Cork GAA club raises €5k for Clonakilty Community Hospital

The senior panel of Ballinascarthy GAA have been put through their paces to run a combined 121 miles in a fundraising effort for Clonakilty Community Hospital.

The 43 members of the panel ran 121 miles — one for each of the 121 beds in the hospital — which has seen an outbreak of Covid-19 over the past fortnight.

Club chairman, JJ Walsh, said each player ran three miles within the regulated two km of their home, and that each had been clocked and the data inputted.

As of Friday evening that has meant €4,800 raised for the HSE-run community hospital, with more donations to be accepted before the fundraiser closes this Sunday evening.

JJ Walsh described it as a "big community effort" at a time when GAA clubs around the country are doing their best to volunteer for others: "The lads picked up on it and said ’’let’’s do something good for the current issue. They [hospital staff] have had a tough week and it is a fantastic hospital’’."

Some members of the club also work in the hospital and club members have been volunteering their assistance to help older and vulnerable people in the area. Mr Walsh said: "It has opened my eyes as well."

With restrictions on mass gatherings likely until the autumn, he said there is still hope that club players could get back to playing: "If the whole thing settled own we could get something done."