Foxrock ladies play for the memory of Páidí

A LADIES GAA team from the Southside took their place among 1,300 other players in a gruelling football festival in memory of legend Páidí � Sé last weekend.

The girls of the Foxrock-Cabinteely senior ladies were competing in the 25th anniversary year of the PhoneWatch Comórtas Peile Páidí Ã? Sé 2014, with over 40 adult men’s and ladies club teams on the rugged Dingle Peninsula.

The football festival has attracted almost 10,000 club players over 25 years and has grown into a major international GAA event with senior, intermediate and junior clubs travelling from over 10 counties as well as Boston, London, Manchester and Brussels this year.

The South Dublin ladies, who lost the final last year, were up against the champions Carnacon of Mayo along with Timahoe of Laois and three Kerry sides; Na Gaeil of Tralee, Southern Gaels of South Kerry and Scartaglin from mid Kerry

Supported by PhoneWatch, Opel Ireland, Lee Strand Milk, Fáilte Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way tourist route, Kerry County Council, and Newstalk 106-108FM, the

‘Comórtas’ was officially launched by Taoiseach Enda Kenny in Dublin recently.

To mark the 25th anniversary, the four original senior men’s club teams from the first tournament back in 1989, Kerry’s An Gaeltacht and Dingle clubs, Cork’s Ballincollig and Galway’s An Cheathrú Rua once again competed.

Pádraig Ã?g Ã? Sé said the Comórtas had grown beyond his Dad’s wildest dreams.

“We are delighted it continues to attract clubs from all over the world,

? he said.

“It sends a positive message to young people about the benefits of an active and healthy lifestyle.

“This event, along with Fundúireacht Páidí Ã? Sé, a charitable foundation that we set up after his passing to help provide cardiac related services in Kerry and nationally, are positive legacies he would have been proud of.

“We are also flattered that a local committee has been set up to perpetuate his memory in the form of a monument for his contribution to Irish life.

?

A committee has recently been formed to perpetuate the memory of the late Páidí O Sé, a man who achieved extraordinary things for his county, his parish and the country at large – both on and off the football field – in a comparatively short life.

Páidí will be remembered by the creation of a life-size bronze monument that will be erected outside his home in Ard A Bhóthair as a reminder of his contribution to Irish society.

The aim is to officially unveil the monument on May 16, next year, on what would have been Páidí’s 60th birthday.

The committee is working with friends of Páidí from the corporate sector to contribute towards the cost of this undertaking.