{"id":570267,"date":"2025-11-14T17:20:21","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T17:20:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/570267\/"},"modified":"2025-11-14T17:20:21","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T17:20:21","slug":"cristiano-ronaldo-belfast-boys-delight-at-night-with-footballer-despite-red-card-drama-and-mad-dash-from-hospital","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/570267\/","title":{"rendered":"Cristiano Ronaldo: Belfast boy\u2019s delight at night with footballer despite red card drama and \u2018mad dash\u2019 from\u00a0hospital"},"content":{"rendered":"

So when the chance came to see the global superstar in action for the first time, the sports mad Belfast boy, who has spent seven years waiting on a life-saving heart transplant, wasn\u2019t even going to let an emergency dash to hospital during the week stop him from fulfilling a dream.<\/p>\n

\u201cLife\u2019s too short to miss out on moments like this,\u201d said dad Mairtin, who made a \u201cmad dash\u201d to the Aviva Stadium in Dublin once D\u00e1ith\u00ed had been released from a sudden overnight stay in hospital on Thursday morning to get there just in time for kick-off that night.<\/p>\n

The last minute opportunity came courtesy of one of D\u00e1ith\u00ed\u2019s greatest supporters, a charity worker from Wexford who has been helping him achieve dreams since they met just over a year ago.<\/p>\n

\"M\u00e1irt\u00edn<\/p>\n

M\u00e1irt\u00edn Mac Gabhann with his son Daithi Mac Gabhann<\/p>\n

\u201cClodagh Mahon has been an angel for us,\u201d said Mairtin. \u201cShe reached out on social media a year ago and said she would like to do what she could to help make some of D\u00e1ith\u00ed\u2019s dreams come true. She does all her own charity work and has been a huge part in our lives this last year or so.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe contacted us to say she\u2019d been able to access a couple of tickets for the Republic of Ireland World Cup qualifier against Portugal from her brother-in-law and they were ours if we wanted to go.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s football mad and seeing Ronaldo play has been one of his biggest wishes, but D\u00e1ith\u00ed had been in the hospice on Wednesday for a break. It\u2019s something he really looks forward to, but he\u2019d also had a major CT scan this week and took a really bad reaction.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019ve not seen him in so much discomfort for a long time. He went to hospital in an ambulance that night and we weren\u2019t sure if the trip to Dublin was going to happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe thought about it the next morning, but not for too long. Life\u2019s short and you have to make the memories when you can. He was desperate to go so we jumped into the car and flew down the road.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was thrilled,\u201d said Mairtin. \u201cWe are Liverpool fans, but the chance of seeing Ronaldo play was something he wasn\u2019t going to miss despite the Manchester United links.\u201d<\/p>\n

D\u00e1ith\u00ed\u2019s Ronaldo experience was cut shorter than expected with the Portuguese star sent off an hour into the match. The Republic were 2-0 ahead at that stage and went on to win the qualifier to keep their hopes of making the World Cup Finals in the US, Canada and Mexico next summer alive.<\/p>\n

\"Football<\/p>\n

Football mad D\u00e1ith\u00ed Mac Gabhann made a last minute dash to the Aviva Stadium in Duiblin to see idol Cristiano Ronaldo in action in Portgual’s World CUp Qualifier against the Republic of Ireland.<\/p>\n

News Catch Up – Friday 14 November <\/p>\n

\u201cHe was raging!\u201d said Mairtin. \u201cHe was delighted that the Republic of Ireland won the game, but was blaming the Irish players for getting his idol sent off!<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a night he\u2019ll never forget. We\u2019re doing all we can to make his life full of memorable moments like this.<\/p>\n

\u201cRonaldo might be D\u00e1ith\u00ed\u2019s hero, but he\u2019s my hero.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re still waiting on that new heart,\u201d Mairtin added, \u201cbut you can be sure D\u00e1ith\u00ed will be there in 2028 when the Euro finals come to Ireland if that new heart comes his way.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"So when the chance came to see the global superstar in action for the first time, the sports…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":570268,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[132748,17698,1144,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-570267","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-daithi-mac-gabhann","9":"tag-mark-bain","10":"tag-northern-ireland","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115549204730165963","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=570267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570267\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/570268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=570267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=570267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=570267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}