Members of the Carbery Rangers’ county-winning senior football team are up for grabs at a fundraising auction during Christmas – but it’s all for a good cause.
MEMBERS of the Carbery Rangers’ county-winning senior football team are up for grabs at a fundraising auction during Christmas – but it’s all for a good cause.
The Ross players have organised a fundraising auction for Thursday, December 29th in the Celtic Ross Hotel, Rosscarbery, at 8pm, as they look to raise funds for a team holiday early in the new year.
There’s an impressive list of tickets and memorabilia up for auction and at the top of the list are groups of Carbery Rangers’ senior players who can be bid for on the night.
Captain James Fitzpatrick has assured The Southern Star that no job will be too big or too small for the players, and that no reasonable offers will be rejected.
‘This night will be a celebration and a party for the local community after a great season. A lot of people who were away and who might have missed the county final will be home for Christmas so it’s a chance for everyone to celebrate a great year,’ Fitzpatrick said.
‘There will be loads of different prizes up for auction. It’s a fundraiser for a team holiday but we’ll also do our bit for charity as well.’
Match tickets for Arsenal v Hull (February 11th) at the Emirates, a pair of tickets to the 2017 All-Ireland football final in Croke Park, tickets for Munster v Scarlets in Thomond Park in February are all up for auction.
As well as that you can bid for a signed Munster rugby ball and tickets for a Rabo Direct game at Thomond Park, a signed Shane Lowry golf t-shirt, a signed 18th hole flag from Rory McIlroy’s 2012 PGA win, a signed Ireland soccer jersey, signed and framed Carbery Rangers jerseys, a round of golf for four at the Old Head of Kinsale, ten car trailer loads of timber, a signed copy of the first edition of Seamus Heaney’s Station Island, and much, much more.
If you want to make a bid ahead of the auction night contact Seamus on 086-3580766.
Meanwhile, Fitzpatrick accepted the Celtic Ross West Cork Sports Star of the Month Award for November on Monday night at the Celtic Ross Hotel in recognition of the club’s terrific first Cork SFC win.
‘It’s great to accept this award on behalf of the team. It’s a great award to receive and it’s extra special because this is our hometown,’ the Ross captain said.
Fitzpatrick and Carbery Rangers have drawn Clonakilty in the first round of the 2017 championship and Ross will now have to deal with carrying the crown of champions.
‘After you win a county, all the other teams will be keen to knock us off our pedestal,’ Fitzpatrick said, before reflecting on Rangers’ disappointing exit from the Munster club series, a semi-final defeat to The Nire in Clonakilty, a match they were expected to win.
‘It hurt. I’m not going to lie, it was very disappointing,’ Fitzpatrick said.
‘It would have been great to finish off the year against Dr Crokes in the Munster final.
‘Against Monaleen in the quarter-final we only just got over the line, we only played for a 20-minute spell and it was a tougher game than people thought.
‘We were missing key personnel against The Nire, four or five key players, but saying that we still should have won that game. We were up six points and we should have pushed on. We went up a point in extra time and we should have pushed on.
‘We missed a lot of chances in the first half even though we were six points up at half time and I think that’s where we lost the game, as odd as that sounds.’
But Ross will learn from that experience, says Fitzpatrick, and bounce back a better team for it. The team has previous form in this regard, which is encouraging heading into 2017.
