'This has been as much about the journey as the destination'

Na Magha have paid tribute to its past while simultaneously celebrating its future with the official launch of a new club gym named in honour of Aodhán O’Donnell.

‘Aodhán’s Gym’ was opened by members of the O’Donnell family on Thursday evening, a poignant celebration of a young man who will be never forgotten by anyone at the club.

Just six years on from Aodhán’s tragic death, the gym is a symbol, not just of the enduring love of their former player, but also one of community, determination and hard work, with the efforts put in by those at Na Magha and the O’Donnell family to make the gym a reality nothing short of remarkable.

Club Chairman Eamon Harkin admitted it was the end of a long yet worthwhile journey.

“It was a great evening, and great for Moira, Gerry and the whole family. It was a really special occasion, a really emotional occasion for them, and it was a great, fitting tribute, I think, to Aodhán, and something that the club can use for many years to come.”

“It was actually an idea from one of our senior players. We had done a few things, like fun days and things like that, but he was thinking of a more permanent tribute; he would have been a friend of Aodhán, and he says he was really into his fitness. It was his two great passions, and we'd always talked about getting a gym at the club, and he said we should approach the family, and that's what we did.

“It was only maybe just three years ago, that we made an approach to the family, and they were on board straight away.”

Once agreement was reached on the eventual goal, the club then began a series of fundraising events to do their part, and the hard work didn’t stop until their grand ambition was realised.

Eamon continued: “What we had come up with was that we would run a 5K for the club and for the O'Donnell family.”

“We ran the first one back in 2022 and over 500 club and non-club members took part. We done that for a couple of years, and Moira did a couple of other fundraisers, like a swim. We also got a generous donation from Foyle Development from outside the club, and then we were pretty close this year, we ran a ‘Sponsor a Tile’ initiative within the club to cover the floor. There was a lot of hard work, a lot of effort, a massive effort from everyone across the club, and a massive effort from the O'Donnell family.”

“Aodhán’s godmother Ailish did an amazing amount of fundraising, especially around the 5K runs. With these things, the journey is nearly as worthwhile as the destination, that the club came together collectively, that we worked hard for something that was going to be really valuable to the club, but also really worthwhile for the family as well.”

The future

What’s next for Na Magha remains to be seen, but at the end of a week which saw 80 kids participate in the summer Cul Camp, it is clear that the club will remain pro-active in ensuring not only the growth of hurling in the city, but also the legacy left by Aodhán.

“We've had a crazy three years of fundraising,” Eamon stated. “Between the top pitch and the gym, we're just talking under £200,000 of investment on the site, and the majority of that's come from within the club, and the efforts of everyone collectively within the club, so we thought we'd maybe take a break for this year, and next year we'll get a look at maybe doing a fundraiser again.”

“We asked a lot of everybody across the club. We're going to have the gym obviously, and we're going to have the training pitch; they were always two big ambitions, and we've a full-time GPO in the schools now in Mark McCloskey, one of the senior players in the club. He is going into the schools to try to grow hurling and camogie in the city, and to try to grow the club as well.”

As of now, ‘Aodhán’s Gym’ is open and available for everyone.

“I think it was a really emotional night,” Eamon said. “There’s now a permanent tribute to Aodhán at the club, and we get to share in his two great passions. We know that all the teams in the club will get great use of it, and it's available to all club members. The hope is that we get more members around the club, even parents and things like that, so we get even more use of the site, so that there's more people who feel that they can come up, and just even pop in, just to add to the community around the club, through the gym.”