Club chairman praises help of hurling rivals

THE Chairman of Dungannon Hurling Club has this week expressed their gratitude to the hundreds of volunteers who helped them out at the wake and funeral which took place for the late Damian Casey at the weekend.

More than 200 volunteers from the club were involved in the significant operation, which saw several thousand mourners ferried from their clubrooms on the Donaghmore Road to the Casey family home.

Tony Donnelly said that they were especially thankful to their great hurling rivals, Carrickmore Eire Ogs, for their support. Among numerous gestures, they carried out the stewarding at the funeral on Sunday to allow the Eoghan Ruadh players and members to participate fully in the funeral.

“We are very proud of the four clubs here in Dungannon and the GAA community in general who helped us out,” Mr Donnelly said.

“While I don’t want to single out specific clubs, it is important that special mention is given to the Carrickmore club who were outstanding in what they did for us. Their coffee morning, being organised to raise money for the All-Ireland Feile was cancelled, and all the food from that was brought down to us here.

“They then went on and won the Feile which was justice for them and great to see. Their success was certainly well deserved and they also stewarded for us at the funeral to allow us and the Dungannon people in general to attend the funeral and grieve.”

Mr Donnelly said the sight of teams coming en-masse to the wake was a great comfort to both the family and all those who knew Mr Casey. One of the teams was the Tyrone Ladies who attended the wake prior to their All-Ireland Intermediate clash against Wexford.

“It was really nice to see people coming from so many different places,” he added.

“The fact that we used our clubrooms as a base was important, and we hope that this helped the Casey family and those who attended the wake. I know from being there that many people spent time talking and reminiscing about Damian at our clubrooms and we in the club were particularly glad to see that.

“The fact that our clubrooms were available was good not only for those travelling to Dungannon but also for our own members.

“There were certainly many tears shed, and while the weekend was a very painful time, there was also a lot of positive love generated.”