Emerging motor racing star calls for support for Offaly GAA Club's fundraiser

ONE of Offaly's brightest emerging young sporting talents has issued a passionate plea for support for a fundraising venture by his local GAA club.

Alex Dunne has urged people to support a 24 hour relay and a raffle by Clonbullogue GAA Club as well as donating memorabilia prizes for it.

Dunne's exploits in one of the toughest sports has won him an early measure of national fame. Competing in Formula 2 but with realistic prospects of making the ultra glamorous Formula 1 circuit, Dunne enjoyed considerable success last year as well as test driving Formula 1 cars.

It is a vastly different world from the Clonbullogue area that he grew up in but in a promotional clip for the raffle, he remarked: “Clonbullogue will always be home”.

While Dunne gravitated towards the race track in Mondello rather than the GAA field in Clonbullogue from an early age, he has an interest in Offaly GAA and was glad to back the fundraising draw.

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He spoke about fitness being incredibly important for all sport, and urged young GAA players to build gym habits and fitness with consistency.
Dunne also mentioned how cool it is on race weekends to spot Offaly jerseys and Irish flags in the crowd, and Clonbullogue GAA Club have now presented him with one of their jerseys.

His bravery on the track and willingness to take chances has won plenty of admirers and he talked about the importance of financial support and sponsors for all sports – one of Offaly GAA's big sponsors, Condron Concrete is among his backers.

He asked people and business to back the fundraising campaign. The fundraiser is to raise money for the provision of a new gym at their grounds.

Members of the club and community, at home and abroad, will participate in a 24 hour relay walk on January 31/February 1. A donation from the proceeds will go to two local charities: Little Wishes, Edenderry and Friends of the Midland Regional Hospital Tullamore.

Pleading for support, Clonbullogue GAA Club said:

“Our supporters have been nothing short of fantastic, travelling in great numbers to drive us on, and not to mention those watching the games live around the world. We are extremely grateful and want to give a massive thanks to each of you. We hope our loyal supporters can donate whatever they can to help with this fundraising, every little helps!”

Teams are collecting money for the relay while the raffle is an important addition to the fundraising and the prizes given by Alex Dunne should prove very attractive. They are:

Signed Alex Dunne McLaren t-shirt
Signed photo of Alex’s Bahrain race win (2025)
Plus a Signed limited-edition Clonbullogue print.

The links for donating for both the relay and raffle can be found on Clonbullogue GAA's social media accounts and on idonate.ie:

The links to support can be accessed here:

https://www.idonate.ie/event/ClonbullogueGAA24HrRelayWalk

https://www.idonate.ie/raffle/SignedAlexDunnePrizes