KERRY GAA LEGENDS PRAISE CHICAGO'S GENEROSITY IN HUGELY SUCCESSFUL US FUNDRAISER

Kerry GAA's ambitious US fundraiser grossed a little over €1 million, a significant portion of the €6 million needed to build the Centre of Excellence and training facility at Currans.

The final leg of the Kerry GAA legends tour was in Chicago, after trips to New York and Boston.

The Kerry GAA Supporters Club Chicago was only officially established in January, but from a standing start it grew incredibly quickly, and they hosted a golf outing, dinner event, youth coaching session and bar crawl in the city - all extremely well attended.

The added addition of both the Sam Maguire and Tom Markham cups made the weekend extra special.

The Centre of Excellence will feature six training fields, gyms and more for use by Kerry GAA teams of all levels.
During their visit to Chicago, Tomas O Se spoke about the importance of such a facility.

"The days of going and depending on a club to house an inter county team in January or February are gone. Kerry would have to go to Rathmore to make sure that they'd have a pitch to train on and it's wrong.

"Testament would have to go to Pat O'Sullivan, when he came in as chairman. He said, "Right we're going to get this done." And it's huge. Absolutely massive the fact that, god almighty, the most successful team have somewhere to call home."

Each member of the travelling crew was blown away with the generosity shown in Chicago.

"It's amazing the goodwill that's there in the States: in New York, Boston and Chicago," said legendary midfielder Darragh O Se. "It would blow your mind with regards how generous people are.

"We've been extremely impressed by and humbled by it. On the back of all that it will put pedals under Kerry football again."
"Touring around a few bars and meeting a few of the sponsors over here was great," added Tommy Griffin. "Yesterday was a huge success as well. There's great work being done over here by the lads, it's fantastic.

"People away from home want to do what they can for our people back home. You have to tap into that and the boys have responded. It's the same in New York, Boston and here - it's been fantastic.

"I suppose they like to give back something," continued Griffin, who won five All-Ireland titles with Kerry. "They can't partake in the games back home. But even the clubs out here, the work they do out here with underage and stuff is great."

"Facilities back home have to be brought up to standard and that's the whole idea of it with the Centre of Excellence. Great credit to everybody over here for all the work they do."

"It's great to see all the support for Kerry GAA in the States," said former Irish rugby captain Mick Galwey. "Chicago's great as well, they've raised a huge amount of money."

"Kerry have a great tradition and we're trying to stay ahead of everyone else," added two-time All-Ireland winner Donal Daly. "That's what it's all about really. That's the ambition."

"Going forward it will be great to have one facility. A center where guys can come together, train and get to know each other. The best gym facilities, the best pitches and that seriously helps our development."

O'Sullivan, chairman of the Kerry county board and the driving force behind this fundraising effort, paid tribute to the giving nature of Irish people in the States.

"The support by Kerry people everywhere and people who are not from Kerry. They have a love for the game and a love of home and they keep on contributing to a lot of different benefits and charities.

"In America there's this thing about giving that is not in any other place in the world and over the last couple of weeks we've been overwhelmed by the support we've been given."

What was remarkable about the fundraiser in Chicago is that the idea only came about last October, and a committee was only formed in January.
Denis Neville, chairman of the Kerry GAA Supporters Club Chicago, admitted he was surprised with how quickly things came together.
"We started off initially last November with just a small core group of people and no clear expectations of what we could achieve," he said. "I think we've done pretty well and the support of my committee colleagues, Joe (Walsh), Declan (Fitzmaurice), Therese (O'Sullivan) and Willie Joe (Casey) has been great. Our whole objective this year was to start something off, generate a bit of grassroots interest, a following and go from there."

"It's a little surprising because when we started out there wasn't a whole lot going on and it's obviously blossomed in the last couple of months. We're delighted to see it. But it probably proves that there is a lot of potential for a lot of growth."

Following on from a successful opening year, now the objective is to make Chicago an annual stop for Kerry GAA fundraising efforts.

"We've been given a task from Pat (O'Sullivan) and the Kerry County Board to try and fund the maintenance of the new Kerry centre," Neville said. "Pat started out when we first met with ambitious targets and he's not a man any of us want to let down. Now that they've got to the point of being able to pay for it, you've got to be actually able to maintain it and they'll be leaning on us instead of the individual towns within Kerry to do that."

He was quick to heap praise on the Kerry legends who selflessly gave up their time for a 12 day trip to benefit Kerry players of the present and future.

"Yeah it's fantastic. It goes to show that they don't hang up their boots and say goodbye to it. They're dedicated to the end so it's fantastic. They're great guys. They're not just superstars who play football, but they're real good guys."

Daly was impressed how quickly things were set-up in Chicago.

"Chicago only started in November. Where they've come from is absolutely amazing. And Denis [Neville], Declan Fitzmaurice and these guys, they've done a huge job."

O'Sullivan concluded by saying the Kerry county board won't forget the generosity of GAA people in Chicago in a hurry.
"People work hard and with that there comes a benefit. Like everyone, they have this pride and a joy for home even though their lives are based out here now. I suppose when they were younger they were looked after by clubs in different counties and now they're giving something back here which is very important. To us anyway.
"The western seaboard has been devastated by immigration, a lack of jobs and development. Hopefully this will be the start of the development in Kerry that has been stagnant over the last four or five years.

"We have a great tradition of Kerry people coming to Chicago. They all want to be a part of what we're trying to do. Which is special for us."

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