‘Tragic Rachel was a fantastic player, full of life and courage’
TRIBUTES have been paid to a champion ladies footballer who tragically passed away following a battle with cancer.
Rachel Kenneally, 26, died on Monday. The gifted young woman had represented Tipperary at corner back in the All-Ireland Intermediate football final in 2013.
A native of Ballyglass in Tipperary town, Rachel attended Mary Immaculate College in Limerick, where she studied to be a primary school teacher. She made her debut with the Tipperary senior team in 2009, and played until 2014.
The current Tipperary ladies football manager, Shane Ronayne, paid tribute to Rachel on Twitter yesterday, saying: ‘On behalf of everybody involved with the Tipperary ladies football senior squad, I would like to express our sincere sympathies to the family and friends of Rachel Kenneally, our former player, teammate and friend.
‘We are all proud to have had the opportunity to coach and play with Rachel, and very privileged to have known her as a person. She was a fantastic player and a wonderful character, full of life, humour and great courage. She will be sorely missed, but forever remembered.’
Ladies Gaelic Football Association president Marie Hickey said: ‘All of us at the Ladies Gaelic Football Association are deeply saddened to learn of Rachel’s untimely passing. Rachel was a wonderful servant to Tipperary ladies football and her club, Aherlow.
‘Rachel marked herself out as a brilliant underage player before going on to represent Tipperary at the highest level, appearing on All-Ireland final day in 2013.’
Rachel also played in a National League Division 2 final in 2010, and was a Munster Minor B Championship winner in 2009 and 2010, as Tipp went on to contest All-Ireland finals in both years.
At club level, she appeared in the 2011 All-Ireland junior club final for Aherlow against Sperrin Óg, and she was a county and Munster winner with her club in that same year.
Rachel’s funeral will take place in St Michael’s Church, Tipperary today at 11.30am, with burial afterwards at St Michael’s Cemetery.