Kevin O’Riordan's monumental ‘Kick For Kolkata’ charity mission nearly complete

In just over a week, Kevin O’Riordan concludes a journey he began on August 29. When he kicks over a point on All-Ireland club finals day in Croke Park he’ll have split the posts in each of the 1,616 clubs and 32 county grounds in the country.

A phone call to him last Wednesday found him leaving Derry’s Celtic Park. By the evening, he had finished the county, meaning he only has three remaining. The following day, he ticked off the Tyrone venues that were outstanding. After that, it was to Down and finally Dublin where he has already completed half of the clubs.

O’Riordan, older brother of Sydney Swans player and former Tipperary U21 football captain Colin, took up his monumental “Kick For Kolkata” cause having volunteered with the HOPE Foundation in 2014 in the Indian city formerly known as Calcutta.

It is his wish each club can donate €50/£50 to help him reach his target of just under €100,000. Visiting clubs during one of the wettest winters in recent history caused obvious logistical problems between negotiating floods and accessing waterlogged pitches but the goodwill was there across the board.

“To be honest, going to the clubs has been the easiest part of it,” says the 25-year-old Templemore primary school teacher. “Going around the country and meeting people has been superb. There were some pitches where the water was up to your calves, where a boat was the best thing for it.

“You’re wondering how mad you are to be doing it but you have the craic. They’re the moments you remember.

“Sometimes, you hear the GAA community is this and that but really when you go out and experience it and visit every parish in the country, you realise the tight bonds, communities, and families that keep it all together.

“The other side of it has been the uploading the details onto Facebook and Twitter. You could be in the car for 12 hours of the day and then all of a sudden having to go and spend four or five hours of uploading everything. That’s the worst part!”

The generosity extended to O’Riordan has humbled him. Two weeks ago, a family in Donegal filled up his car with petrol, provided him with dinner, and washed his clothes. Ulster GAA personalities Joe Kernan, Dominic McKinley, and Chris Brown have been just as good as have Derry’s sponsors Specialist Joinery Group.

O’Riordan gave up teaching to follow his goal and hopes to return to Kolkata in June to provide more assistance. “If you saw the conditions these people are living in out there, you’d realise this is a very small thing that is being done to raise some more for them. People are interested in and concerned about the severe poverty there. You see these kids fighting with dogs and maybe getting a chip out of a bin. That’s the level of poverty we’re talking about.”

• You can donate to the initiative on www.gofundme.com/mgx2b8pm. Donate €4 by texting Kick4Hope to 50300. Follow Kevin’s journey on www.facebook.com/kickforkolkata or Twitter (@KickforKolkata).