That's what friends are for - Joanne O'Riordan meeting some of the people who took part in and organised a Mock Wedding 16 years ago in Mullagh to raise funds for the Joanne O'Riordan fund. In the back row from left to right are: Michael Farrelly, John Gilsenan, Michael Murray, Teresa Cahill, Gerard

Cavan generosity recalled by brave Joanne O’Riordan

Around this time 16 years ago the generous people of Mullagh and well beyond handed over a cheque for £27,000 to the parents of the remarkable Joanne O’Riordan, which had been raised by a mock wedding attended by well over 500 people.
Fast forward 16 years, and the man who was the groom in the mock wedding, Jimmy Murray, who was a publican in Mullagh at the time, is now at the helm in the Riverfront Hotel with his wife, Antoinette.
The amazing character that is Joanne has come a long way in the interim and of course one of her real highlights was addressing the United Nations. Joanne was coming to Cavan over the weekend to address young people as part of the activities organised during the International Rules.
So it was fitting that Joanne, accompanied by her parents Joe and Ann dropped into the Riverfront Hotel in Virginia on Friday night to renew some old acquaintances and recall the generosity of the people on that occasion.
Joanne takes everything in her stride as her great personality shines through and recounted that it was an “just amazing” experience to speak at the United Nations. “There were 200 leading women in technology – it is not every day that you get to talk to these people – they were amazed at my calmness and coolness. They found it really funny, that as a sixteen year old, I was just standing there looking at them, as if they were regular people.”
The UN were taken aback by all the feedback and they are planning events for her to attend in the near future.

Future
Joanne is doing her Leaving Certificate next year and would like to go on and do Journalism or Psychology. She was speaking on positivity in her life in Cavan on Saturday and was part of a panel with Oisin McConville, Micheal O’Muirceartaigh, Kevin McStay and Dermot McCabe.
Jimmy Murray explained that they had a pub leased in Mullagh back in 1979 and they happened to be watching The Late Late Show and “we saw Pat Kenny showing a picture of Joanne on the Television. We decided that we would make a phone call the following day to Cork, to see if we could help out or fundraise for Joanne. She touched a lot of people around Mullagh and it just snowballed from that night, until the mock wedding took place”. The tickets for the meal at the wedding was £15.
He recalled that Joe and Ann O’Riordan brought Joanne up to Mullagh in October, 1997 to receive the cheque. “There was such a large crowd, we put a marquee at the back!”
“It is great to see Joanne back in Virginia and we are looking forward to her speaking in Cavan,” said Jimmy.
When I asked Joanne if she had heard about this mock wedding in Cavan, she replied: “I was always told about the mock wedding – I remember a few years ago, we wanted to do one in school for a TY project – I was always laughing – I said, sure bring the people of Cavan down to do the mock wedding – they were all looking at me – what are you on about?”
Ann O’Riordan fondly recalled going to Mullagh with her husband Joe and Joanne and another daughter Jillian to receive the cheque.
Joe said: “It just showed how generous people are – Cavan is a long way from Mill Street – to think that somebody up here would have interest in somebody down there – it just showed the good will that was up here.”
Zenita Smith was the bride in the mock wedding back in April 1997 and she fondly recalled that it was a great fun day.
Around 560 people sat for the meal in the Headford Hotel in Kells and there was a horse and cart to ferry the bride and groom from Cross Hall. Around 300 people flocked in for the evening part of the wedding.
There was also mock stag and hen parties and a head shave and the entire effort raised £27,000.
Gerry Cahill said he played the role of a monk at the wedding and that the ceremony took place in Cross Hall.
Ann said that Joanne was only 18 months old when they took her to Mullagh but they’ve all come a long way since.