ANDREW BYRNE PHOTOGRAPHY

It’s been a while since I’ve put up some personal work and I can’t really think of a better way to get back on the horse than to do my little bit to help Shane and his family in raising awareness about Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy and SADS.

Monday night 5-a-side has been a staple fixture in my weekly schedule for many years now… even if it was Wednesday night 5-a-side for while. The same core group of lads turn up week in week out, in rain, snow or sun. Some have left us (transferred to 5-a-side teams across the pond or down in Australia) and more have joined but the group always stuck together. Shane O’Flynn is one of those that was with us from the early days. His brother Kevin joined us a few years ago and pretty much blew the rest of us away with his skill on the pitch. Sadly, Kevin had a sudden cardiac arrest on a soccer pitch last year and passed away.

To think that someone so fit and healthy and active can just go so easily is a scary thought and credit to Shane and his family for, as they say, turning a tragedy into something positive. The idea was brought about to not just raise awareness about heart conditions but to raise money to buy defibrillators for sports centers in the hope that even just one life might be saved one day. The culmination of their hard work came about yesterday as they held a 5-a-side tournament in Supernova, Ballincollig bringing together friends of Kevin’s who played with him down the years to raise some funds.

Of course I offered to take a few snaps for Shane, in between my defensive duties with “A Team Has No Name”… who just happened to bring the trophy home after a tense 3-2 final. It was a fantastic event for which Shane and his family should be proud and A Team Has No Name is looking forward to retaining the title next year :)

Head over to http://www.kevinoflynn.org/ or follow them on Facebook

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