Shepp News |
You might have known him as ‘‘Euwie’’, his family called him ‘‘the golden child’’, yet whatever nickname he went by, there’s little doubt that Eamonn O’Connor left a strong impression on everyone he met.
But Eamonn, 19, had his life cut tragically short on Sunday after suffering horrific head and chest injuries when he fell about 25
Despite the best efforts of medical staff and emergency services, Eamonn was unable to recover from the severity of his injuries, and died at The Alfred Hospital on Sunday night.
Parents Mick and Wendy O’Connor detailed the struggle their son put up in his fight for life.
While there were no direct witnesses to the fall, Eamonn was staying in the Arlberg resort with two boarding school mates from Assumption College. A keen snowboarder, he went up for the opening of ski season, more for a good time than good snow at this time of year.
He was sleeping on the couch when he was heard to get up about 5
‘‘He was trying to speak but they couldn’t make out what he was saying,’’ Mick O’Connor said.
After emergency services tried to work on and stabilise him at the scene, he was eventually airlifted to The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne. Mr and Mrs O’Connor were returning home from a visit to Eamonn’s grandmother when they found police at their home.
They rushed down to The Alfred and were able to see their son after he came out of the operating theatre. But he never recovered and died on Sunday night.
Eamonn Eugene (where the ‘‘Euwie’’ comes from) O’Connor is survived by parents Mick and Wendy, siblings Flynn, Erin, Alison (and partner Nick Goodwin), Lauren Hull (and husband Sam), Bridget (and partner Aaron Clarke), Emmett (and partner Olivia Walton), nephews Oscar Loweke and Finnigan Hull and grandparents Clare O’Connor and Denise Hopkins. There are also numerous aunts and uncles and 24 first cousins.
His parents and siblings shared some of their memories with the Telegraph on Monday, after a day in which the family were swamped by those sharing their grief.
The youngest of seven siblings, Eamonn grew up on the family farm at Mangalore and was educated first at Avenel Primary School, before going on to St Mary’s in Seymour (Years 7-9) and then boarded at Assumption College in Kilmore.
After leaving Assumption, he lived in Melbourne with Carlton-listed footballer and Assumption old boy Frazer Dale.
It was football which was the major part of his life. While the O’Connor name is synonymous with the sport in this region, it was Eamonn who turned out to be the best of them all — though there was never any pressure.
‘‘He didn’t need any encouragement,’’ said Mick.
‘‘We called him the golden child,’’ Alison said.
‘‘It was a bit of a joke in the family, but it was because he could play footy. He trained for two years with Tabilk (juniors) even though he couldn’t play because he was too young and they had too many numbers, and he always loved it.’’
Flynn knew that too well.
‘‘His shelf was more full of trophies than mine,’’ he said.
‘‘We played together at Tabilk for a year and he beat me in the best and fairest in the under-16s.’’
Eamonn won the Seymour District Junior Football league best-and-fairest at under-13 level, was best-on-ground in a grand final, and his footballing ability continued to grow.
He made his senior debut for Avenel as a 15-year-old and made the Murray Bushrangers under-15 squad.
It was only natural, when he followed the family tradition and attended Assumption, that his development would continue. Eamonn was captain of the first XVIII in his final year, 2011, which also coincided with the final time legendary coach Ray Carroll took the reins.
While Eamonn made his senior debut at the Swans at 15, he really grabbed attention when he was called up to the Seymour senior side along with fellow Assumption schoolmate Hugh Robertson in the GVFL in 2011.
His hardness at the ball against older, more mature, bodies impressed many keen judges, and it became his signature as a midfielder.
‘‘But he wasn’t conceited or boastful about his footy,’’ Wendy said.
‘‘He wasn’t that sort of boy.’’
He hoped to make his onfield comeback for the Lions later this season and was scheduled for surgery soon to overcome a persistent niggle.
Despite his passion for footy, Eamonn was also quite a good student. Too good, in fact, early on.
‘‘We picked on him in P1 and 2 because he got a perfect report. We used to tease him about being a nerd .
Emmett said while football became the centre of his brother’s life when he went to Assumption (he won the side’s best-and-fairest and was school sportsman of the year in 2011), he had hoped to go to university soon to train as a physical education teacher.
He was helping Assumption coach Scott Wynd this year due to injury preventing him from playing.
Yet there was much more to Eamonn than football. His family pointed to his love of music — ‘‘he was always going to concerts,’’ Emmett said — and a recent appreciation of woodworking.
Then there was his fun side. Not just a laid-back, dry sense of humour.
‘‘He was like Forrest Gump and he could live off nothing,’’ Flynn said.
‘‘He loved his op-shop clothes,’’ added Alison.
If you look at the picture that accompanies this article, you wouldn’t be surprised to know he even finished runner-up in a Jesus lookalike competition run by a prominent Melbourne radio station.
And there was one thing that stood above all else. It was what Eamonn was doing at Mount Hotham.
‘‘His main love was making sure he could catch up with all his boarder mates,’’ Wendy said.
‘‘He would drive from one end of the state to the other.’’
Whether it was taking time off from a job as a roustabout at Hillston station in NSW to go to bush race meetings, or when he and other former boarders spent time at the home of James McMahon in Seymour — himself hit by the sudden passing of his mother a couple of years ago — to provide family-type support, nothing was too much trouble.
Eamonn hoped to crack the VFL and trained at the Northern Blues last year, where sister Erin is a physiotherapist and where he was as popular as anywhere else.
Erin was also treating him for his injuries and along with their cousin Damian Liddell, was Eamonn’s godparent.
‘‘We used to joke, by the time he came along we’d run out of people to be godparents so Damian and I got the job,’’ Erin said.
While Eamonn had been unable to take to the field this season, he was a regular at Seymour and Avenel games any time he could.
His death has been felt by many, and there promises to be a huge turnout at his funeral.
The reaction in the region’s football community has been one of shock.
His death will see players from many different teams battle with their emotions as they take to the field this Saturday with the loss of their mate in mind.
Seymour president Gerard O’Sullivan echoed the thoughts of many in the region.
‘‘The Seymour Football Netball Club committee, players, members and supporters are devastated by the loss of Eamonn O’Connor,’’ he said.
‘‘Eamonn was a highly respected, hard-working player at Seymour as well as a terrific young man. His personality and presence around our club will be greatly missed. Our deepest sympathy goes to the O’Connor family.’’
And he’ll be missed for what he brought to his beloved football fields — and off — by many others as well. Farewell, Euwie. Gone, but never forgotten.
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Funeral arrangements had not been finalised at time the Telegraph went to print, but the family hopes to do so later this week.
