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7th November 2023
04:29pm GMT
"It's coming back on Sunday is the problem," Doyle says, as regards the airfares."One airline wanted €392 per person to do a group booking, to fly back on Sunday. "That's expensive now. That's €15,700 altogether. "You get a grant of around €11,000 off the GAA. So if one flight is going to put you €4000 over the budget for the whole thing, you're in a bit of strife.
"So we changed airlines. "So now we've some fellas flying to Stansted at 9.05, at 11.05 to Luton and some at 1.00 to Heathrow, and that worked out at half the price of the other one, with the lads booking the flights individually.""The people in the Ellison have been fantastic," Doyle continued, "they're opening the kitchen early for the boys on Saturday morning to do breakfast for the boys heading early. "They were very accommodating to us." [caption id="attachment_294916" align="alignnone" width="1000"]
Fulham Irish's Marty Hughes celebrates after scoring a goal against Corofin in 2018. Corofin 3-8 Fulham Irish 1-4 was the final score. [/caption]
"We have 47 staying in the hotel on Saturday night. That's only the people involved with the team."
"That's without family and supporters.
"Like, the hotel rang me up and said, 'here listen, what have you been telling them about a Fulham Irish discount in the hotel? We're fielding loads of calls here.'
"I said 'sure I didn't tell anyone.' Sure enough it was some of the supporters looking for a deal," he says.
Former Dublin minor and under-20 Niall O'Leary has been a key player for Fulham Irish this year, kicking 0-4 in their county final win.
He's an older brother of Kilmacud Crokes wing back Mark and such connections run right through the team. Midfielder David O'Connor is a former Leitrim senior while Kerry's Jack Goulding, more renowned as a hurler, is described by Doyle as the 'top GAA player in London.'
"Down are best represented on our team. We've Dublin, Tyrone and Cork lads, a boy from Mayo, Leitrim, Kerry and Antrim.
"A couple of Galway lads. There's great excitement."
"Ex-players that have played with us are coming too.
"One of our ex-players Lorcan Mulvey is our manager, he would have been part of the 2011 team when we won the first London championship.
[caption id="attachment_294917" align="alignnone" width="1000"]
Former Dublin minor Niall O'Leary is a key player in the Fulham Irish attack.[/caption]
"He's been involved with the London senior team since he arrived in 2011, as a player and as part of the management. We're expecting a huge crowd.
"Lots of them have played underage for their counties."
That being said, Doyle is in no doubt that for all the young people leaving Ireland, the influx into London isn't what it once was.
He puts that down to the high cost of living in the city with construction workers now more likely to head to Birmingham, Manchester or even Scotland.
To make up for this, the club have put huge efforts into their underage set-up, with many of their former players heading a coaching initiative that has brought in 100 London-born underage players this year.
But for now, their only focus is on Ballina Stephenites. Doyle knows they'll be up against it.
"Everything's focused on 6.00 Saturday evening and giving it our best shot.
"They'll be hungry for it. The last time they won it was 2007. This is our first trip back since 2007 and we're all systems go."Read next:
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