Former Bohemians and Longford Town stars Colin Hawkins and Sean Prunty now work together at Clonsilla-based club St Mochta’s.
Colin Hawkins is towering over Sean Prunty, but the Longford Town winger is holding off the Bohemians defender, before sprinting away with the ball.
Prunty’s career came to a sudden end four years later, at the age of 28, when a potentially fatal heart condition was discovered. “He didn’t just do Four Peaks by accident. He trained his ass off. I have so much admiration,” Hawkins says about the man sitting to his left. “So for a healthy 46-year-old… I thought I had a broken rib and as it happened I did. I had broken ribs, a broken neck and a broken back, because the blood attacks the bone marrow.
“That night was scary. I literally had every scan you could possibly do. You are just sitting there going, fuck, what is this? Once you hear the word ‘cancer’, you fear the worst.”“From then,” he says, “it was, right, you’ve told me what it is, what are the possible treatments? Let’s get started as quickly as we can.”
“She had really aggressive treatment, really tough, she picked up every infection, everything they told her she might get, she got. But she has come through it. Hawkins jumps in. “Everyone knew Sean, a class player, came back from England, and it was just, what? He had to stop playing because of his heart? It was just so random.”
“My sister found the diary and to this day I still can’t read it, because of what would be in it. She still has it. I just haven’t brought myself to read it. But it was the most difficult time.”
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