Brigid was born at Straffan on 22nd
September 1905. She was the youngest of three daughters and second youngest of
seven children of James Keegan and Bridget Keegan (nee McGuire ). Brigid went to
school in Two-Mile-House and subsequently worked as a Bookkeeper at Cunningham's
Grocery Shop of Naas. During that period she ran betting errants for the " York
" Magann who with his " if credit " bets written on scraps of paper showed
Brigid how to make a shilling go a long way when it came to betting. At the 1918
Two-Mile-House Sports Brigid was second of nine competitors to K. Hughes in the
Girls 100 Yards. On the same occasion her brothers Larry and Andy were first and
third respectively in the 220 Yards under 16 handicap while Jimmy was second in
a 440 Yards event. At that time Brigid's family were living at Stephenstown. In
her younger days Brigid loved socialising and was particularly fond of music and
dancing. Brigid loved Two-Mile-House which was a vibrant, friendly, close knit
community and one of whose leading lights was a man by the name of Dermot Murphy
who was a good football player. Willie and Brigid got married in the thirties at
Clontarf, Dublin. In the years that followed they had seven children. In 1946
Brigid suffered the heart break of losing her second daughter and namesake
Brigid who was only six weeks old when she died. As a mother of small children
Brigid rarely had the chance to attend any form of entertainment but one film
she went to and enjoyed was " The Bells of St. Mary's " starring Barry
Fitzgerald and Bing Crosbie. In 1948 Brigid proved she was no spent force when
in the words of the report in the Leinster Leader she won the Mammy's Race " in
fine style ". Over the years Brigid experienced much illness. She also
experienced hardship particularly in her days at Oakfield, Naas. Occasionally
she cycled into Naas for messages. Things improved for her when she moved to her
new house on the outskirts of Ballymore-Eustace in 1950. Her new home had the
added advantage of having a phone and most days she cycled up the village for
messages. On the 21st February 1963 Brigid again witnessed the death of one of
her children when Paddy died from pneumonia following jaundice and a dose of
'Flu. Paddy was only eighteen and a half when he died and was sick for less than
four months. In September 1964 Brigid and Willie suffered severe injuries in a
two car accident at Mile Mill near Kilcullen as they were travelling to
All-Ireland handball finals in Clogh, Co. Kilkenny. As a result Brigid and
Willie spent three weeks in Mount Carmel Hospital, Churchtown, Dublin 14. Billy
and Matt were also in the car but they suffered only minor injuries. Although
she never recovered fully from her injuries Brigid enjoyed reasonable health
from the middle sixties until the second half of the seventies. Brigid shared
her family's interest in handball and held the keys of the 60 by 30 alley and
collected the light money for many years. Both Willie and Brigid supported Matt
in all his most important handball matches and were present at all his most
important wins. In the middle seventies Brigid began to have trouble swallowing
and this problem worsened as time went by. In the early eighties she began to
experience acute pain from arthritis in her hands and feet. From that time
onwards she was hospitalised on many occasions. Hospitals she was in included
St. Vincent's, Harolds Cross Hospital for arthritis, Sir Patrick Dunne's and St.
James'. In 1986 she broke her hip and after having it set at St. Vincent's she
spent some time in Harvey's Nursing Home recuperating. Brigid was mostly
housebound from about 1982 and Willie cared for her until a couple of months
before he died. Following Willie's death Brigid in remembering him used to say "
I've lost my best pal ". Brigid continued to be cared for at home and was very
ill in 1989 and spent six weeks in Peamount Hospital. This illness set her back
a lot but little by little she improved again. Occasionally Brigid went for
drives and to local events such as the Ballymore Sports and got talking to some
old friends who she had not seen for a long while. When she was well enough to
attend Brigid enjoyed her visits to James and Marie for Christmas and to Billy
and Carmel for the New Year. Brigid attended the 1990 Bi-Centenary celebrations
of St. Peter's Church, Two-Mile-House with Matt and met her brother Larry Keegan
and her nephew and niece, Ted and Anne keegan, there and had a good chat with
Seamie O'Brien of Harristown Station House. In the last five months of her life
Brigid's condition began to deteriorate and she died on the 17th March 1991. Her
remains are buried in St. Mary's Cemetery,
Ballymore-Eustace.