Faithful to the Faithful – Carroll’s continue as Ireland’s longest County GAA sponsor
Carroll Cuisine have renewed their sponsorship with Offaly football and hurling teams continuing as the longest running County sponsorship in the GAA. The Offaly Company, which manufactures deli and pre-packed slow cooked ham, has sponsored the Faithful County since 1991, the first year in which sponsors names were permitted to appear on GAA jerseys. The arrangement between Carroll’s and the ‘green white and gold’ is now the longest running county sponsorship in the GAA.
Welcoming the announcement, Offaly County Board Chairman Pat Teehan said, “we are delighted with the news that Carroll’s have renewed their sponsorship of our Senior, Under 21s and Minor Hurling and Football teams for the 2010 season. Enduring sponsorships are extremely rare in the modern game. It is particularly heartening in the current economic climate when many companies are pulling back from their sponsorship programmes that Carroll’s have committed to remain as the sponsor of the County Teams.”
Talking of the up and coming National League and Championship campaign’s, He added “this is an important season for both codes in the County. Our hurlers are making their return to Division One of the National league and will be looking to build on the progress we made in 2009. Our footballers will be looking to go one better after missing out on promotion and being edged out by Wexford in the Championship.
The demands of developing teams which can challenge at the highest level are immense. Obviously you need huge commitment from the players and coaching staff, but you also needed committed sponsors who are willing to invest in the infrastructure to support the teams. Without that commitment it becomes very hard to achieve your goals. Being able to count on a long -term and committed sponsor like Carroll’s makes our job much easier.”
Carroll Cuisine CEO Mark Gavin said the company were proud to be the most faithful sponsors in Ireland. “At Carroll’s we are committed to our local community. Our relationship with the County of Offaly goes back before the sponsorship began to 1979 when our company we was founded in Tullamore. Since we began our sponsorship of Offaly GAA we have had some great days. In our first year we captured the National Hurling League. Since then we had Senior All Ireland’s in 1994 and 1998, and Leinster successes at Senior, Under 21 and Minor level. We also had success in football, winning both Senior and Under 21 Leinster titles and also a National League title in 1998. We have also had our years when the County didn’t achieve huge success on the pitch, but even in these years we have been proud to be associated with the impact that GAA in Offaly makes on the whole community. We are supporters first and sponsors second and true supporters don’t just show up for the winning seasons. That said we think that 2010 and the new decade will be a great one for Offaly GAA’
