Gerry Collins Memorial Football Tournament takes place Saturday

Kilmacud Crokes will honour one of their former colleagues by naming their Internal 7-A-Side Football tournament: ‘The Gerry Collins Memorial Football Tournament’ which takes place this Saturday.

“We honour Gerry not alone for his contribution to the club over his long association with us, but also for his immense contribution to the ‘Quit Smoking’ Campaign,” says a club statement.

“Gerry’s very powerful anti-smoking adverts have encouraged over 100,000 people to quit smoking this year alone, and the HSE’s Quit Smoking Campaign and Bank of Ireland have agreed to partner us for this event.”

The internal 7s brings players together both young and old, A and B, hurlers and footballers and has proven to be a great day. The competition will start at 1pm. There will be two groups of four where all players are guaranteed three group matches. The top two in each group will go into a cup semi-final and the bottom two in each final will go into a shield semi-final. The shield final is scheduled for 5pm and the cup final at 5.30.

Michael Kinsella of Crokes Village Café and Bars will be providing all sorts of extras which will include Bar & Bar-B-Q out pitchside to add to a spectacular day. Live Music will be provided by Gerry’s former group, The Upbeats, led by John Kelly and friends.

“The philosophy behind this competition has always been to integrate young and old so the support shown by our senior managers Conor Deegan and Paul Maguire and our U16 mangers Robert Behan and Aidan Horan will ensure that this philosophy will continue,” adds Crokes Football Chairman, Seán Fox.