In January 2026 the 19-year-old friends drew up a list of challenges to complete, as donations for Children with Cancer UK grew.
But the university students didn’t think they would need to complete them all.
"Me and Ger always wanted to do something a bit crazy to raise money for charity,” said Shay.
"We weren’t even runners or anything but we decided to try to run from Cork to Cushendun as the £10K challenge, but we never thought that would ever happen so there was nothing to worry about”.
Shay added that they were “just two lads who play a bit of hurling and that is the height of it”.
He added that the cause they wanted to raise money for was cancer as “in our community and in our families there have been a few losses to childhood cancer that we both knew”.
“So we just decided to raise as much as possible, do crazy challenges and post the videos online to try to make as much money as possible,” said Shay.
The pair then decided to have crazy challenges set for different monetary goals.
- £200 Ice Baths Everyday for a WEEK
- £500 24 hour live stream at McDonald’s
- £750 10K Calories in ONE Day
- £1000 Dye our hair GOLD for Childhood Cancer awareness
- £1250 Volunteer/Perform at a Childrens Cancer Ward
- £1750 SHAVE OUR HEADS
- £2500 Stand Up Comedy Show ( with jokes chosen by donators)
- £5000 Trek to Machu Picchu
- £7500 F*CK CANCER Tattoos
- £10,000 CORK TO CUSHENDUN (run the length of Ireland in 15 DAYS)
Shay said as the charity fundraiser unfurled his “mother started getting worried around the head shaving challenge and told me there was no way I was getting a tattoo”.
"Both our parents have been absolutely amazing,” he added.
“If anyone else had been doing a run as long as ours they would have support teams of professionals, but we just had our parents in two campervans.
“They were phenomenal and did everything for us,” he said.
"During the run at night sometimes we were shattered. But there were up’s and downs mentally and physically for both of us. However we are so competitive that we wouldn’t lie down”.
Of all the challenges, Shay said he and Ger found “the stand up comedy show in a local pub the most stressful”.
"So we were able to hire comedians but me and Ger were meant to be one of the main parts of it,” he said.
"We both had to do a comedy set each. But after we got it done we realised we enjoyed it. Before doing it was awful, easily one of the worst things I have ever done.
“Then another challenge was getting tattoos of a map of Ireland and the route we ran.
"When we reached £10k it was time for the run challenge which we something we never thought we would have to do.
“But we have so far made 23k for charity. And we are grateful for every penny donated.”
And when asked if they were proud of themselves for their achievement, Shay said: “I am prouder of the community for their response to our challenges.
“It makes you so proud to be from where you are especially when the crowd met us in Cushendun on our way home.
"From day dot people got behind us and the charity.”
So far more than £22,000 has been raised. To donate to their charity click here
