ONE of Dan Quirke’s fondest memories of his son Dillon is from their 2017 trip to New Zealand.
That summer, Warren Gatland‘s British & Irish Lions battled the All Blacks in a three-Test series.
The series was eventually drawn 1-1 after the Lions lost the first Test, won the second, and drew the third.
Eleven Ireland internationals were part of Gatland’s panel, which was cheered on by a sizeable cohort of travelling Irish fans.
Among them were the two Quirkes, ardent Munster Rugby supporters who had made the trip in search of an unforgettable summer.
Dan Quirke explained to the Irish Sun: “Dillon was such an amazing young man. He really, really was. He was mad about all sports.
“We personally travelled to New Zealand with the Lions in 2017.
“We were huge Manchester United supporters. We were Munster supporters and Ireland rugby supporters.
“We travelled all over Europe to follow Munster.
“I spent three weeks in 2017 with Dillon which was amazing. We were like brothers, not father and son, and we were best friends.”
Those are the kind of memories cherished all the more following Dillon’s untimely and tragic death in 2022.
The 24-year-old died of Sudden Adult Death Syndrome during a hurling match for his club Clonoulty-Rossmore at Semple Stadium that August.
A rising star in Tipperary hurling, his passing was felt far and wide and led to his family launching the Dillon Quirke Foundation.
The organisation’s ultimate goal is to ensure every young athlete between the ages of 14 and 17 get cardiac screening.
It serves a dual purpose. First of all, it raises awareness of sudden adult death syndrome, which kills 100 people in Ireland every year.
Meanwhile, it has also been providing an avenue through which the Quirke family could process their own grief.
Dan said: “We started it because we were obviously in shock at the time after Dillon.
“We had such a huge outcry of support from all the country, not just in Tipperary and Munster but all over the country and outside the country.
“We got an introduction to AMS [Advanced Medical Services] in Cork and then we started to screen. It has been mighty since.
“I think my wife Hazel and our two daughters Shannon and Kelly, they stay in the background. They find it difficult because it is full on.
“I am at it full-time now since I sold our business and I am giving my life to make sure that we can make it mandatory in time but definitely, as a healing process, I find it a huge solace.
“From time to time, I get calls from parents thanking us for starting the foundation and sometimes they are in tears.
“We can’t bring Dillon back and we miss him hugely but the next big thing is to be able to help somebody else and help other parents and help other young kids.
“Unfortunately, we are losing two lives a week and I do a lot with the first responders on the ground. They are telling us that it is getting worse so look, it is so important to get screened.
“We all want our kids playing sport, we all love sport. In the GAA, we buy our kids a hurley, we buy a helmet and surely it is cost effective to get the kids screened.
“When you can save lives, I think all sports should be doing it.”
“He was an amazing young man and nobody has a bad story about him. He was a great role model to our own parish here in Clonoulty and all over Tipperary.”
Dan wants Ireland to follow the lead set by Italy.
Italian law mandates that every competitive athlete must undergo annual pre-participation evaluation to identify cardiovascular diseases that pose a risk of sudden death during sport and other conditions that may threaten the athlete’s health.
Such checks were made mandatory by law in 1982 and has led to incidents of SADS dropping to as little as 0.24 per 10,000 people in 2021.
Working towards that goal, the Dillon Quirke Foundation facilitated the screening of over 10,000 young athletes between the ages of 14 and 17 last year.
This week, it partnered with Cycling Ireland to screen young cycling athletes from the Munster region in Killarney, Co Kerry.
Some 45 athletes were screened on July 10 at St Oliver’s Primary School, followed by another 45 on July 11, with tests overseen by advanced medical services.
The Foundation facilitates screenings every day from July 1, with the exception of Sundays, to take advantage of the school summer holidays.
And Dan Quirke stressed the need for parents to embrace the message, as well as their kids.
He added: “The cohort we are dealing with mainly is 14 to 17 so it really comes down to the parents.
“Once the kid reaches 18 and is an adult, they are not inclined to get these done because they don’t feel they need to but, as parents, we want to look after our kids as best we can.
“At the minute, it is probably 70:30 males against females but we hope that the female side of it is building and we are delighted to do that.
“It seems to be athletes who are prepared diligently and trained to high levels. It seems to be a problem more for them.
“We have got to keep getting the message across of, ‘please get screened’. That is our message.
“If we can’t do it because we have a waiting list, we will help in any way possible to make sure it is done.
“With SADS, losing two lives a week, generally you don’t get a notification. There are no symptoms. It can just happen.
“What we have been hearing from cardiologists, if you do 45 minutes of sport as a young athlete or a young kid between 14 and 17, they should be screened.
“I go around and I speak in schools and try to get as much information out as possible.
“I actually find young boys and girls much more appreciative of what we are doing and they are much more active about getting done themselves.
“I think our young adolescents nowadays are brilliant people and they can see it better than my generation. I find that great and I find they are doing their best.
“They all want to be healthy. We all want them to play sport but surely the first thing you do is make sure they are safe to play.”
SADS is not the only issue at play.
Quirke added: “We find it is not just heart health; we find kids could have blood pressure, they could have diabetes.
“There are many different things which is not just heart issues but that is the big thing for us.
“It is non-invasive and takes 15 minutes and it is changing lives. I would imagine it is in double digits, the number of lives we have saved to date.
“We know it works and it is so important that people know that screening makes a difference.”
ON THEIR MINDS
Dillon Quirke’s memory and legacy has taken on more poignancy after Tipperary made it to their first All-Ireland hurling final since 2019.
The starlet won All-Ireland medals at minor and under-21 in 2016 and 2018 before making his senior Tipp debut against Limerick in January 2020.
He played all of the Premier’s games in the Munster hurling championship in 2022.
Dillon’s final appearance was the 3-31 to 2-22 defeat to Clare in May; less than three months before his tragic passing.
Craig Morgan, who had met Quirke for a coffee the day before that fateful afternoon in August, revealed he was on Tipperary’s minds before the All-Ireland semi-final win over Kilkenny.
And dad Dan believes his son will be looking down on Liam Cahill’s men when they face Cork with Liam MacCarthy on the line.
He said: “I was speaking to different people over the last number of weeks. Now with Tipperary being in the All-Ireland final we are back in the limelight.
“If you watch Dillon in 2022 when he played every minute of the Championship with Tipperary, Dillon had a smile on his face.
“Any picture you see of Dillon playing, he had a smile on his face and there are not many guys who do that, to be honest.
“He was an amazing young man and nobody has a bad story about him. He was a great role model to our own parish here in Clonoulty and all over Tipperary.
“I meet his county teammates on a regular basis and they tell me how much they miss him and how good he was around the place.
“I think they carry a photo of Dillon with them and I am sure he will be with them in spirit on the All-Ireland final and hopefully things will go good for Tipperary.”
