A COINCIDENCE or an unexpected family tradition – that’s the question a Skibbereen family is asking themselves after the annual Cork Primary School Sports held at MTU Cork.
We start this story 23 years ago at the ever-popular Cork City sports day. Shane Connolly of Gortnaclohy in Skibbereen raced that day. Wearing the number 14 bib, and much to the delight of his parents, Carmel Daly and the late Niall Connolly, Shane was thrilled to come second in his race and bring home a silver trophy to Skibb. A great memory to have.
Fast-forward 23 years to the present day, and Niall Connolly Jr – son of Shane and Aoife – qualified from his class in Glandore National School to run in the same age group race as his father did all those years ago.
Principal Ríona Murray and class teacher Linda Mosley prepared the children and gathered the appropriate paperwork for the children to run. On the day of the race, Niall’s number was attached to his jersey, and running like the wind, he was delighted to finish second. His reward? A trophy, a trip to the toy shop and a celebratory McDonalds meal before the drive back to Skibb.
On arriving home Nanny Carmel, full of pride after the day, decided to look for the 23-year-old photograph of Shane after his race. After an hour of searching she eventually found the photo. What she stumbled across was very surprising: Niall Connolly Jr and his father Shane had run the same race, in the same place, 23 years apart, wearing the same number and both finished second!
History repeated itself and more great memories were made.
