Club Notes... - 2022-12-27 11:34:00
Happy Christmas to all..
It’s Christmas time, a very special time of the year and all in Bride Rovers GAA Club hope that this Christmas season of 2022 is a peaceful and happy one for all. We can only look back in pride on the year nearly gone and look forward in hope to 2023. Our Club Bride Rovers was founded in the autumn of 1928, all of 94 years ago. In those intervening years the Club has had it’s ups and down, great wins and narrow defeats but it’s the support of the people of our parish has ensured the Club’s survival. That support has come in terms of finance, volunteerism, vocal support and hard work. So many people during 2022 ensured a very successful and long playing season for our players. Success in terms of Cups and Titles won is brilliant and we relish it and rejoice when the Club Colours are carried to victory. Our Club is much more than that however. It embodies the spirit and enthusiasm and pride we have in the Bride Rovers, name, tradition and what we stand for. In the 1960’s when Fr Michael Ryan had come to the Parish as curate he got a ‘sick call’ one Sunday evening. He was asked to travel to the home of an elderly lady who was close to death. Fr Ryan went immediately and administered the Last Rites to this woman. She was very weak, barely able to talk. She enquired from Fr. Ryan in a barely audible voice ‘Father, how did the Rovers get on in the match today?’ Smiling Fr Michael told her the Rovers hurlers had a great win earlier that day. She smiled serenely, laid her head back on the pillow and breathed her last breath. The story illustrates that Gaelic Games are in our Sporting DNA here in Bartlemy, Rathcormac and Kildinan. Our population has grown rapidly in recent years and it’s absolutely wonderful to see the way new families and individuals who have come to live here have become part and parcel of the Bride Rovers Club. As we reflect on 2022 we say a sincere ‘thank you’ to each and every person who played with and supported our many teams from under 6 to Senior during the year. We know the old proverb ‘many hands Make Light Work’ -so it is with a Club like ours. There was a time forty or fifty years ago where eight or ten members could ‘run the Club’. That’s not the way nowadays where it takes close on sixty to eighty active people to ensure the smooth running of the Club. As PRO I have been tasked with keeping the public informed about our activities on a weekly basis. I want to thank everyone who helped me in this work by sending match reports, photographs and general club news on an ongoing basis -thank you. A special word of praise to the management and Staff of The Echo newspaper for the outstanding coverage they provide for Gaelic Games. On my own behalf and on behalf of all the Club Officers and Executive members we wish each and everyone a beautiful Christmas and a great New Year in 2023.
CHRISTMAS DRAW RESULTS.
On Tuesday night December 13th last we had a ‘triple-decker’ of Draws and Raffles. As well as our Weekly Club Lotto we had the Annual Club 100 Members Bonus Draw and our Christmas Raffle.
Congratulations to the lucky winners in the Club 100 Draw who are as follows;
€1,000 Donncha Carr
€500 Brendan and Tríona Lyons
€100 Dave Quirke
€100 Irene and Niall Hogan
€100 Rose and Patrick O’Leary
€100 Tom Hegarty
€100 James and Bríd Finn
€100 Mike Liddane
€100 Jim O’Connor
€100 Denise and Niall Harte
€100 Declan Kielty
€100 Tom and Anke Fitzgerald
There are 180 local families and individuals who have joined the Club 100 scheme since it commenced in 2017. It is essentially a membership package which includes entries to the Bride Rovers weekly lotto and the Rebel Bounty monthly draws. While the gold package may be attractive (and represent good value) for families, the silver or bronze package may be attractive to players or individual members who wish to spread payments across the calendar year. A brochure is available and feel free to contact club treasurer Aiden Dorgan on 085 7124312 or, indeed, any club officer if you wish to join the scheme.
Our Christmas Raffle then took place. Special thanks to all the Firms, Shops , Bars , Club Members and other Patrons for sponsoring so many brilliant prizes.
