BLUEBELL’S TOUCHING BEAHAN TRIBUTE
AFTER enjoying a hugely successful run in last season’s Irish Daily Mail FAI Cup, Bluebell United suffered a blow ahead of this year’s competition with the passing, on April 8, of club stalwart Christy Beahan. The Dublin club reached the quarter-finals of last season’s Irish Daily Mail FAI Cup, losing 4-2 to Premier Division side Shamrock Rovers but received a €2,000 prize as the non-league side that went furthest in the competition. To honour their long-serving local hero, Bluebell have announced that they are renaming their small main stand The Christy Beahan Stand. Beahan had a long and colourful relationship with the club, lining out in the first ever Bluebell team as a 17-year-old in 1946. They lost that first game to Bohemians, but it was the first taste Beahan got with a club he would go on to represent with great distinction. A committed footballer, he was also instrumental in the club’s off-field development, and was involved in raising funds to open a club bar while also contributing to the building of Bluebell’s clubhouse in 1980. A man at the heart of everything the club tried to do in the community, it was a natural progression to see Beahan named as a club director, a position he stepped down from in 2006 following the passing of his wife. Still keen to lend a hand, Beahan decided to take on the role of kitman while also staying involved in the day-today running of the club. His commitment and hard work was recognised in 2013 when the Leinster League selected Beahan for a Service to Football award, soon followed by a similar award from the FAI, which then-Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni presented to the Dubliner. Beahan was involved in the club right into his final days, laying out the kit for the first team just a few hours before his passing. This year’s competition offers the opportunity for another club hero to pick up the baton.