Dundalk man Damien ordained a deacon

Damien Quigley with his parents Majella and Tommy

A local man was one of nine ordained as a deacon in Maynooth on Sunday.

Damien Quigley from Cedarwood Park in Cox’s Demesne and a member of the Parish of the Holy Redeemer joined the seminary in Maynooth in 2010.

A former student of Coláiste Rís, Damien studied in both Dundalk IT and Queen’s University where he graduated with a degree in science.

He then went on to work for Tesco for 12 years where he reached a senior management position, overseeing a number of stores in the South Dublin area.

A love of the church prompted the now 40-year-old to seek to join the priesthood though.

Damien is the youngest son of Tommy and Majella ‘Solo’ Quigley and was the only member of the Armagh archdiocese to be ordained at the weekend by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin.

Ordination as a transitional deacon takes place one year before ordination to priesthood. As well as his family and friends, amongst those supporting Damien at the weekend was fellow local man, Barry Matthews, who is due to be ordained a deacon next year.

The nine deacons are from the dioceses of Armagh, Clogher, Cork & Ross, Derry, Down & Connor, Galway (2), and Meath (2).

They will continue their priestly formation in Maynooth for the next year.

As a deacon, the nine will be able to do almost all that a priest does with the exception of saying Mass and hearing Confession.

A deacon may proclaim the gospel, preach, preside over public prayer, baptise, assist at marriages and bless them, give viaticum to the dying, and lead the rites of burial.

Damien Quigley supported by his family and friends at his ordination on Sunday

Variety concert in aid of St Vincent de Paul in Blackrock this Saturday

A variety concert in aid of St Vincent de Paul will take place this Saturday at 8pm in Blackrock Community Centre.

Hosted by Mary Quinn, the event will feature performances from the likes of Dundalk Musical Society and former Celtic Tenors musical director, Colm Rogan.

Mary explained to Talk of the Town how the event came to be and how lucky she feels to have had seven acts sign up to support her fundraiser on the night.

“I play the violin myself and I originally started organising a concert to gain performance experience before I start studying music at Queens University, Belfast in September and I asked some of my friends to play and the concert evolved from there.

“I was so lucky to get seven other acts to perform free of charge. They include Dundalk Musical Society, who I seen at another variety concert in Kilkerley a couple of weeks ago and was blown away. I also have pianist Colm Rogan, who travelled around the globe as musical director with the Celtic Tenors. Classical flautist Emma Quinlan, a student at DKIT will also perform. Goltrai is a trad group made up of young fiddler Roisin Ward Morrow and flautist Hannah Mulholland. Another well known act is Jennifer Reynolds, a popular singer from Castlebellingham. Dance acts include DYNAMIC dance and stage school, and Scoil Rince CosCeol, an Irish dance school in Darver.”

It certainly has all the makings of a great night, with a raffle also set to take place with 20 different prizes up for grabs including tickets to Garth Brooks in Croke Park later this month.

Tickets are available on the door on the night at €10, with concessions for €8.

Dundalk IT aiming for Lynch Cup glory this weekend

Dundalk IT ladies GAA team travel to Queen’s University in Belfast this weekend for the Lynch Cup finals.

The DkIT team will take on St Patrick’s of Drumcondra in the semi-final on Friday.

The weekend will see the O’Connor, Lynch and Giles Cups competed for. They are the female equivalent of the Sigerson and Trench Cups.

The Dundalk IT ladies booked their place in the last four with victory over University of Limerick’s B team in Ballykelly at the start of the month on a 1-12 to 0-10 scoreline.

Amongst the local players to feature in that game were Roche Emmets’ Jenny McCourt, Dowdallshill’s Emily Norton, Naomh Mairtin’s Louise McKeever and Newtown Blues duo Jessica Dyas and Samantha Newman.

Monaghan All Star Caoimhe Mohan also features in the side along with Dromintee’s Shauna Grey.

Dundalk IT won the Lynch Cup in 2007 when they beat Liverpool Hope University in the final. They were also runners up in 1996 when they were then known as Dundalk RTC.

Dundalk IT through to Trench Cup semi-final

Derek Crilly, Hugh Morgan and Oisin McConville with the new Morgan Fuels-sponsored Dundalk IT jersey recently. McConville this afternoon led his side into the last four of the Trench Cup – a competition the college has never won

Dundalk IT booked their place in the last four of the Trench Cup this afternoon with a hard fought 1-13 to 1-11 victory over Marino College of Further Education.

The O’Connells duo of Robert Quigley and Cian Doyle proved crucial in securing the win with Quigley’s goal and a series of points from either of them helped Oisin McConville’s side into an eight point lead.

Marino did manage to push their way back into contention late on but DkIT held out to reach the semi-finals in difficult conditions.

Dundalk now advance to the finals weekend in Queen’s University Belfast, with the semi-finals down for Friday February 21st and the finals on Saturday February 22nd.