Ah lovely 
The death of Dillon Quirke: âI tried to comfort him in his final momentsâ
independent.ie | October 22, 2022 02:30 AM
Morgan and Quirke may have been in opposition that night as Kilruane MacDonaghs and Clonoulty-Rossmore clashed, but they were bosom buddies outside the white lines and they even met for coffee the previous day in the Thurles cafe Sos Beag.
With Tipp colleague Conor Stakelum also present and no doubt stirring the pot a little, the pair were slagging about who was going to get the better of who the next day.
âWe were just chatting away about different things and slagging each other about the match,â Morgan tells independent.ie. âWe knew we were going to be marking each other so he was saying to me, âOh Iâm looking forward to snapping a few balls over your head now tomorrowâ.
âIt was a bit of friendly banter and we were slagging each other over and back. Nobody could have prepared themselves for what was going to happen the following evening, it was just one of them things that you canât really put into words.â
Along with Stakelum and other Tipp players Ronan Maher, Michael Breen, Paddy Cadell, Mark Kehoe and Enda Heffernan, Morgan and Quirke had visited the Croatian island of Hvar just the previous month but that holiday felt like a distant memory when things took a devastating turn on the pitch.
Quirke, who was playing full-forward, had just set up Clonoulty-Rossmore team-mate Jimmy Maher for his first championship goal to take the lead when tragedy struck and the 24-year-old hit the ground.
Rivalries were immediately put to one side with Morgan straight onto the scene to comfort his fallen friend as he knelt beside him offering any assistance he could in Quirkeâs hour of need.
âIt all happened very fast,â Morgan reflects. âI suppose instincts just kind of kicked in. I wasnât really thinking at all, it was just acting in the moment. I didnât really realise that things were getting very serious until a couple of minutes later.
âI was just trying to comfort him in the moment and then the Order of Malta and a couple of other people came in. Things happen for a reason maybe, I was after meeting him the day before and then I was with him as well on the field.
âIt was nice to be with him at that time to comfort him when he was there. He was after having a fantastic year with Tipperary as well and for a thing like that to happen in Semple Stadium . . . I suppose it doesnât happen to too many people, too many legends, in Semple Stadium to finish like that with your club jersey on and your helmet and your boots on.
âItâs something thatâs hard to wrap your head around, but we have so many positive memories with Dillon. We were on holidays with Dillon even a month beforehand and some of the best memories that I have were on that holiday with Dillon.â
Morgan and Quirke bonded over their love of the blue and gold while winning an All-Ireland U-21 title with Tipp under Liam Cahill in 2018 before making their senior championship debuts together earlier this year and the 23-year-old speaks with such reverence for him.
âI suppose we sat beside each other in the dressing-room for every game, I was number four and he was five. We made the debut together and played our last game together against Cork then as well, so itâs something I treasure,â Morgan says.
âTheyâre great memories for me to have played beside him and sat beside him in the dressing-room before Munster Championship games. It was a great honour for me to play beside him and it was special to experience, all of that with him.
âI know even from talking to Dillon, that was all he ever wanted to do and it meant a huge amount for him to break into that Tipp team as well so it was great to be able to experience that with him.
âHe just seeped honesty and trust. Even playing beside him, you felt that bit of trust that you were going to be OK if he was near you. A fella who was 6ft4 and 90kg or whatever, but he was a gentle type of a person as well.
âIt wasnât like he was big and scary, he was big but he was a gent and he was kind. Even listening to the Clonoulty lads talking about him and how much they looked up to him and heâs 24 years of age . . . you canât say that about too many people that they are that big of a leader in their club at that age.
âDillon was close to everyone, he got on with everyone. There was nobody that he didnât really get on with. He was just one of those people that could get on with anyone, whether they were older or younger, he just had that charm about him.â
Expand Close Craig Morgan of Tipperary / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Craig Morgan of Tipperary
Morgan has no hesitation in saying that he âtreated Dillon like familyâ and while they wonât share the pitch together again, or swap jokes off it, the Kilruane MacDonaghs defender will never allow Quirkeâs flame to die.
