Sport

Steven McDonnell: My mother's treasured keepsakes of my glory days have brought me comfort

My mum only ever went to a handful of my games in Croke Park. She kept scrapbooks full of newspaper articles and pictures of my career both as a player and a manager. It was her mother’s instinct and love for us that she put them together for us to look back on and enjoy.
My mum only ever went to a handful of my games in Croke Park. She kept scrapbooks full of newspaper articles and pictures of my career both as a player and a manager. It was her mother’s instinct and love for us that she put them together for us to My mum only ever went to a handful of my games in Croke Park. She kept scrapbooks full of newspaper articles and pictures of my career both as a player and a manager. It was her mother’s instinct and love for us that she put them together for us to look back on and enjoy.

THE last couple of months have been the toughest few months I have ever faced. Unfortunately, five years ago, my mother was diagnosed with dementia and just over three weeks ago, she sadly passed away with all of our family at her bedside.

Like most households, the mother is the rock, and even though we knew what was coming, it is extremely difficult coming to terms with her passing. Dementia is a cruel disease to witness and while our mum only just passed away recently, she lost her ability to communicate to us long before that.

Thinking back now to all the times we were sitting in the living room with her and she was only able to smile at us adds to the hurt of it all. We were no doubt that she was wishing to converse with us. All our family live close by so we were all able to assist our mother and make her final weeks on earth as comfortable as possible.

Unless you witness it first-hand, the work that the carers and nurses do, dealing with patients like my mum on a daily basis, is simply astonishing. They made our lives a lot easier and took it all in their stride and they really are true life heroes.

My mum lived a simple life and from my recollection, she only ever went to a handful of my games in Croke Park, as she preferred to watch the games from home. That’s what made her happy and I was always good with that.

Over the last few weeks, we have found some scrapbooks full of newspaper articles and pictures of my career both as a player and a manager. It’s amazing that some clippings would have been included even during the time of her initial diagnosis with dementia and for a year or two into it.

I’m not afraid to admit it but looking through the books was tough. It was her mother’s instinct and love for us that she put them together for us to look back on and enjoy. Mum very rarely wanted to be in photographs so looking back on pictures of her is special indeed and it personally helps me to deal with her loss.

There are difficult days ahead and some days have been easier than others but staying close as a family is something we will make sure happens and over time maybe the pain will ease somewhat.

There seems to have been an air of inevitability about Armagh and Tyrone being drawn together in the All-Ireland Qualifiers 
There seems to have been an air of inevitability about Armagh and Tyrone being drawn together in the All-Ireland Qualifiers  There seems to have been an air of inevitability about Armagh and Tyrone being drawn together in the All-Ireland Qualifiers 

EVER since Armagh and Tyrone were knocked out of the Ulster Championship, you got this sense of inevitability about them meeting in the Qualifiers. These games are always played with a lot of spice as we witnessed in this year’s National League match and round two will be another game that will attract a lot of interest throughout the country.

Tyrone are All-Ireland champions and will rightly be installed as huge favourites before the contest, but Armagh have beaten them already this year and can face them off knowing that if they turn up and perform they have every chance of doing it again.

The players in both camps must be happy with the draw as it has a real Championship appeal to it obviously because it's a knock-out game and there are no more second chances.

The players must thrive in the build-up to such games. There must be a spring in their step and an enthusiasm to get their preparations spot on to peak on the day. I loved facing off against Tyrone. They made you perform at a much higher level that what you even imagined possible and that is the beauty about this game.

Players need to bring their game to levels they have not previously faced, especially the Armagh players, just to be in the draw for the next round of fixtures. That is the challenge that will be set to them and one way or another, we will find out for sure if Armagh are ready and prepared to take the next step on the ladder.