By Diarmuid Sherry
A father is hoping to raise funds through clubs and groups, organising a two-day charity walk from Mullingar to Maynooth in memory of his son. Andrew McGinley will lead around 100 people who will start the walk on the Royal Canal pathway on 20 April as part of the As Darragh Did charity. Darragh McKinley died tragically in January, 2020 along with his siblings Conor and Carla.
His father, Andrew, said: “I do three projects in memory of my three children. The three promises are based on promises I made before they died.”
“For Darragh, he was involved in everything and I promised him I would get involved in coaching his football team. When he died, I thought what could I do in memory of Darragh and I thought if we set up a charity with clubs and community groups to get people involved as Darragh did because he was involved in everything.”
“It would be a good way to remember him. That is what we do. We fund community clubs and groups across the country to help get people involved.”
Several clubs in Mullingar have been beneficiaries of the As Darragh Did charity since its inception.
Andrew said: “To date, we have helped over 130 clubs at this time across the country and particularly around Mullingar. We have helped the Mullingar Handball Club. We have helped the 1428 Retirement group in Mullingar. We did the Karate club in Mullingar, the Mullingar Cricket Club and we also did the Town Band. There has been quite a number of projects.
“This is our first walk so we are capping the numbers at 100 people. It’s going to be 30km from Mullingar to Longwood and then onto Maynooth. A number of Darragh’s friends will join us too.”
“We are on a fundraising drive at the moment. People will be able to find us on ‘iDonate’ and all funds will go to worthy causes across the country including Mullingar.”
