have them taken over with wind turbines and roads.

He made a passionate, moving 48 page submission to Offaly County Council last year on their plans to create a network of cycling and walkway trails across bogland in his beloved west Offaly heartland. Providing illustrative pictures, he questioned the viability of Bord na Mona's plans for the bogs and had concerns about the cycle and walkway project. He was sceptical about the demand for cycling paths in an area of sparse, declining population and argued that there should be minimal intervention on the bogs. Kieran also queried a proposal for a new pedestrian and cycle bridge spanning the Grand Canal in Turraun townland – in Ferbane parish but in the Pullough based Erin Rovers catchment area in GAA terms. Arguing that user numbers were not there to justify such an “intrusion in a beautiful and peaceful countryside setting”, he felt the bridge would “look awful” and should not be allowed.

He had an article published about the Banagher Ancient Cross published on the excellent Offaly History Blog last year and there were so many strands to a most interesting man.

He remained active for years, playing golf, squash and cycling and the interests and welfare of his wife and children was paramount. In his 80s, he was a great, engaging, personable man. I had the pleasure of queueing with him at the removal of Banagher man, Michael Conneely last February 12 months, chatting him and Sile for well over an hour as we waited our turn to sympathise and he spoke with great enthusiasm about his forthcoming book as well as speaking candidly about his long battle with health, remarking that he was one of the lucky ones who got a lot more years that some people with similar illnesses got.

He was conscientious and fair minded, earning the respect of his employees, customers and fellow business people. As such a big business man, he had to possess a hard edge but he exuded humanity and retained the loyalty and commitment of so many people who worked with him for most of their lives.

A generous benefactor and supporter of all sorts of causes, he bows out having made a contribution to his home county and parish that will last for decades to come. He leaves a treasure chest of great memories and was one of Offaly’s greatest individuals. May he rest in peace.