Gary Agnew’s partner Mo, the Agnew family and Lámh Dhearg together organised a very popular, successful and enjoyable tribute night in memory of the late Gary “Garso” Agnew.
Gary passed away suddenly in May 2020, a former hurler for the club and captained the minor team to historic success in 1992.
The night began with a challenge with the Half-Pace hurlers against Gary’s former colleagues- made up mainly from the 1992 minor winning side and the Intermediate winning side of 2011.
Although the game may have lacked the pace of the participants former days, there was still some fantastic skill and stick-work demonstrated throughout.
The match was highly entertaining and very evenly balanced and ended up deservedly a draw.
The highlight of the game was in the closing minutes when the Lámhs got a 21-yard free and they brought on a substitute – 11-year-old Oran Agnew- nephew of Gary, wearing Gary’s famous trademark black helmet with the red stripes down the middle and Gary’s jersey- which he wore and represented for the club in the 95 tour of the States and Canada.
Oran showed that there is still a touch of class in the hurling genes of the Agnew family as he stroked the ball over the bar.
After the game- the Half-Pacers and the hurlers slowly but turgidly left the park and went in the club to join a packed clubroom to pay honour to Gary.
During the night PRO Paul Buchannan paid a glowing tribute to Gary, acknowledged Gary’s father James- who sadly passed away last year- and thanked everybody who contributed to making it such a successful night.
Gary’s mother Kate also spoke and was very appreciative and thankful for everybody who supported the night, but more importantly – the support given to the family since Gary’s sudden death.
At the end of the evening, club chairman Peter Kane presented bouquets of flowers to Gary’s partner Mo, sister Cathy and mother Kate.
The night raised a grand total of £4270 – which will be donated to the Suicide Awareness Support Group- Falls Road.
Mo, the Agnew family and Lámh Dhearg would like to thank everybody for their generous support.
Myself, Connor, Ciara Agnew Cathy, Ram Ganley and Gary’s fiancee Maureen Mckay would like to thank the club and everyone involved in the planning of the fundraising event in memory of Gary. A special thanks to Buke for the beautiful tribute speech for Gary and mention of Jim, it was lovely! As you can imagine it was a very emotional night for us all but we had a great time and got so much comfort from this. Thanks to the half pace hurlers and Gary’s former team mates ( although I think their rigs may have shrunk in the wash lol) it was a great match. Thanks to everyone for coming and the generous donations including the ballots. We hope you all had a good night, we just wish his father Jim had of been there to see it but we know they were both there in spirit. Thanks again, such a fantastic club!
