FRIENDS OF KEVY
Donation protected
20 years ago Errigal Ciaran annexed the minor title, as a club team we had played together from U12 and being lucky enough to win titles at each grade and represent Tyrone in Feile. We were a very close group but earlier that season we had lost our team mate, Kevin McCartan, in a tragic car accident. Kevy was a younger member of the team being 16, but he was a key player and looked to have a big future ahead of him. He was a hugely popular team mate and had that perfect balance as a player between skill and ability on one side and a fairly ruthless, competitive and fearless streak on the other. As a team, captain Enda McGinley led our minor team into the wake house and presented Kevin’s jersey to his father, Stephen. At Kevin’s coffin, Stephen told us how much he loved being part of that team and how much Kevin had hoped we would claim the clubs first minor title.
Recently the much aged remnants of that minor team have linked up with the Spirit of Paul McGirr foundation to initiate a project in the Chainda district on the outskirts of Lusaka, Zambia this summer in memory and honour of Kevin. Paul McGirr is a name of course synonymous with Tyrone football and his tragic passing was a seminal moment in the consequent glory years Tyrone GAA experienced. Paul, himself, played his early football with Errigal Ciaran while his brother Mickey was a leading light on Errigal’s breakthrough team in the nineties. Mickey and the McGirr family, established the Spirit of Paul McGirr foundation in 2007 on the 10th anniversary of his tragic death playing for Tyrone minors. The foundations work is linked with the work of the SMA missionary priests and reflects the summers Paul, like Kevin, myself and many others, spent in the SMA summer camp in Dromantine. Past projects include helping the establishment of a large community centre and building a school for special needs and pre-school orphans of the local district where more than one in five children are orphaned and live in abstract poverty. Last year the foundation achieved a major step of building a primary school which has opened in January this year taking 40 children and in time will take in up to 160. The foundation is now taking on the massive challenge of building a 1,000 pupil secondary school. The school will be non-denominational and called “The Tyrone School Zambia” and the hope is that, whilst the Errigal minor team has the job of cutting the ground and getting the building started that other clubs from the county will come on board to fundraise and build the various stages. It is inspirational stuff and to that end several members of that Errigal Ciaran minor team and management are signed up to go out to Africa in July. They will help commence the build of the secondary school where, once complete and with the blessing of Kevin’s parents, Maura and Stephen, there will be a Kevin McCartan wing. The effort has now turned to the necessary fundraising to support their efforts. Our ageless management team of Conor Quinn and Frankie Donnelly have revisited their past in trying to cajole a group of variably talented now 30-somethings, to perform a bit better. The hairlines and body shapes may have changed a bit but the bad manners remains the same! Can you help...
Recently the much aged remnants of that minor team have linked up with the Spirit of Paul McGirr foundation to initiate a project in the Chainda district on the outskirts of Lusaka, Zambia this summer in memory and honour of Kevin. Paul McGirr is a name of course synonymous with Tyrone football and his tragic passing was a seminal moment in the consequent glory years Tyrone GAA experienced. Paul, himself, played his early football with Errigal Ciaran while his brother Mickey was a leading light on Errigal’s breakthrough team in the nineties. Mickey and the McGirr family, established the Spirit of Paul McGirr foundation in 2007 on the 10th anniversary of his tragic death playing for Tyrone minors. The foundations work is linked with the work of the SMA missionary priests and reflects the summers Paul, like Kevin, myself and many others, spent in the SMA summer camp in Dromantine. Past projects include helping the establishment of a large community centre and building a school for special needs and pre-school orphans of the local district where more than one in five children are orphaned and live in abstract poverty. Last year the foundation achieved a major step of building a primary school which has opened in January this year taking 40 children and in time will take in up to 160. The foundation is now taking on the massive challenge of building a 1,000 pupil secondary school. The school will be non-denominational and called “The Tyrone School Zambia” and the hope is that, whilst the Errigal minor team has the job of cutting the ground and getting the building started that other clubs from the county will come on board to fundraise and build the various stages. It is inspirational stuff and to that end several members of that Errigal Ciaran minor team and management are signed up to go out to Africa in July. They will help commence the build of the secondary school where, once complete and with the blessing of Kevin’s parents, Maura and Stephen, there will be a Kevin McCartan wing. The effort has now turned to the necessary fundraising to support their efforts. Our ageless management team of Conor Quinn and Frankie Donnelly have revisited their past in trying to cajole a group of variably talented now 30-somethings, to perform a bit better. The hairlines and body shapes may have changed a bit but the bad manners remains the same! Can you help...
Fundraising team: FRIENDS OF KEVY (2)
Friends Of Kevy
Organizer
Fionnuala Colton
Beneficiary
CONOR QUINN
Team member
