THE sky dropped tears for Nora Grealish as her funeral took place in the Sacred Heart Church on Kilburn's Quex Road.
Strained under the sympathy and sorrow, the London Irish community were united in their farewell.
More than two years ago the same community waved an emotional goodbye to Nora’s son Tony, the London-born sportsman who was capped 45 times for the Republic of Ireland.
He remains an icon to the Irish in Britain as well as their sons and daughters who grew up London green.
The day Tony captained Brighton in the 1983 FA final against Manchester United, the GAA and soccer communities here stood shoulder to shoulder in Wembley Stadium.
Tony Grealish was capped 45 times for the Republic of Ireland. Picture: Getty Images
Typically, Nora was there.
Just this summer, speaking from her London pub, she rated it as one of her stand-out memories.
She followed fast around Europe after Tony’s Ireland career. Her presence in the stands a constant that started with his career at Leyton Orient.
Nora Grealish and her husband Packie set up home in Shirland Road in Paddington and it was here that they reared a family famous for Gaelic games and soccer.
Across the road a garage forecourt quickly turned into a pick-up point for Irish people travelling to and from club GAA games.
It was a social hub that evolved into the Flora pub on the Harrow Road, which remains a well-known watering hole on London’s Irish landscape.
Nora was one of the founder members of St Gabriel's Hurling Club along with her husband. She served as a treasurer for the club for a time the late 1960s.
And with Packie being from Galway she soon became involved in the Moindearg GAA club, which is inextricably linked with Connemara. It was a relationship that endured.
Her son’s Tony and Brian would play GAA in Wembley and she had joked that their introduction to the game was made during lunch breaks working summers with their father on building sites.
She had also spoken with great pride about her family - Packie, Brian, Tony, Christine and Ann, and of the sporting successes that waved high over London under the banner of the Grealish name.
On Monday, September 21, tracksuits tops from Moindearg featured among the congregation at the removal service. The line of people that stood waiting to pay their respects stretched and stretched.
It was a tribute to not only her popularity but her family’s place in this vast city, distilled into close community for one more day.
“An amazing story for a woman who was born in England and an amazing family,” said Ambrose Gordon who started London life at St Gabriel's at the same time.
“She travelled all over Europe supporting Ireland and took great pride in her family. She was a constant in the Flora and on the London Irish scene for years.”
Nora Grealish was laid to rest in Kensal Green Cemetery alongside her husband Packie.
She was 79 when she died.
