Excitement is building after Féile launch

JUST under three months away from the staging of one of the biggest sporting events in Europe in terms of participation, last Thursday night saw the preparations for the 2016 Féile Peil Na nÓg move up a gear as the host clubs within Kerry and the attached West Limerick and Cork areas found out either the club or the county they will be hosting come the last weekend in June.

While Kerry will be the main hub of activity for the event, 250 teams will take part in over 600 odd games across the three county area. There will be 16 different grades of competition, 10 Boys and six Girls with 32 finals at the end of it all.

Kerry Coiste na nÓg chairman Tom Keane outlined where the project is at the moment as the big week in June draws closer. “What we want to do first is create a bit of a buzz in the host clubs about who they will be hosting. Obviously we don’t know every county’s representative in a particular grade yet but we felt it best to give the clubs some idea so they can track the progression of who they are likely to host in a given county. We expect all the participating teams to be known by the May Bank Holiday Weekend,” he said at last Thursday’s event in the Gleneagle Hotel, Killarney. A large committee has been working diligently over the last year or so putting in the necessary preparations for the event and Tom Keane gave an insight into the sort of work they have been doing.

“The grading of the sizes is very important because if you don’t do it right then the event won’t be the success you want it to be. I’m very grateful to both Damien McCarthy (Boys) and Donal Barry (Girls) for their input on this, we’ve worked very closely with Coaching and Development Officers as well as Provincial Councils in terms of getting it all right,” he said.

Féile, of course, is more than a football tournament but also a social event with families of teams from participating counties staying with clubs in the host area and Mr. Keane encouraged all those hosting people connected with the event to embrace the experience. “I think everyone remembers growing up the buzz of travelling away with your club and playing and staying with different families for events like this. I think it’s something that in time you see the benefit from. I want to thank all the clubs and families for being willing to host, there’s a lot that has to be done in relation to Garda Vetting with it but they are co-operating very well with us,” the Coiste na nÓg chairman said.

With clubs now having a greater idea of who they are likely to host, Mr. Keane outlined the next stage in the Féile process. “We have both the President of the GAA Aogan Ó Fearghaill and the Ladies President Marie Hickey coming down for the official launch of the event in Brosna on May 9 and after that we have school visits in the hosting areas which we hope will add to the buzz about the event in June in the local areas. We’ve changed the parades this year as well making them more regional based as opposed to having them all in one central area. We’re delighted to have John West come on board as national sponsors of the event as well as some of the other local sponsors and we are grateful to the Gleneagle Hotel Group for helping us throughout the preparation process.”