The fundraising efforts of the Kilkenny senior camogie team are stepping up a level this month.
An online fundraiser started through Gofundme to help the 2022 All-Ireland senior champions secure an end-of-season holiday has so far raised over €7,000 online but offline the efforts have been ramped up in recent weeks.
From gate collections are recent club championship games to elite training camps last week and this week all the way to a three-day golf classic taking place in Castlecomer this coming weekend, there are plenty of ways to lend financial support to the county’s senior stars.
One big event on the way is heading to O’Loughlin Gaels GAA club on Saturday 22 October, a week after the county’s camogie and senior hurling championship finals.
“It’s something different and hasn’t really been done before”, senior camogie manager Brian Dowling told KCLR.
“The Kilkenny camogie team are going to play ex-Kilkenny hurlers. We’ll have the likes of Tommy Walsh going to be marking his sister Grace, selector Philly Larkin togging out and marking a couple of the girls. DJ Carey, Eddie Brennan, Martin Comerford, Eoin Larkin, JJ Delaney, and brilliant Kilkenny hurlers are all going to be playing that day. It’s going to be something a little different.”
“Tickets are €10 for that, the girls will be selling tickets and we’ll have tickets online as well, but people can pay on the day as well. There might be one or two more things going on that day as well. We do have bucket collections too for the senior and intermediate county finals trying to raise a few more pounds. People are donating all the time which is absolutely brilliant.”
“I’ve played in two exhibition games myself, ex-Kilkenny hurlers against Waterford and Lisdowney but we wanted to think outside the box a little bit, involve the girls. Some of them (hurlers) are still playing at the moment, some retired. You could have a full-forward line of DJ Carey, Eddie Brennan and Martin Comerford. It’ll be interesting.”
“It should be a fun day out, an exhibition match and a chance good chance to see a few of the Kilkenny hurlers we haven’t seen for a while in a Kilkenny jersey.”
The Kilkenny Camogie v Kilkenny Legends exhibition game takes place at O’Loughlin Gaels GAA club, Saturday 22 October at 2pm. Admission €10 on the day or in advance via any senior player or online.
