PADRAIGH Griffin’s impact and legacy on Clonakilty GAA will be celebrated at a memorial tournament this Saturday.
The two-time Cork senior football championship winner with Clon passed away last October, and the current Clonakilty senior team has organised an in-house tournament to honour the club legend.
On Saturday afternoon at Clon’s home in Ahamilla four teams will compete in a blitz for the Padraigh Griffin Memorial Cup. The teams will be made up of adult players and U17 players, as new Clon football manager Martin O’Brien explains.
‘We have a strong leadership group with Mark White as captain. Mark, Joe Grimes, Sean White, Jack O’Mahony and Thomas Clancy came to me and said that the playing group wants to pay their respects to Padraigh. They want to do something that honours Padraigh’s memory,’ says O’Brien, pointing out that this is a player-led idea.
‘It’s inspiring to see the players want to take ownership of things. They approached the management with this and we are very happy to support them in any way we can.
‘This will get the football season up and running for us and get players engaged again, but the key thing here is to show respect to Padraigh.’
The senior players were keen to include Clonakilty’s U17 players in this tournament, and that’s a nod to Padraigh Griffin.
‘Padraigh was a prodigy from a young age, playing in a county final back in 1996 and he was a young fella when he burst on the scene. It’s the senior players who decided to get the U17 team involved,’ O’Brien explains, and one young Clonakilty footballer will receive a very special award on Saturday.
‘The best U17 player, as voted by the adult players, will receive the Padraigh Griffin Rising Star Award. For any youngster to receive an accolade like that you'd hope it would inspire them, giving the impact that Padraigh had on the club and the local community.’ Like Griffin lit up the football field for Clonakilty, the current generation will look to do likewise on Saturday and pay a fitting tribute to their former Cork footballer who will be remembered as one of the most exciting players the club has ever seen.
