WATCHING GRAHAM BURKE perform for Shamrock Rovers against Bohemians at the Aviva Stadium last Sunday was to witness a player at complete ease with his surroundings in front of a record 33,208 crowd for a League of Ireland fixture.
Seemingly without a care in the world, drifting around the pitch with a kind of ruthless grace we have come to relish.
Burke was at the heart of all Rovers’ best, most incisive play in their attempts to salvage at least a draw. He created three chances that, on another day, would have led to goals.
But there was one moment around the 20-minute mark that would have made most people watching giddy.
The ball is fizzed out to him on the right touchline, John Mountney busts a gut to get tight and close down space before it has arrived at his feet.
In an instant Burke has assessed the situation and worked out the mechanics of what to do next. He uses the pace on the ball to direct it deftly around Mountney and is already on the move the other side of him before the veteran can realise he’s been made a bit of a show of.
There were audible sighs of delight at the ingenuity, a collective cooing that a newborn baby would be only delighted to get in their pram.
Things just cranked up a notch here!
— Virgin Media Sport (@VMSportIE) February 16, 2025
Shamrock Rovers with a penalty shout for handball before Lys Mousset gets a run at two Rovers defenders who manage the situation very well.#LOI pic.twitter.com/dHemwzb97L
In that instance, with a delicate caress of the ball and dangerous run that almost led to a goal for a teammate, Burke might well have felt like he was back on the cul-de-sac where he grew up just 3.5km kilometres away: Champions Avenue.
That sliver of Dublin 1, tucked between Marlborough and Cathan Brugha Streets, is never far from Burke’s thoughts. Especially now.
His grandmother, Eileen Burke, died last Monday, 10 February. She was laid to rest the day before that game against Bohs. Just five months earlier Burke’s grandfather – Eileen’s husband – Anthony also passed away.
Burke moved in with his grandparents when he was in sixth class in primary school. His two younger siblings stayed with their mam in the two-room apartment nearby.
Burke remembers being woken up by Tony – everyone called him Tony – for school each morning. Once he had delivered his wife breakfast in bed, of course.
Eileen would wave them out the door and her husband would walk their grandson to the school around the corner.
Eileen and Tony’s house was always the centre point of everyone’s life in the family. No one needed a key because the front door would remain open from morning until night.
It’s only the last 10 days, as uncles, aunties, cousins and everyone in between descend on Champions Avenue that Burke and his family have got keys cut.
When he was that bit older and in secondary school at Larkin College, the 9am bell was so close that Burke could hear it from his bedroom. The sounds changed as he got older.
Eileen drank one pint of Guinness every night and loved a dance. Burke remembers going to bed at 10 o’clock in the house on Champions Avenue when Tony and Eileen would walk arm in arm to Lloyd’s or Mullet’s or the Hill 16 Pub. He always heard them come back in the door a couple of hours later and would sleep that little bit better.
When their grandson was 15 and moved to Aston Villa, they would travel over to England with his mother to watch him play whenever they could. But they loved it even more when he returned to Dublin and signed for Shamrock Rovers. Eileen would tell the postman that the packages being delivered were new boots for her grandson. Whenever someone stopped her doing the shopping in Dunne’s to ask about Graham she was always able to give the full lowdown.
Eileen loved going on away trips to Derry and Galway and had her favourite hotels with the best entertainment for a dance with Tony. It’s made winning league titles with Rovers even more enjoyable for Burke.
He had not just returned home, but he was back on Champions Avenue and with his grandparents. When he scored for the senior Republic of Ireland team against USA at the Aviva in June 2018 they were there to see it. Afterwards, the three of them slept under the same roof again.
Eileen was still the one to get breakfast in bed the next morning.
It was only three years ago, at the age of 28, that Burke moved out and set up a home of his own 10 minutes away in Marino with his partner. He never wanted to be too far which is why coming home to Ireland from Villa and then Preston was no big deal.
Eileen and Tony were always waiting.
Burke’s second child arrived on the day Rovers began their Uefa Conference League campaign against APOEL last October. He rushed to the maternity ward for the birth, but football has offered some respite from grief over the last week.
Burke was preparing for the first leg of Rovers’ Conference League knockout phase play-off away in Molde when he got a call on the Monday afternoon from his sister to say Eileen didn’t have long left.
By the time he made it to Champions Avenue his mother phoned to say it was too late. He rushed around to the Mater Hospital to be with his family. They insisted that he travel to Norway the following day.
It was also arranged among family to delay the funeral until Saturday – the day before the Bohs game – so he could take part in both fixtures. Stephen Bradley made it clear to him that it was entirely his own decision.
Rovers use the same psychologist and counsellor, Dr Mary Larkin, that the Professional Footballers’ Association of Ireland also have for its members.
Burke, as so many of us do, found solace in the game he loves. It won’t provide lasting protection against the grief and the pain, but when he left the funeral at 6.30pm last Saturday evening, as so many family and friends celebrated Eileen’s life, the thought of a football match to come did provide comfort.
Burke’s circumstances are a reminder that we never know what anyone is dealing with or trying to navigate, even when all seems perfect on the outside. Football offers us all a release but it doesn’t gloss over realities that need to be dealt with either.
Eileen, as it turned out, would have watched last Sunday’s game at home on TV. She didn’t like the aggression and hostility of Bohs-Rovers games. But, like everyone else, she enjoyed watching her grandson Graham play.
It really shows how far back cork gaa has gone
Jesus wept what a negative comment. Well done to all involved (with carberry not your comment). Beautiful part of the country.
How do you make that out John? Castleknock have done the same in a much shorter time and Dublin GAA isn’t in a bad ol spot really is it? Or does every article about Cork GAA have to be negative these days?
Cork have been nowhere the past few years in football as the bigger clubs are not producing the players of yester year. They are so poor that smaller clubs like Ross don’t have to make as big a step up thus the quality is poor. I went to a number of championship games this year and the standard was muck.