'There was nobody else for us': Cork couple celebrates 70 years of marriage

Seventy years later, after a lifetime of shared love and memories, they returned with family and friends to the same church on Cork’s northside for a special Mass to celebrate a milestone few couples reach — their platinum wedding anniversary.

“I remember Billy squeezing my hand on the altar as we said our vows that day 70 years ago, and sure that sealed it,” Maureen said.

“We’ve had our disagreements, but we were just for each other. There was nobody else for us. There was nobody else I could live with, except Billy.

There have been peaks and troughs, humps and bumps, but patience and compromise is the secret. And keep the love light burning. 

Billy, 95, and Maureen, 93, who live just off the Mallow Rd in Cork, looked as stylish on Saturday as they did on their wedding day in 1954 as they arrived at the Church of the Annunciation in Blackpool for the celebration Mass.

“They are the heart of our family and a shining example of love and commitment. It’s a milestone that speaks to their unwavering love, dedication, and shared life together,” their youngest daughter, Helen Morley said.

Billy, from Dublin Hill, first set eyes on Maureen Cooney, from Farranree, at a dance at the city’s legendary Arcadia Ballroom on the August bank holiday weekend of 1948, and they arranged their first date that bank holiday Monday at the Blarney Sports.

He fell for the ‘Sunbeam girl’ immediately. And Maureen fell for him too, and they were engaged in 1953.

They married at 9am on December 27, 1954, enjoyed their wedding reception in the Metropole Hotel before heading off in a hire car to Dublin for a week-long honeymoon.

A week later, they moved into their forever home off the Mallow Rd, where they raised four daughters, Helen, Mary, Liz, and Ursula, all of whom were born one year after the other.

When Ursula arrived, they had four children under the age of three. Maureen said: 

They were better than if we won the Eurovision and the Lotto four times over. 

“Billy was strict with them, but they grew up so well. They are like the best jewels, like diamonds in a crown. We couldn’t have asked for more.”

Today, the couple has 10 grandchildren, 28 great-grandchildren, with number 29 due any day.

Billy devoted years to Delaney’s GAA Club in Dublin Hill, and worked with Bord Gáis until his retirement aged 65. 

An accomplished musician, he played pipes, piano, organ, and tin whistle, and was former pipe major of the St Nicholas Pipe Band. He also played keyboards in a band with his brother Johnny, 84, the pair performing regularly in The Bowler’s Rest in Blackpool. 

And he was organist at St Oliver’s Church in Ballyvolane for decades, until the pandemic forced him to retire from that role in his early 90s.

Maureen was heavily involved in local community initiatives and was one of the first members of Blackpool Credit Union, serving as a board member there for over 40 years, retiring in her late 80s. She is currently honorary secretary.

“She may be only 4ft 10, but she’s a force to be reckoned with. She was our mentor, and is just an amazing mother,” Helen said.

The secret to their long-life? Having four daughters helped, Helen quipped. But she credits their love of life, and their wide circle of family, neighbours and friends who call to them regularly.

And the secret to their long marriage? Maureen says their faith in God was the glue that kept the marriage together.

But she said patience and compromise helped. They had separate interests and they always looked at life with ‘a glass half full’ attitude.

“There were peaks and troughs, but faith always kept us going,” she said.

“Sure, we had disagreements, but we always ended the day with a prayer. We might not have said it together, but we stayed together.

When a problem comes, naturally you want to run away from it, but you have to remember that it will pass.

“You shouldn’t run away from something, it can be solved, with faith in God.

“Don’t react in the minute. Remember, that this too will pass, relax into it, and no matter how angry you are, try to hand it over to God.”

Billy, who turns 96 in February, still drives, is still very involved in the lives of his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, and even baked 18 Christmas cakes this year as gifts for people. He was generous with the whiskey, informed sources say.

Music at Saturday’s Mass was provided by their talented nephews, Sean Lehane, musical director at St Mary’s Church on Pope’s Quay, and Johnny McCarthy, the fiddle and flute player and teacher at the Cork School of Music, alongside their granddaughters, Jennifer Jukes and Jane Streimikiene.

The family were piped into the Officers’ Mess at Collins Barracks by their nephew, Billy Murphy, for a family celebration later.

Among the guests were Billy’s siblings, Nell McCarthy, 94, Margie Murphy, 93, Johnny Lehane, 84, Mary Bracken, 81, and Pauline Twomey, 79. Also there was Maureen’s siblings, Bobbie Lambe, 91, and Alice Osborne, 81.

For Billy and Maureen, love isn’t about grand gestures or perfect moments — it’s about family, the quiet strength of togetherness, the resilience to weather life’s storms, and the simple joy of growing old with your best friend.

“They are an inspiration not only to our family but also to the community they’ve impacted so deeply over the years,” Helen said.