MICK MCGINLEY will be the guest of honour at Friday’s Golf Classic at Ballybofey & Stranorlar Golf Club in aid of the Caolan Melaugh Fund and Clodagh Daly Trust.
McGinley (pictured above), a native of Dunfanaghy, is the father of Europe’s Ryder Cup winning captain, Paul. Mick McGinley won a Rannafast Cup in 1956 as a student of St Eunan’s College in Letterkenny and that same summer, was part of the first Donegal team ever to win the Ulster Minor Football Championship.
He played senior football for Donegal between 1959 and 1961 before joining the British Merchant Navy. Having learned his trade on the links at Dunfanaghy Golf Club, McGinley was a one-handicapper who played senior championships in Ireland as well as the amateur championships in Spain and Portugal before relocating in Dublin.
He made a living in the telecommunications sector and now lives in Rathfarnham with his wife Julia, who is from Rathmullan and was both Lady Captain and Lady President at Dunfanghy Golf Club.
Caolan Melaugh
Caolan, the son of Gerard and Stacey from Killygordon, was diagnosed at just 10 weeks old with stage 4 high risk neuroblastoma – a very rare and aggressive childhood cancer.
Now eight months, Caolan is currently going through treatment in Our Lady’s Hospital Crumlin. His protocol is for 18 months in which he will receive high intensity treatment which will hopefully get him cancer free.
For more information please see the Caolan Melaugh fund website.
Clodagh Daly
Clodagh was born in October 2012. She is the daughter of John and Tammy Daly, who currently live in Portlaoise, co Laois.
At five weeks old she was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer most commonly found in young kids called neuroblastoma. She was diagnosed stage 4 high risk which has only a 25 per cent chance of survival. Due to the peculiarities of Clodagh’s individual case there is an extremely high (70 per cent) chance of relapse, should she be declared cancer-free the first time round.
Relapsed Neuroblastoma returns many times more aggressive and potent than it originally was. Because of this, currently in Ireland there is only limited treatment offered to relapsed neuroblastoma cases.
Experimental therapies are being developed in other countries that could offer hope to neuroblastoma patients and their families but these are very expensive. Despite the cost, which even at conservative estimates is in the hundreds of thousands, one of these experimental therapies may some day be Clodagh’s only chance.
A Doctor in America has developed a treatment which she believes will stop a relapse occurring. So far the treatment has had very positive results. Clodagh is currently enrolled on the trial and travels to Michigan every 12 weeks. She is a year and a half on the trial and thankfully is doing well at present.
For further information please see The Clodagh Daly Trust
Friday’s Golf Classic is kindly sponsored by McMenamin Engineering and McMenamin Builders, Drennan, Stranorlar. Teams of four €80 and with a time sheet in operation, please called Ballybofey & Stranorlar Golf Club on (074) 9131493 for availability.
The presentation of prizes will take place in the clubhouse on Friday night after the golf.
A selection of the prizes on offer at Friday’s Golf Classic at Ballybofey & Stranorlar Golf Club
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