Latest news with #StPatrick'sPrimarySchool
BBC News
18-04-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Rory McIlroy: Masters champion arrives back in Northern Ireland
Rory McIlroy has arrived back in Northern Ireland after his recent Masters title win at Augusta.A private jet touched down at George Best Belfast City Airport on Friday, as reported by Belfast completed the Grand Slam in golf on Sunday, winning the Masters in dramatic fashion in a play-off at parents Gerry and Rosie did not attend his emotional win and he has returned to Northern Ireland for a private visit. Holding back tears before he was helped into the Green Jacket by last year's winner Scottie Scheffler, McIlroy said: "I want to say hello to mum and dad back in Northern Ireland. I can't wait to see them next week and can't wait to celebrate with them." Where did Rory McIlroy spend his childhood? McIlroy was schooled in Holywood - he first attended St Patrick's Primary School before moving on to Sullivan Upper passion for the sport grew from his father, a keen golfer, who took him to the golf course in his local course, Holywood Golf Club, is on the slopes of the Holywood turned professional in 2007 and won his first major in 2011 at the US Open, and in 2012 he won the PGA Championship in then won The Open in 2014, leaving the Masters to complete the career Grand Slam.
BBC News
14-04-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Rory McIlroy's hometown is buzzing with his Holywood ending
Welcome to town in County Down has always been proud of local boy Rory McIlroy but it has reached a whole new level after his dramatic win on finally joined a select club of just six golfers to achieve the career Grand Slam with victory in the Masters. The boy from Holywood received his Hollywood ending, and the town is buzzing. It may be a grey Monday in Holywood but the faces of sleep-deprived golf fans light up when they are asked about the rollercoaster scenes at Reynolds, who lives in Holywood, said he was absolutely delighted that McIlroy "managed to finally get over the line".He watched every minute of the final day on Sunday."It was tortuous, it was not what we all expected. We were hoping for a triumphant run through the last round," he said the win was massive for the town, and McIlroy's "golfing immortality" was a good reflection on Holywood. David Addis, who also lives in Holywood, was travelling on Sunday so he was listening on the radio as the "rollercoaster" unfolded."It's the first time I've listened to a major sporting event as it evolved and because the journey was broken by a flight my understanding of it was interrupted for a full 55 minutes while it was swinging all over the place," he Addis said he was elated with the result and people were "buzzing" in Holywood."I always thought he had a chance but after the near misses and especially when he kicked off the final day with a double bogey I thought, oh goodness it's going to happen again, but he obviously is a lot more resilient now," he added. Holywood is a coastal town, not far from Belfast. It has a beach, a busy High Street and some pricey time McIlroy wins a major, one of the bakeries makes biscuits with his face on them and they were on the shelves early on Monday morning. TV and film writer Declan Lawn was on his way to edit the latest series of Blue Lights in Holywood when he bumped into BBC News NI. He stayed up "into the wee hours" to watch McIlroy."It was worth every second," he said. "It's one of the greatest sporting stories ever in history. "He was fighting his demons, and fighting the past and fighting himself and he didn't do it perfectly. He had to find courage to come back and he did. It's such a human story, a Hollywood ending." Fellow Northern Irish sporting hero Lady Mary Peters said she was absolutely overjoyed at McIlroy's success."He has been so close in the past and didn't quite make it but this was his right time to do it," she Peters was the 1972 Olympic champion in the pentathlon. "It changes your life forever, the world is his oyster now," she said. Leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, Gavin Robinson, said McIlroy had "never forgotten where he has come from.""It is a wonderful achievement for him," he said. "To be able to fulfil that dream is beyond all of our wildest expectations." McIlroy was schooled in Holywood - he first attended St Patrick's Primary School before moving on to Sullivan Upper School. His passion for the sport grew from his father, a keen golfer, who took him to the golf course in his local course, Holywood Golf Club, is on the slopes of the Holywood turned professional in 2007 and won his first major in 2011 at the US Open, and in 2012 he won the PGA Championship in then won The Open in 2014. leaving the Masters to complete the career Grand Slam.
The Independent
10-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Oran McConville death: Britain's Got Talent star dies, aged 18
Tributes have been paid to a Britain's Got Talent star who was killed in a car crash just six weeks after the untimely death of his father. Oran McConville, 18, was pronounced dead after the accident. He was sat in the front passenger seat of a grey Volkswagen Golf during a collision in the early hours of Saturday morning (5 April). The driver was arrested at the scene. The teenager, who was a talented footballer, was also a singer, and his school choir took part in ITV talent competition BGT in 2017, reaching the semi-finals the year pianist Toki Myers won the show. He competed as part of St Patrick's Primary School, singing Keane's 'Somewhere Only We Know' in an audition that head judge Simon Cowell gave his seal of approval to. McConville's death comes after his father Paddy 'suddenly' died on February 21. His 11-year-old sister was also killed after being hit by a Volkswagen people carrier in 2009. Speaking at McConville's Requiem Mass in Drumgath, Co Down, parish priest Charles Byrne described McConville as a 'natural performer' who 'got away with more mischief than most' throughout his life, per MailOnline. 'With a smile like his, who could be cross for long?' he said. 'At this time, we are all lost for words. Words are woefully inadequate to express the pain and the sorrow in our hearts that we have for you,' Byrne added. Drumgath GAC, the Gaelic Athletics club where McConville played since he was young and later coached younger athletes described him as a 'kind, gentle, full of humour, and always up for a chat'. 'He had time for people, young and old, and brought joy to those lucky enough to have known him. Whether it was on the football pitch or in the heart of the community, Órán carried himself with warmth, respect, and quiet charm,' they said. McConville's older sister Rachael died in 2009 after she was hit by a car while walking along a road, when he was just three years old. Priest Stephen Ferris, who was with the McConville family when Rachael died in hospital, said at the time that her death 'traumatised' the local area. He told the Belfast Telegraph at the time: 'Rachael was a happy child. She was intelligent and talented. She loved her family and her friends and she had tremendous potential. 'She was living life and enjoying it to the full. Her death has traumatised our close-knit, country parish; it has numbed everyone.' McConville's mother went on to write a book about the death of her child, My Beautiful Daughter, My Beautiful Friend, in 2017, which followed the family's journey through grief. This was followed by a sequel, , and spiritual book Time to Change in 2020.
