Friends and campaigners in Chalk Farm on Friday following Neil Hayes’s death at work seven days earlier

A SENIOR construction worker killed on one of the area’s biggest regeneration schemes was a former star of London’s Gaelic football scene who won a series of trophies in the 1990s.

Neil Hayes, who lived in Archway, was described by London-based club Tara this week a “gentleman” with “great footballing skills” and an “encyclopaedic knowledge of all sports”.

In the mid-1990s, he won the Tipperary Cup and Conway Cup in 1994, League 1995, Senior Championship and Championship of Britain.

His friends described the 61-year-old as a family man, an “Arsenal mad” footballer in the style of the club’s former left back Nigel Winterburn, who liked a weekend flutter on the nags, a “cheeky chappy” with “great old moves” on the dance floor.

On Friday, a vigil was held for Mr Hayes at the spot he was killed in Camden Goods Yard, Chalk Farm, with construction campaigners joined by friends from his favourite locals, the Florin and Mother Red Cap pubs in Holloway Road.

One of his closest friends Joe Darcy, a former captain of Tara GFC, said: “Neil was one of those solid individuals with a lovely smile and a sharp wit. He loved his family and sport. He was a great footballer – in your world [English football] he was like a Nigel Winterburn, left-footed too. Up and down the wing. Fit as a fiddle he could run all day.

“But after that we stayed friends. I’d see him once every two months. He was a mad Arsenal fan and I’m a Liverpool fan and we used to go to games together. Any game we could get tickets for, whoever was playing. We would go to Tottenham, Crystal Palace, Twickenham – purely for the fun. Whatever game we could get tickets for basically.

“He was in a great old place in life. He was part of the furniture at the company he worked at. It was his 60th last year, and we all went to the Enkel Arms up in Holloway. He had a band playing traditional music. Neil got up and danced to any sort of beat, with his great old moves.”

Neil in his Tara strip

Sean Faughnan, a former chairman of the club Tara, said: “He was an outgoing character and very down-to-earth. A great man to be in the company with. He loved to talk about sport and play the game. He was very athletic and was a man who looked after his body. He was a good man to have involved in training. He played as a wing back, which was a very difficult position to play in Gaelic football.”

Mr Faughnan said that Mr Hayes was a regular at the Tara club’s annual dinner dances, often held at The Crown in Cricklewood Broadway.

Mr Hayes had worked on huge projects in Whitechapel and Broadgate during a 1990s building boom, and more recently the Hawley Wharf redevelopment of Camden market in Camden Town.

Before coming to this country, he had gone to a high grade boarding school, St Mel’s in County Longford, that is known for producing great football players. He won titles while at the college before coming to London where the Gaelic football scene is still thriving, Mr Faughnan said.

At the vigil, friends told the Tribune how Mr Hayes was a “black cap” supervisor on major construction sites, who had decades of experience. They also described him as “happy go lucky”.

A jokey betting slip among the flowers left in Goods Yard for Neil Hayes

An Arsenal scarf was left draped over a cone in the street and two “tips” had been left with flowers – jokingly suggesting “V Neck – a good jumper”, and “Leaky Tap – only if it’s running”.

The Health and Safety Executive, which in 2023 reported a huge rise in construction site fatalities, is investigating the cause of the death while the police said no arrests had been made.

Mick Gilgunn, a councillor in Islington and a long time campaigner on the Construction Safety Campaign, said: “On average, a construction worker is 30 times more likely to be killed at work than someone working in comparable sectors.

“All the available evidence proves that employers who cooperate with trade unions in managing their statutory duty of care for their workers’ health and safety have fewer reported injuries and fatalities than those where employers are uncooperative.

“We appeal to all workers in the construction sector who are not yet in a union, to join one and demand your employer recognises the union for your own safety and the reassurance of your loved ones.”

Steve Ballard, from the London Hazards Centre, told the vigil: “We’ve somehow got to make this an election issue.”

A statement from St George, the lead construction partner at the Berkeley Homes site, said that “staff onsite rushed to help the victim but were unable to do so”, adding: “Our deepest condolences go to the victim’s family and friends.”

A statement from the Tara club added: “We pass our deepest condolences to Neil’s Mother Therese, his partner Jacqui, his son Connor, Connor’s half sisters Emily, Sarah and Katy, their Mother Tina, and his siblings Derry, Fergus and Ann.”