A school boy who was "besotted" with Gaelic football and dreamed of playing for his county has died after he became ill at a football training session in Drumquin, Co Tyrone.
Patrick Breen (10), from the nearby parish of Dregish, was training with his team-mates from Michael Cusack's GAA club on Tuesday evening when he suddenly became ill. A doctor treated him at the scene. A defibrillator was used to try to revive him but he was pronounced dead by the time an ambulance brought him to the Erne Hospital in Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh.
Patrick was the second youngest of six children of Francis and Jacqueline Breen and was due to sit his 11-plus transfer test in November. He was a final year P7 pupil of the two-teacher, 25-pupil local Envagh primary school. Teachers and pupils there were in a state of shock yesterday.
"He was a pleasure to teach; he was just a great wee cub," said school principal Orla Duffy.
"He was so popular and so kind to other children. His younger brother was due to start school next Monday and Patrick was so excited and looking forward to bringing him to the school."
"The children here are heartbroken. We brought them to Mass today and just gave them time to try to deal with their thoughts and their sadness.
"Patrick was looking forward to doing his transfer test. He had one ambition: to get into the Christian Brothers school in Omagh so he could play for the school team, and then get picked to play for Tyrone."
Fr Colm O'Doherty, assistant parish priest and chaplain to Envagh school, said Patrick was a "star footballer who was besotted" with Gaelic football.
"He was a great lad, very popular . . . It is very sad for everyone, for his parents and the community."
Fr O'Doherty said the local community was already rallying around the Breen family and providing support. "The neighbours are preparing the area, getting everything ready for his funeral," he said.
In recent years tragedy has struck the extended Breen family. A schoolboy cousin of Patrick, Mark Breen (10), died from a brain haemorrhage while another cousin of a different family, Mary Breen (16), died in a traffic accident.
Fr O'Doherty said there was a further poignancy in that Patrick's death and his love of Tyrone football prompted memories of the death of Tyrone footballer, Cormac McAnallen. The 24-year-old All-Ireland medallist died in his sleep in his home in March 2004 from an undetected heart condition.
Since Mr McAnallen's death Tyrone has led the way in providing defibrillators. The Cormac Trust, set up after the player's death, has as its main objective the provision of the machines to communities within the county. It has supplied 54 defibrillators and trained 350 people to use them.
A postmortem will be held today to try to establish the cause of the young boy's death.
Drumquin Sinn Féin councillor Frankie Donnelly said people in the area and in west Tyrone were "completely numbed by the terrible tragedy that has befallen the Breen family".
"The plight of the family is utmost in the thoughts and prayers of everyone at this time. The Breen family are no strangers to tragedy and this has made the situation all the more heart-rending," he said.
