Teen teams take part in tournament to honour brave mother and former youth worker

So the staff of Youth Work Ireland Galway came up with the idea of a memorial soccer tournament, with teams from Tuam, Ballinasloe, Loughrea and Galway city taking part.

Olive, a mother of four from Loughrea, fought a courageous battle against her cancer for over six years, after learning she was in the final stages of incurable terminal cancer while still in her thirties.

She became a blogger, wrote two books and spoke publicly about her illness and how her strong faith carried her through that enormous challenge.

Olive had worked with Youth Work Ireland Galway from the late nineties, and according to Galway City Comhairle na nÓg Coordinator Deirdre Bermingham, she loved working with young people; she believed in the power of youth work and the potential of all young people.

“We wanted to honour Olive’s legacy and the impact she had on youth work and the young people she worked with in East Galway – so we reached out to Olive’s family with the suggestion of hosting a soccer tournament in Olive’s name,” said Deirdre.

Youth Work Ireland Galway provides youth services across Galway City and County and some of the young people who attend had suggested an inter-youth project soccer tournament.

“We had teams take part from Tuam, Ballinasloe, Loughrea, and Westside in Galway City. Each team prepared for weeks in advance with Pat Mongan who also helped coordinate the tournament,” said Deirdre.

After many competitive games at Ballinasloe AFC’s Curragh Grounds, the team from Tuam emerged as winners of the Cup and the local Ballinasloe team took home the Shield.

“We were honoured to have Olive’s children present the Olive Shaughnessy Memorial Cup and Shield to the winners,” said Deirdre.

“We hope to make this an annual event and each location where we have a youth project will host the tournament yearly, with the reigning champions Tuam, hosting in 2025,” she added.

Pictured: Tuam, winners of the Olive Shaughnessy Memorial Cup.