Megan and Tori kicking for autism

Two young members of Strabane Sigersons are taking on a mighty challenge of scoring one point each at the 51 GAA pitches across Tyrone, all in aid of Autism NI.

Megan Skeffington  and Tori Crawford are both talented young footballers and they previously told their parents that they wanted to use their talents to raise money for charity. They and their parents then decided to take on the mammoth task of trying to score a point at every GAA club pitch in the county – all in one day.

Later this year – on September 2 – the girls will travel all across the Red Hand County scoring a point at 48 football clubs and three hurling clubs from Moortown in the east to Aghyaran in the west.

This task will all be in aid of Autism Northern Ireland, a charity that Tori said helped support her family when her little brother Daire was diagnosed with the condition.

Damien Crawford, Tori’s dad said that he was ‘very proud’ of Tori and Megan.

Damien said, “I had been talking about wanting to do something to raise money for Autism Northern Ireland for a while now. The two girls came to me and said that they would like to get involved and a few others from the club came up with the idea that the two girls could score a point at every GAA club in the county.

“The girls are both super excited and can’t wait till September for the big day to come around. I am very proud of the two girls for wanting to do this and Tori really is the best big sister any sibling could have.”

Damien added, “Since Daire was diagnosed with autism, Autism Northern Ireland has been a great help to the family in supporting us. They are always there to help when we need them and have been a great source of advice.

“As a family, we know how much there is to learn about autism and how important it is to feel supported. That’s why we want to raise awareness — we want everyone affected by autism to feel supported by their club and county.”

Speaking ahead of a training session at the Strabane Sigersons Tori and Megan said that they were both really excited to complete their challenge in September whilst raising money for a great cause.

The two girls said, “We can’t wait till September, it will be really good fun but it will be a long day. We really wanted to join in and help raise money for charity, and when the adults said they were going to do something we both said we wanted to take part.

“We found out that we would need to score 102 points between us and we will be going to a lot of grounds across Tyrone.”

The two girls will finish off their challenge at the Garvaghy’s Tyrone GAA Training Centre where they recently visited and met the Tyrone Ladies GAA team.

A Go Fund Me page has been set up to raise money in the lead-up to September 2. Visit the ‘Kicking for Autism’ Facebook page for more information on the event.