Cork girl Aoife not only shares her birthday with Mahon Point - she was born there!

Aoife McCoy has something rather unique in common with Mahon Point Shopping Centre, which is celebrating 20 years in operation this month.

Aoife, who turned six on Saturday, was born at Mahon Point!

“Aoife always reminds me of her birthday and of her birthplace when we go shopping or go for a meet-up with her aunt and her cousins at Mahon Point,” says Aoife’s mum Maeve Moroney, from Ballintotis near Caslemartyr in east Cork. 

Maeve naturally remembers Aoife’s arrival six years ago very well. It was a day like any other in the family home at Ballintotis.

“Everything was going as normal,” says Maeve, who has a son, Cormac, aged eight.

“Our baby was due around February 1. But that morning things began to happen at a faster pace.

“My mam lives in the village in Castlemartyr and she was to come here to our house with my brother, but my husband Dominic and I couldn’t wait for them any longer.”

Baby couldn’t wait either.

Aoife was on the way.

“Typically, there was a tail-back of traffic in the tunnel,” says Maeve. “It came to the point that I had to tell Dominic to pull in somewhere and call 999.”

Was Maeve in labour?

“I was in labour from the moment we left home,” says Maeve.

“My contractions were two minutes apart. It was clear our baby was going to be born in the car. It was down to the wire.”

Aoife’s arrival on St Brigid’s Day, the first day of spring, was imminent. She was going to come into the world in an unusual location.

“We pulled in at the front entrance of Mahon Point,” says Maeve. “At the same time an ambulance arrived accompanied by a garda escort.”

Mother and baby were in capable hands.

“I don’t know the name of the ambulance guys,” says Maeve. “But they were brilliant.”

There was no time to spare.

“In one minute, out she came!” says Maeve.

Even though there are more than 2,000 car parking spaces at Mahon Point, Dominic chose his own random parking spot.

“We were parked at an angle at the front entrance at Mahon Point Shopping Centre,” says Maeve.

How was Aoife’s entrance into the world?

“She was grand,” says Maeve.

“Aoife weighed 7lbs 9oz. Soon after she was born, she was checked out at CUMH where we travelled to by ambulance. Dominic just abandoned the car at the entrance to Mahon Point!

“It was very early in the morning, before 7am. Very few people were about. A kind security man working at the shopping centre looked after our car for us.”

Maeve got a medical check as well at the hospital.

“I recovered fine,” says Maeve.

Aoife had a title.

“She was termed Baby Born Before Arrival.” 

Someone else had arrived just before her.

“My sister, who resembles me, had just left CUMH after giving birth only days before me,” says Maeve.

“The nurses did a double take when I arrived, saying, ‘Didn’t we meet you before?’”

Mahon Point itself opened on February 1, 2005, so Aoife shares her birthday with the centre too.

Recently, her family said hello to another new member of the family.

“We got a new puppy, Coco, at Christmas,” says Maeve.

“When we go to the Fork & Wheel nearby, Aoife gets Coco a pupachino!”

When Aoife, who loves princesses, and her mum, go to Mahon Point, Aoife is reminded of her birthplace and Maeve recalls the moments when their daughter was making her way into the world.

“I can remember the exact spot and the exact angle where Dominic parked the car that morning,” says Maeve.

“It was a unique event. We were congratulated afterwards on Mahon Point’s Facebook page which was really nice. And we were on their Instagram page. We were a real novelty!”

Aoife’s birth on February 1, 2019, was a unique event.

“It was a really happy event that we all like to remember,” says Clare O’Brien, Marketing Manager at Mahon Point Shopping Centre.

“It was a beautiful feel-good story.

“And it was a one-off marvellous event here at our location at Mahon Point!”

What location is on Aoife’s birth cert regarding her birth?

“That was one thing that disappointed me,” says Maeve. “The ambulance is deemed as an extension of the hospital. So CUH was cited as her birthplace.”

Aoife, now in junior infants in Ballintotis National School, loves her outings to Mahon Point Shopping Centre, which she always thinks fondly of as her birthplace.

“It is her claim to fame!” says Maeve.

It has gone down in family history.

“Aoife’s story about her birth has become part of the family lore!” adds Maeve.

The shopping centre is one big happy family in itself..

“We love having family occasions and family gatherings at Mahon Point,” says Maeve.

“My sister lives in Bandon and we often meet up at Mahon Point, for a coffee and a catch-up.

Does Maeve’s niece, born just days as Aoife, come along too?

“She does! We all meet up at Mahon Point for a couple of hours on a regular basis.

“It is a central point for us and easy to access from east and west,” says Maeve.

“When the children were small, my sister and I could easily get around the shopping centre with our buggies. It was contained. It was safe and it was warm and dry.

“Now the kids are bigger we can enjoy a visit to the cinema at Mahon Point and enjoy a bite to eat there afterwards.”

Maeve and company love browsing and pottering about at Mahon Point.

What shops are the family most drawn to and familiar with?

“I think it must be Clarks shoe shop!” says Maeve. “With two growing active children, buying shoes for them is a regular thing that we do, and Clarks at Mahon Point is our go-to shoe shop where the staff are helpful and friendly.”

Maeve, by co-incidence, met up with marketing manager Clare O’Brien after her daughter was born.

“I met Clare at the same playgroup that we went to in Castlemartyr, which was lovely,” says Maeve.

“We were chatting together in general, and we chatted about Mahon Point and then Clare made the connection!”

Connections are often made through Mahon Point.

“People see the shopping centre as a great location to meet up and combine a shopping experience and a dining experience together,” says Clare.

Fame is not often achieved at the busy venue though. “Being born at Mahon Point Shopping Centre is definitely Aoife’s claim to fame!” says Maeve.