Éire Óg Greystones
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Weekly Notes - 17th October 2007

Club History

Buíochas le Dia for the club's website

www.greystonesgaa.com . Recently - if truth be told, months ago - one was asked to write a brief history of the G.A.A. in Greystones for the Parish Centenary Magazine. Unfortunately one is possessed of an extremely long finger which on this occasion was given rein. That thief of time took full advantage of its opportunity and left one a pauper in its coinage. It was late at night and post deadline when the panic of realisation took hold. What to do? Information deficit. "I'll never get it done now!" Bright idea = website. Why not make a quick synopsis of the history recorded there? E-mail in the early hours reaches destination with seconds to spare.

The club site is well worth a visit if only to learn of its history which extends to the beginning of the last century and which is a story of a constant struggle for survival. We owe a huge debt to those who willingly took on the thankless task of keeping the G.A.A. going in an era of high unemployment, high emigration and when the economic condition of most of the G.A.A. sympathisers was not much above subsistence. Their work was rendered all the more difficult in that historically - things have changed somewhat with the advent of free education - the G.A.A. has not been the province of the professional and as a result, management was at a premium within clubs and clubs seldom had the luxury of being able to call on legal, engineering etc. skills from within its ranks. In a word, they lacked the psychic income available to other sporting organisations.

U-14 Shield Final

- Éire Óg Greystones v Baltinglass on Sunday. Winning ugly was never going to be the fate of either of the protagonists in this game. Neither side employed negative tactics so skills were allowed to flourish and spectators were treated to the best in Gaelic football - accurately targeted kicking both long and short, exciting scores, slick passing movements and delightful fielding. Even the most phlegmatic of the spectators would have had to be stirred by the commitment of the players from both sides epitomised in the many instances of blocking down. Then there was the almost unbearable and sustained excitement of the rapidly changing scoreboard and the goalmouth incidents. What more could a sporting event have to offer?

Their half-time lead of 3 points had the Éire Óg connections in an optimistic mood at the break. Within a few minutes of the resumption Baltinglass had drawn level with 3 unanswered points and seeds of doubt began to be sown in Éire Óg minds. A Baltinglass goal followed by a penalty and we are 6 points behind. An exchange of points and 2 great goals from Cormac O'Farrell and the teams are level. A forty-five for Greystones. The task entrusted to Gary Elliot. Is too much being asked of Gary considering he is suffering from groin strain? We need not have worried. A humungus kick sends the ball safely over the bar. Premature elation. Baltinglass are not done. Just as the fat lady is about to begin her song, they equalise.

The score 3-10 to 2-13 tells the story of an end to end game and is reflective of the openness of the game and the accuracy of the forwards. Adam Manning in goals was afforded great protection from a solid back division in which Daniel Keane, Andrew Walsh and Peter Burke starred - Adam could not be blamed for either of the goals. Ryan Horan, the target man, provided good ball to the other forwards. Justin O'Brien and Niall Crosbie were always prominent up front and Sam Thompson scored the 3rd goal. Niall Byrne was also one to catch the eye.

Minors

A number of the ladies chatting after the minor final were regretting that the minors' year would probably be defined by this defeat and not by the many excellent performances they gave during the season and the way they matured into a team of excellent sportsmen of some substance under the tutelage of Fergus O'Brien, Ray Barry and Alan Keating. Their victory over Baltinglass in the semi-final was the highlight of the season.