Recent News

On June 14th, the 5 members of the O’Connell family were traveling out west for a family vacation. A tragic accident occurred and took the lives of parents Joe (50) and Anne (44) O’Connell.  Their 3 children, Sarah (15), Coleman (13) and Maeve (10) survived the wreck, but were injured. 

The O’Connell family was originally from Ireland, but had lived on Madison’s west side for over 10 years.  They were very active in the soccer community and were instrumental in the Madison Hurling Club’s success.

The Madison Hurling Club and friends of the O’Connell family held the O’Connell Children’s Benefit on Saturday, August 1st to raise money for the 3 children left behind, to help pay for their medical expenses.

The Benefit began with a “Tribute Soccer Match” involving Sarah O’Connell’s soccer team, Madison Memorial High School Girl’s Soccer.  Following that was the “O’Connell Memorial Hurling Match” between Madison Hurling Club and Milwaukee Hurling Club, in honor of the deceased parents, Joe and Anne O’Connell.  A fundraiser was held that afternoon at the Brocach Irish Pub downtown. There was music live by Turner Collins, food, and a raffle that included gift certificates that were generously donated by local merchants. 

Because of the gracious donations from merchants, businesses, and the wonderful people who came to the Benefit, it proved to be an overwhelming success.  At the end of the 8 hour event, we brought in an amazing $8,264.  All 3 local TV stations presented stories about the O’Connell Children’s Benefit during their 10:00pm newscasts that evening.   

The Madison Hurling Club would like to thank the following businesses and merchants who helped make the Benefit such a success, which allowed us to effectively help the O’Connell children

Brocach Irish Pub............................PDQ
Pabst Blue Ribbon..........................Pilgrim Drycleaners
Guinness..........................................Right Touch Drycleaners
Smithwicks.......................................Middleton Sports & Fitness
Milwaukee Hurling Club.................Sentry Foods Hilldale
Madison Memorial High School...Madison Mallards Baseball
Madison 56ers Soccer Club.........Martin O’Grady’s Irish Pub
Turner Collins.................................Biaggi’s Italian Restaurant
Glanbia Foods Inc..........................Claddagh Irish Pub
Kerry International..........................Culver’s Of Middleton
First Supply......................................HuHot Mongolian Grill
Keva Sports Center........................Copps Grocery Store
Tender Filet.....................................Cool Beans Coffee & and Café
West Towne Mall............................Sarah DeAngelo Jewlery
Anaala Salon & Spa........................Frugal Muse Books & Music
Dane County Shamrock Club.......Vitense Golfland
News/Talk 1310 WIBA...................WISC TV3
Econoprint........................................WKOW 27
94.9 WOLX.......................................WMTV 15