Club Notes... - 2023-12-17 20:31:00
Under 21s defeated in Semi Final
After two great games in the East Cork under 21 A Hurling Championship we faced Midleton at high noon last Saturday. The game was played on a firm pitch in Glenville. We’d qualified for the last four by beating Sarsfields and losing to Killeagh by just four points -so scoring averages saw us through. On Saturday we came up against a very strong Magpies team. We had just one player on 21 and one on 20 so against an older, stronger side it was always going to be difficult task. So it proved with Midleton winning out on a scoreline of 3 16 to 0 11. Though this competition was played in November/December it was still worthwhile -we had three games that can only be of benefit in the long term. Thanks to all the players and mentors for the effort put in under difficult weather conditions. This defeat ends our 2023 playing season so again thanks to all our players, mentors, coaches, supporters and sponsors for all the wonderful work during the last year.
UNDER 7’s WIND DOWN. The Bride Rovers under 7 panel of players finished up the 2023 year recently. They had a very special event with the Roches, Brian and Eoin, Cillian Tobin and Ronan O Connell presenting the lads with medals. Thanks to all the lads for a great year and all the mentors for giving up their time every week throughout the season. A special ‘thank you’ to all the parents who gave great assistance during the year.
TEDDY MCARTHY MEMORIAL GAMES.
Pairc Ui Chaoimh hosted ‘repeats’ of the 1990 Cork winning All Ireland Finals on Saturday last. The Meath footballers and Galway hurlers came to town to honour the memory of the late Teddy McCarthy with two special challenge game. The Rebels won both and Brian and Eoin Roche played with the Cork hurling team. Well done lads.
WEEKLY CLUB LOTTO.
The Lotto Result for Tuesday 5th of December 2023 -the Numbers drawn were 3, 17, 23 & 26 and there was No Jackpot Winner. Congrats also to our lucky dip €30 cash winners :Philip Buckner, c/o Online Lotto, Joseph Finn, Rathcormac, Cora O’Donoghue, c/o Online Lotto, Mike Cashman, c/o Laya and M&M Barry, Knocknaboola. This week's jackpot on Tuesday December 12th was an incredible €13,800.If your ticket has expired we would appreciate if you would enter again via https://bit.ly/
WELL DONE CASTLEHAVEN.
Truly the ‘Spirit of the Little Village’ as Charles Kickham deemed it, is alive and well. Last Sunday in Limerick’s Gaelic Grounds Castlehaven captured the Munster Senior Club Football Championship for the first time since 1997.They are an amazing Club drawn from a small coastal area. Their pride of place sees Castlehaven ‘bred’ players living in Cork City and elsewhere make the long trip back home for training and games and that’s why they are Munster Champions today. I still think it’s an absolute disgrace and a shameful practise that a game like last Sunday’s, played in atrocious weather, should have to go to extra time, then penalties and then sudden death penalties. Like the GAA Go games behind a ‘pay wall’ we’re told it’s all part of the Split Season package. In the GAA we are an amateur organisation and asking amateur sportsmen to go through what the Castlehaven and Daingeain Ui Chuis players had to go through last Sunday is simply wrong. Castlehaven will be in action against St Bridgid’s of Roscommon on Little Christmas Day, January the 6th. St Bridgid’s is the Club of the legendary Shane ‘Cake’ Curran -he was in goals when they won the Club all Ireland in 2013 beating Ballymun Kickhams in the Final. In January Watty Grahams of Glen Co Derry will meet Kilmacud Crokes in the other semi -final of the Club SFC. An interesting statistic; Kilmacud Crokes have more under 14 footballers than the sum total of all the players in the Castlehaven Club. It’s not the size of the dog in the fight that matters but the size of the fight in the dog! C’mon the Haven.
