Zoe Murphy's parents have said the brave toddler is 'much happier' after 'kind support and lovely words' from the football community and beyond.
Little Zoe, who was born with quadriplegia and developed cerebral palsy at 21 months old, was left in tears after attending the League of Ireland match between Drogheda United and Dundalk last Friday.
Her parents explained: "Not the usual happy pictures of a Friday night at a Dundalk Match!. These pictures are when Zoe was crying saying she doesn’t belong here and she can’t come watch her boys play.
"Dundalk Vs Drogheda Louth Derby, Zoe was super excited to go, but it was probably Zoe’s most heart-breaking game and it wasn’t because of the results.
"Zoe was delighted to get a spot by the railing to watch her boys play, Enjoying the singing and atmosphere, and also singing along. Until a drunk teenager boy bumped into Zoe’s mum while she was holding Zoe.
"Mammy asked the boy to be careful because obviously Zoe can’t stand unaided and needed support. This boy then started shouting that Zoe had no right to be there and get her out the f***.
"Then the biggest blow was when the word R****d was thrown at us.
"Zoe just got upset and asked to leave that she wasn’t welcome."
Republic of Ireland international James McClean responded to the post, writing ""Shocking. Why can't people just go watch a game of football without being a***holes."
But Zoe's parents have now given a positive update and said the toddler is a 'very happy little girl' again.
They posted on Facebook: "Thanks so much everyone for your kind support and lovely words.
"Zoe was upset and of course it was going to trigger us as parents because deep down we know she will face this in the future and won’t always have her mam and dad there to stick up for her but after we read out all the lovely comments and showed her the videos sent to her she was so much happier.
"We did not want the post to be a public attack on any individual it was more of a post about awareness and inclusion, and unfortunately kids like Zoe will face challenges like this regularly.
"We certainly didn’t want any teenagers to be named over this, We have been in touch with the individual and we have accepted his apology and we feel it may have just been a once off incident and just a bad judgement call.
"We were upset over the incident and Zoe was made feel bad but the person involved is regretful and has apologised. We certainly don’t want anyone banned from the club over one incident so hopefully this incident is a once off and more awareness has been made.
"This was a teenage boy and with the factors of the game and emotions were high, mistakes were made. But we accept the apology and really hope no names are mentioned as that was not our intentions
"Anyone who knows Zoe knows she would drag us to every away game if she could so hopefully this won’t change her
"Thanks so much to everyone from Dundalk Fc and Drogheda Fc who reached out to us
"And to the players who sent her videos and messages you helped turned a sad girl into a very happy little girl."
Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email alerts
