[Taken from Raheny News Sunday 22/10/06]

In the first issue of the Raheny News after the Summer break it is usual to review the successes of the summer season. This week they have been sadly overshadowed by the news of the death of one of the club's greatest ever stalwarts Pat Quinn, last Thursday.

Pat Quinn a proud son of Swinford in Co.Mayo, took the circuitous route to Raheny. Like most of his generation he emigrated to England as soon as he left school. After nearly 10 years in England Pat and his cavan born wife Eileen decided they would like to try their luck in their home country. They ended up in Raheny and they never looked back.

A former Mayo minor Gaelic footballer, Pat caught the running bug Like many others after watching the first Dublin City Marathon in 1980. He ran in the race the following year and soon found his way over to Raheny Shamrock's. Seeing that the late developer wasn't really being catered for, Pat along with Rose Hayden formed the Sub-40 group. The aim of the group was initially to help late comers to the sport break 3 hours for the marathon and 40 minutes for the 10K. Over the past 25 years the group has been a tremendous success. There are hundreds of runners in this area who have run very respectable marathons and owe it all to Pat Quinn and his sub-40 group.

There is no doubt Pat is the mainstay of the group. He was there every evening at 6.30pm to do the training, as well as on a Saturday morning at 10am and the long runs at 8am on a Sunday morning. The contribution of the sub-40 group to the club is inestimable. Most of the club's current committee are products of this group. Club President Tommy Lynam, Chairperson Anne Buckley, Secretary Bernard Lynch, PRO Sean McGoldrick, Ladies Captian Anne Reede, Registar Ray McCormack as well as John Fitzsimons, Colm Cahill and Martin Kelly. Pat himself was also a great worker for the club behind the scenes. He was course director of the Raheny 5 for the past 20 years. He was also a timekeeper at most of the club's promotions, and did an awful lot of housekeeping jobs around the clubhouse.

Pat Quinn was also a fine athlete. He ran over 50 marathons. He was a member of club teams which won National and Dublin honours at Senior and Veteran levels. He also won many prizes over the shorter distances. He is a former winner of the Brian Holland Cup and has won many divisional honours in the club's winter league road race league. Pat will also be remembered as one of the club's greatest hill runners. When it came to running over the Hill of Howth he was like a mountain goat. It must have been his access to Croagh Patrick as a child. Pat will also be missed around the village on a Saturday afternoon when he liked to have a wager on the horses. On Behalf of everyone involved in Raheny Shamrock we would like to offer our deepest sympathy, support and thanks to his wife Eileen, another of the club's great stalwarts, and his children Anne and Dermot and his brothers and sisters.