âItâs a tragedy, but heâll never be forgotten,â Morgan says. âItâs just hard to believe and we still tell stories about Dillon all of the time. Itâs hard to believe that youâd never see someone you become so close to again.
âEven the Kilruane group are after becoming very close with the Clonoulty squad since that and even with the Quirke family. I wouldnât have known the family that well but Iâm after becoming very close with them since, especially his dad Dan.
âThere have been special bonds that have been formed since that and they wonât be broken either. Thereâs great memories and thereâs great stories about Dillon. Heâll never be forgotten and this championship will definitely be remembered for him as well.â
Morgan has found himself in a strange position in recent months. After eventually picking up the hurl again after Quirkeâs death, he was hit with a cruciate knee ligament injury that has forced him to the sidelines.
It would have seemed far-fetched that Kilruane MacDonaghs could prosper without one of their finest players, but the Cloughjordan outfit have put right plenty of recent wrongs en route to a first Tipp SHC final appearance in 36 years.
That 1985 success came as defending All-Ireland club champions and itâs hardly believable that they have been unable to scale the heights since club legend Len Gaynor managed them to the Premier summit and beyond.
Morgan may not be able to have a direct impact on the pitch against North Tipperary rivals Kiladangan, but heâll do his best in his role of motivator while the exploits of the club are having a positive effect on him during the early stages of his rehabilitation following surgery under Ray Moran last month.
âMy leg will be fine, Iâm just trying to focus on the lads and the parish and playing a different role to help get them over the line. Thatâs all Iâm really focusing on and itâs helping me get through rehab by going in and meeting the boys. Iâm just trying to play some positive part in the panel.â
Expand Close Brothers in arms: Craig Morgan and Dillon Quirke / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Brothers in arms: Craig Morgan and Dillon Quirke
The white and black is up all over the parish with Morgan, who has just commenced the second year of his Hibernia primary teaching degree, right in the thick of it in his placement with Kilruane National School.
Morgan, the first All-Ireland U-20-winning captain having led Tipp to the top in 2019, can see a pep in everyoneâs step having overcome a semi-final hurdle which has caught them out in recent times.
With club legends like SĂŠamus Hennessy and player/coach Brian âBuggyâ OâMeara to the fore, Kilruane are on the brink of history having really come good this year under the guidance of Liam OâKelly, father of forward Kian, and Morganâs dad Christy.
They are a âtight familyâ with the club the centre of the community and Quirkeâs passing has given them an appreciation of the bigger picture outside of hurling.
Expand Close Dillon Quirke pictured after Tipperaryâs league game with Kilkenny in February this year. Photo: Sportsfile / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Dillon Quirke pictured after Tipperaryâs league game with Kilkenny in February this year. Photo: Sportsfile
âSome people say that hurling mightnât be everything but it is everything in another sense, if that makes sense. Youâre going and meeting your friends three or four times a week and weâre really after coming together the last two years,â he says.
âWeâve shown that on the field a bit more this year too. Naturally when tragedies like that happen, you take a step back and you realise that weâre all in this together, weâre all best friends, weâre playing with each other and nobody knows what lies ahead for anybody.
âIt takes the pressure off even on Sunday that itâs a game of hurling, something that weâre able to experience together and something that lads shouldnât forget either. Thatâs the way you have to think about it.
âItâs a privilege to still be able to do that and experience these things with your friends and your family and your parish. It takes the pressure of winning or losing away.â
Win, lose or draw, Dillon Quirke will be in the minds of everyone at Semple Stadium tomorrow. None more so than Morgan
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Yeah. Was watching it. They should buy the goalie a few pints.
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Kilruane winning all the mini battles but have a few poor wides
Some goal Jerome
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Kiladangan got a soft one there, was wide
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A joke
Whatâs the story with Cahill again? Is the religious lad?
Ah, was tight. You wouldnât say umpires made that purpose in bad mindedness
Jehovah
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He looks like a pig ignorant fucker though to be fair
Awful positioning by the umpires clearly wide
Ah fuck sake
Fuck sake Morgan
Kilruane running on fumes now
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Some score Niall
They need a black card in hurling.
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Niall 
Free in is not sufficient punishment for that when you consider what James Owens did in the GG few years ago