Congratulations to all concerned on the news that broke last night (just before Shane Long’s golden goal) that Killarney Swimming Club has been provisionally allocated the sum of €12,000.00 under the 2015 Sports Capital Programme. At last we can dare to dream! Congratulations and “thank you” to Ann-Marie Galvin, in particular, for submitting and shepherding the application home and to Cathal O’Brien and Denis Reidy for all their work behind the scenes. Who knows, we might even rise to a packet of Marietta biscuits for the AGM on Tuesday night.

The real beneficiaries will be our club and our swimmers as we can now, for the first time, invest in the sort of equipment available to other clubs but which we simply could not afford, in particular, diving blocks.

One of the conditions of drawdown is that a proportion of the money needed for equipment must be raised by the club. Tomorrow (Saturday), as it happens, is the annual street collection day for Killarney Swimming Club so, if you see anyone walking the streets tomorrow shaking a box with a purple eagle on it, please give generously. Every Euro invested in the club earns us three more – now where would you get that sort of return?