Costs mounting as Kenmare clock up the miles in All-Ireland odyssey

Kenmare Shamrocks finally put Castleknock out of the All-Ireland Junior club semi-final at the third time of asking to book a spot in the decider fixed for GAA HQ on Sunday.

Great news for the club, but a different challenge for hard-pressed club officers. After trips to Cashel, Mitchelstown and Dublin, Kenmare are under huge financial pressure.

“We wouldn’t have been that flush at the start of the process,” admitted Kenmare club PRO James McGann.

“Like most GAA clubs, we put our money into the facilities, obviously, but the last few weeks have been very expensive.

“Because we were playing in Croke Park we had the lads in Bewley’s at Newlands Cross overnight — that’s a bus and a stop for a bite to eat on the way home. They’re putting in a huge effort so we got them tracksuits for the county final last year, bits and bobs like that.

“You’re trying to get local people in Kenmare to go to the game as well, so you want to facilitate them. For instance, the club paid out €300 each for two 50-seater buses from Kenmare to Dublin, so adults could travel for €10 return and kids for €5.”

McGann points out that the three-game saga with Castleknock has united the town behind the team: “The games have been great in another sense in that people have really gotten wrapped up in the saga. I think if we’d won the first game (with Castleknock) it might have bypassed people. As it is, everyone in the town, even the people who wouldn’t have a huge interest in GAA matters, are all behind the team.”

And that’s been displayed in the club coffers as well.

“If it wasn’t for people’s generosity, we’d be struggling hugely,” says McGann. “We had a coffee morning last week which was very well supported, we had businesses in the town dropping in a few bob and businesses in Kenmare are under pressure, just like everywhere else in the country. Club officers have been stopped by people on the street as well and they’ve been given €50 and €100, people who know we’re under pressure and who just want to keep the show on the road.”

Kenmare have a long-planned social on March 16 as part of The Gathering and their golf classic is on the horizon, too.

“We’d be hoping that (golf classic) will be supported, people are always very good to do so,” says McGann. “But we’re conscious also of how good people have been to us all along.

“We don’t want to overdo it. I’m sure we’ll get some money back from Croke Park as well.

“The big thing is the final, obviously. If we win that, it’ll all be worth it.”