When Philip Mc Guinness suffered a serious injury last Saturday in a Senior league match against Melvin Gaels, we in Mohill and Kinlough were hoping that he was just concussed and that he would quickly recover. We were very concerned when he was transferred from Sligo Hospital to Beaumont Hospital. On Sunday morning our worst fears were realised when news reached us that Philly suffered horrific brain injuries and was gravely ill. Philly's playing colleagues were devastated, disconsolate and inconsolable. Gloom descended on the whole locality. By lunch hour a convoy of cars bearing Philly's playing colleagues and friends was travelling to Dublin to offer support and comfort and support to Philomena, Philly's lovely gentle mother and to his brothers John and Michael and to visit and bid a last farewell to their injured colleague Philly. In the visiting room beside ICU ward the grief was palpable. One could not but be very impressed with Philly's playing colleagues for their solidarity, support and comforting of the family over the following days. They proved themselves to be young men of great character. A word of thanks to all visitors to the hospital and we are grateful to the members of the Melvin Gaels club who made the journey. Philip Mc Guinness went to his eternal reward on Monday afternoon and his family kindly donated his organs.

How does one pay tribute to Philip Mc Guinness or Philly as he was affectionately known? Philip was held in very high regard by all his team mates and mentors at club and County level.
He was a magnificent footballer. This is hardly surprising considering the sporting environment in which he was reared. His late father was a brilliant ball player as a footballer and hurler and this was acknowledged when Michael Mc Guinness was selected at full forward on the Leitrim Millennium team.
Michael instilled a love of Gaelic sports in his three sons who became great players; each of them wearing the Mohill and Leitrim jersey at all levels with pride and distinction. Philomena offered them great encouragement to develop their skills. The boys had a tyre against the wall and their was daily competition to see who could score most and when young Philly came along he proved to be most competitive.


Two club stalwarts, Tom Lynch and Gerry Bohan introduced Philly to team play at under 12 and 14 with dad Michael lending support. Peter Logan, John Dugdale and myself guided Philly through under 16, minor, under 21 and into senior football. Philly represented Leitrim at all underage levels and was acknowledged as one of the best young talents in the Provence when he was selected on the Connaught under 17 team to tour Australia in 2001.

The study was not neglected and after attending the local national school the three Mc Guinness brothers attended Drumshanbo Vocational school where their father was a brilliant and much loved science teacher. Here Philly continued his football prowess and also became a very accomplished volleyball player winning all Ireland titles with his school. Philly later attended Dublin Institute of Technology and qualified as an Engineer and for a number of years has been a valuable employee of Mercury Engineering based in Belmullet.

You might ask what qualities made Philly such a great player?
Simply he was a born player, a natural, extremely skillful, had perfected all the skills, an excellent two sided player and he had speed, agility, quickness, balance and good vision and was a tremendously brave competitor, displaying a never say die attitude.

I spoke briefly to the Leitrim team manager Mickey Moran and suggested to him that Philly was a coach's dream, Mickey replied
"You know you'd hardly know Philly was in the dressing room, but was transformed when he entered the playing arena"

Philly had a wonderful attitude and the more intensity there was in training the more Philly reveled in it. He was totally dedicated to his training and made the twice weekly journey

Grant me, O Lord, a footballer's skill
With strength of arm and speed of limb.
Unerring eye for the flying ball
And courage to match them what ere befall.
May my aim be steady, my stroke be true,
My actions many, my mistakes few;
And no matter what way the game may go
May I part in friendship with every foe.
When the final whistle for me is blown
And I stand at last at God's judgements throne,
May the referee when he calls my name
Say, 'You played like a man;
You played the Game'.

1) New York City has 11 letters


2) Afghanistan has 11 letters.


3) Ramsin Yuseb (The terrorist who threatened to destroy the Twin Towers
in 1993) has 11 letters.


4) George W Bush has 11 letters.


This could be a mere coincidence, but this gets more interesting:


1) New York is the 11th state.


2) The first plane crashing against the Twin Towers was flight number 11.


3) Flight 11 was carrying 92 passengers. 9 + 2 = 11


4) Flight 77 which also hit Twin Towers, was carrying 65 passengers. 6+5
= 11


5) The tragedy was on September 11, or 9/11 as it is now known. 9 + 1+ 1
= 11


6) The date is equal to the US emergency services telephone number 911. 9
+ 1 + 1 = 11


Sheer coincidence..?! Read on and make up your own mind:


1) The total number of victims inside all the hi-jacked planes was 254. 2
+ 5 + 4 = 11.


2) September 11 is day number 254 of the calendar year. Again 2 + 5 + 4 =
11


3) The Madrid bombing took place on 3/11/2004. 3 + 1 + 1 + 2 + 4 = 11.


4) The tragedy of Madrid happened 911 days after the Twin Towers
incident.


Now this is where things get totally eerie:


The most recognised symbol for the US, after the Stars & Stripes, is the
Eagle.


The following verse is taken from the Quran, the Islamic holy book:

"For it is written that a son of Arabia would awaken a fearsome Eagle.
The wrath of the Eagle would be felt throughout the lands of Allah and
lo, while some of the people trembled in despair still more rejoiced: for
the wrath of the Eagle cleansed the lands of Allah and there was peace."


That verse is number 9.11 of the Quran.



Still uncovinced about all of this..?! Try this and see how
you feel afterwards, it made my hair stand on end:


OPEN MICROSOFT WORD AND DO THE FOLLOWING:


1. Type in capitals Q33 NY. This is the flight number of the first plane
to hit one of the Twin Towers.


2. Highlight the Q33 NY.


3. Change the font size to 48.


4. Change the actual font to the WINGDINGS


What do you think now?!!