The Late Aisling McGing There are some occasions where the inadequacy of the spoken and written word hit home, and this is one of them. On Monday evening and the following afternoon, thousands paid their last respects to a girl many knew and all loved. Aisling McGing taken from our world at a mere eighteen years of age, was buried in Killawalla Cemetery. The sun shone, doing its best to lift the gloom, but all it did was dry the many tears shed. Together, with a Mayo jersey she dreamed all her life of playing in and did so with such distinction and her favourite pair of red Adidas football boots, Aisling was laid to rest. Straight in at wing back on God's team, the first name on His team-sheet from here on in. To Aishling's immediate and extended family we extend our deepest sympathies - to dad Jimmy, mum Teresa, sisters Fiona, Michelle and Sharon, and brothers James and Thomas. The intolerable grief you are experiencing this week is beyond our comprehension. There is scarcely a family name more associated with ladies football in these parts than 'the McGings' and with good reason. Michelle, Sharon and Aisling McGing are names that opponents near and wide can roll off their tongue with scary familiarity. And if that treble-threat wasn't enough, first cousin Caroline has grown into a senior inter-county defender of note. These girls were born to play football. And so they did, learning to kick ball the same day they learnt that one foot could support the other. Solos and catches, you'd think, soon followed with Jimmy and Teresa and uncle John watching on with interest. Imagine their joy then, in Croke Park on September's Sunday 2002, in a ladies football so changed and so developed from when they first set out, when the three sisters walked up the steps of the new Hogan Stand and rested their hands on the Brendan Martin Cup. Weeks later, on another Sunday, this one a darker, murkier but no less happy one in November, an All Ireland club title with their beloved Carnacon, Joy unconfined. Since then life had been eventful for Aishling and eighteenth birthday had come and gone; injury had hindered her preparation for this year's senior championship; and she was looking forward to sharing a house in Athlone with footballing colleagues Yvonne Byrne and Cora Staunton in September as she began a hairdressing apprenticeship in Athlone. The McGing family would give those Sundays back, just to have last Sunday with their beloved daughter, their fun-filled sister. On the Monday evening the thousands that passed through Killawalla Community Centre saw an outward expression of what life means to the McGing clan. Green and red bunting weaved back and over from Killawalla church to the Community Centre. Tape held Carnacon flags tightly to the railing. Girls, young and older, shuttled back and forth with Mayo and Carnacon jerseys on their backs. Inside the door two framed photos of Aisling sat amid flowers on a table - one, a Debs photo, the other with her date of birth, the day she passed away and the inscription 'Forever Young'. The big smile, the big beautiful eyes, immortalised in print and in our memories. There will be sadness, and lots of it. But then there will be smiles too for this was a fun-loving girl who never took things too serious and who always had a smile, no matter. "She'd put talk down a bottle!" said a friend on Monday night. Everyone had a story or a laugh about something in Aishling's life - she was that kind of girl. There was even those cherished red boots, poignantly there among her life's memorabilia, looking eerily alive - " she tied those boots once - the day she got them. And she never opened those laces again. She just slipped the boots on when she needed them.... she said she was too lazy to be bothered opening and closing the laces every time!" Those who met Aisling during her short life feel very privileged this week. Now she's gone to cheer up the angels. Courtesy of The Mayo News 23rd July 2003 Tweet

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