Castlemartyr GAA Club, Cork

Club News

Condolences

Castlemartyr GAA offers its sincerest condolences to the families of Anthony Brennan a former county final winner with the club in the 50’s and also to Don McAuliffe who was a current club member.

Congratulations

Also congratulations are in order for Adrian Bowens who recently got engaged to Elaine Buckley. This announcement of course takes the spotlight off them and instead focuses it strongly on other long term relationship couples what seem to be biding their time, for a long time.

Congratulations

The u-14 hurlers of Kiltha Og were magnificent in winning the Feile County last Saturday evening in Caherlag against Watergrasshill on a scoreline of 4-19 to 1-4. They will now go on to represent Cork along with Na Piarsaigh in the All-Ireland above in Co. Laois. Well done to all concerned.

Football Championship

The draw has been made for the quarter finals of the East Cork Football Championship and we have been paired with last year’s winners and strong favourites for this year’s title Bride Rovers. This will prove to be an enormous challenge for the Reds to overcome and will take a performance not seen from a Castlemartyr football team for at least a decade, in order to triumph over the Rathcormac based outfit. The matches been fixed for either the last weekend in May or the first weekend in June, depending on the Rovers progress in the Senior Hurling Championship. The Reds will be lacing up the football boots for the first time in many weeks when they take on Russell Rovers in a Div. 2 F.L. match next Thursday night the 15th in Shanagarry.

Mick Leahy - This is Your Life

Very enjoyable function held in the Midleton Park Hotel to honour Mick Leahy who has given so much of his time to Castlemartyr GAA club for many years.
While the night was organised by the local GAA club to thank Mick for his service down through the years, it also looked at his life from his early days in Mount Uniacke up to the present.

Many friends, relatives and former work mates attended to recount their memories of Mick and how his generosity of spirit has enriched their own life’s. Many thanks to John Joe Regan from Lisgoold who acted as MC on the night in his own inimitable way and his wit and humour added greatly to the occasion. The night was organised by Michael Carroll, Castlemartyr GAA Chairman and he received assistance from his wife Charlotte and Donie O’Rourke who produced the ”Red Book” on the night. This would not have been possible without the covert assistance of the Leahy family who helped fill in the pages on Mick’s life.
Speakers on the night included Michael Carroll, Fr Mairtin Conroy, Mossie Hodnett, Christy O’Sullivan, Patrick Walsh, Willie Ring, Ted O’Brien and Jerry O’Keeffe. They spoke about Mick from his early school days to his work in Sportscraft and on to Dairygold in Mogeely and his time with his shop in the village. Tributes were paid about his work as an officer of the GAA club and how he has acted in all officerships within the club and represented the club at East Cork Board level for many years.

John Joe had his background work done well and spoke of Mick’s love for the ballroom dancing and the show bands of the time. This was with the assistance of his wife Rita and his children Sean, Martin and Margo. They attended with their respective partners and some grandchildren. Ursula O’Tuama provided the background music and we even got Mick and Rita onto the floor for one number to show us their steps.

Finally, Mick rose and having gathered his thoughts and concentration, he thanked all present for the honour bestowed on him. Being modest to a fault, he spoke of the many great Castlemartyr GAA men that he worked with through the years that would have deserved this. He thanked his own relations and friends from long ago for attending, and recalled growing up following Christy Ring and the great teams of that time, that first gave him such a love of GAA that has stayed with him all his life.

A great night, well organised and highly entertaining for a deserved recipient of such an honour.

Pics: (click to enlarge)

June 2007: ”2 Month Draw” - Part 2 - Prize winners

ANNUAL CLUB FUNDRAISING DRAW 2007
DRAW No 2 - RESULTS

1st Prize €1,500 Dick Forrest, Mogeely
2nd Prize €700 Sinead Coveney, c/o Dan Barry
3rd Prize €400 Ivor Knowles, Ballintotis
4th Prize €300 John Hogan, 44 The Meadows, Mogeely
5th Prize €100 John O’Meara, 8 Bridgetown Mews
6th Prize €100 Mary & Sandra Connaughton, Heffernans Tce
7th Prize €100 Pa Beausang
8th Prize €100 Patrick Cremin, Carewswood
9th Prize €100 Liam & Rose Costine
10th Prize €100 Gavin Barry, Loughaderra

Congratulations to all the winners.
We would like to thank all our subscribers for their continued support, which is much appreciated.

26-6-2007: John Morgan seat unveiled

Last Tuesday night the club unveiled a seat which has been erected to the memory of former chairman John Morgan. All of the Morgan family attended while current chairman Michael Carroll opened the ceremonial proceedings. Johnny Morgan spoke about his fathers love for Castlemartyr GAA club and the pride he had in working for the GAA. The seat itself is made of stone and is planted securely just inside the pitchside gate to the ”new” field. The seat is an attractive piece and is engraved with the tribute to John Morgan. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dilis.

