Charity walk remembers much-missed Aghyaran footballer

A CHARITY climb amid the spectacular scenery of Donegal’s Bluestack Mountains was held at the weekend in memory of a much-missed Aghyaran man.

Joe Gallen was an incredibly popular member of his community, earning much of his good reputation during an illustrious soccer career that saw him play with both Killygordon’s Curragh Athletic FC and Aghyaran’s Blane Rovers.

Sadly, Joe passed away earlier this year after being diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND).

On Saturday, his friends, family and former teammates took part in the ‘Climb Barnes for Joe’ event, which was organised as part of a wider fundraising initiative headed up by former RTÉ journalist, Charlie Bird, who was
recently diagnosed with MND himself.

Charlie, along with his friends, family and supporters, climbed Croagh Patrick on Saturday, and he encouraged people across Ireland to join him in spirit by organising their own concurrent walks to raise money for two charities close to his heart – the Irish Motor Neurone Disease Association and Pieta, Ireland’s national suicide prevention charity.