Éire Óg Greystones
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Weekly Notes - 26th September 2007

Intermediate

The chips are down. There is no second chance. One can fell the tingle of excitement even as one writes. The Intermediates face Stratford (at 3pm in Aughrim on Sunday) in a make or break semi-final of the championship.

It will not be for lack of preparation if they - perish the thought - do not succeed. Admittedly they have not gone to cryoscopic camp in Poland nor have they been subjected to compulsory regimes of diet and rest, but they have trained well and have had a series of quite competitive practice matches, culminating on Sunday in a game against Kilanerin. The team showed quite good form in this game and are reasonably hopeful of victory. However, they are quite balanced in their view as to their chances. They do have that self-belief, without which there would be no chance of victory, but they have not propagandised themselves or their supporters - there is nothing to be gained from such mass delusion, no advertisers out there to use them in their he-man promotions - into a false sense of their own ability. Stratford, as we know from experience, will not yield easily so a good competitive game is in the offing.

You, our supporters, could play your part. A significant display of blue and white in Aughrim on Sunday would greatly encourage the lads and would no doubt propel them to greater effort. Your shouts of 'Greystones Abú' might even be just what will carry them over the line.

This is a week for nostalgia, for the discussing of great games played before the advent of the 'New Pitch'. The topography of the old pitch will be "changed, changed utterly". Its sharply sloping, northerly bias, which made every game a game of two halves, will be gone for ever. The levelling equipment will be moving in in the next few days and with luck the field will be open for use sometime next year.

The pitch has a great sod -bountiful mushrooms in season will be no more - and had excellent drainage; hopefully these advantages will not be lost. Wouldn't it have been great if the County Council had taken the decision to place in Éire Óg care that infamous strip of land adjacent to the clubhouse? Two birds could then have been killed with the one stone as this ground could have been cleared in conjunction with the levelling of the field. But then, are not county councils sent to try us?

Other work is also in hand. The lighting in the new pitch is to be completed in the next few weeks and illumination levels will then be sufficient to allow competitive games to be played at night.

The question may be asked as to where the money for these ambitious projects comes from. We have received lottery funding for which, of course, we are grateful. But this has not been overly generous when one considers the works that have been put in place through their use. The balance has had to be raised by the club. At the end of the day we will be saddled with a considerable debt which however, thanks to the generosity of some of our supporters and to the husbandry and foresight of our development team led by Oliver Leonard, will, on payment of the second moiety of the lotto money, be of near manageable proportions.

Have you considered contributing to our financial lifeblood by giving your support to the club's weekly Lotto?

Snippets

Our sympathies go to Noel Bambrick and his family on the death of Noel's father at the ripe old age of ninety. He was killed while riding his moped. Obviously a man of great determination and zest for life. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam. Best wishes to his grandson Oran, a key member of the minor team and an intermediate panellist, who took ill at the funeral.

Congratulations to Nellie Vickers - deceptively young for such a proud boast - who recently became a great-granny for the fifth time.

Did you know that Joanne Cuddihy, - and who would blame you for not making the connection on structural profiling - the international athlete, is the niece of our own Brendan?

The results of the August Grand Draw are posted in the various local hostelries or are available from Felicity Keane. Unfortunately the big prizes have again gone elsewhere. But hope is not yet lost - two draws, September and October, still remain.