Ballyboden St Endas and Club Limerick Dublin come together for Tom McGrath

Ballyboden St Enda’s GAA Club and Club Limerick Dublin have come together to support stalwart club volunteer Tom McGrath,who suffered life changing injuries in October 2021.

On Sunday 10 October 2021, Tom McGrath set off for a leisurely cycle in the Dublin mountains. He timed his cycle to be back for a club match that afternoon. However, fate intervened,and Tom was rushed to hospital after suffering a severe and life-changing cardiac incident. In the coming days, under the care of the medics in the hospital, Tom, his wife Dympna and sons Kevin and Ben, would learn the extent of his injuries, resulting in life-changing acquired brain injury.

Tom left his hometown of Kilfinane, Co Limerick in the late 1970s. He came to Dublin to work and initially played with the Commercials Hurling Club, Rathcoole. When he settled in Rathfarnham and his two boys started playing with Ballyboden St Endas, Tom became a stalwart member, involved in coaching and mentoring juvenile teams. At the time of his accident, he was a selector with the very successful Junior A hurling team. His main priorities in life are his family, work, volunteerism with the GAA, love of sport, music, travel and socialising with his friends. His first love is Limerick hurling, and their recent success has made up for all the lean years when he followed his beloved Limerick through thick and thin.

Tom was the type of person who was always on the lookout for his fellow human beings and was renowned for his sunny disposition and willingness to do anyone ‘a good turn’.

As he came to terms with his life-changing injuries, Tom has been in James’ Hospital and the National Rehabilitation Hospital in Dún Laoghaire. The time has now come for Tom to return to his beloved home and while his life has changed forever, his family are determined that Tom will be comfortable in his home environment. TheTom McGrath Support Fund has been set up to provide the necessary adjustments and care to allow Tom to live at home.

Donagh O’ Farrell, Chairperson of Ballyboden St Endas

While the main focus of Ballyboden St. Enda’s, like any GAA club, is Hurling, Football and Camogie, it is also much more than that. It’s about the community that makes up the Club, the players, coaches, supporters and members who volunteer at every turn to play their part. Tom McGrath is an integral part of that community. He has coached, mentored, done unseen work in the background, supported teams at every level and, with a cheerfulness that is a mark of the man, has become a friend to so many. And when someone in our community needs a hand, the only question you hear asked is “Is there anything we can do?”. Tom will shortly leave the Rehab and now is the chance for us, as a club, to help our friend as he returns home to Rathfarnham. Ní neart le cur le chéile.

Paul Stapleton, Chairperson of Club Limerick Dublin

Tom has been a very active and valued member of the Limerick community in Dublin for many years and a great friend to us all. He has been involved with Club Limerick Dublin from the outset and has served on the Committee for over 15 years. Tom has always been willing to get stuck in when something needs to be done and no task was ever too big or too small. His passion for Limerick is infectious and he has got many others involved also over the years. He has always been up for a bit of craic and banter after a meeting or on a match trip. He has travelled the length and breadth of the country following Limerick, including in the many lean years when the success we have enjoyed recently was a distant dream. But Tom’s faith in and commitment to Limerick never wavered and that is why we are asking all Limerick people in Dublin and beyond to support Tom and his family now as he starts the next stage of his recovery.