Clonduff GAA Club welcomed former Cork Football and Hurling dual star Seán Óg Ó hAlpín as the Guest of Honour to the annual Sean Cairns Hurling Coaching Day on Saturday 29th July 2023.
Seán Óg is a highly decorated player of both Football and Hurling, having won 3 All Irelands in Hurling, captaining his beloved Cork in 2005, 3 All Stars, played in 1999 All Ireland Finals in both Hurling and Football within 2 weeks of other; he won 1 Minster and 1 NFL in Football.
He arrived in Hilltown on Friday night, took a session in Castlewellan on Saturday morning before returning to Clonduff shortly after 11am where he remained until after 7pm with a short break for lunch in Rostrevor where he participated in a static cycle fundraiser for charity.
In Clonduff Seán Óg took sessions with U7s and U9s, as well as the tiny tots in the morning and finished those sessions where he became the goalkeeper and invited the youngsters to score goals against him, promising to do 5 press-ups for every goal that passed him. The kids thoroughly enjoyed this and particularly watching him do 50 press-up without stopping.
Noleen, Goretta and Shane Cairns presented the framed jersey to Seán Óg
There were 3 sessions after lunch – U11/13, U15/17 and the Senior team. There then followed a presentation of a framed Hurling Jersey, presented to him by three generations of the Cairns family – Goretta (Sean’s wife) daughter Noleen and grandson Shane. Throughout the day Seán Óg had great time for autographs and photos and was certainly in no hurry to get away despite the fact he was heading back to his native club Na Piarsaigh to take a training session with his senior team.
Seán Óg was very impressed, not only with Clonduff Club, but with the Mourne Mountains which he would like to explore, and with his accommodation and hospitality in Mullaghmore Farm.
