Siobhan laid to rest after brave battle with cancer

Siobhan laid to rest after brave battle with cancer

15 May 2019

CLANVARAGHAN woman Siobhan McCann was remembered as a “fighter” by the GAA club to which she was devoted.

The 26 year-old was buried last Wednesday after she lost her brave year-long fight against cancer.

Siobhan was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in April last year when she was working for Kane Group Building Service’s London office.

Her close friends and her club, St John’s, Drumnaquoile, rallied around to raise money for an expensive non-NHS drug, Bevacizumab (Alvastin) which would prolong her life in the hope that chemotherapy would shrink the tumour.

While more than £200,000 was raised within weeks — half of it from a ladies sevens football tournament last October — the young woman sadly succumbed to her illness at her Clanvaraghan Road home on May 6.

To honour Siobhan’s last wish for football jerseys to be worn at her funeral, a sea of colour, particularly the red and yellow of St John’s, could be seen at the funeral service at St Mary of the Angels Church in Clanvaraghan.

Her parents, Brendan and Geraldine, brother Ciaran, sister Grainne and brother-in law Mark, led the mourners, which included club players and officials who had known Siobhan since she became a player at the age of five.

Players and officials from clubs from throughout Northern Ireland and from England also turned out to pay their respects to the young woman who made a lasting impression wherever she went.

Also attending and who helped carry her coffin, was former Tyrone player Owen Mulligan, who socialised with Siobhan in London when she played for Dulwich Harps club until her illness forced her to return home last July. 

Owen posted a moving tribute on Twitter to Siobhan on the night she died, May 6, which said: “People like Siobhan are few and far between in this lifetime. One of the nicest girls, I had the pleasure of calling my friend.”

His words echoed that of all at St John’s, a club from where she progressed from to represent Down from under-16 to senior level. 

A statement issued on behalf of the chairman and committee of St John’s simply said: “Last week we lost a fighter, last week we lost Siobhan. To us in St John’s she was a shining light in a rural GAA club.”

The club remembered her as “a dedicated player, a mentor, a coach, a committee member, one of the founding members of our healthy club, a dancer, a fundraiser, a volunteer”.

It said that Siobhan “packed a lot into her 26 years’ and the club ‘were lucky to have her from the start”.

It added that Siobhan was “above all, a kind selfless person who dedicated her life to the ethos of the GAA in pursuit of living her life, serving her club as best she could, just as her father Brendan and Uncle PF have done as former chairmen and as her sister Grainne continues to do as a player and committee member, alongside her brother Ciaran, a senior player.”

The club praised the “commitment, dedication and selflessness that we witnessed over the last few days from our members, players, volunteers and community’ as a sign of its proudest moment”.

The club paid its thanks to all those who mourned Siobhan’s passing and those who helped St John’s support her family in the organising of her funeral service, officiated by Fr Michael Murray.

It added: “An army of people mobilised to make sure that our club returned the commitment that Siobhan had shown every time she pulled on the jersey. Indeed had it been anyone else Siobhan would have been first there herself. 

“There are so many people who have given so much in time and effort over these past few days that it would be impossible to name everyone but to all of you on behalf of the Committee and wider club members we say ‘thank you’.”

Siobhan’s London club, Dulwich Harps, paid this tribute: “Siobhan was an integral part of our club here in London. Her time with us may have been short lived before her departure home, but she had a huge impact on us all on and off the field.”

Following the service, Siobhan was buried in the adjoining cemetery.