The late Tony McGovern, London and formerly of Aughavas, County Leitrim.
It is with great sadness that we learned on New Year’s Day of the passing of the late Tony McGovern, formerly of Aughavas County Leitrim and London. The late Tony was a most generous contributor to the fundraising efforts of Leitrim GAA over the years. Most recently he, together with his wife Bernadette, made a significant contribution to the aptly named McGovern Aughavas Centre of Excellence in Annaduff, coinciding with the official opening of the facility in September 2019. This generosity has been officially recognised in the awarding of the naming rights on the centre and ensures the McGovern Aughavas name lives on to be associated with the training and nurturing of many present and future county players in all codes and levels.
Indeed the generosity of the McGovern family has not been a recent thing, as Tony’s late brother James, who passed away in January 2023, was the main contributor to the team sponsorship of the Leitrim Senior Football team of 1994 which went on the claim the Connacht Senior Football Championship of that year. The team jersey logo in that era was simply iconic McGovern Aughavas. The following decade saw the development of the new stand facilities at Avant Money Pairc Seán Mac Diarmada and again the McGovern family was a significant contributor to this development. With its official opening in 2007, the stand was given the name McGovern Stand, in honour of their late brother Fr. Andy McGovern.
Across three separate decades, the McGovern Family has been associated with acts of generosity to Leitrim GAA and indeed their home club Aughavas GAA and we are most conscious of recording this at the passing of the most recent family member Tony. We extend our sympathies to his wife Bernadette, son Anthony, and daughters Anita and Tara. Tony is also survived by his brothers Gerry and Tom and extended family members to whom we extend our heartfelt sympathies.
Funeral details will be posted later.
The following article was published by the Leitrim Observer in September 2019 in conjunction with the official opening of the McGovern Aughavas Centre of Excellence in Annaduff.
