Queen's University are to honour one its most famous sons, with a special presentation to GAA legend Sean O'Neill next month. The Down man will become the first recipient of the Paddy O'Hara Medal of Honour at a dinner to mark his achievements and service to the GAA and the university on Saturday, 7 December.

GAA Ard-Stiurthóir Paraic Duffy will join guests for the event which will be hosted by the Queen's GAA Past Members Union.

Sean O'Neill is one of the most celebrated figures in Gaelic Football. He won two Sigerson Cup medals in 1958 and 1964 and was manager of the successful side of 1982. Sean also won three All-Ireland titles, 8 Ulster medals with Down, a record 8 Railway Cups with Ulster and was named on the GAA Team of the Century and Team of the Millennium. He was Footballer of the Year in 1968 and was also named as the Ulster Footballer of the Millennium in 2000.

Sean graduated with a degree in law and in recent years retired from long service as a solicitor.

Sean has given loyal service and support to the Queen's club for over half a century. This honour will be bestowed for a significant contribution to the Queen's Club, PMU, the university and the GAA in Down, Ulster and beyond. As a result, Sean will become the first inductee in the QUB GFC Hall of Fame.

This new award has been commissioned to honour the name of the late Paddy O'Hara who guided Queen's to their first Sigerson Cup triumph in 1958. It will be presented every two years.

Paddy O'Hara coached QUB teams for almost twenty years and led the Combined Universities side to the 1973 Railway Cup. The Antrim man was an honorary Vice-President of the Queen's club until his passing in 2008 and was the founding Chairman of the Past Members' Union in 1990.

Tickets for the dinner are on sale at £40 from the Queen's PEC at 02890681126 (please quote Paddy O'Hara Medal Dinner) or from John Devaney at 07793130417.

John Devaney, QUB GAA PMU Chairman, said that "it is a welcome opportunity to honour a man who has served us well as a player, manager, officer and supporter and whose achievements over an illustrious career are a source of great pride to the club and the university".

Mr Devaney added that "it is also quite appropriate that the inaugural Paddy O'Hara Medal of Honour, which will be regarded as an award of great prestige, should be presented to someone who was so closely associated to Paddy and his connections to Queen's".

"We hope that friends, colleagues, acquaintances and former team-mates and players of Sean and the Queen's club will join us for what should be a special occasion."

The event will mark the beginning of a few very busy months for Queen's, as they will become the first university to host the four main GAA intervarsities championships (Sigerson, Fitzgibbon, Ashbourne and O'Connor Cups) in February and March. The overall event will be promoted as the GAA2014 Festival and will be formally launched next month.

Tickets for the dinner are on sale at £40 from the Queen's PEC at 02890681126 (please quote Paddy O'Hara Medal Dinner) or from John Devaney at 07793130417. Tweet

Most Read Stories