By Damian Dolan
Scotland’s county footballers will compete in Sunday’s All-Britain final, after the GAA community rallied to raise more than £2,000 to cover the team’s travel costs to Birmingham.
Scotland will now line up against Warwickshire at Pairc na hEireann.
The team had been faced with pulling out of the provincial inter-county decider due to a lack of funds, but a GoFundMe page set up by county secretary Jennifer Tracey on Friday appealing for donations went viral.
They reached their target on Tuesday evening.
Scotland GAA posted on Twitter, “We can’t believe it. We want to sincerely thank everyone who supported our campaign to make it to the All Britain Final this Sunday. Without your generosity we could not have reached our goal. The GAA is a fantastic community.”
🥳 THANK YOU📣
We can’t believe it. We want to sincerely thank everyone who supported our campaign to make it to the All Britain Final this Sunday. Without your generousity we could not have reached our goal. The GAA is a fantastic community. 🙌🏼 pic.twitter.com/vdWBgMnOuH— Scotland GAA (@ScotlandGAA) June 25, 2019
The GoFundMe page summarised the team’s predicament, stating: “The distances travelled in Britain are immense with members of our panel making the long journey to Birmingham from as far away as Aberdeen – 424 miles one way, approx 950 miles round trip.
“To put that in perspective: Malin head, Co. Donegal to Baltimore, Co. Cork = 359 miles.
“The players from all four [Scotland] clubs have demonstrated impressive commitment and sacrifices to play for our County team – doing so at their own expense.”
Anyone who pledged a donation was promised a special ‘thank you’ in the match day programme for the All-Britain final and on social media.
Scotland are looking to win the competition for the first time since 2014.
Warwickshire, whose home ground is Pairc na hEireann which is also the HQ for the Provincial Council of Britain, were last crowned British champions in 2006.
Scotland were unable to make their group stage fixture away trip to Gloucestershire due to a lack of funding.
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