AFTER 115 miles and 30 hours, O’Donovan Rossa’s Great Solo Run finished up at Casement Park at 1pm today (Sunday) having left Croke Park at 7am on Saturday.

Hundreds of Gaels joined in for the final mile led by Tyrone footballer, Padraig Hampsey as it left the Devenish Complex and finished up at Casement Park with the overriding message of the event to highlight the urgent need to have the West Belfast venue redeveloped into a modern stadium that can act as a jewel in the crown of the GAA in Antrim and beyond.

The event began at GAA Headquarters with Kilkenny hurler and All-Ireland winner, Shane Prendergast flanked by Rossa camógs as the journey to Belfast began.

Runners completed at least a mile each before passing the ball to the next runner, but some literally went the extra mile as the ball made its way north and crossed into Ulster around 11pm on Saturday night.

The dark hours led into the light as Rossa made their way back home to Antrim where they passed Rossa Park on the Shaw’s Road and to the Devenish Complex where hundreds from Rossa and a number of other clubs throughout the city had gathered to finish the solo run.

Finaghy Road North was packed with Gaels, young and old as they turned onto the Andersonstown Road and crossed the finish line inside the grounds of the now derelict Casement Park to reiterate the message to ‘Build Casement’.

“We are overwhelmed by the response of Antrim Gaels to our Great Solo Run,” said Rossa chairman, Liam McAuley.

This initiative has highlighted the urgent need to build the new Casement Park to give our young Gaels a stadium in which they can aspire to play.

“The event was a great success and we thanks all who took part, from the organisers to the solo runners and of course, our generous sponsors for making this happen.

“We are also delighted to make a donation to PIPS Suicide Awareness and the Children’s Heartbeat Trust.

It was a long, hard journey for our solo-runners who took part throughout Saturday and right through until the finish here at Casement Park.

“We hope this initiative has highlighted the support for the redevelopment of Casement Park and can help to galvanise the community to see the project completed.”