That’s my boy!

By Paul Byrne

THE Meenan household in Greenacres was buzzing with excitement yesterday afternoon as friends, family and neighbours gathered to welcome home Olympic hero James Meenan who won gold with the Irish Soccer team. He was part of the victorious team who came from behind against Morocco in the final to win 2-1 at the Special Olympics in Berlin, Germany. Earlier in the tournament James got Ireland off to a great start by scoring the team’s opening goal in the tournament during a 3-0 victory over Uganda. James, who plays with Newry Special Olympics team was instrumental for the boys in green as they navigated their way to gold in Berlin.

It was a second Olympic gold medal for 27-year old James who was one of the stars of the LA Special Olympics in 2015 where he claimed three medals including a gold in the 100 metres, bronze in the 200 metres and a silver in the 4 x 100 metres relay.

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On Monday afternoon he returned to his home in Greenacres behind a Garda Escort where he was greeted by neighbours, friends and family as well as local politicians, Ruairí O Murchú TD, Cllr Seán Kelly, Cathaoirleach of Dundalk Municipal District, Cllr Kevin Meenan (an uncle of James) and Cllr. Pearse McGeough.

His proud mother

Eileen, Dad Liam and two brothers Kevin and Leo watched on proudly as James showed off his glittering gold medal to everybody in attendance. Speaking yesterday morning (Tuesday)

Eileen was almost overcome as she spoke about her son’s achievements.

“The whole family is bursting with pride and we are so pleased that

James received such a great homecoming. I’ve had people from all over Greenacres come up to me to tell me how proud they are of James and what a great boost it is for the street to see so many people down here to welcome him home. He’s a wee star and he just takes everything in his stride. He was up at 3am on Monday morning to catch his flight and then he had all the excitement of the homecoming on Monday afternoon but he still went to work this morning as usual although he did bring the gold medal with him to show off to his workmates in Vida Living,” laughed Eileen.

“He is such a determined guy. There was a worry with his hamstring going over but the team doctors looked after him very well and it would have taken a brave person to tell him that he couldn’t play. He was so looking forward to representing Ireland on the big stage and for him and his teammates to come home with a gold medal was just the icing on the cake. His two younger brothers are very proud of him and they spent all weekend putting out bunting and red carpet to greet James on his arrival back home. It’s been a fantastic week for our family and for Greenacres and we are all on cloud nine right now,” beamed Eileen.