One-off hurling tournament to honour Brendan

A ONE-OFF hurling tournament honouring former Ballyboden St Enda’s chairperson, the late Brendan Moran, went down a storm, reports Hayden Moore.

The Drimnagh native died on July 12, 2020, in Our Lady’s Hospice at the age of 73 after being diagnosed with a series of different health complications.

This past weekend, the club which he loved so dearly and contributed so much to in a management, delegate and chair capacity during his time living in Rathfarnham, paid tribute to him.

Three teams from around the country were invited to take part in the Brendan Moran Cup alongside St Enda’s over the weekend of August 6.

“It was really fantastic, we had a feast of hurling for our members at the weekend,” John Ryan, Chairperson of the Hurling Section in Ballyboden, said.

“What we had was the four teams, Ballyboden, Kilmallock of Limerick, Loughgiel Shamrocks of Antrim and Dicksboro of Kilkenny playing in very competitive matches.

“There was some great hurling for people to watch and they were some good strong pre-championship challenge matches for the teams, so it worked out well.”

Ballyboden and Dicksboro progressed through to the Brendan Moran Cup Final while Loughgiel and and Kilmallock contested the Shield.

Loughgiel took the spoils in the first game before Dicksboro got the better of the hosts in the decider.

The silverware was presented by Brendan’s son Vinny and the evening finished with a barbecue for all involved in the competition.

Brendan came from a strong footballing household, with his brother Kevin Moran winning two All-Ireland Championships with Dublin and playing for a decade with Manchester United.

Whereas Brendan stuck to GAA and golf, another of his favourite pastimes in which he spent hours playing in Newlands Golf Club.

“Brendan, we wanted to remember the man and honour him as best we could,” John continued.

“He came from a football tradition around the house and developed a love for the small ball game.

“The whole thing went off fabulously, we had a bit of rain on the Saturday morning but that didn’t dampen anybody’s spirits.

“It was a once off thing, it’s very important that we remember key people from our club appropriately.”

Continuing about their friendship, John said: “We were really the best of buds, I was happy to be in a position as Hurling Chairman to do something for him, something as a memento for his family and it was something nice to have.”