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Winner of the Kerins O’Rahillys GAA Club ‘Last Man Standing’ competition, Denny O’Connor (seated centre) with Ger O’Brien and John O’Connor and (back from left) Paul Ryan, Frank O’Connor and Ger Moran of Kerins O’Rahillys at the presentation of his €500 winnings at the clubhouse on Friday evening. Photo by Dermot Crean
NOT bad for a first effort.
The Kerins O’Rahillys club decided to run a ‘Last Man Standing’ competition this year, but unlike other clubs who run the fundraiser based on the Premier League, this one asked people to make selections based on the Allianz National League Division 1 season.
“The club wanted to upgrade the gym facilities here for the players to do their strength and conditioning training,” said John O’Connor, one of the organisers of the competition.
“The players really bought into the idea of the competition and each of them got a number of tickets to sell. They were also on sale in the club and online,” he added.
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The response was amazing with over 700 people paying the €10 entry fee, many of whom with no association to the Strand Road club.
Many of those entrants didn’t last too long as about one-third of the participants were eliminated after the opening game in the league when Dublin lost to Armagh. When Kerry drew the following day with Kildare, a good few more bit the dust.
Going into the second last week there were only 20 ‘men’ standing and just nine in the final round. Three entrants made it all the way but Denny O’Connor from Mounthawk ended up with the most points to claim the €500 prize.
Denny, a former Chairman of the Juvenile Club, was at the clubhouse to accept his prize on Friday night.
With the level of success of the competition, it’s no surprise that it’ll return next season and it’ll be a bigger and better affair say organisers.
