Tracey relieved he didn’t miss out on Greencastle’s special day

In this week’s Gaelic Life, we have a special feature on the Greencastle team which won the All-Ireland Junior Championship title in 2007 including interviews with Sean Teague, Collie Tuohey and Barry Tracey.

While it’s mostly a feel-good story, there’s some poignancy as well as it was Barry’s last championship match for Greencastle.

Unfortunately, he was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma the following year, which effectively ended his career,but he’s just relieved that he was there for Greencastle’s most famous day.

“Unfortunately that’s where it ended for me. I’d lost my place on the senior team afterwards as I was fatigued, the All-Ireland took a lot out of me, and then I’d a very different journey ahead of me and I ended up getting a stem cell transplant in 2009.

“I remember when I saw the Hematologist Dr McNicholl, the first thing he said to me when he saw my Greencastle top was ‘did you play on the team that won the All-Ireland?’”

“It was a great way to finish my playing career. I tried to make a comeback but I didn’t have the same power.

“It sums it up for me that my father didn’t say congratulations or well done after we won, he just said ‘thanks’. It meant to much for someone like him who was steeped in Greencastle football for decades.”

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