AN Alliance Party MLA has praised the resolve of a Lisburn GAA club who are celebrating their 60th anniversary this year. Lagan Valley MLA David Honeyford was speaking during Members Statements in the Assembly on Monday. He said that on Friday evening he joined St Patrick's club members at their anniversary dinner where he listened “to its story of the sectarian abuse that the club and its members have faced over the years”, which he said was “deeply moving”. Speaking in the chamber, he said: "At the end of the 1990s, members were unable even to step on to their own pitch at a new facility that the club had built, so it made the difficult decision to walk away in order to protect its players. For some clubs, that could have been the end of the story but, thankfully, not for St Pat's. I pay tribute to Michael Lynch and others, who refused to give in. That quiet, determined spirit, rooted in the community, is what has carried St Pat's through six decades."
