O Neill's Rising sales at the back of the 1916 jersey

GAA The business figure of the Mester O'Neill, of more than 2 million. euros, rose from "by far the best-selling jersey" in the company's 100-year history – a special commemorative green jersey made to celebrate the centenary of 1916.

The Special Edition jersey easily outperformed the jerseys for the Dubs, Cork, Kerry, Mayo and Tyrone in the past.

O'Neill's finance director and co-owner, Paul Towell, credited sales of the green jersey with the harp on the front and the proclamation of the back in 1916 as the main factor behind the profits. before tax of the company tripling to 1.85 M € in 2016.

The special jersey, published before the celebrations of the centenary 1916, was designed by Mr. Towell and his brother, Andrew.

In an interview, Paul Towell said, "We were lucky with that, we were pleasantly surprised at how well it went."

Commenting on the new accounts for 2016 filed with the Board of Companies, Mr. Towell said yesterday that he initially thought that if the company were selling 5,000 jerseys, that would be fine.