Eileen Hennessy (RIP) sadly passed away on 3rd of February 2025. It is almost exactly a half century since Eileen , her brother Martin Behan (RIP) and son Michael (RIP) took over the Stirrup Bar. The photo below shows a youthful Eileen and Martin at the Stirrup opening party in January 1975. Since then, Eileen and the Hennessy family, have been among the club’s biggest supporters. The Stirrup Bar has been the venue for, and main-prize sponsor of, our annual Christmas Draw for a significant portion of the time since (a tradition carried on by Lorcan Hennessy since the closing of the Stirrup).
For the majority of draws in the past half century, it has been common for Eileen to be present on the night and draw the lucky winner. On one such occasion she even managed to draw herself out first! However, any notion of irregularities or the draw being ‘rigged’ are easily negated. As well as supplying the prize, the Hennessy family bought and sold thousands of Christmas Draw tickets, club lotto tickets, county board tickets and any other fundraising events over a long period. The Stirrup Lounge was also provided for club committee meetings for quite a number of years. With such involvement, it is only fair to get lucky once!
Eileen was also present at many other club events held both in the Stirrup and elsewhere (fundraising events in the Commons for example). With Michael’s illness and premature passing, Covid 19 and the subsequent closing of the Stirrup, social meetings with Eileen have not been frequent in recent times. However, she will be fondly remembered in the community and in White’s Cross GAA for a long time to come. Ar dheis de go raibh a anam uasal