Kerry legend launches new Kildalkey development

Kerry football legend Kieran Donaghy was on hand to launch the ambitious development of a new hurling wall and artificial pitch at Kildalkey hurling club on Wednesday morning.
The four-time All-Ireland SFC winner and three-time Allstar is business development manager with PST Sport, the team charged with constructing the state-of-the-art facility at Kildalkey's pitches.
PST Sport are also responsible for many projects throughout Ireland and the UK and recently completed works for Mbnster Rugby at Irish Independent Park and for Chelsea Football club at their state of the art facilities in Cobham, Surrey.
Donaghy was greeted in Kildalkey on Wednesday by pupils from the local national school and their teacher Nodlag O'Neill-Forde and the Kerry legend had plenty of words of advice for the aspiring youngsters.

Kildalkey NS pupil Caemerhon Smyth has a chat with Kerry legend Kieran Donaghy

"You will all see this development done soon enough, but what you also have to realise is the amount of work, paperwork, effort, fundraising, knocking on doors and goodwill in the community that has gone one for years has been huge," Donaghy told the gathered crowd.
"We see it every time PST open one of these type of facilities, it is a real proud day for the people who might have taken a bit of stick over the years because they were holding back funds for this bigger image.
"This development is more important for the kids than it is for the adults because what the kids will get will be of massive benefit to them.
"The great thing about this type of pitch PST are putting in here, training will never be called off again, you will always have a great surface under your feet.
"So I encourage you to use this facility. Make sure you practice, when we were young we didn't have ball walls and let me tell you they would have been handy.
"We used to kick the ball over the bar, run 30 yards to go get the ball back, run back out 30 yards and kick it over the bar again. We'd spend two or three hours doing that Kerry, but with a ball wall you might get 200 or 300 kicks off a wall in 25 minutes, which will be of great benefit.

Former Kerry footballer Kieran Donaghy signs autographs for Kildalkey NS pupils on Wednesday morning.

"Believe you me it will be a lot easier for you to practice and as the old saying goes 'practice makes perfect'.
"If you want to represent Kildalkey and you want to go on and represent Meath this is where a lot of those dreams will come from. There is no better place than here, you will have all your age groups training on this new facility.
"The kids that will go on and play for Meath are the ones who will cycle in on their bike or walk into the pitch and go straight up to the new wall and training pitch themselves and they're the ones the club members will look out at and think 'they're the ones that'll make it'.
"If you want something in life it just takes going the extra mile a small bit, and this facility the Kildalkey club have worked so hard to build will help you along that journey if you really want it," said Donaghy.

Fr Colm Murtagh turns the first sod on the new facilitiy at Kildalkey GAA club.

Kildalkey chairman Nick Fitzgerald who is also the Meath senior hurling manager is well aware of all the hard work that has gone on in the Kildalkey community over the last decade and he was delighted to announce that since 2010 €300,000 has been spent in Kildalkey GAA Club and they are debt-free.
Fitzgerald also reserved special praise for the stalwarts of the club who laid the foundations for where they are today and like Donaghy he believes the future is very bright for Kildalkey GAA.
"There are a number of people who have done a lot of work. We have secured the property and the playing pitches.
"Since 2010 we have constantly hammered people in the parish and surrounding area for money and I want to acknowledge those people, our members and parishioners as well as our local Councillors Caroline (Lynch), Noel (French) and Joe (Fox) for their help and support.
"I also want to welcome some of the older people here who brought this club to a certain point and handed it over to the likes of us who are trying to move it on again and hopefully we can hand it on in better condition again.
"That is what it is all about in a GAA club. You only take a loan of it and then you hand it back as something better. We have a group of kids in the club who spend four to five hours a week here on our pitches, hopefully that will increase again with the new hurling wall and the playing surface.
"I want to welcome Rose Davis, Bridie Harmon and Sean Potterton. Those three people and their families are steep in terms of tradition of the Kildalkey club and they can tell you some stories about how the club used to operate and how they had to manage the old money and the small amounts of it. They are all part of the history here and I want to thank them for being here.
"The officers in the club sometimes take a lot of criticism for doing what they believe is right. There are a huge amount of people in this club who constantly, day after day give up their time and their money for our club.
"No different to what was done by those in the past, this present committee are doing their upmost to improve Kildalkey GAA.
"I also want to let people know we are not finished at this, we are not going away and we will be coming back again," quipped the club chairman.