DONEGAL man and Dalriada GFC player, Cathal Ó Gaillín, ran 150km in Aberdeen this December to raise funds for GAA Palestine.
Cathal started his campaign on December 1 and had already raised in excess of £1000 for his chosen cause and was close to his £1500 goal as The Irish Voice went to press.
Born and bred in Lifford, Donegal, Cathal (above) played with Naomh Pádraig GAA all his life, until his move to the ‘Granite City’ to pursue a degree in architecture in the University of Aberdeen.
Since moving to Scotland in 2020, he’s become an active member of local GAA club, Dalriada, and also of the university GAA team.
In this campaign, Cathal’s love of the GAA has met with his strong feelings about the desperate plight of the Palestinian people—Cathal is also an active member of and spokesperson for the Aberdeen branch of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign.
“I came across Palestine GAA by chance online and just thought it was so inspiring seeing these children taking up our national sport despite the ongoing occupation, apartheid and 76 years of Nakba,” Cathal said. “Symbolically I felt it was quite powerful also that what has always been, to us as Irish people, a method of resistance to occupation at home is now a method of resistance for a fellow-occupied people.
“I reached out to see what way I could offer support and came round to this idea of running 150km over the course of the month. The support has been overwhelming with people from all four provinces, across Scotland and even further afield following, sharing and donating. In all honesty, I thought it’d be tough to reach the original target of £200, but to be in excess of £1000 so soon is unbelievable.
“I feel honoured to be in the position to get the word out there and materially support the coaches and kids on the ground in Palestine to empower themselves and continue in this one small aspect of their struggle.”
The first club of GAA Palestine, the Moataz Sassour club, was launched in the Am’ari refugee camp in the Ramallah area of the West Bank in August 2024. It now has 24 members, including 20 young people, a manager, coach and a project manager. Hurls, sliotars and footballs have been donated and the difficulties of getting the equipment into the region overcome, despite all the odds.
GAA Palestine was the brainchild of London-Irish man, Stephen Redmond, who visited the West Bank in January 2024 and put the idea of a GAA club to the community leaders, the Excellence Centre in Hebron and the Am’ari refugee camp in Ramallah.
Fundraising efforts like Cathal’s will support the effort to support the coaching initiatives in the West Bank and also the plan to bring as many of the new Palestinian GAA players as possible to Ireland for a sporting visit next summer. A visit like this will require significant logistical and financial resources so Irish GAA fans are asked to get in touch with GAA Palestine if they can help in any way.
You can follow and donate to Cathal’s campaign on his Instagram account @150km_for_palestineGAA
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