Fitting tribute to Michaela

Ulster GAA President Aogan O’Fearghail has thanked the 18,662 supporters who came to Casement Park on Saturday night to watch Donegal vs Ulster at the Match for Michaela.

Among the guests were First Minister Peter Robinson MLA, deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness MLA, Sports Minister Caral Ni Chuilin MLA, SDLP Leader, Alasdair McDonald MP MLA, Ulster and Ireland Rugby legends David Humphries and Trevor Ringland and Olympic Boxing Medallist Paddy Barns.

Eamonn Holmes, Paddy Kielty and Ardal O’Hanlon all recorded video messages of support which were shown on the big screen at the Stadium during the game while Northern Ireland Manager Michael O’Neill and Derry All-Ireland winner Joe Brolly also sent endorsement messages before the game.

Ulster won the game by a goal with the final score being Ulster 2-12 Donegal 1-12. Major band More Power to Your Elbow rocked the stadium before the game while Janet Devlin sang while the players entered the pitch.

The Ulster GAA President said: “I would like to express my deep thanks to everyone who attended Casement for the Match it was a wonderful event that will live on in peoples memories, touching, classy and exciting Michaela would have been very proud. I would like to thank Mickey Harte, John McAreavey and Mark Harte for their outstanding work over the last eight weeks as leading members of the Match for Michaela organising Committee and I would also like to thank the Ulster GAA team under the dedicated leadership of Danny Murphy supported by Ryan Feeney who did outstanding job in pulling together all the arrangements over the last eight weeks.

“Finally I would like to thank Joe Kernan and the Ulster squad for their commitment to this project and Jim McGuinness and the players and officials of Donegal GAA for their fantastic support. I would ask that people continue to show their support to the Michaea Foundation which has done wonderful work and has big plans for the future”

Donations can still be made on the Michael Foundation web-site www.themichaelafoundation.com