Charity match in memory of Pte Seán Rooney

By Aaron Byrne

TheRe will be a charity football match taking place soon called ‘The Seán Rooney Memorial Cup’ commemorating the life of Pte Seán Rooney held in Oriel Park on Saturday 9th December – 3pm. The two teams will consist of the Rooney XI –made up of Seán’s family and friends, and the other team will consist of the Army Representative XI – made up of his friends and colleagues from the army who served Seán within the army from around the country. Seán Rooney was a 24-year-old from Muirhevnamor, Dundalk who served as a soldier in the Irish Defence Force who tragically passed away last year on the 14th December in Lebanon. Pte Rooney, who was part of a joint Irish-Polish peacekeeping group was shot in the village of Al-Aqbiya in an attack as he was heading to Beirut International Airport to drop off two soldiers for a flight back home. He was described by many as a ‘national hero’ for his efforts in serving the military.

It was one of his best friends’ Crístoir Ó’Neill who came up with this idea of a commemoration match as it will be coming up to the one-year anniversary of his death. There will be a post-match function taking place with a fund-raising raffle taking on also, all funds will be kindly donated to Rainbows Ireland Child & Youth Grief and Loss Support CLG. Everybody is welcome to come along and celebrate the life of Seán on the day.

There was a tribute paid for Seán at the recent Dundalk FC v Derry City match in Oriel Park, with a minute silence being observed on the 24th minute, with a similar tribute being shown in Brandywell earlier this season. He was an avid Derry City supporter, so it was a moment of class being shown by his close connections.

If anyone is interested in sponsoring the ‘SR7 Cup’, either a donation or a prize for ‘Rooney’s Raffle’ or you are interested in finding out more details about this event, you can get in contact with them via Facebook or Instagram or email them on seanrooneycup@gmail.com.