Michael Darragh Macauley says Ciara Mageean looked out for others until the end

Michael Darragh Macauley has paid tribute to Ciara Mageean – saying her achievements as an athlete represent only a small part of her even greater achievements as a person away from the track.

Macauley, who won eight All-Ireland senior football titles with Dublin, spent six days trekking 250km across Costa Rica with Mageean for an episode of RTÉ’s Uncharted show earlier this year.

Mageean spoke powerfully about her illness during filming for the programme in January and the two kept in touch after returning to Ireland. Macauley attended the Portaferry runner’s wedding party at Darver Castle over the October bank holiday weekend.

Beyond their shared experiences of skydiving, white-water rafting, off-road cycling and hiking, the pair also formed a special bond through her illness as Macauley’s Ballyboden St Enda’s clubmate Darragh Nelson was also going through cancer treatment at the time.

Nelson, who captained Ballyboden to an All-Ireland club title in 2016, died last month at just 36 years of age and Mageean checked in with Macauley following the passing of his friend and team-mate.

[ From my very first meeting with Ciara Mageean I knew she was someone specialOpens in new window ]

“Both of those guys were tied by an invisible string,” says Macauley. “I would have linked them both in and spoke to both about each other’s situations.

“They were both healthy people in their 30s going through cancer and I shared lots of stories from one to the other because I didn’t want them to feel alone or I didn’t want them to feel like they were the only person in the world going through it.

“I think running was only a small part of who Ciara was. The stories in recent days that have been coming out about what she did off the track, how she made people feel, where she put her energy, I think she’ll be remembered for her quality of person ahead of everything else and I think that’s how she should be remembered.

“She was such a genuine, caring, compassionate person right to her last breath. In her last week of life, she was consoling me over my other friend who had passed away. That shows you where her headspace was at and the kind of caring person she was. Ciara was a special human and she’ll be forever remembered.”

Mageean died on Sunday at the age of 34. Macauley had never met the Olympian before they teamed up for Uncharted, but they hit it off immediately. Their similar, effervescent personalities helped create a captivating and at times incredibly moving piece of television.

[ Ciara Mageean obituary: Resilient runner who became one of Ireland’s greatest athletesOpens in new window ]

They didn’t fly out from Dublin together, so the first time they were in each other’s company was in Costa Rica.

“She was very easy to get on with and naturally we did that thing sportspeople tend to do and started talking about other people’s sports. So we actually found out pretty quickly that neither of us wanted to talk about our own sports.

“That was nearly a bonding point as well. Ciara was definitely more interested in talking camogie than athletics.

"I keep seeing beautiful things and I can't help but wonder, will I have an opportunity to see them again?"

Tonight on #RTEUncharted, Olympian Ciara Mageean bravely opens up about her cancer diagnosis. 9.35pm on RTÉ One & RTÉ Player pic.twitter.com/BOSh2ouTpZ

— RTÉ One (@RTEOne) May 20, 2026

“The tributes have been coming in thick and fast, and rightly so. She had a special personality. Anybody who ever had a conversation with her, she was very engaging – she wasn’t on her phone, she wasn’t looking at someone else. She was talking to you and trying to get the most out of that conversation.”

During the episode, Mageean spoke about her diagnosis.

She said: “I was diagnosed with cancer last May and it has been a bit of a whirlwind ever since.

“Initially, with the diagnosis, you think, ‘Oh my God, am I going to die?’. Me and the girls always had plans of our big 40th birthday and I’m like, ‘Will I be there to celebrate that 40th birthday with my friends?’.

“I feel like it’s nearly easier being the person who has the illness, that going to treatment is in my control. How I cope with that post-chemo slump is on me and I know I will make it through. But it’s my partner, Tommy, he has to see me feel sick. Or my parents, whose little girl is ill, and they can’t do anything about it.”

But for all the resilience she displayed in talking and dealing with that diagnosis, Macauley remembers her steely determination to not allow the illness take control of her story.

“Ciara didn’t let cancer define her. We were saying it was never going to define our trip or define our conversations,” recalls the 2013 Footballer of the Year.

“We had lots of chats about cancer and different bits, but it never controlled the narrative. We were laughing saying she was Ciara the runner and then became Ciara the cancer patient. So we kept changing her alias to Ciara the parachute jumper and Ciara the kayaker or Ciara the something else, just because she was so much more than cancer.”

Macauley was organising an event in Dublin late last month and asked the 1500m European champion if there was any possibility she could pop along.

“She came down and spent the whole day at it. So many people wanted to talk with her and being Ciara, she just wouldn’t leave.

“She was doing me a favour by attending and in the end I almost had to tell her to go because she gave me nearly a whole day of her time, which was totally unnecessary. But that summed up Ciara for me, always thinking of other people.”