The family of NFL superstar, Tom Brady, recently visited a parish in Co Cavan in honour of their ancestors who left the area in the years immediately after the Famine.
The trip was initiated by Fr Gerry Comiskey who is the Parish Priest of Drumlane. According to Fr Comiskey, the famous families ancestor John Brady is believed to have left the Milltown area in the mid-1850s and found work as a labourer in Boston.
Soon afterwards he married Bridget Bailey who also was a refugee of Ireland's great famine and together the pair later became the great-great-grandparents of Tom Brady who is a five-time Super Bowl Champion.
Speaking to Northern Sound about the reunion event which took place over the weekend, Fr Comiskey said the Brady family were "delighted" to spend a couple of days in the "tranquillity" of Co Cavan. He added that Tom Brady Senior is very "enthusiastic" about returning to the region again and that he takes with him a personal invention to his famous son to one day visit Cavan also in the not too distant future.
He continued; "Tom and Galynn were quite delighted to spend a couple of days in the tranquillity of county Cavan. They attended Mass at Drumlane Abbey on Sunday morning last and spent the day visiting the townlands around and about and exploring the waterways
"Myself and Mr Keith Conefrey, Principal of Milltown National School accompanied them and gave them an account of the history of the parish and their ancestry.
"We also presented them with beautiful pieces depicting Drumlane made in wood from St Mogue’s Island and superbly crafted by Tommy Dolan and gave them a mug with the Brady coat of Arms on it for their famous son. He joked that he couldn’t think of anything else to get him."
