Former Fermanagh team mates express condolences for O’Brien

FERMANAGH GAA is in mourning after former intercounty player Shane O’Brien was killed in a car accident abroad on Tuesday.

The Erne Gaels clubman was a gifted footballer at underage level, starring for the Fermanagh team as they reached the Ulster Championship minor final in 2003.

He also won a MacRory Cup title for St Michael’s Enniskillen and was a key player in Erne Gaels’ run to the Fermanagh Senior Championship title in 2008, as well as representing Ireland U-17s in the International Rules.

He played for the Fermanagh senior intercounty team for a short time as well, but he decided that he had another calling and moved to Geneva for a career with the UN Refugee Agency.

A former student of St Davog’s Primary School, Oxford Brooke University (where he studied Law and French) and Dublin City University (completing a Masters in International Relations), he found work with the Division of International Protection.

He didn’t entirely give up his love of Gaelic Football, playing in various tournaments across Europe with the Geneva Gaels Gaelic Football team.

In a 2013 interview, he said that Belleek is “a great part of the world” but that “unfortunately at home there are simply no jobs in my area or at least very few that are similar.”

Tributes poured in from former teammates of his, including Fermanagh legend Ryan McCluskey who said: “Another life taken too Soon. Had the pleasure of playing alongside this young man. A gentleman and brilliant man. Condolences to Shane’s family and Erne Gaels clubmates.”

Another Fermanagh footballer, Tomas Corrigan, also passed on his condolences: “Awfully sad news about the passing of Shane O’Brien. Won a MacRory Cup for St Michaels, played for Fermanagh then went off to work for the UN making a real difference in the world. Ar dheis de go raibh a anam, Rest In Peace.”