Former Dunloy and Antrim Camogie star Eilish Cunning, who passed away earlier this week, will be laid to rest tomorrow (Sunday) after Requiem mass in St Patrick’s & St Joseph’s Church, Dunloy at 10-30am.

Steeped in the GAA Eilish (McCamphill) grew up in Dunloy in a family full of Gaels and is was no surprise that she ended up marrying another great Gael from the parish, Barney Cunning.

Eilish played Camogie for Dunloy and after winning a senior championship medal with them in 1955 she was selected for the Antrim county team in 1956. The Saffrons won Ulster, beating Down in the final, and made their way to the All Ireland final where they beat Cork by 5-3 to 4-2 at Croke Park, to collect the county’s first title since the 3-in-a-row of 45, 46 and 47. She was also on the team the following year when the Saffrons were narrowly beaten by Dublin by 3-3 to 3-1 in the decider. This was also a golden period for Dunloy Camogie who also won county titles in 1957, 58 and 61.

Eilish and Barney were married in April 1961 and not surprisingly Camogie took a back seat for some time as they had seven children Brian Óg, Jarlath, Angela, Deirdre, Paula, Aideen, Maureen and baby Neil, who sadly died in infancy.

Eilish got back into the game as the girls grew up and she took on a coaching role where she guided teams to underage and Junior titles, which helped kick-start a Camogie revival in the club.  

The medals started coming back into the house again and after Brian Og and Jarlath began collecting Antrim and Ulster Senior Hurling medals with Cuchullains in the 1990s, and Deirdre chipped in to win two Senior Camogie crowns with Dunloy and four with Rossa after moving to Belfast when she got married, and also followed in her mums footsteps by winning and All Ireland medal, when she was on the Antrim team that won the Junior All Ireland in 1997.

The winning ways moved on a generation in 2017 when Eilish’s grandson Conal was part of the Dunloy team who ended a barren spell for the club by winning the SHC and has since added four more Celtic crosses to his collection.

Overall Eilish Cunning’s contribution to the game of Camogie. and to the Cuchullains club, has been immeasurable. She will be missed by us all, but most of all by her family and close friends, of whom there were many. To them we offer our sincere condolences at this sad time.

A beautiful photo of Eilish with her grandson Conal taken by her daughter Angela during lockdown