Dolan Hitting The Road To Raise Funds For Local Charities & Services

Derrick Lynch

There has been a lot of talk about roadmaps in relation to getting the country reopened once more after Covid-19, but for Clare camogie coach Conor Dolan that term has taken on a whole new meaning in the last few weeks.

The Meelick native is undertaking a 100km fundraising walk over three days on from June 26-28 which will see him make his way from Eyre Square in Galway to the Daughters of Charity in Limerick.

Four charities are set to benefit from his efforts with all funds raised being split between the Daughters of Charity, Down Syndrome Limerick, Clare Early Intervention Services (CEIS) and Fighting Blindness.

The 100km route will be spread out over the course of the weekend, with the opening leg taking him from Galway City to Gort. The journey will continue into East Clare the following day with his home in Sixmilebridge as the final destination, while the final leg on Sunday June 28 will take him from Sixmilebridge to the Daughters of Charity building in Annacotty.

100km is an arduous journey to undertake, but he explained that it was originally shaping up to be a much longer route than that.

“It is a total rush of blood to the head. I was supposed to do a golf classic for Down Syndrome Limerick at Shannon Golf Club at the end of May but unfortunately that had to be cancelled due to the Covid-19 restrictions. I am doing a lot of work in Dublin recently and have been out walking every evening so I decided I would do a walk for charity. Initially I had planned to do one from Dublin to Sixmilebridge, but a good friend of mine suggested trying smaller steps first so I decided to do the Galway to Limerick route. That was on a Wednesday evening and by Thursday I had the sponsor cards ready and the GoFundMe page set up” he outlined.

It will be an emotional and personal undertaking for Dolan and his family, with each of the charities involved playing a big part in their lives.

“My sister passed away at the age of seven and she had cerebral palsy along with being blind and a number of other issues. She had a lot of respite in the Daughters of Charity, and my father along with an aunt and uncle of mine are working there at the moment so I always had it in my head that I would do something for them. My wife has family members who are affected by blindness and I have friends who avail of the services that the CEIS and Down Syndrome Limerick provide. They are all local charities who are crying out for money at the moment and there is a lot of great charity work going on. When I set this up first, I did not really want to be pushing it too hard because there were so many other great causes being championed. I wanted to do it more for my own peace of mind and hopefully get the money for these charities along the way. I have a few people who are going to keep me company for the journey between friends and family, and I have a few more who will jump in to do a few legs with me along the way. With the current restrictions being lifted slowly but surely, it will be make it easier for more and more people to join in along the route. It is all for a good cause so along with getting my exercise in, we will be making money along the way” he laughed.

Dolan was also involved with the Clare camogie squad as they were challenged to complete 1000km in a week while raising funds along the way. That target was well surpassed, and Dolan feels the manner in which people have supported charitable efforts during the Covid-19 crisis has been incredible.

He said: “There has been a lot of charity work done across the county and you have to take into account that a lot of people are out of work at the minute. It is unbelievable to see the amount of money that people are giving to charity and if people have something they can give, it would be greatly appreciated. We saw it ourselves with the fundraiser in the camogie squad. The Clare Ladies footballers started it and they called on us then to do our bit. There was great fun with the competitive element too but to see the money that was raised was incredible. It shows a great spirit and bond not just within the group, but also among their families and clubs who supported them along the way with it”.

Having being involved with the Galway senior and intermediate camogie squads in 2019, Dolan made the switch to Clare after being contacted by manager Ger O’Connell late last year.

“I had not been involved with a camogie team prior to 2018. I was training the Ardrahan hurlers in Galway and was asked to take a few sessions with the county camogie team after they had a falling out with management. I took it on and found myself training the team full-time. It was great experience but I was working in Dublin and training Cashel Kilcormac’s in Tipperary so I was spending nearly every night of the week on the road and I have a young family at home. I decided to pull the plug on both so that I would have more time with them, but when Ger called I discussed it with my wife and she was happy for me to give it a go because it was closer to home. I am also able to bring the girls to training with me and they are playing with Sixmilebridge themselves so they really look up to the country squad as role models” he explained.

Dolan was involved with both the senior and intermediate Galway sides that reached last year’s respective All-Ireland finals. Both squads trained together for a large part of the year and he feels having that consistency is something that may benefit Clare in the long run in developing the stars of the future.

“It might be something that Clare can look at having over the next few years in having that link across the various panels. Stephen Cusack is the strength and conditioning coach with us at the moment and maybe if you had him with the U-16, minor and junior squads too then everyone is working to the same level. We had 50 players over the two panels with Galway last year and it really brought on the younger girls. We only had three players over 23 years old on the intermediate team so the work they were doing was really developing them for the senior team. You can see the success the Clare minors are after having in the last few years so there is savage potential coming through. The problem is that camogie does not have an U-20 set-up like the hurling so I would be looking to utilise the junior squad as that stepping stone to push the younger girls on. When I took the job on first, I started going to a few club games and I really though the standard was pretty much on a par with what you would see in the Galway club scene. We have had a fairly decent start with the league in going to Nowlan Park and getting the win and we beat Offaly on an awful day in Birr. The Waterford game was a poor performance at the start but we fought well after the break. We are going the right way but if we could get another four or five girls onto the panel to be pushing hard for places it would be great. It is just trying to get our best available players in the county out playing” he stated.

Dolan is also hoping to call in a few favours as part of the fundraising efforts, with the senior camogie squad set to join him for the final leg of the journey. He is hopeful that they will still see some championship action in 2020.

“Croke Park said it is going to be club first when things get back on track again which is great but we cannot leave out our county players along the way. They have put in a huge effort for seven months so it really is balancing act. It is not the Clare county board or me or anyone else in the county who will make the call, it will come from Croke Park and the Government as to what way we will strike the balance for the next few months but hopefully we can get back on the field again before the year is out” he said.