The late Mark Quinn Mark Quinn of the Battery, Moortown, died on Thursday 21 July 2005 after a long and courageous battle against illness. He was thirty-six years old. His untimely passing has left a deep and grievous void in the lives of his family and close friends, who are still feeling the pain of bereavement. His loss has also been keenly felt in hurling circles in Tyrone where Mark endeared himself to everyone who came into contact with him, in a glorious and too brief career as an outstanding young hurler. Mark's initiation into the sport when he was twelve years old was accompanied by no fanfare's; it was the summer of 1981, a time indeed of momentous events elsewhere in the north. It was then that hurling "puck-abouts" began once more in Moortown, on the field beside the school under the guidance of Master Tom Magner and Paddy James Kelly. Among the dozens of boys and girls who came to the field each evening was "The Battery Harbour gang" - Niall Devim and his brother Big Maurice, their cousin Barry, and brothers Mark and Patrick Quinn. In the weeks that followed it gradually became apparent that Mark had a seemingly limitless zest for the game of hurling, and when a "wee match" was played at the end of every session, his game soon developed from that of doggedly following the ball up and down and across the field, to one of anticipating what was going to happen, and then to the even more satisfying level of imposing his own control on the game's course. Just as Mark's tactical awareness had a very rapid development, so too did his stick-work. He never tired of practising, trying new techniques and polishing his ever-increasing repertoire of skills. The Battery gang with their camain and sliothar were to become a familiar sight around the fishing harbour that first summer and in the summers that followed. The next two years were a time of whirlwind competition and immense enjoyment for the Moortown boys as they played Under14 and Under 16 level. For the other boys who played, Mark Quinn was their leader, their general, their exemplar. There were more defeats then victories for a fledgling team, of course, but the craic was mostly good. Mark continued to improve and to learn; one of his best lessons, and he admitted later, came when the Moortown boys were soundly beaten by the Under 16 camogie girls of Armagh. "Some of those girls were very good players", he said afterwards in something approaching astonishment; never agin did he under-estimated any of his opponents. The Moortown hurling club fell through after a couple of seasons, but the sporadic puck-abouts continued. When, early in 1985, some of the Moortown senior players were invited to join the Eoghan Ruadh Club in Dungannon, Noel Devlin remembered the small boy who had such a passion for the game - "Make sure you being Mark up with you", he demanded. Mark joined Dungannon, and so began two of the most rewarding years, in sporting teams, that any young person could hope to experience. Though only sixteen, he immediately secured his place on the Dungannon senior side but, just as importantly, he became a firm favourite with all the club's players and mentors because of his modesty, his good humour, his bright outlook on life, and the respect he showed for those who had the experience to impart new skills and field-craft to him. Mark was a willing learner; he studied the wrist-work and clean striking of the veteran warrior Dan Morgan; but most of all he thrived in the company of Padraig Devlin, a classical hurler who had steely determination and a dauntless will to win. Playing alongside the big fellow gave Marks game the boost it needed at just the right time. He was anything but a dour hurler; he had an irrepressible capacity for devilment at training or in matches, and more than once he stole the call from a team-mate in the heat of a game. And, though light of frame but with a wiry strength, he was at his happiest when the battle, physical and mental, was at its fiercest and the outcome lay in the balance. It was then that the quick smile would appear, for he knew that he was truly in his element, testing his skills against those of doughty opponents. In retrospect those two years at Dungannon seem a much longer period, a time when so much happened; the easy camaraderie at O'Neill Park - a home away from home - the stream of away fixtures in Tyrone and in the Armagh League, the county training and the county matches, the friendships that developed on and off the field. In 1986 Mark captained the Tyrone minor side to the final of the Special Minor Championship in Croke Park, and he also played on the Tyrone senior team which won the National Hurling League Division four title for the first time. He even found time to be a high-fielding and safe full-back for Moortown minor footballers and in fact had won a championship medal with them in the previous year. At the end of 1986 Mark was named as Tyrone's first-ever Young Hurler of the Year and when he received his award there were no prouder people than his parents, Philomena and Patsy. At that time given the promise he had so amply demonstrated, and allied to his natural determination, it seemed that Mark had a long and rewarding hurling career in front of him. But things were to turn out so differently. Some days after playing for Tyrone in the NHL game against Longford in March 1987, Mark became seriously ill. He spent many months in hospital, but no diagnosis could pin point the cause of his illness. It was felt that it may have been a recurrence of a life-threatening childhood illness when he was four years old. Mark recovered sufficiently to continue working in the family fish-export business, and latterly owning and running a supermarket and post-office with his wife Anne, but his sporting career was at an end. The slightest exertion could and did cause his mysterious ailment to flare up, and even something like catching a cold was fraught with great danger. Mark's family spared no efforts in seeking a cure, and visits to specialists in Belfast and London were punctuated by long spells of illness, interminable tests, operations and periods of recuperation. So it was again in May 2005 that sickness once more took hold. This time, however, the previously indomitable spirit that had carries Mark through so many battles was finally quenched, and he died in the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast, on 21 July 2005. He left a devastated family; his wife Anne and their two girls - Katie, then aged six, and Hannah aged four - and his bereft parents, sisters Marie and Sarah, and brother Patrick. His last resting place is in Moortown graveyard, just a few yards from "the hurling field" as the school field is still called. Mark's headstone bears the crossed camain and sliothar, a fitting testament to that magical period when he graced the hurling fields of Tyrone and beyond. Go ndeana Dia trocaire air Courtesy of The Mid Ulster Observer 13 July 2006 Tweet

Most Read Stories