TYRONE GAA will unite at the Kildress Wolfe Tones grounds this weekend to celebrate the life of the host club’s revered star forward, underage coach, committee member and ‘shining light’ Matty McGuigan.
‘A Festival for Matty’ will take place on Saturday and Sunday with highlights including a seven-a-side minor tournament involving 18 teams (Saturday, from 12pm) and a game between the Kildress senior team and a Tyrone Allstars team that will include his uncles Brian and Tommy McGuigan, Red Hand legends such as Peter Canavan, Stevie O’Neill, Owen Mulligan, Joe McMahon and Ronan McNamee as well as Niall Morgan and other members of the current Red Hand squad (Sunday, 3pm).
With his devoted girlfriend Clodagh by his side, former Kildress skipper Matty tragically passed away a few days after arriving in Sydney, Australia in December aged just 24.
The loss of a remarkable young man who epitomised the spirit of the club was a hammerblow to the McGuigan and Tracey families and to the wider community in Kildress and throughout Tyrone.
“Matty brought so much to our club,” said Kildress vice-chaiperson Caroline Mullin-Beggs.
“He was our minor manager, a committee member and he chaired our last AGM in November just before he went out to Australia. He contributed a serious amount to our club and he was very, very involved.
“He had a real impact on a lot of our members and his death had a real impact on our club. For us this is way to celebrate his life, celebrate the joy that he brought to Kildress and everything that we’ve incorporated into this weekend is a representation of what he loved.”
Football takes priority of course while Matty’s love of music is represented by performances from the likes of Brian McGarrity, Peter Loughran, Cara Monaghan, Conan Gormley, Cahir McKeown, Tiny Green Island and Brendan Mulgrew.
“We want to send out a very strong message that life must go on,” added Caroline.
“We must remember the good times and we want to allow our members to enjoy themselves again.
“Also, we want to allow people to aspire to be like Matty, to make the same contribution to the club or whatever contribution they can make to the club in any shape or form.
“I remember the last conversation I had with him before he headed to Australia with Clodagh to start a new life. I said: ‘Enjoy yourself Matty, but I hope you don’t enjoy yourself too much that you’ll not come back!’
“He laughed and said: ‘Put it like this Caroline, I’ll be back for pre-season. Give me to March!’ I said: ‘I’ll take that Matty’.
“Unfortunately it didn’t work out like that. Matty was full of life and he loved to enjoy life but even before he left, right up until he left he was involved with the club. Many another lad who had made the decision to go to Australia would have walked away and left it at that when the decision was made.
“But even the Friday night before he left we had a meeting to select a new management for the seniors for this year and he was there. He always wanted to be part of the process and part of the club.”
