Ballinagh player supports community amid difficult times

By Niall Gartland

IT’S fair to say that Ballinagh player Stephen Pepper has gone beyond the call of duty in doing his bit for the commnunity in response to the Coronavirus pandemic.

Not only is Pepper delivering groceries to people in the community who are unable to leave their house in the evenings and weekends, but he also organised a food distribution centre which took place in Ballinagh’s Community Centre on Tuesday night.

Ballinagh’s Twitter and Facebook pages have publicised Pepper’s fine efforts, but their club chairman Noel Delaney says it’s important that elderly members of the community, who may not have access to such channels, are aware of what he is offering.

“Stephen works for a company called ApexFire, who basically do fire alarms and extinguishers and things like that, and he’s using one of their vans to deliver groceries.

“The important thing from our perspective is that everyone knows about this. A lot of the people who need help the most aren’t on Twitter and Facebook so it’s up to everyone else to contact those people and make them aware that the club will bring them anything they need.”

Chairperson Delaney said one of the very real concerns about the axe on GAA activity is the effects on people’s mental health, even though he appreciates the necessity of social distancing during these uncertain times.

“Everyone’s putting a major emphasis on the physical effects of the Coronavirus, but a lot of emphasis should be put on the mental side of things.

“Between our seniors and reserves we have 30 or 35 players, they’ve gone from training and playing flat out to doing nothing, and it’s the same for every club in the country.

“Lads have been playing football since they were 10 and have maybe been on the senior team for a decade, training three or four times a week, then it’s all taken away.

“I know everyone has bigger worries but it’s a big change in mindset as there’s no mixing with other lads or training.

“Even from my own point of view it’s a big change from being at the club grounds maybe five nights a week, and it’s hard to get away from it.”