On the first anniversary of his death, KIERAN McCARTHY spent a morning with Oisín Gillain’s parents, Catherine and Christophe, to learn more about the Kilbrittain teenager who packed more life into 18 and a half years than most

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RESTING on the windowsill inside the porch of Oisín Gillain’s home are 12 hurleys that haven’t been used since the day he died. 

Beside them sits a small, bright purple container packed with well-worn sliotars.

Nestled beneath the wooden sill are two O’Neills footballs, lying idle.

On a shelf in the sitting room, Oisín’s Adidas Predator football boots carry a light coating of dried earth – not cleaned since he last wore them. Just behind sit framed photos from the day ten-year-old Oisín, decked out in Kilbrittain’s black and amber, played in Croke Park.

Oisín loved GAA. The crisp crack of a sliotar banging off the side of his home in Barleyfield, Kilbrittain was a familiar soundtrack.

‘He could have been out there until midnight,’ his mom Catherine recalls.

‘Next door to us is Damien Desmond, he’s a selector with Kilbrittain hurlers. I’d be apologising to his wife Danielle, but she’d say that Damien loved hearing that noise.’

It’s quiet now – the silence a reminder of a life cut too short.

Oisín Gillain was always smiling.

Eleven days before Oisín died from Sudden Adult Death Syndrome (SADS) on March 18th, his driving licence landed in the post. He was just 18 and a half, ready to explore the world in ‘The Fiat’, the car he shared with his two older sisters, Sinéad (25) and Fionnuala (22).

‘After he passed his test we wouldn't let him drive until the licence actually came,’ Catherine says.

‘When it came that Friday, he couldn’t wait to get going.

‘We watched him drive out to the gate – he was supposed to turn right, but went left instead. We had told him he had to drive on his own, but you know how boys that age are. I’m sure there was one of his friends already lying across the back seat of the car!’

One of the first trips Oisín took in the car was to Bandon Garden Centre to buy his mom a present for her birthday on March 14th – just four days before he died. Oisín bought her three shrubs.

‘I always say I don't want things, I just want memories. He told me I’d have these moments every year when the shrubs flowered.’

Oisín left his heartbroken family with a lifetime of memories, reminders of their kind rogue.

***

Sellotaped to a press door in the kitchen of Catherine and Christophe’s home are three photos, one beneath the other.

The top photo is Oisín Noël Gillain’s anniversary card. The bottom picture shows Christophe, Catherine, Oisín, Sinéad and Fionnuala at the 2024 West Cork Sports Star Awards on January 19th, 2025 – the last family photo of the Gillains together. Oisín had driven his gang to the Celtic Ross Hotel in Rosscarbery for the awards, as his cousin and close friend Óran Brady picked up the Paudie Palmer Youth Sports Star Award. Both families were last off the dance floor. More memories banked.

The last Gillain family photo with Oisín, taken at the 2024 West Cork Sports Star Awards in January 2025.

In between is a photo of Oisín on his Communion Day, beaming in a three-piece suit with a bold red shirt and matching tie he couldn’t wait to get out of. That was one of those very rare days when he pouted, Catherine says.

‘He just wanted to take the suit off and play a game of football out the front.’

The only other ‘pouting’ photo of Oisín hangs off the mantlepiece in the sitting room – he didn’t want his photo taken sitting on a rock at Torc Waterfall in Killarney.

In every other photo, Oisín is smiling. That’s how his family and friends remember him.

‘Always just a big smile,’ Christophe says.

‘Always messing, too. He was a rogue. We put “kind rogue” on his headstone because that’s what he was to so many people,’ Catherine adds.

Many of those people gathered together on Wednesday (March 18th) to mark Oisín’s first anniversary by walking Torc Mountain. Killarney holds a lot of happy memories. One was an overnight trip to watch The Tumbling Paddies play in the Gleneagle INEC Arena on December 22nd, 2024. It’s what Oisín wanted for his 18th birthday: have a good time with his friends. Catherine dropped Oisín, Cillian Harrington, John Ryan and CJ O'Brien in Killarney, and picked them up the morning after. On the drive home, Oisín announced that his mom was now the designated driver for an impromptu pub crawl.

Oisín Gillain on his first Holy Communion.

Killarney was always a happy place for Oisín, from childhood trips to his Leaving Cert geography project.

He never got to sit his exams at Hamilton High School, Bandon, in the summer of 2025, but he had already submitted his geography project. Oisín got a H1. His teacher, Aidan O’Donoghue, created a book from the project that now rests on a shelf in the sitting room. On the cover, Oisín, wearing wellies, is standing in the water at Torc Waterfall.

He’s smiling.

His plan was to study Commerce at University College Cork. The points were high, but Oisín was determined when he put his mind to something.

Like the summer he painted the family home.

***

Oisín had two jobs, as well as juggling sports, school and life. There’s a reason his sisters say Oisín packed more into his 18 and a half years than most.

He worked with West Cork Secret Adventure Centre, tucked away between Kilbrittain and Timoleague, and also delivered to farms with Kevin Quinn. His life touched every generation.

