Kevin O'Riordan in action against St Loman's

Kicking King Kevins campaign hits Westmeath

A six-month roadshow by a young Tipperary footballer and primary school teacher rolled into Westmeath on Wednesday last, in the latest leg of a unique GAA-themed fundraiser which will benefit street and slum children in one of India’s most poverty-stricken cities.

At the end of August, Templemore man Kevin O’Riordan set out on a mission to kick a point at every GAA club and county venue in Ireland – all 1,648 of them – while raising funds for the Cork-based HOPE Foundation’s work with vulnerable and underprivileged children in Kolkata (formerly Calcutta), India.

It’s the turn of Westmeath this week, and by March, Kevin hopes to finish his nationwide tour by bisecting the posts in Cork’s 160-odd GAA clubs, before finishing his journey in Croke Park on St Patrick’s Day – All-Ireland club final day.

Yesterday, he took in 32 clubs across Westmeath, before completing his tour of the county today (Thursday).

“It’s been great here in Westmeath. It’s been very easy to get around between the clubs. The clubs couldn’t do enough for me, accommodating me and helping me with the route. You can’t beat that bit of local knowledge," Kevin said, before kicking his latest cúilín at St Loman's GAA, Mulingar this morning.

“The people I’ve met have been brilliant, and they couldn’t do enough for me. The pitches are brilliant, and it’s obvious the GAA in Westmeath is alive and well.”

While in Kolkata two years ago as a teacher-in-training at Maynooth's Froebel College, Kevin taught street children and oversaw workshops for their teachers, introducing Gaelic football and hurling into the PE curriculum.

What stuck in his mind throughout and after this experience was the poverty, pain and miserable conditions in which many of his students lived. He returned to Ireland with an urgent need to do something more, and ‘Kick for Kolkata’ was the result.

The former Tipperary and minor U21 footballer - whose brother Colin recently became the Australian Football League's latest Irish recruit - hopes you will support his fundraising effort by logging on to www.gofundme.com/mgx2b8pm.

For more details or to look at photos/videos from Kevin’s recent visit to Westmeath clubs, go to the 'Kick for Kolkata’ Facebook page at www.facebook.com/kickforkolkata/, or www.hopefoundation.ie.