Ballymun Kickhams' chairman Declan Small has passed away, the club have announced.
Father to All-Ireland winners John and Paddy, Declan was also a pivotal figure in the club's resurgence to the top of the county scene in the last 25 years.
"We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of our chairman, great friend and colleague, Mr. Declan Small," the club said in a short statement.
"After a long battle with illness bravely fought, Declan passed away yesterday.
"It is no doubt that our club and indeed our lives are a lot poorer for his passing.
"We offer our deepest sympathies to Andrea, Catherine, John and Paddy. A full announcement will be made soon on the arrangements, but suffice to say at this time, our club will not be the same again. RIP Declan."
Kickhams legend Paddy Christie paid tribute to Small's efforts when the club was at it's lowest ebb fondly in a series with Dublin Live earlier this year.
"We were chaotic, things were very poor," Christie remembers.
"Summer camps wise, when I started with Philly's team, there was no camps.
"Other clubs like Kimacud, Ballyboden would have hundreds of kids at the camps. It mushroomed eventually - I think it got to four or five hundred at one stage, enormous camps.
"We didn't have anything, so I set up a couple of summer camps. We got a hundred kids - that's very good for us.
"We got people taking teams, Declan Small had this initiative and got local people around to take teams, he was very well organised. He knew what he was doing. He was a good bit older than me!
"He had an idea of how to do things and that kept it going.
"The team that I took through, that was the groundwork I suppose for the senior Championship winning team, but the stuff behind it, we were still competitive.
"That's all from what he did."
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