The summer of 2024, having turned 18 a few months earlier, he negotiated with Finbarr O’Mahony, his boss at West Cork Secret, for a few days off. Oisín wanted to paint the family home, for a competitive price.

Standing six foot five, he was a teenage goliath, broad shoulders, built for hard work. But he also knew how to strike a deal. He hired a cherry picker, and along with one of his best friends, Killian O’Beirne, got to work, bringing the house to life with the colour Summer Breeze, a shade of yellow. 

His papa Christophe is a perfectionist. Oisín saw the opportunity to have some fun. On the roof, he wrote ‘2024 Oisín’ in Summer Breeze, alongside his handprint and a quick sketch of himself. Oisín left his calling card, and sent a photo to his sisters saying “He’ll never know.” 

Christophe did find out, and just laughed. His kind rogue.

***

You can’t miss the Gillains’ house, brought to life by Oisín’s paint job in 2024. A familiar black and amber flag flutters near the gate, telling you you’re in Kilbrittain country. In the upstairs bedroom window, three slates sit beside one another on the window sill, yellow paint spelling out a word on each. Allez. Les. Ambers. This is Oisín’s room, his watchtower. France and Kilbrittain flags fly here too, the French flag a nod to his roots. His papa, Christophe, is French. Oisín and his sisters were born in Saint-Germain-En-Laye, where Christophe grew up, in the western suburbs of Paris. That was home until they moved to Kilbrittain when Oisín was one year old.

On the Monday morning I meet Catherine and Christophe, their dogs, Bella and Choupette, announce my arrival. Oisín loved his ‘doogies’; they even starred in his TikToks. When he was eight he told his parents he didn’t need a childminder, he had Bella and Choupette. They took on a protective role. And still do.

Inside, a robotic vacuum cleaner hums quietly across the floor. This was Oisín’s idea, and he named it Dusty. He had a deal with his mom – he’d hoover and mop the floor if she made his lunch for school.

Oisín marched Catherine into Harvey Norman to buy Dusty.

‘He said, “Mom, come on, I won't be around,” but what he meant was his Leaving Cert was coming,’ Catherine says.

The floor is spotless on the morning I visit.

Oisín at home with Bella and Choupette.

Catherine and I sit at the glass-topped kitchen table. Christophe, in his Kilbrittain top, leans against the island, preferring to stand. Bella and Choupette are outside, soaking up some rare March sunshine.

On the table rests a copy of ‘Oisín’s dash’, read by his sister Sinéad at his funeral. This is his family’s version of ‘The Dash’, a poem about the small line on a headstone that separates the date of a person's birth from the date of their death. ‘Oisín’s dash’ tells us about his sisters who stood up to speak at the funeral of their brother, and how they know how much life Oisín lived in his dash. It was their tribute to their baby brother who died on a Tuesday when everything changed.

‘It was a day off school so Oisín wanted to do stuff for his Leaving Cert. He actually texted his friends early that morning, around 6.30am. He was putting a block on social media on his phone from 7am,’ Catherine explains. 

‘Oisín went back to sleep. And he didn't wake up.’

‘It is every parent's worst nightmare.’

Their kind rogue who lived life to its fullest was gone.

‘You can’t explain the void …’

Within 24 hours, Catherine and Christophe were told Oisín died from Sudden Adult Death Syndrome (SADS).

***

‘Two years before he died, Oisín was screened for SADS in Hammies (Hamilton High School) as part of the TY programme,’ Catherine says.

‘He got the all clear.

‘It’s good to be screened, and what we have learned is that it is only a moment in time. I think if there's anything that we could do for any parent or any child is to explain to people that screening, unfortunately, is only a moment in time.’

***

Oisín and his papa Christophe only ever spoke to each other in French.

‘He never said to me dad, it was papa. And if I was speaking to Oisín or the girls, it is always in French,’ Christophe explains.

Catherine adds, ‘If we were at the table for dinner, I’d say to Oisín “go call papa”, and he would say “Papa on mange! Allez, viens vite!”

Like many fathers and sons, they didn’t say much, but they understood each other. Oisín was a proud Frenchman, like his papa. If Oisín was having friends over for a party, he would lock his papa’s office, where all his guitars are. Oisín always backed France in sport. Paris Saint Germain were his football team. Christophe and Oisín loved to ski down the Alps on holidays. Mountain biking was another shared interest. At Halloween, they teamed up to frighten trick-or-treaters, Oisín hiding in his football storage box outside the front door, waiting to scare whoever called.

Oisín also liked to wind up papa.

‘When he knew papa was coming home, he’d go downstairs and open all the cupboards’ doors, knowing that papa would be giving out!’ Catherine smiles. ‘He’d record it, send it on to his sisters, and would be inside his room roaring laughing. All everyone could do was just laugh.’

‘He just loved life,’ Christophe adds.

Oisín’s favourite song was French, too. ‘Ramenez la coupe à la maison’, meaning ‘bring the cup home’. That’s exactly what the Kilbrittain hurlers did in their greatest-ever season that had Oisín as its heart.

***

‘Oisín just loved Kilbrittain. He loved the village, the people, the chats. Yes, he was a big GAA boy, but he loved the whole community, every part of it,’ Catherine explains.

