Éire Óg Greystones
GAA Club

This Week

Archive

Weekly Notes - 2nd May 2007

Super draw: Parents and supporters are requested to return all monies and ticket stubs by the weekend.

Details to be had at www.greystonesgaa.ie

"When troubles come they come not single spies……". Our Cathaoirleach, Gerry Walsh, travelled west during the week to attend the funeral of his aunt Róisín. While he was there his uncle Des, on the other side, took ill suddenly and died. Des was a tireless worker for his club Raheen. We in Éire Óg extend our sincerest condolences to Gerry and the extended Walsh family. Go bhfaighidh siad beirt sonas síorraí i gcomhluadar na naomh.

Everyone in Éire Óg was saddened to hear of the death of George Delaney. Danny Hatton, who played with George on the Kilcoole team which won the '54 championship, was part of the honour guard which flanked the hearse on its journey from the house to the church. The minute's silence dedicated to George before the NFL final bore testimony to the esteem with which he was held in GAA circles. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam uasal.

If it was sport at its unadulterated best you were seeking, then the Éire Óg grounds was the place to be during the past week. Our u-14s were twice afield, against Bray in the league on Wed. night and against Rathnew in the Féile final on Sat. Both were intensely exciting games with victory by the narrowest of margins going our way in each case. Spectators to a man were hugely impressed by the quality of the Féile final. On Thurs our Junior Bs lost narrowly to Bray and our minor hurlers lost to the same opposition in the championship on Fri night. Saturday evening the Intermediates earned two points at the expense of Kilbride. On Sun the ladies opposed their counterparts from Kilmacud Crokes in a challenge match.

Junior B. "What do you expect? This is only a Junior B match after all" - comments frequently made by the more understanding of Éire Óg supporters to their more critical colleagues among the spectators at Thursday night's match v Bray Emmets. Thus they hoped to inject a little reality into the latter's expectations and thereby modify their often OTT criticism of some of the play. The word 'some' is used advisedly for, despite the lowliness of its grading, there was much to admire in the game and there were even flashes of play that were out of the top drawer : instance the Éire Óg goal, a product of sublime skill and coolness, a wonderful piece of fielding by Seán Brolly incorporating a leap which seemed to exceed his height (comment is superfluous), then there was that wonderful 30m pass by Dominic O'Brien which landed pinpointedly in the arms of Gary Doyle on the other wing as he exited at speed from a forest of Bré defenders - unfortunately the movement ran up a cul de sac thereafter - and then again we had that wonderful full-length save from Keith Monaghan. We lost, but management could take heart from what was a gutsy performance from their team whose main shortcomings lay in inexperience and lack of practice, both eminently curable. Overall an entertaining game with full-hearted commitment from both sides which often spluttered on the edge of aggression but never reached ignition point. Colm Taylor at centre-forward made a huge contribution and young Ronan Hannaway coped very well with Bray's very experienced and physically large-presenced full forward. The O'Brien twins more than held their own in centre-field play and Simon Barry played well at half-forward.