Éire Óg Greystones
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Weekly Notes - 6th February 2008

Annual Dinner Dance

With a memory that has been severely buffeted by time, one is always haunted by the fear that one may become píobaire aon phoirt (a piper of one tune) in recounting events. In relation to Friday night’s Dinner Dance (it was well that there were more reliable sources as to time and date than these notes!) a quote from Byron’s Eve of Waterloo (the advantage of having to learn poetry off by heart in one’s schooldays) provides an apt description “bright lights shone on fair ladies and brave men” – we’ll leave it to your charity to decide whether the description applies to the gamut of ages which the night encompassed.

Sustained by an enjoyable meal, the dancers took to the floor with élan and crowded its expanse in energetic sway until Amhrán na bhFiann called a halt to proceedings.

Club Dinner Dances are incongruous animals which require a delicate balance between the entertainment that patrons expect and the various offices which they incorporate. Club Chairman Gerry Walsh, MC for the night, found this balance, discharging each duty with appropriate formality in an acceptable time frame.

Two of the presentations on the night were made largely on the basis of the recipients’ administrative – they both also had quite illustrious on-field careers – contributions to the club. Danny Hatton’s accolade was for a lifetime of service to the GAA in general and to Éire Óg in particular while Eoin O Neill’s, eventhough titled Club Person of the Year for 2007,recognised his contribution over the demanding period of the clubhouse development.

Gerry outlined Danny’s career in the GAA from his u-12 county success with St.Kevins in 1948 right thro’ to the night when his mantle (or should one say ‘blazer’?) of Club President passed to Patsy Vickers. Danny was on the county minor teams of 1953 and 1954 and won a county senior medal with Kilcoole in 1954. In his time he managed a number of our underage teams and had the distinction of being in charge of the only Éire Óg Greystones team to win a Junior B championship(1988). He was a committee for more years than, I’m sure, he cares to remember and was also a reliable Lotto scrutineer from its inception thro’ to last year. Danny experienced a health scare last year and underwent serious surgery which, buíochas le Dia, if his tripping of the light fantastic on the night is anything to go by, worked a treat.

With respect to Eoin, Gerry said that it is the club’s loss that he is now residing in Reading where flood plains are his focus. Eoin, he said, was Cisteoir of the club for a number of years and was involved in the Clubhouse Development team from the beginning. His financial acumen, not least in the area of obtaining grants, and his planning expertise which he generously placed at the club’s disposal were of inestimable value. Gerry hoped that the presentation would help club members to fully appreciate Eoin’s contribution to the club. He also thanked Eoin for drawing up a comprehensive development plan which takes full cognisance of the ongoing developments in the Greystones area.

Football Academy

The u-8 academy starts back to–night Wednesday 7th at 6.00pm. If one is to go by the number of queries as to the date of its resumption, it has been sorely missed. Gaelic football incorporates many of the skills of all the “big-ball” games from the purely manipulative of basketball to the primarily foot-based of soccer and, as a result, Gaelic players, as evidenced in many high profile transfers, adapt readily to other codes. So whatever one thinks of it as a spectacle, one cannot deny but that Gaelic football excels in the efficacy with which it cultivates athleticism, nimbleness of body and dexterity of hand and foot. This, together with its child-centred ethos makes the academy ideal for the introduction of your child (it caters for boys and girls) to team sport.

Sympathy

John Elliot who died during the week was the father of Mick Elliot whose son Gary, an all-round sportsman, captained the Éire Óg 2007 Féile (u-14) winning team. John, an unapologetic Meath supporter, played hurling with the Newtown-Newcastle axis and won a jubilee medal with Orchard United. He was well-known as a formidable dispatcher of the feathered dart. The club extends its sincerest sympathies to the Elliot family and prays that ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.

We in Éire Óg, in common with all GAA followers in the county, were shocked to hear of the sudden and untimely death of Blessington and county player Raymond Daniels. A reminder once again that we know not the day nor the hour. Go raibh leaba aige i measc na naomh. Our heartfelt sympathies go to his family and friends.