Centre of Excellence

Nissan Almera. First Prize - A Nissan Almera 1.5,
four door car.

Aodh Ruadh is undertaking a major draw in support of its ambitious plans to develop a Centre of Excellence at the Munday's Field site in Ballyshannon.

The full listing of prizes is now available and the line-up is impressive with something there for everyone.

  • First prize is a four door 1.5 Nissan Almera
  • Second prize is €3,000 in cash
  • Third prize is a two week sunshine holiday for two valued at €1,500
  • Fourth prize is a 32 inch LCD Television and DVD player
  • Fifth prize is a golf weekend for two at the Slieve Russell Hotel
  • Sixth prize is a weekend for two in the Camden Court Hotel, Dublin with two All Ireland Football OR hurling tickets
  • Seventh prize is a weekend for two with the White Group
  • Eighth prize is €250 worth of household goods from Slevin's Department Store, Ballyshannon
  • Ninth prize is a €250 shopping voucher sponsored by Mace in Ballyshannon
  • Tenth prize is €200 in cash.

Tickets priced €30/£20 each or €50/£35 for two are out now. The club is currently assembling teams to sell the draw tickets. If you would like to help out with ticket sales, please call 087-6431805, e-mail info@aodhruadh.org or contact any committee member. This is a private members draw. Rules pertaining to the draw are available from the Club Executive.

Aodh Ruadh GAA Club in Ballyshannon owns an eight acre of site located across the road from Father Tierney Park. The main part of the site was acquired in the late 1980s with a further adjoining acre of ground bought in more recent times.

Known locally as "Munday's Field ", the site has a particular significance for the Club as it was the location in October 1909 for the first games of hurling and football played by the then newly formed Aodh Ruadh GAA Club. An organised hurling club had existed from as far back as 1904, which was subsumed into the new Club.

The site assembled by Aodh Ruadh is now a very valuable piece of property both commercially and in the context of the links with the Club's foundation. For some years the Club has been planning to develop the site in order to maximise its potential for GAA purposes. Prunty contracts Ltd., Fermanagh have been engaged to develop a regulation size GAA pitch with two junior cross fields, a floodlight training field encircled by a running track and ancillary works to improve access between the changing rooms and pavilion at Father Tierney Park. It is planned to commence the development work during April 2007 with a view to having the new Centre of Excellence facilities available for use by the Club early in 2008.

Aodh Ruadh is a very active GAA club, fielding up to 20 teams in all codes including Gaelic Football, Ladies Football, Hurling and Camogie. Over the year the Club has provided many players for County teams including Garry Walsh, Brian Murray and Sylvester Maguire All Ireland medalists in 1992. In more recent times the Cub has represented at county senior level by Brian Roper and Niall McCready and Johnny Gallagher.

The Club also has a very proud record of involvement in GAA administration providing many county officers over the years including the Hugh Daly who was a long serving County Secretary. Donegal's former PRO, Sean Perry, is an active member of the Club as are Mick McGrath a current delegate for Donegal to the Ulster Council and Tom Daly, recently appointed President of the Ulster Council. At the launch of the major draw which took place on Monday, 26th February, a tribute was paid to the senior players of the club who have undertaken their own fundraising ventures to support the initiative which has so far yielded €30,000, to the local public representations who have assisted in securing sports capital funding so far of €100,000 with the expectation of a further €150,000 into the near future and to all who have been involved in developing the project to date. One of the biggest issues facing the Club during 2007 is how it functions without its training fields but as was stated by Tom Daly on the night of the launch it was a matter "short term pain" for "longer term gain".

It was also indicated at the launch that when this work is completed and commissioned early in 2008, development work will proceed on a major modernisation programme at the Father Tierney Park, Donegal's secondary county ground and the venue for many enthralling inter-county encounters over the years. It is the intention to have all of this work completed in advance of the celebration of Aodh Ruadh's Centenary in 2009. The cost plan for the Aodh Ruadh Centre of Excellence is of the order of €450,000.