Her people hail from Coomhola over towards Bantry, but when Catherine and Christophe decided to swap France for West Cork they had one deal-breaker: we needed to live by the sea.

‘We literally drove around and stopped at Kilbrittain school. The late Pat Deasy, who was the principal at the time, brought Sinéad and Fionnuala in for a couple of hours. We were waiting with Oisín. Next thing, the two of them came back and said “This is where we want to live!” That’s how we came to Kilbrittain.’

That was the beginning of Oisín’s adventure in the land of the black and amber. And it didn’t take long before Kilbrittain became the centre of his world. The boy born in Saint-Germain-en-Laye quickly became one of Kilbrittain’s own, on and off the GAA pitch.

With Kilbrittain, he was a natural in hurling and football, the reward for hour after hour spent hitting a ball off the wall at home. 

Oisín was involved in the Cork U15 hurling development squad in 2021 and at U16 hurling level the following year. When he was 16 years old, he made midfield his own when Kilbrittain won the Carbery U21B football championship in 2023. A year later, Oisín helped Kilbrittain hurlers lift the Carbery junior B crown.

Seven days before Oisín died, defying injury, he came off the bench as Hamilton High School won their first-ever Simcox Cup title at Páirc Uí Rinn. A big day on a big stage. Hammies heroes. The stuff of legend that will always echo through the school’s corridors. It was Oisín's last magical GAA moment. But he wasn’t forgotten.

As the Kilbrittain hurlers embarked on the greatest-ever season that led to an historic All-Ireland club junior hurling title in January, they made sure Oisín was on this journey. Their friend, their team-mate.

They retired his No. 8 jersey. Oisín was named in every match programme. When Kilbrittain captured the Cork premier junior hurling title on October 17th – the night of Oisín’s 19th birthday – they held Oisín’s jersey in the team photo afterwards. That was a night Catherine found particularly hard.

Oisín Gillain was remembered by his Kilbrittain team-mates when they won the All-Ireland junior hurling title in January.

They also hung his jersey in the dressing-room for games, including for the All-Ireland final triumph against Easkey. On the steps of the Hogan Stand, as Philip Wall lifted the cup, he made sure Oisín was part of the celebrations. This was a day Christophe struggled. 

The team visited Oisín’s grave with the cups after each triumph – county, Munster and All-Ireland.

Christophe went to every Kilbrittain game last season. Catherine missed just one.

‘Going to games helped me to just cope with the moment,’ she explains.

‘It took a lot to go, but we were surrounded and carried by the community.’

On the day I visited Oisín’s home, his mom was wearing the special commemorative jersey, designed by Keith Hunt. White, blue and red, it’s inspired by Oisín’s love for Paris Saint-Germain.

‘It’s an eternal gift,’ Catherine explains.

‘It’s your armour. You put on the jersey and just feel, “it will help me get through the day”.’

It keeps Oisín’s memory alive. His memory is also being built into the future of Kilbrittain.

In Oisín’s death notice on RIP.ie, his family welcomed donations towards the purchase of a new piece of equipment for the local GAA gym. No flowers, they asked, and there was a reason why – Oisín used daffodils at home as target practice. 

Catherine and Christophe were stunned by the donations, and subsequent fundraisers that will go towards creating Oisín’s legacy: a new gym as part of a community hub in Kilbrittain.

‘Oisín loved this community and this gym will be for everybody – this fits with the essence of him,’ Catherine says.

This is Oisín’s gift to the village he loved.

***

Oisín loved life. Their kind rogue pushed boundaries too, Catherine smiles. 

He was a wizard in the kitchen, Christophe says with a smile. Four days before he died, he baked his mom a chocolate fudge cake for her birthday, with his own twist – double the amount of cocoa powder, half the amount of butter. He also made Bailey’s ice-cream from scratch, keeping alive his grandmother's recipe. 

Shepherd’s pie was a firm favourite. He would regularly text his mom from school, ‘Mom, thanks for the lunchbox’. Maths was his favourite subject at Hamilton High School, and he always left home for school with a smile. He loved his time at Hammies.

Oisín was a fan of 80s music.

He was constantly messing and laughing and joking.

‘Oisín couldn’t keep a secret,’ Catherine smiles.

If he bought someone a present, the hardest part was waiting to give it to them.

He loved Christmas. Family and friends around the table, sharing stories and playing board games. Pictionary was a go-to game, but the running joke was that his drawings left a lot to be desired – his cousins usually guessed the answer straight away.

Oisín enjoyed Lego. Last Christmas, his family all got Lego in Oisín’s memory. Catherine built Notre Dame, Sinéad had Hogwarts Castle from Harry Potter, Fionnuala had Mario Kart, and Christophe, the musical man in the house, got a grand piano. More memories were made.

Oisin at home with his sisters.

***

His 12 hurleys still rest on the windowsill in the porch at home in Barleyfield.

The purple container of sliotars sits beside them, waiting.

The house is quieter now. 

But for Catherine and Christophe, Sinéad and Fionnuala, there are reminders of Oisín everywhere. Every story. Every laugh. Every memory.

Their kind rogue.