Big weekend for Hoops
2010-03-07, 11:48:48
SATURDAY: Donegal Celtic 3 Ards 3 - Ladbrokes.com Championship at Celtic Park, 3pm
SUNDAY: Sean Armstrong Tribute Match: Donegal Celtic 2003 vs Coleraine 2003 at Celtic Park, Sunday from 1pm
Sean Armstrong will be honoured today in a tribute game between Donegal Celtic's 2003 Steel and Sons Cup winning side and Coleraine's 2003 Irish Cup winning team. The game will include a number of guest stars - among them Jim Magilton, Mark Draper, Phillip Mulryne and Russell Beardsmore.
Sean Armstrong will dedicate all funds raised from his tribute match on Sunday to a young mother in need of an urgent cancer-fighting operation.
Armstrong was touched when he read about 22-year-old Bronagh Wilson's fight against brain cancer. She was diagnosed shortly after her son Daniel was born 10 weeks premature a year ago. Friends and family of the west-Belfast woman recently set-up the Bronagh Wilson Trust with an aim to raise £50,000 for private therapy programmes.
The 2003 Coleraine team is to be managed once again by ex-boss Marty Quinn. A full day of entertainment on and off the pitch is planned to help boost the Bronagh Wilson Trust. Normally such a game would line the pockets of the celebrated player but Armstrong, also Irish Cup winner with Glentoran, said: "The boys at Donegal Celtic came up with the idea of playing a game in recognition of my career and I think it's a great idea. It will be great to see the 2003 Coleraine side back together again."
He added: "I wouldn't have been comfortable taking money from a game that people put effort into as a means of saying ‘well done, you had a good career'. "I told the guys at Donegal Celtic that I had read Bronagh's story and wanted to help her. There's a lot of good people around her doing their best to raise money to help her fight against cancer and I think it's great that the local football community can help."
Donegal Celtic manager Pat McAllister, who was Coleraine's skipper in that historic cup final win over Glentoran, will also feature for his former club.
Prior to the main game at 2pm, Coleraine youth club Bertie Peacock U10s will face Donegal Celtic's U10 at 1pm. Admission to the game and after match entertainment is £5.
Picture: Sean Armstrong and staff from sponsors The Chip Company
