Éire Óg Greystones
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Weekly Notes - 23rd November 2005

The a.g.m. is being held on Wednesday 30th November in the Tennis Club at 8 p.m. Beidh fáilte ann roimh anyone who has the interest of the G.A.A. in Greystones at heart. Constructive observations from the floor will be welcome but voting rights will be restricted to paid-up members.

The Christmas Draw co-ordinator, Colm Gaskin, informs me that tickets have hit the streets. Be on your guard lest the excellent prizes on offer tempt you to go overboard with your ticket purchases!

Patsy Vickers wishes that everyone be made aware that the principal pitch will be out of bounds until further notice. The goal areas have just been resodded.

The hurling management wishes a speedy recovery and a rapid return to the fray to Fiachra Bradley who broke his hand recently.

The committee and all associated with club extend their sincerest sympathies to the wife (Mary Mulford) and family of Joe Molloy who died so tragically on Saturday morning. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam agus faoi chumhdacht Dé agus Muire a chlann uilig.

Congratulations to St. Laurences N.S. on garnering their first hurling trophy. They defeated a team from Avondale in the final of their league in Rathdrum last Wednesday. The team was fully deserving of their win as they went through their division without defeat and ran out convincing winners in the final. This was a great achievement for a school which, up to a few years ago, did not take pupils beyond second class. Mentors Bernie Jones and Colm Gaskin were delighted with the numbers who travelled to the game. After match refreshments were provided by Dan O’Neill and Gerry Walsh.

The panel: Andrew Walsh (captain), Kevin Byrne, Dan O’Neill, Gary Elliott, Luke Cranley, Cillian Marmion, Ryan Brandon, Andrew Furey, Adam Mannion, James Smullen, James Nolan, Ciarán McDonald, Conor Randles, David Boland, Richard Carroll, Josh Campbell and Sam Thompson.

The N.E. minor hurling team play Glenealy in the county semi-final on Sunday next in Wicklow. The team, which is constituted for the most part of players from Éíre Óg, has trained hard under Ciarán Gough and should, on the evidence of the form they showed against Kilmac juniors in a recent friendly, give a good account of themselves. The panel is essentially the u-16 team beefed up with u-18 players Paul Gaskin, Ronan Keddy, Craig Smullen, Mark Curran, Leon Browne and Shane Vickers.

Sunday morning our intermediates took on Kilcoole for a place in the semi-final of the league and won by three points. Pre-match pleasantries between opposing supporters were soon forgotten as an intriguing, uncompromising contest, which stirred ‘blood is thicker than water’ emotions in the hearts of the onlookers, unfolded. Neither were on-field exchanges spared that over-enthusiasm of local confrontations and the referee is to be commended for his stern but sensible handling of a number of ‘dodgy’ situations. The after-match consensus was that we had been part of a very enjoyable and exciting morning’s sport.

This was a heartening if not altogether flawless display: what would a game be anyway without those heart-stopping moments? The players for the most part opted for direct football and the forwards were not reluctant to have a go, this paying off with a tally of thirteen points. Gavin McGowan took some lovely points with his left foot, ‘Chester’ Kelly was a determined and effective centre-back, Declan Hogan was at his best – whatever that may be – after his long lay-off. Darren Hayden ran some beautiful back-evading lines and scored some excellent points. Eoin English did well at corner-forward and Eoin O’Neill was at the end of two field-long sweeping passing movements to pick off spirit-raising points (his newly-purchased boots no doubt playing a role).

The opponents in the next round are Stratford of unhappy memory; Éire Óg’s performance against them in the Championship was the nadir of the team’s year. That their efforts on that day were wholly out of character and that on Sunday they will be driven by the desire to make amends renders the likelihood of a victory by Éire Óg not improbable.