Tag Archives: Donncha O’Callaghan

A moment which represents an iconic day when sport transcended politics – the 2007 victory for Ireland in an unforgettable rugby clash with England in Croke Park – will be unveiled in a stunning sculpture at Shannon Airport on Friday. The 6 metre piece, titled ‘The day That Changed Ireland’ , captures a famous Irish line-out that saw rugby legend Paul O’Connell, raised by teammates John Hayes and Donncha O’Callaghan, in the second half of the treasured game and will stand in the airport terminal building for future generations to savour. The sculpture is a representation of a photograph by Irish Times photographer Cyril Byrne, an image that has already been captured in an official An Post stamp. The 2007 game stands out as one of the great Irish moments of the new millennium, marking a symbolic new chapter in Anglo-Irish relations as Ireland and England met for the first time in any sport at the home of GAA. The …

As part of the Change for Good campaign, Aer Lingus has this week launched a special collection on all flights to raise funds for UNICEF’s Syrian appeal. Change for Good is the UNICEF in-flight collection of unused foreign notes and coins to raise funds for vulnerable children around the world. As the conflict in Syria enters its fifth year, 14 million children are in need of humanitarian support, making this the single biggest humanitarian crisis since World War Two. The situation of more than 5.6 million children inside Syria remains the most desperate. Almost two million Syrian children have fled and are living as refugees most of them in Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan. The scale of this crisis is unprecedented; the total number of Syrian children in need of assistance is 15 times what it was in 2012. UNICEF Ireland Executive Director, Peter Power said, “While visiting the Syrian-Lebanese border, I witnessed first hand the appalling and inhumane conditions in …