THE organisers of a fundraiser to help Ballymartin man Ronan McCartan on his road to recovery after treatment for cancer are grateful for the wonderful support it has received.
A GoFundMe target of £5,000 was originally set, but that was quickly reached and now the goal is to reach £20,000. They have less than £2,000 to go to achieve that target.
Ronan McCartan is a former Down Ladies Football manager and managed the Down Under-20s to Ulster titles in 2021 and 2023 as well as Saul to an Intermediate championship in 2020.
The 43-year-old’s battles with cancer were publicised when his brother – the All-Ireland winning footballer Gregory McCartan – mentioned them during the BBC podcast ‘The GAA Social’.
He touched on Ronan’s childhood battle with leukaemia and his current cancer diagnosis. Liam Byrne, who is an old friend of Ronan’s, and another friend, Colin Cunningham, led the campaign to raise money to help Ronan.
“The original fundraising target was £5,000, not £18,000,” Liam said.
“GoFundMe automatically increases the target as donations approach the previous goal.
“We never imagined the campaign would reach these levels when we launched it, although Colin was always confident it would do well.
“The GoFundMe campaign went live on Monday 20 July at around 8pm. The idea came from myself and Colin, who is also from Ballymartin and is a former player and chairman of Ballymartin GFC.
“It’s no exaggeration to say Colin has contacted virtually everyone in his phone book, with messages reaching people all over the world.”
