Eight years ago when two well-known Longford GAA officials and keen racing goers came up with the idea to run a Day at the Race, neither men in their wildest dreams couldn’t have possibly thought such a huge day could run so smoothly for an eight year running and be as popular as ever.

Longford GAA’s eight annual Day at the Races, which took place on Wednesday, 21st April 2010, on Guinness Gold Cup Day at the annual Punchestown festival, went off without one single problem and this is testament to the two hard working committees in Longford and Dublin in charge of this event, many who are now involved from year one, as almost 1200 loyal Longford Gaels and friends took over Punchestown Racecourse.

Another proud day for County Board Chairman

County Board Chairman, Pat Cahill, a proud man on the day opened the days proceedings in the Killashee House Hotel Pavilion by saying - “Welcome to what is another special occasion, this the eight Day at the Races Longford GAA County Board have undertake”.

“The support we have received today is heartening. Funds raised here today will go back into the underage structures - our county teams at all grades”

The Longford County Board Chairman went on to say - “The whole day couldn’t have happened without many hard-working people” and I would like to thank them all for their efforts over the last number of months in preparing and making this most successful and enjoyable run so smoothly.

Pat Cahill went on to thank all the members of the organising committee - “In particular two members of the committee who worked so hard in Dublin and Longford, Gerry Farrell and John Bannon and Martin Skelly overall”.

Almost 1200 Longford Gaels gather from around the world

From the moment the 1200 strong Longford contingent arrived at the fabulous Killashee House Hotel Pavilion for the Longford GAA Day at the Races, you could tell it was going to be another successful day, a day hopefully all will remember for along time to come, as Longford GAELS from every village, street, parish and town from Longford, Dublin and from London and New York came from near and far to celebrate Longford GAA.  

Longford County Board will once again reap the rewards of the day and every penny will be well spent on underage and development in the county grounds, Pearse Park along with the new Centre of Excellence Training grounds.

One thing that stands out from the Day at the Races is that organising committee made it look so easy and I think everybody who attended - whether a racing fan or not - enjoyed the experience of the day.

Overall the whole day was a great success, but over the past number of months, there was much planning and preparation into the day, with both committees in both Longford and Dublin putting in endless hours of work and many late nights and their work behind the scenes paid off big time once again.

> Seamus Ross and Martin Skelly pictured during the 2010 ladbrokes.com Raceday at Punchestown

Around 120 tables were sold to a mixture of people. They included people from the sporting world, local and national, and many well known Longford businessmen based in Dublin while both local papers, the Longford Leader and News along with Shannonside Radio were all well represented on the day.   

Also on the day it was great to see most clubs having tables this year with many well known local faces from Longford GAA circles in attendance also and all in all it was a memorable day out for Longford People or indeed anyone who attended Longford’s main fundraiser this year.

County Committees well represented on the day
 
Many members of Longford Senior, Minor, Ladies and Hurling County Boards were all well represented on the day while many county team managers, including Glenn Ryan and Tom Lynam, were also in attendance to show their support - all enjoyed what had to be a day every Longford GAA supporter could be proud of.

Top-tipsters on the day 

Once again Longford GAA had two well-known top-tipsters Ted and for the firs time Katie Walsh while Jonathan Mullin (Editor of the Racing Post) and good friend of Longford GAA acted as MC for this part of the day, and al three went down well with the many ‘Punters’ in attendance.

Also on the day we had Neil Walsh and Bryan Coleman of ladbroked.com (main sponsors) on hand to lend their expertises, and we thank both Neil and Bryan-two great gentlemen, we thank them for their sponsors from ladbrokes.com

We are living in a world that has seen many tough times and days for businesses and people in general and if we are all honest about things we have seen a downturn on our fortunes on the playing fields and indeed the sad and tragic accident that took the life of Philip McGuinness in Mohill on Monday, but nobody can be of any doubt that the support and loyalty to Longford and Longford GAA is still alive and well in a world that has seen some hard years in recent times and to you all THANK YOU from all at Longford GAA and hopefully you will remember this day for a along time to come.

Nite Fever entertained the revellers late into the night and brought the curtain down on what was a great days racing and entertainment at Punchestown.

Plans for next years Longford GAA Day at the Races is well underway - with all tracks leading back to PUNCHESTOWN next April!

SEE YOU ALL IN 2011!

A full list of table names, sponsors and committees will appear later in the week.

> An aerial view of the Killashee House Hotel Pavilion during the 2010 ladbrokes.com Longford GAA Raceday