All roads lead to St Conleth’s Park, Newbridge tonight, where the annual Hurling for Cancer research fundraiser takes place.
The initiative got off the ground in 2012, when between them, Jim Bolger and Davy Russell came up with an idea.
Their aim was to raise money for charity and given their connections, as well as their fanatical interest in hurling, they decided to arrange an exhibition match between some of the game’s greatest past and present players, as well as its foremost characters. Since then, Jim Bolger’s stars have been taking on Davy Russell’s best.
It’s ten years on now and at this stage, what you have is a huge occasion and a widely supported event that has raised more than €1.1 Million for the Irish Cancer Society.
Having missed the last two years due to Covid, large crowds are expected to flock to Newbridge tonight for an evening of wholesome entertainment and with the likes of Kyle Hayes, Tom Morrissey and Ashling Thompson all in action, they’ll also get to see some of the game’s brightest stars.
Meanwhile, Colm O’Rourke and Rachael Blackmore and Paul McGrath will help out with the officiating on the night while icons Brian Cody and Liam Griffin will be back on the line. For one night only.
The gates open in St Conleth’s Park from 4.30 tonight, with RTE radio’s Drive it with the Two Johnnies broadcasting live from the venue, ands you can purchase your tickets here or on the gate.
Davy Russell was interviewed on At The Races about the event earlier and he spoke of his excitement for the evening.
Fantastic initiative! @_Davy_Russel_ speaks to @hayleyjanemoore about Tuesday's @Hurling4cancer where some of racing's greats will be involved 🙌 pic.twitter.com/XV461nTvkJ
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) August 15, 2022
“Well it’ll be played to a high standard for the majority of players – I’ll take part for a small bit and that will drag it down, but the likes of Tommy Walsh and all these top class hurlers will be there. So it will be a good spectacle to see all those past and present players against each other, the likes of Patrick Horgan, Ryan Taylor, Tom Morrissey.
“It’s for cancer research. Unfortunately, it’s an easy sell because every household has been affected by it. Every euro that’s raised goes directly to cancer research, nobody takes anything out of it. We’re up over the million mark for the combined total and we try to break the one hundred thousand mark every year. We missed a few due to covid so we’re hoping there’ll be a great crowd through the gates tonight.
