Laois Today: Laois hurling and camogie clubs raise more than €10,000 for three charities with weekend fundraiser

Members of Clough-Ballacolla GAA and camogie clubs ran, walked, cycled and shaved their heads in a series of novel challenges over the weekend to raise a huge sum of money for three charities.

Crumlin Children’s Hospital, Pieta House and St Vincent de Paul will be the worthy recipients of the more than €10,000 which has been raised to date.

Chairperson Oonagh Maher explained: “There are so many incredibly deserving charities out there, we’re supporting three that provide amazing support and service for people in different circumstances.

“Firstly, we wanted to support the local and most-vulnerable and felt that the local St.Vincent De Paul group would really appreciate our help.

“A large percentage of their fund-raising comes from Church Collections and they could struggle to meet the needs of local people in need.

“Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital Crumlin provide an amazing service and we felt it would be appropriate to consider the vulnerable young people who are enduring such difficult times.

“Finally, Pieta House provide an invaluable service to families in every community and their current ad-campaign will resonate strongly with many.

“Mental Health issues are likely to spiral as a result of this Covid-19 lockdown so our donation will be greatly appreciated.

We feel that with this mix of charities, we can fundraise both in our community and outside.

“We’re mindful of the generous donations that so many parishioners will have given to “Do it for Dan” but we also believe that bringing our little community together with a shared focus/vision is a really worthwhile and honourable endeavour.”

And the community did not let them down as they all came together to make the weekend a huge success.

There were some stunning feats too with former Laois hurler Darren Maher cycling 218km on Sunday – the equivalent of the longest stage in the Tour de France.

He completed the task in just over nine hours too – a truly mammoth effort.

Members of the minor hurling panel, including managers, shaved or dyed their hair with hilarious results.

And the efforts were not just confirmed to Ireland either as two Clough-Ballacolla members living in Switzerland – Alan and Tara O’Flatherty – cycled 30km around the scenic European country.

Check out some brilliant pictures from the weekend below and also the GoFundMe page which is still live.