Funeral hears tragic drowning victim ‘brought joy and smiles to every student every day at school'
Kofi Jackson Owusa, the Louth teenager who drowned in a tragic incident while on a day out with friends at Laytown last Friday, was remembered as someone 'who brought joy and smiles' to his fellow students.
The funeral of the 15-year old from Rockfield Court, Dundalk, heard that he had never missed a day from school at Coláiste Chú Chulainn and was a talented sportsman who had lived his short life to the full.
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Irish Independent
10 hours ago
- Irish Independent
Louth – another heavy defeat and out of their depth must raise questions of the Camogie Association
It was at least three points better than their league meeting against Roscommon in Ballyforan in March however, it also begs the serious question why Louth are in the Premier Junior Championship in the first place. They are playing the teams they lost heavily to the league. One of those was a 7-21 to 0-1 defeat at home to Laois There is one exception in the championship, which makes it no better, Armagh, who plied their league trade in division higher this year and inflicted upon Louth their heaviest defeat this season 7-37 to 0-0, a few weeks ago. Louth conceded their next game, away to Laois before fielding against Roscommon on Saturday. The problem is, and it should be a concern for the Camogie Association, the perceived 'weaker' counties, the likes of Monaghan, Mayo, Cavan, and Donegal amongst others, don't field senior county teams leaving Louth, in fairness to them, to plough a lonely furrow against much stronger counties. It is a credit to them that they do…and those who run Camogie in Croke Park should take note and not ignore such dedication. It is also a credit to Louth's one-man management of Donal Ryan – a Tipperary native based in Palmerstown, Co Dublin – who travels up twice, sometimes three times a week to coach the Louth side – his certainly is a lonely road. There are no coaches, no strength and conditioning guru, no stats men or women, no kit person…there's a physio at every game and a FLO (Female Liaison Officer) – Ryan is all of the above, more or less. You wouldn't see it in men's or ladies football or hurling for that matter at club level never mind at senior inter-county, but such is the situation in Louth. However, the work Ryan is doing and the dedication of the players who have turned out week-after-week, to train and play since the end of January is not evidenced on the scoreboard, as yet, but it is on the field of play. This writer was at the opening league game at Cooley Kickhams in February against Wicklow, and a few games since. The Wicklow game was a hard watch, a 1-3 to 3-17 defeat. ADVERTISEMENT The standard of camogie from Louth was pretty poor to say the least – it was Ryan's first game after only a few weeks in charge – but there was something there. Fast forward and the difference from the Louth performance at that cold February Cooley encounter with Wicklow, to Collen and Roscommon on Saturday, was like chalk and cheese. Same players, same outcome but a different team who are clearly learning and benefitting from Ryan's dedication in the face of what is a difficult and thankless job. Yes, Roscommon were the sharper side who had too much strength at the back and too much power going forward for Louth however, with much improved ball skills and a greater level of tackling and stickwork, never stopped battling for every ball and at times, particularly for a 10 minute period in the first-half and for patches during the second 30 minutes, they matched and at times out-fought Roscommon. It was in the end though their own lack of intensity and edge up front, a sharpshooter, that was missing from their game…and they ran out of steam. In Amy Murray, playing at 10 there is a future star in Louth. Her speed with the ball and in play left her marker struggling while centre-half forward Aoife Gregory, centre half-back Jane Carter, half-back Ellen MacCarthy and goalkeeper Mairead McMahon in particular, would have been shoo-ins if playing for Roscommon. The visitors were quickest to settle and opened the scoring after two minutes with Sarah Dooley getting the first of her nine points over the hour. A second Dooley point on four minutes was followed by the first of three goals for Roscommon full-forward Rachel Fitzmaurice, who hit a total of 3-7 as the visitors raced into an early 1-2 to 0-0 lead after five minutes. Another Dooley point and one from Tara Naughton from a free, the first of five she converted during the game, extended Roscommon's lead however, Louth were coming more into the game and a point from an Aoife Gregory free opened the home side's account, much to the joy of the few Louth supporters who made the effort to travel to Collon. That joy though was short-lived as Fitzmaurice grabbed a second goal after smart inter-play between Sally Bolger, who won the puckout, Dooley and Ciara Kilcommins, set up the Athleague clubwoman to finish to the net past McMahon. Three further points from Fitzmaurice, Dooley and Celine Gacquin put the lead out to 2-7 to 0-1 at the quarter-hour mark but it was Louth who dominated the next 10 minutes and they began to win the midfield exchanges and put pressure on the Roscommon defence. After Gregory was wide with an effort from distance, the same player had another effort from 30 metres saved by Roscommon goalkeeper Michaela Fallon soon after. The ball was partially cleared but only as far as Gregory who tore down on goal before passing the ball off to full-forward Niamh Fennell but Fallon before clearing her lines. Again though, it was only as far as Louth centre-half back Jane Carter who fed the ball to Murray on the overlap and she made no mistake putting the ball between the posts for Louth's second point. Roscommon's response was a point from Fitzmaurice at the other end but Louth were on top at this stage. Gregory had another shot saved and cleared by Fallon, but only as far as Murray