HUNDREDS OF local people lined the streets of Mohill yesterday evening to pay tribute to Leitrim senior county footballer Philip “Philly” McGuinness, who died following a freak accident on the pitch.
Members of the Mohill club, along with neighbouring clubs, formed a guard of honour as the hearse carrying his remains from Beaumont Hospital entered his home town.
Mohill parish priest Fr Bernard Hogan said the presence of so many young members of the club in the guard of honour showed the level of esteem that he had engendered among them.
“He was a very likeable fellow and all the young people have looked up to him as something of an idol, playing at county level as he was,” he said.
Mr McGuinness (26) died after he banged his head off the knee of an opponent while playing for Mohill against Melvin Gaels in a league match last Saturday.
Fr Hogan said the removal, which takes place at 7pm this evening, and the funeral tomorrow morning at 11am would be the biggest the town had seen for years.
Mr McGuinness’s family have donated his organs following his death.
Tribute have continued to flood into his Facebook page. His family has approved a message to well-wishers that described him as a “loving and loyal brother to John and Michael”.
“As people have said, they can’t but be proud that their little brother grew up to be such a fine man. A doting and doted-upon son of his dear mother Phil, one of nature’s true ladies. He had the mischief, sense of fun and devilment of his larger-than-life father, Michael,” the message said.
“All our lives were enriched by this young man’s short life, his family, team-mates, friends, neighbours, work colleagues and the many who may not have known him but saw him on some football field, playing the game in the only way he knew, a thing of beauty, a style and swagger that we envied as much as we admired.”
Fine Gael TD John O’Mahony, who managed Leitrim when they won the Connacht championship in 1994, said Mr McGuinness “personified everything that is good about young people”.
“As a former Leitrim manager I understand the importance of Gaelic games in the county and Philly’s tragic death will come as a hammer blow.”
Independent Leitrim county councillor Enda Stenson said yesterday he was very concerned that it took an ambulance 50 minutes to travel a distance that should have taken just five minutes when the SOS was raised at the football pitch in Annaduff, which is half- way between Carrick-on-Shannon and Longford.
Mr Stenson said: “It’s five minutes maximum from the ambulance station at Carrick-on-Shannon. There’s only one ambulance there so it was probably on a call elsewhere, but it’s not much more than 15 minutes from Longford.
“Why was another ambulance not available from there?”
He added: “I would be very disturbed that it took an ambulance that long. It’s incredible. That is not good enough and I will be raising that with the HSE when the funeral is over.”
Mr Stenson said he didn’t know if the delay made any difference to the outcome for Mr McGuinness.