COUNTY GAA CONVENTION. The annual GAA Convention, once a huge event held over two days was on last Tuesday night. T
BRIDE ROVERS JUVENILE AGM. The Juvenile AGM was held on Wednesday night o last week. In her Annual Report Club Runai Emma Roddis reported as follows; A Chairde, On behalf of Bride Rovers Juvenile committee, I would like to extend our thanks & appreciation to every coach & secretary within the club for their dedication during this year. It is great to see the club growing every year and watch the developments within our club. It has been a privilege to work on this committee with other members who are so passionate about the future of our club & who enjoy celebrating all the growth & achievements we get to witness. Thank you also to the players, parents & supporters who make the club environment what it is. We would like to acknowledge the work of Rosario and Triona, the work is done to perfection to ensure the safety of our members and club. Thank you to Shelly who has worked diligently on the finances to keep us up to date and aware of where we stood. Finally, Jerome, congratulations on a successful first year as chair. Thank you for the commitment you have shown your club and committee, it has been very enjoyable to work alongside you. Preparing the report is always a great opportunity to see the achievements and fun within our club throughout the year. This year was no exception with players & teams representing Rovers with pride in county, school & beyond. It is a pleasure to walk around the pitch any Saturday or Wednesday and hear the fun as young players develop their "gra” for the sport making lifelong friends / teammates, to see teenagers arriving in together to just Puc a ball in the small astro & to see parents/ grandparents come to watch their family member with pride. Bride Rovers is truly the heart of our community. Thanks to the pride and passion felt by all in the club I believe our club will go from strength to strength, embracing new members and old, providing a safe space for all to be involved in our club. (Full details of Officers etc for 2024 will be carried in next week’s edition)
UNDER 6 REPORT (from Tomás Kearney and John Baldwin)
The U6 boys had a really successful year. We had a total of 53 players - 33 U5s and 20 U6s. While the big number was great to see, it did of course bring its own challenges. We ended up splitting the group for the core part of each session, warming up and finishing as one unit with a fun activity. Sometimes this split was by age, sometimes by ability and at other times, just a total mix. This worked very well and we would recommend this for what will probably be another big group next year. We started training on Saturday the 4th March with football and introduced hurling after a couple of weeks when the helmets from the club’s scheme arrived. From then on, we gave hurling and football equal time. We added the Wednesday evening session at the end of April. Over the course of the year we played a number of blitzes against teams including Kilworth, Ballygiblin, Glenville, Killeagh and St Catherines. Our most enjoyable blitz came at the end of the year when we mixed the U6 boys and the U6 girls, this really brought out the competitive streak in all the boys and girls! This blitz was a big success and thanks to Aidan Collins for his help in organising it. The lads really enjoyed these games and it was encouraging to see how much they improved as the year went on. We finished up the year with a fun session in the large astro where we presented each of the players with a medal. We also had an ice cream van. Thanks to Ian Bennis for sponsoring the treat bags which were given to all the boys at the end of the session. Thanks to all the parents. Thanks to the coaches for their help and support throughout the year. Thanks also to Jerome O Driscoll and Brian Murphy for taking some sessions at the start of the year when we were finding our feet. We learned a lot from both. Next year we would recommend putting an age limit on the group. We did have some players who were too young in our opinion. So, for next year we’d recommend 5 restricting it to those born in 2019. That would mean that all players would have just two years U6. This we feel would be fair for all concerned. (More age group Reports to come)
COLMANS OUT OF HARTY.
In wet and windy conditions at Mallow last week St Colman's exited the Harty Cup when beaten by CBC Cork. Up 5 points to 1 at the break Colman's went ahead 7 points to 1 but were pipped at the end in near hurricane conditions.
CHRISTMAS DRAW.
Our annual Christmas Draw will be held in conjunction with the weekly Lotto on the Tuesday before Christmas, December 19th. There will be an array of prizes and refreshments available. On that night also will be held the special Draw confined to Club 100 Members. First prize in this draw will be two Season Stand Tickets for Pairc Ui Chaoimh for 2024. There will be refreshments served on the night so all are welcome.
BEST WISHES TO CASTLEYONS & ST CATHERINES.
We extend best wishes to our neighbours Castlelyons and St Catherines who are both on the All Ireland Final trail this coming Saturday. It’s a pity that the fixtures for both clubs are both on at the same time, at half 1 on Saturday. St catherines travel to Ballinasloe to take on Sligo champions Easkey who reached the Club Final v Ballygiblin in January of this year. The second Junior All Ireland is on Sunday between Monaghan’s Castleblayney and Tullogher/Rossbercon of Kilkenny. Castlelyons face Toureen of Mayo in Glinsk O Connor Park, Tullamore. The winners of that tie will face the winners of Sunday’s second semi final which pits Kilkenny’s Thomastown against Donegal’s Setanta. Good luck to both and hopefully both St catherines and Castlelyons will be marching out in Croke Park on Saturday January 13th 2024 in the All Ireland Club Finals.
BRIDE ROVERS CLUB SPONSORS are; Rathcormac Tyres, Fermoy Print & Design, Gerard Gubbins Construction and Veolia
