ARDARA GAA club has paid a moving tribute to Tomás Maguire today on its website www.ardaragaa.ie.
It comes as police and the coroner in Western Australia complete their inquiries into his death.
Mr Maguire was 24. He died when the truck he was driving crashed on Monday morning as he was doing an errand on the farm where he worked.
The GAA club’s article is reproduced here:
CLG Ard an Ratha and indeed the entire extended community of South West Donegal is this week trying to come to terms with the loss of one of its most popular and special possessions, Tomás Maguire.
Tomás (24), who had only recently departed to Australia, died on Tuesday morning when the Holden Rodeo pick up truck he was driving rolled over in Wickepin, about 214km south-east of Perth.
Since news of the tragedy broke, tributes have poured in via his Facebook page from those who knew him both at home and abroad. A supremely talented athlete, it was on the GAA field where he excelled.
As well as his native Ardara, he also starred for Donegal Boston a few short years ago and many of the posts to his social site are from pals he made stateside. He was a ball of mischievous banter, but there was never any malice in his fun and it was never at anyone else’s expense… he truly was a great friend to the masses.
Tenacious, determined, and to borrow someone else’s words this week, “he possessed the heart of a lion”. For a young man, he didn’t suffer fools and he called it how he saw it, honestly and to the point.
He was a natural – in terms of athletic base and the ability to just roll up and deliver each and every game he turned out for his club – he was second to none. Such was his talent, the Donegal management team of Jim McGuinness and Rory Gallagher were keen to get him involved in their set-up earlier this year. But his thirst for adventure and new experiences was always going to win that tug-o-war.
Tomás enjoyed himself too, no doubt. And he was always the centre of attention during the many sessions and get-togethers with family and friends over the years. Even when his stories weren’t as humorous as he thought (which wasn’t very often), you still ended up buckled over in convulsions as he attempted to get the words out through his own fits of hysterics!
Whenever the players were verbally chastised for any weekend overindulgences by the managers of various Ardara sides down through the years, Tomás, with fag in mouth and a wink of the eye, was the only one relishing the punishment that was sure to follow on the way out the door and on to the training field.
Having played little or no organised soccer as a youngster, he decided to turn out for nearby Eany Celtic last season. Immediately, he caught the eye of manager Denis Gorman and trainer Declan Boyle who knew straight away that they’d stumbled upon a gem.
Ninety minutes up and down the line was a doddle to him, and it made you wonder what he could have achieved on that alternative field of play had he warmed to it at an earlier juncture.
This is a huge blow to so many and it’s hard to comprehend at this moment, that we’ll never see that cheeky grin again, or, in this life time at least.
To his parents, Eunan and Eileen, brothers Eunan and Darryl, and sisters, Tara and Claire and to family and many friends, CLG Ard an Ratha expresses its deepest sympathies. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.
