Sam has part to play in funding St Brigid's

SAM MAGUIRE is going on sale in south Belfast tonight as part of a £100-a-head fundraising dinner to mark the opening of the new grounds of St Brigid’s GAA club and the 10th anniversary of the founding of the club.

Tomorrow the North’s sports minister Gregory Campbell of the DUP will join GAA president Nickey Brennan and St Brigid’s chairman Oliver Lennon for the official opening of a playing pitch and two training pitches at Musgrave Park in south Belfast.

Acclaimed artist Rita Duffy, who lives in south Belfast, has presented her painting of Sam Maguire to the club to be auctioned tonight. The club hopes the sale will raise £10,000 towards the £500,000 overall cost of the Musgrave Park project.

The artist said she studied the Ardagh chalice, on which the Sam Maguire Cup is based, before completing her painting. The painting, she said, was rather sombre with an earthy background, and was dedicated to the late concert promoter Jim Aiken, a stalwart of St Brigid’s who as a young man played for Armagh.

“It’s my tribute to a very fine Irishman, a very fine Ulsterman, and a very fine GAA player in his day. Jim Aiken was very kind and incredibly visionary and was supportive, both culturally and personally. He turned boggy fields into concert halls.”

St Brigid’s has a strong cross-community ethos, co-operating with the local Belfast Harlequins rugby club on a regular basis. Two years ago it became the first club from Northern Ireland to play the newly founded PSNI GAA team at Harlequins grounds.

St Brigid’s started as an under-age club 10 years ago under the motto “Mol an óige agus tiocfaidh siad” – “praise the young and they will flourish”.

It entered division five of the Antrim county league five years ago at senior level. It has been promoted every year to achieve Division One status this season.

“We are a growing club with 400 members and this project is all part of our plans to cater for that expansion,” said club chairman Mr Lennon.