The list of prize winners are €100 Restaurant Voucher from The Chatterbox won by Lily Mae Mannix; €100 Restaurant Voucher from Ger Gubbins Construction won by Martina Somers; Bottle Spirits from Barry's Bar won by Sarah Barry, Castlelyons; Bottle Whiskey from Cavanagh's Fermoy won by Liam and Mary Cahill, Moulane; Bottle Whiskey from Club Member won by Esther O’Keeffe; Bottle Whiskey from Club Member won by Joan Dorgan; Bottle Wine from Carryout Fermoy (Noel McCarthy) won by Margaret Drinan, Rathcormac; Bottles of Wine from Juvenile Sub-Committee won by Catherine Hegarty, Rathcormac; Bottles of Wine from Juvenile Sub-Committee won by Pamela Hogan, Shanowen; Chocolates from Spar Rathcormac won by Claire Condon; Chocolates from Spar Rathcormac won by Siobhán, c/o Big Vinnies; Christmas Hamper from Dave Quirke Plant Hire won by Helen O’Sullivan, Kildinan; Christmas Hamper from The Wagon, Fermoy won by Mark O’Connell; Cork Jersey from Club Member won by Holly and Bobbie Barry, Glanmire; Cork Jersey from Club Member won by Nicola Quirke, Terramount; Cork Training Top from Club Member won by Imelda Dorgan; Cork Training Top from Club Member won by Tony Leddy, Mitchelstown; Hair Care Product Set from Flamingo Redz won by Noreen Broderick; Hair Products and Chocolates Sinead Murphy Hair, won by Phil Shanahan; Handcare Product from Ryall O’Mahony Agri Supplies , Watergrasshil won by Dermot Dorgan; Jacket from Glanbia, Castlelyons won by Kevin Quirke, Mondaniel; Jacket from McCarthy Commercials, Watergrasshill won by Sue Walsh, Castlelyons; Portwest Bodywarmer from Club Member won by Breda Cotter; Premium Dogfood from Knockgriffin Vetinary, Midleton won by Pa Slattery, Mitchelstown; Restaurant Voucher from Fermoy Print & Design won by Rachel O’Flynn; Umbrella from Corrib Oil won by Shane Casey, Rathcormac; Voucher from Denis Ahern Hurleys won by John Hurley, Rathcormac; Voucher from Dooleys Bakery won by Jim Murphy; Voucher from Fitzgerald's Butchers won by Conor and Ellie McMahon, Clonmult; Voucher from Fitzy's Fast Food won by Nathan Buckley, Shanowen; Voucher from Mellerick's Pharmacy won by Mary Condon, C/o Martin O’Flynn; and Voucher from Yoga & Meditation with Martina (086 3619440) won by Nollaig Murphy.
WEEKLY CLUB LOTTO.
Our lotto now sits at €5,400. The numbers at the special Christmas draw last Tuesday night in Barry’s Bar December 13th, were 02, 12, 20, 30 with no winner (phew!).For the Special Christmas draw only, the bonus prizes rise from €30 to €50. Congrats to the €50 cash winners:
Tim Barry, Rathdowney, Seamus Healy, Tipperary
Jackie McCarthy, Main St., Siobhán, c/o Big Vinnies and Eileen Dorgan, Kildinan. Tickets which are just €2 each can also be purchased from Club members and in local business outlets. An Annual Lotto Ticket would make an ideal Christmas present for a friend or a family member at home or abroad. Social Media can spread the message far and wide so please let everyone, everywhere know that Bride Rovers GAA Club is always appreciative of support from all corners of the world. Thank you again for all your ongoing efforts which are deeply appreciated.
MTU BURSARIES FOR ADAM AND BRIAN.
Well done and congrats to Brian Roche and Adam Walsh who were amongst the 88 Recipients of MTU Sports Bursaries which were announced recently.
COLMANS TRAINING .
St Colman’s hurlers will have a very short Christmas break. Their knock out Harty Cup game v Thurles CBS will be played in Mid January.
5K on St. STEPHEN’s DAY
Bride Rovers Juvenile Club are running their annual 5k fun run / walk on next Monday St Stephens Day, beginning at 11.00. This is always a great race with such a variety of participants from the seasoned runners to families looking to walk off the turkey taking part. With so many locals now taking up running it promises to be a great fun event. Prizes range from 1st man/ woman and 1st over and under 12 boy and girl. There will be loads of spot prizes on the day. It’s a real fun and family event so do come along and have an enjoyable and healthy Festive outing.
WOULD YOU LIKE TO JOIN US?
If you wish to become more involved with the wide range of activities of the club in 2023, please indicate your interest to any Club Officer or Member..
With facilities being developed, the club having a presence at each Car Boot Sale and a weekly lotto draw, there are so many ways to become socially active within the club. Further plans are afoot for Healthy Club initiatives for 2023. And that’s before the plethora of teams and games for all ages are mentioned. All offers to assist in the club activities will be welcomed. Please contact Michael Carey on 087 9808973 or any club officer. If you want to commit just an hour a week-that’s fine, the more the merrier.
PRIVATE SEAN ROONEY RIP..
At present and down the years many Bride Rovers members have served proudly in Ireland’s Defence Forces. We extend our deepest sympathy this week to the family of Pte. Sean Rooney who was killed in the Lebanon whilst on Peacekeeping duty. We also extend our prayers and best wishes to Trooper Shane Kearney from Killeagh who was seriously wounded in the same attack. Shane is a Killeagh Club player and from a family steeped in the GAA. We hope he makes a full recovery.
THIRTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK
The Sunday before Christmas thirty years ago was a frosty day with fields everywhere covered in a heavy white covering - certainly not conducive to hurling! That Sunday before Christmas three decades ago, Sunday December 20th was a Red Letter day for Bride Rovers as we recall travelling to the Ballygiblin Club pitch for a County Final which started a truly Golden Era for our Club in 1992. That Sunday morning the possibility of the game going ahead looked slim but in fairness to the Minor Board and the Ballygiblin Club we got the 'green light' for the game. It was County Minor B Hurling League Final and Killavullen were our opponents. The County Minor Board under the late, great Con Murphy had decided to have the League Winners from Each Division take part in a County-wide knock-out Competition -a bit like a mini Championship. In the East Cork Championship we had been beaten by Watergrasshill by 2 7 to 0 7. In the East Cork Minor League we ended up in a play-off with the Hill. We won this game by 1 11 to 1 6 and then, on Nov 7th, we beat Castlelyons in the East Cork League Final by 2 8 to 0 6. In the County League we met the Championship winners Ballinora. In a mighty game at Carrignavar we won by 1 9 t o 0 10, the goal came in the 8th minute when a shot from James Murphy was saved but finished to the net by Terry Broderick. We had an easy win over Shamrocks by 6 11 to 0 3. On the frosty day in Ballygiblin thirty years ago we beat Killavullen by 2 14 to 1 3 for a first County title in any grade since 1932. It was a great boost for the Club as our Junior B hurlers had lost out in the Championship to Fr O Neills 'second string'. We had a super start on that frosty Sunday with early goals fromTerry Broderick and Pat Walsh helping us to lead by 2 4 to 0 0 after 16 minutes and we led by 2 7 to 1 3 at the break.
eam mentors Denis Ahern, Tony Walsh, Mick Barry, Pat Broderick and John Murphy and Dinny Fitzgerald had prepared the side well. Though Killavullen scored 1 1 early on t in the second half we took over again. Seven points in a row left us worthy winners. We won the JB grade double in 1993 and five years later the East Cork and County Junior A Hurling Titles and we haven't looked back since!
Team v Killavullen E Hoskins, E Murphy, L Barry, A Broderick, D Barry M Walsh B Murphy J O Callaghan, K Fitzgerald, T Broderick, n. Hegarty, J Murphy, P Cotter, P Barry P.Walsh, Subs D Ryan, B McHugh, P. McHugh, J Daly, MO Connell, S Hogan, P Murphy and B Barry.
SYMPATHY.
We extend our sincere sympathy to the family of the late Sean Keating of Cork and formerly of Mullentoura. Sean won an East Cork under 16 Hurling Championship medal with Bride Rovers in 1956 and he was very proud of that win. The Rovers beat Midleton in the semi final and defeated Sars by 4 1 to 2 0 in the Final. The panel of players was Mick Ryan, John Shorten, Eddy Heskin, Pat Barry, Finbarr Neville, Mike Murphy, John Kenny, Sean Leahy, Tony O Brien, Tom McAuliffe, Eddy Meade, Jimmy O Brien, Sean Keating, John Gubbins, Doney Pyne, Brian Canniffe, Paddy Beecher, James Heskin, and Paddy O Connor. Sean was buried in Rathcormac on Monday last.
CROKE PARK AGAIN FOR BALLYGIBLIN.
Well done Ballygiblin on a great All Ireland Semi final win over Horeswood of Wexford last Sunday in Dungarvam. Ballygiblin now have a January 14th date in the Final in GAA HQ against Easkey of Sligo. Hopefully the experience of last year will stand Ballygiblin in good stead and they can bring back the All Ireland Cup to their parish.
Lotto Result: 20th of Dec - Numbers this week were 10, 15, 20 & 26 – No Winner Congrats also to our lucky dip €30 cash winners:
Carr/Lynch/Murphy Syndicate,Catherine O’Flynn c/o Online Lotto, Catherine Hegarty, Shanowen,, John Parle, Desert Cross andAnne Cahill, Ashfield Plac
Next week's jackpot is an incredible €5,600.
DENIS BARRY RIP.
Sad to report the death of Denis Barry of Bartlemy. Born into a family steeped in the GAA Denis was a great supporter of the Club. With 13 years he was hospitalised after suffering life changing injuries in an equestrian accident. All during these years Denis was a source of inspiration to many with his positivity and cheery outlook. He never allowed the accident to change his outlook on life and always seemed in good humour. Sincere sympathy to the Barry family.
BRIDE ROVERS CLUB SPONSORS are; Rathcormac Tyres
