Éire Óg Greystones
GAA Club

This Week

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Weekly Notes - 24th October 2007

Development and Financial Matters

Work on the levelling and the reinstatement of the original home of Éire Óg Greystones - the old pitch - is proceeding apace and the signs are that it will be completed very soon, within time and within budget. Strange as it may seem it was really the club's home. Teams togged out in the shelter of its modesty-protecting blackthorn trees and its blackberry and hawthorn bushes, and most of the club's business was done informally along the sideline. About 20 years ago, in an attempt to improve the lot of the players, a prefab was installed in the field. Sadly its life was brief - it was torched, probably, one has often thought, by some of those whom the club was endeavouring to serve.

On last viewing, the topsoil, ready for spreading, lay in little heaps around the field. Bidding prayers for the weather to continue a little longer in its present benign humour are in order. This would enable seeding to proceed in ideal circumstances and would give time for the grass to become established before the onset of the already delayed winter.

The levelled area will allow for the installation of a pitch with dimensions in excess of the standard minima, and 13m longer and 7m wider than the previous lopsided one. A tremendous job of work - congratulations to all involved. Yet for all that it constitutes only one step in the club's development plan.

Club sympathisers who have lived through the doldrums of the 70s and 80s, the days of coffee evenings, St. Kilian's discos, overloaded matchgoing cars and sheep-grazed grounds (it was not within the club's financial means to have the grass cut) cannot but gaze in astonishment at what has been achieved to date and be in wondrous disbelief at the club's ability to pay for its various capital projects while at the same time financing its very substantial running costs. And well they might, for it is also a source of wonder to many close to the inner workings of the club. They see at first hand the delicate balancing act our Cisteoir, Maria O'Neill, is engaged in.

This is where you come in. By becoming a subscriber to the Club Lotto - paying your weekly 2 euro, by bankers' order (available through any committee member) or by annual subscription - you would help to tip the balance towards the safety of the black.

The Club Lotto has been a great servant to the club since its introduction and we are extremely grateful to those who have remained faithful contributors over the years and to our sellers without whose efforts it would have collapsed.

Donor fatigue? Lassitude in the sales department? Whatever, the number of tickets being sold has fallen off somewhat and the loss is sorely felt in the day to day running of the club. The coiste has initiated a campaign to reinvigorate the Lotto. Inveigle a friend!

Training

Friday night is hurling night for our younger members. Players from 5 to 12 years of age are catered for on that night.

Training for the u-7s, aka the Academy, takes place as usual in the clubhouse this Friday.

Training for u-8 footballers, both boys and girls, continues on Wednesdays at 6 pm. It has proved to be very popular and numbers have consistently topped the 40 mark.

Social and Personal

Recently while strolling on Greystones High Street one came on Danny Hatton in affable conversation, as is his wont, with another Éire Óg stalwart Rose Mary Mitchell. A happy circumstance which afforded one the opportunity of congratulating him on the golden anniversary of his marriage. We in Éire Óg also congratulate his wife, Marie, and send her our good wishes on celebrating a significant birthday. Danny has shown the same constancy in his relationship with the club and has served it faithfully since getting involved with Éire Óg juveniles shortly after they were formed. Danny's playing days were spent with Kilcoole except at u-12 when he played for St. Kevin's C.B.S.

Gura fada buan iad beirt agus beannacht Dé ortha i gcónaí.

Sympathy

The club extends its sincere sympathies to the Kilbride family on the death of Tom. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.