HE’S JUST CELEBRATED his 102nd birthday, but Jack Hannigan is eyeing up a new car for himself and a new season of football to keep him occupied!
Jack – who is the President of the Sean MacCumhaills club – was honoured by the Ulster GAA Writers Association tonight when they awarded him the John McAviney Award for Lifetime Services to the GAA.
Jack turned 102 last month and is best known for his role as the tunnel steward at his beloved Sean MacCumhaill Park.
“It has been a lifetime in MacCumhaill Park, Ballybofey,” he said,. “I never quit. I always was in the tunnel keeping control.”
Former Donegal County Chairman PJ McGowan collected the award on his behalf at tonight’s UGAAWA banquet at the Great Northern Hotel in Bundoran.
Jack played football in the Twin Towns alongside his three brothers – ‘We weren’t good boys either, mind you’, he recalled – and was a close friend of Sean MacCumhaill, whom the club was named after in 1950.
There is rarely a ball kicked at the Finnside venue that he misses.
“I never miss a game unless it’s pouring from the heavens,” he said.
“I take the car with me and drive up the banking to look through the wire. If there’s a ball rattling at all I’ll be there.
“As long as I’m here, I’ll be there!”
Jack has his own personalised parking spot in the car park of St Mary’s Church in Stranorlar and can be seen on a daily basis watching the world go by from the gate of Sean MacCumhaill Park.
Up until recently, Jack drove cars from Dublin for JJ Reid Motors and in January plans to upgrade his car: “I have a notion of changing her now anytime.”
Watch the full video interview with Jack Hannigan, filmed and edited by Brendan O’Donnell of jacksonsmediatv below …
https://wwwyoutube.com/watch?v=ZNZAzYRvBjc
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