History being lost as alleys fade from view

IT WASN’T a hugely significant handball tournament but that didn’t matter to the two NFL stars who had travelled all the way to Seattle to lend their support to Eric Plummer in January, 2004.

Six thousand miles from the birthplace of Cavan’s Paul Brady, Jake Plummer, then a quarterback at the Denver Broncos, was cheering on his brother alongside his former team-mate at Arizona State and the Arizona Cardinals, Pat Tillman.

Tillman had actually quit the NFL in the spring of 2002 to join the army, caught up in the wave of patriotism sparked by 9/11. That night in Seattle, he was on leave from Afghanistan and was catching up with his buddy from college Saturdays and pro football Sundays. Three months later, he was killed by ‘friendly fire’.