Éire Óg Greystones
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Weekly Notes - 12th April 2006

Why has it not been acquired by the club on a lease or otherwise? Aye, there’s the rub/ for in our sleep of hope these dreams do come/ which, vain must be ‘til a time-scale shift/ o’ertakes the myopic measure of the beaurocracy. It’s not for the want of trying, let it be said, that the space remains outside our pales. We are informed that it is much too valuable to be used for community purposes, far better that it be buried beneath the concrete of private enterprise. However, at present the ground has no commercial value as it is zoned recreational and to realise its financial potential it would have to be rezoned – a process which is in the gift of our councillors. To date the councillors have been sympathetic to the Éire Óg cause and hopefully they will continue to see that it is in the best interest of the community that this land is not exchanged for " a mess of speculator potage". Lobbying with respect to this property has been ongoing for at least a decade but its case seems never to have reached the council table. The council officials might consider with benefit the profound words of Oliver Goldsmith "Ill fares the land to hastening ills a prey,

Where wealth accumulates and men decay".

It is appropriate, in the context, to highlight what can only be described as a staggering statistic which was published last week viz. 15% of the population takes part in voluntary community work and 42% of that 15% are involved with the much maligned G.A.A.

The Intermediates played AGB, newly promoted to senior ranks at our expense, in a friendly on Sunday. Exchanges were not at all in keeping with the status of a game which was played with almost championship fervour. The match was refereed with authority by newly graduated Fergus O’Brien – is this the start of something big? Fergus was impressed by the pace and intensity at which the game was played. The Intermediates next outing is away to Kilcoole on Saturday at 4 pm. They will be without Craig Smullen, Darren Hayden and Paddy Taylor who will be resting for the All-Ireland Vocational Final v Tyrone on the Sunday. Go raibh an t-ádh libh, lads.

The inherent beauties of a sport are often not apparent at senior level; they are ironed out by highly developed strategies and negative tactics in must-win situations. It is an unfortunate fact that spoiling skills are much more easily learned than positive ones. These thoughts came to mind while watching our u-14As play St. Patricks on Wednesday night as this team plays a brand of football which delights the sporting aesthete – lovely running off and with the ball, intelligent delivery and movement into open spaces topped off with score taking of the highest quality.

One is loathe to highlight individual performances in what was truly a team effort. However, one’s eye was certainly caught by the ball-playing and running skills of Niall Crosbie and Sam Thompson in the forwards and by the power and determination of Ray Doyle and Gary Elliot at centre-field. Alan Joyce displayed a wonderful capacity to win ball in situations of height disadvantage. Daniel Wood also played well. The team was delighted to welcome back its captain Donal Minogue after a long lay-off.

The B team put up a brave performance against Kilcoole in the lower division of the league. The game was closely contested well into the second half but Kilcoole eventually got the upper hand. Our mentors were delighted with the team’s performance. Niall Byrne, Shane Nolan and Owen Smullen were most prominent.

Our best wishes go to Keith Nolan who suffered a serious leg injury when he fell awkwardly in the minor hurling match. We wish him a speedy recovery.

The club extends its sincerest sympathies to Peter Deane, a member of the Junior A championship team of the 70s, and to the Deane family on the death of their father Peter. Ar dheis Dé go raibh anam Peter.