A fine sporting spirit that transcends county bounds

Pauric Mahony held fragile hope in his hands. Kilkenny and Waterford stood, battle-weary, on the cusp of the All-Ireland final last year when Mahony faced a last-minute free. His delivery was answering prayers until Eoin Murphy reached above the Kilkenny crossbar to pluck it from the sky. And hope melted away in the Déise camp.

What followed would become an iconic sporting moment. As Mahony lay buckled with emotion on the Semple Stadium turf, a girl in a Kilkenny jersey made her way across the field. All around her, black and amber-clad players and crew hugged and roared and celebrated with joy. But Jennifer Malone only had eyes for heartbroken Mahony. Images of her attempts to comfort him went global. But there was more to the story than that. Jennifer, a Kildare native, has a love of sport that goes, as her mother says “way beyond county boundaries.”

Jennifer, who was born with Down Syndrome, had a tough start in life.