Instead of heading onto the dual carriageway for Limerick itself, you kept going straight for Patrickswell and, at the crossroads, the painted signs appeared, FUNERAL, and the arrow giving you directions.

Before you hit the main street, there were the men in high-vis jackets directing traffic, opening temporary car parks, advising you on which way to point your car if you were heading straight back to Cork.

Some, but not all, had the blue and gold of Patrickswell GAA Club visible beneath the reflective material. No surprise there. They had come to help say goodbye to one of their greatest players, Leonard Enright.

Many of the people funnelling down towards the low-slung, modern church were of an age to remember when Enright’s powerful presence in a green and white jersey barred the door to forwards seeking glory against the Treaty County in the early Eighties.

When Limerick assembled a team strong enough to contest All-Ireland finals, Enright was a foundation at the back, but it wouldn’t do to confuse him with the old-style number threes, reliant on brawn alone.

(One of his direct opponents described him years after they finished as a fantastic full-back. “I couldn’t ever get the better of him for speed,” said Cork’s Jimmy Barry-Murphy. “I hated being marked by him because he was so fast.”)

Another Limerick icon was hovering in the church car park yesterday.

His club top was zipped up and he was awaiting assignment as a steward.

“Without a doubt he was a sporting hero of mine,” said Ciarán Carey. “No matter what sport Leonard took on — hurling, soccer, rugby, even the javelin in his younger days — he was able to master every one of them.

What sticks out for me was that he was a walking, talking example of humility. Absolutely. I loved that about him. His All-Star awards... you’d hardly know he had won them. He was the type of person who’d nearly be apologetic after hurling well in a match.

“His influence in the dressing room with us was always top class. He’d sit down and be nice and calm, and in turn that would calm us.

“Okay, if he went back out to the shower area he might have been hopping off the walls to get himself right, but he was a great presence. An utter gentleman.”

When Enright finished playing, he served four consecutive terms as a Limerick county councillor.

“That’ll tell you something about his involvement in the community and the respect people had for him,” Carey added. “He was elected four times in a row. I canvassed with him on a lot of those journeys, and how he conducted himself at people’s front doors when looking for a vote was an education in itself.

I remember one evening we called to a lady who wasn’t a bit happy with him, with Fianna Fáil, with Bertie Ahern, all of that. She must have spent almost 10 minutes lambasting him up and down.

“As soon as she finished, Leonard spotted a broken microwave just inside the door and said to her: ‘By the way, if you bring that to such-and-such a place in Mungret before twelve o’clock Saturday, they’ll take it off you for free.’ That was him down to a tee.

“Where we are here in the car park, if you went about a quarter-of-a-mile down that road you’d come to the house, where he lived with his wife Birdie, daughter Mary, and sons, Thomas, David, and Alan.”

Then Carey was off, gone to direct the cars pulling into the churchyard.

Just inside the church door, there was a table with a sliotar and a photograph of Enright with his family. Many stopped to take it in as they entered. The church was full by the time the hymns began, and the sun was breaking through the low clouds outside.

Afterwards, the spin home went past many a green and white flag on the main road, testament to Limerick’s All-Ireland win a couple of months ago. The ’Well provided a decent proportion of that side, including the recently-crowned hurler of the year, Cian Lynch.

It was striking to connect the teams Enright had played for, and their pristine green and white tops, with the new jerseys that were unveiled only last week. The 2019 jerseys are almost as plain as the early-Eighties version, unencumbered by a sponsor’s message across the chest.

The unspoiled green suggested, perhaps, a tribute to the man laid to rest yesterday in his home place.

It would have been appropriate. Some years ago, Enright, who started off as a sub-keeper with Limerick in the early Seventies and preferred playing midfield with his own club, was asked how he ended up playing full-back. Former Limerick manager Noel Drumgoole was responsible, he said.

“He asked me one night if I would play full-back,” Enright said.

“I said I would, that to have a Limerick jersey on my back I was prepared to play anywhere.”

That was the man Limerick paid tribute to yesterday.