SLIGO MAN DIES IN CANADIAN CRASH
YOUNG BALLISODARE NATIVE KILLED ON HIS MOTORBIKE IN EDMONTON
BALLISODARE has been plunged into mourning this week with the sudden tragic death of young Tommy Jackson in Canada.
The 22-year-old was killed when a moose went out in front of his motorbike while he was on his way to work last Friday morning outside the city of Edmonton, north of Calgary, in North West Canada.
Tommy was with another Sligo friend on their way to work for a construction company when the moose came out in between their motorbikes.
“My cousin’s son went over a few months after Tommy and was also on his motorbike Friday morning,” said Ballisodare FC Founding member and committee member Jimmy Browne.
“They were only a few minutes from work,” he told The Sligo Champion.
The Stella Maris native had been in Canada for the past year and a half. He was last home at Christmas and had been hoping to extend his stay over there after he was offered two years.
A minute’s silence was held at the senior team game between Ballisodare United F.C and Strand Celtic match last Saturday in which players wore wear black armbands as a mark of respect to the Jackson family.
A keen footballer, Tommy played with Ballisodare FC since he was 8 years old.
“It’s an awful shock for the whole community. We’re devastated.
“There are a lot of young men going around heartbroken around here who grew up with him. It’s hard to take,” said Jimmy Browne.
“Tommy started off when he was 8, I used to bring him down. He played midfield and came up through the ranks. They were getting on very well in Canada – he was only in the prime of his life,” he added.
Tommy lined up in the BUFC jersey at every age group up to when he was on the under-19 team in 2013. He also played with the Senior team during the 2015/16 season.
Tommy and the Jackson family have been part of Ballisodare United for over 30 years with Tommy’s cousins Mark, Ray and Alan all playing for the club.
The entire Ballisodare United community, at home and abroad, they extended their heartfelt sympathy and condolences to the Jackson family, Tommy’s parents Annmarie and Michael, his older brother Niall, younger sister Ciara and the extended Jackson and McCormack families.
On behalf of the Strand Celtic family Donagh Oates also offered his condolences to the Jackson family and the wider Ballisodare Utd community.
Danny O’Leary taught Tommy a few years ago and described him as “a great young man taken too soon.”
Both his parents Annmarie and Michael flew to Canada on Sunday to make arrangements for the repatriation of his remains.
Funeral arrangements have not yet been announced and are unlikely to be before next weekend.