By Dearbhla Parry
A FUNDRAISER soccer tournament hosted in honour of the late Dylan White raised more than €2,500 at the weekend.
Organised by Ennis Dons FC, the event raised €2,500 for Brain Tumour Ireland in Dylan’s memory. Dylan’s brother, Evan White was on the winning team who emerged victorious against 15 other teams in the 7-a-side tournament on Saturday in St Flannan’s.
Dylan passed away aged 22 in April following a brain tumour diagnosis. He was a beloved member of the Ennis community who played with Ennis Town FC and Éire Óg GAA. The former St Flannan’s and Ennis National School student had a close relationship with Ennis Dons and continued to attend matches following his diagnosis, supporting his friends from the sidelines.
Caoilfhinn McNelis of Ennis Dons FC explained, “There were four games going at all times”, with 150 players playing for just under 15 minutes per game while 120 people watched on the sidelines. With warm weather and high spirits, the day was a huge success. Food, drinks, an ice-cream van, and a barbecue were on offer, all before the crowd gathered for a rendezvous in Lucas’ pub to celebrate. He admitted, “It was quite unexpected because everyone would have been out for six or seven hours on the pitch.”
€1,600 was raised from team registrations with an additional €900 from online donations. Everything will be donated to Brain Tumour Ireland to help with their research on brain tumours and cancers, palliative and hospice care, and counselling and grief support for families and friends of people with brain tumours.
“It was poetic that his brother managed to win the very first trophy the very first time that we did it,” noted Caoilfhinn.
Dylan and Evan’s parents, Catriona and Peter, attended the tournament and were able to watch Evan score the winning goal. McNelis said, “Everyone ran onto the field and stormed the field for a finish, and it just finished brilliantly.”
“They were a team full of friends who didn’t really expect to get that far. They beat probably the best footballing team on the day.”
Two teams were made up entirely of Dylan’s best friends. “So, it was brilliant for the friends and it was brilliant for the family to see everyone celebrating Dylan’s life”, said McNelis.
He said, “I think if we were to do it again next year, we’d probably gain a little bit higher… We can try and aim to go and make it better again.”
Following Dylan’s passing, Ennis Dons held a minute’s silence in their match vs Shannon Town, held in St. Flannan’s, and Dylan’s girlfriend, Ellen, has raised over €10,000 by running the London 10k in his memory.
