GAA club on the ball with horse castration offer

All-Ireland hurling club finalists St Thomas of Galway have come up with a novel approach to raising funds for their St Patrick’s Day clash with Kilcormac-Killoughey.

This Sunday they’re auctioning off a castration.

The Galway club have a barbecue and auction lined up with a vast array of items available for bidding. They range from a Charolais bull weanling, to 10 bags of beef nuts, to three tonnes of good quality pit silage, to dinner for two in Leinster House.

And then there’s the horse castration.

“It’s one of the more unusual items all right,” says St Thomas secretary Claude Geoghegan.

“This would be big equine country around here, so there’d be interest in it. We have a qualified vet who’s offered to chip in, and she’ll go to the farm of the winning bid and... perform the function.

“I’ll leave it at that rather than have your readers cross their legs.”

There’s a serious side to this. Small clubs which go on extended runs in the All-Ireland or provincial series can frequently find themselves under pressure to fund buses, gear bags, food, and so forth.

Mr Geoghegan says the auction is designed to put the fun into fundraising.

“We were in the county final last November and people in the area and beyond were very generous, but we didn’t want to just ask them for cash all over again. This is a different approach.

“The local auctioneer will run it and businesses and individuals in the locality have been very good to support it. The support we’ve got from all over Galway and beyond has been fantastic.”

Details of the event, which will take place this Sunday at the Castle Inn, Castledaly, Co Galway, are available on stthomassgaaclub.com.