who grabbed her second and Louth's third point. When Gregory fired over a 50 metre free for his side's fourth point on 20 minutes to make it 2-8 to 0-4, Louth tails were certainly up however, any thoughts of a comeback were extinguished during the remaining 10 minutes of the half as Roscommon hit six unanswered points from Lilly Murray, Dooley, Fitzmaurice (3) and Oonagh Kelly to lead 3-13 to 0-4 at the break. The loudest cheer of the day came just two minutes after the restart when a shot from Carter dipped viciously past Fallon and into the Roscommon net to make it 3-13 to 1-4 but again, any Louth celebrations were short-lived. Dooley hit back with a point from play before a long-range Naughton free deceived the Louth defence and ended up in the back of the net. Naughton followed that up with a pointed free before Gacquin goaled to make it 5-16 to 1-4 with only eight minutes of the second half played. A converted free from Naughton stretched the lead further but Louth's never say die attitude was rewarded with a Carter point set up by Gregory. Points from Dooley and Naughton (2f) put the lead out to 5-20 to 1-5 on 47 minutes and Roscommon continued to rattle off the points with Dooley (2, 1f), Hannah Murray, Fitzmaurice (3) and substitute Grace Jones keeping the scoreboard busy. The last score of the day however went to Louth with substitute Áine Connell on the end of her side's best move when McMahon's puckout found Murray who delivered a pin-point 30 metre pass to the Mattock Rangers player who raced forward before striking the ball over the bar for a point on her home pitch to leave the final score 5-27 to 1-6. Louth: Mairead McMahon ; Roisin Killen, Clodagh Fennell, Rebecca Kirwin; Ellen McCarthy, Jane Carter 1-1, Katie Mathews; Aoibhin Killen, Aoife Lawrence; Amy Murray 0-2, Aoife Gregory 0-2f, Caoimhe Cunningham; Aoife McCabe, Naimh Fennell, Aoife Dillon. Subs: Áine Connell 0-1 for Lawrence 39mins, Paula Lohan for Aoibhin Killen 46mins, Sarah Cahill for Carter 47mins Roscommon: Michaela Fallon; Michelle Rogers, Mairead Lohan, Aideen O'Brien ;, Hannah Murray 0-1, Lilly Murray 0-1, Sinead Mannion; Sally Bolger, Erin McDermont; Celine Gasquin 0-3, Sarah Dooley 0-9, (1f), Tara Naughton 1-4 (all frees); Ciara Kilcommins 1-0, Rachel Fitzmaurice 3-7, Oonagh Kelly 0-1. Subs: Molly Tully for Fallon h-t, Deborah Finneran for Bolger, Grace Jones 0-1 for Gacquin and Chloe Whyte for Kilcommins all 47mins, Charlotte Blackweir for McDermott 52mins
Irish Independent
2 days ago
- Irish Independent
Funeral hears tragic drowning victim ‘brought joy and smiles to every student every day at school'
Kofi Jackson Owusa, the Louth teenager who drowned in a tragic incident while on a day out with friends at Laytown last Friday, was remembered as someone 'who brought joy and smiles' to his fellow students. The funeral of the 15-year old from Rockfield Court, Dundalk, heard that he had never missed a day from school at Coláiste Chú Chulainn and was a talented sportsman who had lived his short life to the full.
Sunday World
3 days ago
- Sunday World
Funeral of teen who died in Meath swimming tragedy to take place tomorrow
The 15-year-old from Dundalk died last Friday The of funeral of Dundalk teenager Kofi Owusu will take place on Friday The funeral of teenager Kofi Jackson Owusu, who died last Friday after getting into difficulty in the River Nanny, is set to be held tomorrow. The 15-year-old's body was recovered from the water three hours after the alarm was raised in Laytown, Co. Meath. Mourners will gather at the Eternity Room of Quinn's Funeral Homes, Dundalk today, Thursday, June 26th from 3pm-7pm. His funeral service will take place at The Redeemed Christian Church of God, in Dundalk tomorrow, Friday, June 27th at 1pm. The congregation are set to gather at Quinn's Funeral Home before proceeding on foot to the burial at St. Patrick's Cemetery. He is survived by his parents Tony and Maria, and sisters Faith and Esther. His football club, Redeemer Celtic FC set up a GoFundMe to raise money for his bereaved family. 'The untimely passing of Kofi has left so many heartbroken, and shook a community & town and further to its core,' the page reads. 'A child of fantastic talent, hugely popular with a wide circle of friends. A child whose characteristics show he was raised as a highly respectful youngster, he was a credit to his loving family.' The football club have said that there are 'no words' to ease his family's suffering, but has appealed for support at this 'heartbreaking' time andlaunched a GoFundMe to help support the boy's devastated family in the wake of the tragedy. So far 496 donors to the Kofi Jackson Owusu GoFundMe has raised €11,390 of a €11,000 goal. The teen who lived in Blackrock, Dundalk, had just finished his Junior Certificate at Coláiste Chú Chulainn earlier this month. In a statement following his death, Kofi's football club shared fond memories of the talented player arriving at the club as a young child who needed his shoe laces tied by coaches. 'A ferocious competitor every time he pulled on the Redeemer kit, and this seen us achieve unthinkable success time after time & year after year. 'Kofi was a massive part of our club, Kofi was a massive part of our lives. 'We will strive to keep Kofi's memory within the club, and with absolutely broken hearts.' The club shared a picture of two number 6 jerseys lying on the pitch alongside a bouquet of flowers, adding that the club would be 'closed until further notice'. The of funeral of Dundalk teenager Kofi Owusu will take place on Friday News in 90 Seconds - June 26th The principal of his secondary school, Principal Thomas Sharkey, said they were heartbroken at the death of the 'very caring and very diligent student.' "He's an excellent sportsman. He had just played in an All-Ireland basketball final and in a Leinster soccer final in his age group of under-16. "He finished his Junior Cert exams only 10 days ago, and his older sister was a past pupil of our school. 'Kofi and his family are in all of our thoughts.'
