County board clear €100k from car draw fundraiser

GAA news

Cavan county board have benefitted to the tune of a cool €100,000 following the successful running of a fundraising draw, in conjunction with Brady’s VW, Arva.

The draw took place on Monday evening last at Kingspan Breffni and was streamed live on social media.

“The proceeds will be €100,000-plus. A phenomenal success,” stated county board treasurer Martin Cahill.

“We had to innovate and that’s why the online element was critical. I suppose about 80pc of the ticket sales were online, there were a number of hard copies sold but there were no events, no league matches, nowhere to meet people and sell tickets and promote the draw.

“The online system was critical and worked very well.”

County board secretary Liam McCabe was one of the main driving forces behind the fundraiser and was delighted to see it work out well for all involved.

“Very happy indeed, the draw was a great success and it was only a success because of the work of a good few people,” said McCabe.

“Paddy Sheanon came to me first with the idea and Paddy also talked to Brady’s about the sponsorship so a big debt of gratitude is owed to him for getting that done. I’d like to thank John Hyland from ClubSpot, without him we couldn’t have got it done, and Cara McDermott and Ella Murphy from Cavan Institute who did all the online promotions. I am delighted for them with how well it went.

“The Cavan senior team and all the committee members put in a big effort and the general public really got behind the draw and I want to thank them all very much.

“We sold a lot of tickets online. In normal circumstances we could have brought the car to different towns on Saturdays and Sundays and promoted it that way and we probably could have made more on it but times are not normal. And then I suppose, there are a lot of people sitting at home who have some money that they may not have had.

“Not everybody but a lot of people and the online was a huge success from that point of view. Swings and roundabouts but overall, very good.”

The partners for the initiative were long-time county board supporters Brady’s Arva Ltd.

“We have a long relationship with Brady’s and thankfully we have that revived now again. Padraig Brady was a very, very good sponsor and he was delighted with the draw himself. In fairness to him, he even sold a good few tickets for the draw.

“He was happy with it and we are very happy with it as well, it’s good for both of us.”

The feelgood factor around the county following the Ulster SFC success last November helped, he said.

“Hopefully we have a long summer ahead of us with all our teams and we’ll need that money to keep things going.

“No doubt about it, it feels great, every day, we are still Ulster champions. I have a lot of friends who I have a lot of banter with and it’s great to be able to say ‘well boys, we’re Ulster champions for the 40th time’,” he joked.

“In all seriousness, it was just wonderful, it was jus sad that we couldn’t get really celebrating it properly and there were no fans there to see it but as you know, the fans from Cavan turned out in their thousands at Kingspan Breffni on the night. That was different but it was good.

“I would be hopeful about this year. I mean, look, it’s a tough ask, the draw didn’t do Cavna any favours but we are at a level now where, if we want to stay there, we need to be beating Tyrone. You’d possibly have Donegal and if we won that, Armagh or Monaghan maybe so there is nothing handy.

“If we win this year’s Ulster Championship, we can surely say we have arrived. But yeah, I would be very hopeful, the boys are putting in a serious effort. They’re mad keen and of course the success has helped. You now have fellas wanting to get into the panel whereas maybe years ago you had fellas wanting to leave.

“It’s a bit of a headache for Mickey and his team to start picking the 30-odd players but it’s a good problem to have.”

Martin Cahill, who has been treasurer through the recession and before, echoed those sentiments.

“It does, it makes it all worthwhile. They’re the days you live for. No more than an awful lot of other people in the county, we didn’t get to experience that. It was a surreal experience.

“I suppose the way to make sure that we experience it is to beat Tyrone and go on and retain our Ulster Championship. When you see the goodwill on days like today and get out and meet people, it makes it worthwhile.

“If you’re sitting at home thinking about it and panicking… We would spend a quarter of a million on getting our football and hurling teams through the National League and to have that coming against you as it were, unsure if you’re going to get Croke Park help, unsure about our own finances, they’re worrying times but days like this make it a bit more worthwhile and definitely easier to get up tomorrow and think about it again.”

Cavan GAA Fundraiser Winners

1st Prize: Brand New Volkswagen Golf - Pauric Reilly, Ballyhaise, Co Cavan.

2nd Prize: €2,000 - Eileen McGreal

3rd Prize: Two nights’ B&B and one evening meal for two in Slieve Russel Hotel - Brendan Gilsenan, Killygarry, Co. Cavan

Pic: Inspector Micheál O’Donoghue draws the ticket of Pauric Reilly from Ballyhaise in the Cavan GAA Win a Car draw in Kingspan Breffni, with Kieran Callaghan, Chairman of Cavan County Board, and Brendan Young, independent observer, also present. Photo: Adrian Donohoe.