Irish soccer legend to feature at auction night

Former Liverpool and Irish international soccer star Ronnie Whelan will be the guest of honour when local soccer club, Kinnegad Juniors host their second annual fundraising auction and dinner at the Hilamar Hotel, Kinnegad on Friday, January 30.Last year, the ambitious Kinnegad soccer club raised over €11,500 in a very successful inaugural auction night, with all funds going towards the continuing development of the club"s new grounds on the Killucan Road.Club supporters from Kinnegad and beyond gathered at the local venue to support the initiative, and they were joined by former Ireland and Celtic goalkeeper Packie Bonner, celebrated sports broadcaster Jimmy Magee and the current FAI President, John Delaney.This year, Irish soccer legend Ronnie Whelan has been confirmed as the main guest, and he will be joined by at least one other Irish sporting celebrity when the auction takes place at the end of the month.Whelan, a midfielder who spent fifteen years at Liverpool after being transferred from Dublin"s Home Farm FC, also won 53 senior caps for the Republic of Ireland, playing a central role in the famous 'team that Jack built' for the 1990 World Cup in Italy.A former player-manager of Southend United, he has also been in charge of clubs in Greece and Cyprus. During his Liverpool career, the Dubliner scored 45 goals, plus another three for Ireland, and played an integral role in Liverpool"s European and domestic success in the 1980s.The system will be much the same as last year: dinner in the Hilamar Hotel"s main function room, some after-dinner speeches by the guests, before the auction proper.Colm Gildea, Chairman of Kinnegad Juniors AFC, gave the Westmeath Examiner a rundown on how the club is preparing for the auction.'Ronnie is confirmed as our guest of honour for the night, and we are are very close to confirming at least one other celebrity sports guest. As far as the auction itself is concerned, things are shaping up nicely,' Colm said.'We"ve already sourced some nice items, the most outstanding of them being a Barcelona shirt, signed by squad, which would be a great collectable for someone to get their hands on.'We have also managed to get hold of one of the last Sunderland shirts signed by Roy Keane before he left the club. It"s signed by him and the whole squad.'Colm said that the club intends to get a signed jersey from a top Premiership club, and that in a feature similar to 2008, signed photographs will available to bidders.'Ronnie Whelan has very kindly agreed to sign a couple of photos for us, including one of him celebrating his memorable goal against the USSR during Euro "88.'We"ve also got a signed photograph of [Manchester United manager] Alex Ferguson holding the Premiership trophy, and some autographed photos by some of the guys who played with Ireland during Euro "88, like Chris Morris, Chris Hughton and the like.'Last year, the club sold a signed photograph of Irish boxer Andy Lee for €180, and for 2009, they have sourced an autographed portrait photo of British welterweight boxer Ricky Hatton. A 'retro' Liverpool jersey from the 1980s, signed by Ronnie Whelan, will also be available.Dinner will be served at 9pm on the night, with guests set to be serenaded by impromptu music supplied by the Manila Strings, a trio of musicians from the Philippines. A disco will take place when the auction is concluded.Although times are tougher than last year, with a recession well underway, Colm Gildea is confident that the turnout will be just as good as 2008.'With regard to fundraising, we"re anticipating that things will be more difficult this year with the recession, but the initial feedback about our preparations has been very good,' he said.'We have to be realistic, but it would be nice if things went as well for us as they did last year. For that reason, we want to keep the event as high quality as possible.'In recent weeks, Kinnegad Juniors performed a sod turn at the club"s grounds on the Killucan Road, as preliminary work begins on the development of the new venue.'Everything is going according to plan,' Colm continued. 'We have Jude Lagan and the people at Lagan Cement on board, and workers were on site before Christmas starting the initial drainage.'There"s a lot of filling to be done at the site. We"re going to need about 300 lorry loads of soil to make sure the ground is ready for construction, so all the funding and help we can get will be appreciated.'All funds raised at the forthcoming auction on January 30 will go towards work on the grounds, and Colm once again reminded Juniors" supporters that their assistance is much appreciated.'Everyone has been very supportive, through donations and support for our fundraising events. But we"d once again like to thank DFGM Properties in Galway, who donated land for the site, but most of all we would like to pay tribute to our local support, which we greatly appreciate.'Colm reserved special praise for Jude Lagan and the directors of Lagan Cement, who recently contributed €50,000 towards the development of the grounds. In turn, the Kinnegad Juniors AFC committee has elected to name the new venue Lagan Park for ten years after its completion.'The club also appreciates the continued assistance of our area councillors, and of Westmeath County Council itself,' Colm added.More items are being secured for the auction, and the support of everyone within and outside Kinnegad would be greatly appreciated.