CHANCE OF A LIFETIME
A YOUNG Wicklow town boy saw a dream come true recently as he led out the Republic of Ireland soccer team in their game against Austria.
Cathal Byrne (8), who is a first class student at Wicklow Educate Together, couldn’t believe his luck when he was invited to visit the Irish team’s training grounds at Abbottstown – but this was just the beginning of his adventure.
‘I saw a video posted by the FAI on Facebook and I just popped them an email with some footage of Cathal at one of the games to show what a big fan of the team he is,’ said Cathal’s mum, Liz Dunne. ‘We are season ticket holders and we go to all the games and I had a video of Cathal cheering on the lads.’
Liz couldn’t believe her luck when she got a call from FAI sponsor Three to say they wanted to arrange a surprise for Cathal, who suffers from the neurological condition Dyspraxia which affects his motor skills.
‘They called and asked if they could arrange a surprise, so we went along to Abbottstown. Cathal didn’t know that the camera was filming everything and when they asked him if he wanted to sit in Martin O’Neill’s seat for a pretend press conference he was thrilled,’ said Liz.
The biggest surprise of the day came in the form of Bray native and Republic of Ireland goalkeeper Darren Randolph, who appeared out of nowhere to personally invite Cathal to serve as Ireland’s team mascot at the Austria game.
‘We were all overwhelmed and Cathal said that he never knew what happy tears were until that moment. He was just over the moon. Earlier that day he was saying how he would love to meet Darren Randolph but we had him convinced he had already flown out to a training camp. His face just lit up when Darren walked in,’ said Liz.
Match day was a family affair for the Dunne-Byrne clan as Liz and Cathal’s dad Philip were seated in the front row for the best view of the action.
Their season tickets didn’t go to waste as Liz was able to invite her father Joey Dunne to the game as a birthday treat and he was thrilled to see his grandson serve as mascot.
Cathal’s uncles and his siblings, Darragh, Clodagh and Cian, were also there cheering him on.
‘We have the football gloves here ready to frame and the photos are already up in the house. It was just the experience of a lifetime for all of us and one we will remember forever,’ said the delighted mum.