Pics: (click to enlarge)

June 2007: ”2 Month Draw” - Part 1 - Prize winners

Well done to our prizewinners of the first part of our ”2 Month Draw”. Thanks to all who supported:

1st Prize, 1500euro: Sean Carr, Ballintotis
2nd Prize, 700euro: Ted Shanahan, Ballintotis
3rd Prize, 400euro: James Cosgrave, Ballyoughtra
4th Prize, 300euro: David Cotter, 28 Bridgetown Close
5th Prize, 100euro: John Cosgrave, 10 Bridgetown Drive
6th Prize, 100euro: John Tracey, 33 The Meadows, Castlemartyr
7th Prize, 100euro: John Joe Regan, Lisgoold
8th Prize, 100euro: Maurice Ronayne, Mogeely Rd
9th Prize, 100euro: Johnny Finn, Ballymacoda
10th Prize, 100euro: Gavin Barry, Loughaderra

Annual Dinner Dance and prizegivings (20-01-07)

The club dinner dance took place last Saturday night (20-01-07) at Garryvoe Hotel. A large gathering was assembled where the guests of honour on the night were players from the Castlemartyr 1982 winning East Cork Football Championship team, now celebrating the 25th anniversary of this victory. Club treasurer Marty O’Brien reminisced on the achievements of the team and club chairman Michael Carroll presented each panel member with a memento. Captain of the 1982 team, Dermot O’Shea, gave his memories of his era as captain.

Also on the night East Cork Board Chairman, Willie Ring, presented the Castlemartyr Hurling and Football panels with their League medals for 2006. Eileen McLellan presented John Walsh with the Clubman and the Year award for his outstanding service and dedication to the club. Congratulations to John on receiving this award.

The Footballer of the year award, sponsored by Sean Bownes Construction, was awarded to Barra O’Tuama while the Hurler of the Year award, sponsored by The Village Greengrocer, was awarded to Robert O’Donovan. Well done to Barra and Robert on these well-deserved awards - both had fantastic years in the club colours.

Pics: (click to enlarge)

All-Ireland Junior Hurling 7s Tournament (2006)

Played on the weekend of the all-ireland final, Castlemartyr participated in the St Judes hosted all-ireland junior 7s tournament.

The team performed very admirably - in fact we won each of our 4 pool games scoring bags of goals in the process:

Pool Game 1: Castlemartyr 6-2 Davidstown (Co. Wexford) 0-1
Pool Game 2: Castlemartyr 4-7 Moyne-Templetouhy (Co. Tipperary) 5-1
Pool Game 3: Castlemartyr 3-5 Portumna (Co. Galway) 3-1
Pool game 4: Castlemartyr 6-6 Castleknock (Co. Dublin) 2-0

These results allowed us to progress to the Quarter Final where we met Menlo Emmets (Co. Galway) and with a great performance came out comfortable winners on a scoreline of 6-6 to 2-2.

Onwards to the semi-fnial and by this time the team were very leg weary. Despite their best efforts the team was beaten by Moyne-Templetouhy on a scoreline of 5-3 to 2-6.

Getting to the semi-final was a fantastic achievement and playing in this arena was valuable experience to this very young team. Well done to all who played and to Tony Coyne and Mick Carroll who managed the team on the day.

Panel: Adrian and Derek Bowens, Donncha, Barra and Brien O Tuama, Eanna McGovern, Michael O’Neill, Brian Lawton, Darragh O’Keeffe, James Dehan.

Castlemartyr GAA Golf Classic 2006

Last Wednesday Castlemartyr GAA Golf Classic was held with a record number of teams (58) participating. The event was staged on a beautiful sunny day at East Cork Golf Club and the club would like to thank East Cork proprietor, course staff and catering staff for their wonderful hospitality. A very enjoyable day’s golf was had, culminating with a meal in the clubhouse. Thanks also to John Desmond and Davy O’Keeffe for regaling the clubhouse with a lively song during their acceptance of their prize. Prizewinners on the night included:

1st GUI section: Michael Ahern, Ed Ahern, Finbarr Sutton
2nd GUI section: Robert Whyte, Cian Fogarty, John Sinclair
3rd GUI section: Andrew McCarthy, Michael Morrison, Fiona Morrison

1st Non GUI section: Dave O’Keeffe, John Desmond, John Buckley
2nd Non GUI section: Joe Stack, Ted Golden, Aidan O’Regan
3rd Non GUI section: Ultan Murphy, Ross Williams, Kevin O’Brien

Longest Drive (10th hole): Richard Aherne. Nearest the Pin (14th hole): Martin Fitzpatrick

Pics: (click to enlarge)

Castlemartyr Players win Harty Cup with Midleton CBS

Castlemartyr players Evan O’Keeffe and Brian Lawton played leading roles as Midleton CBS claimed the Harty Cup today (12-3-06) at Cashal, defeating St Flannans in a pulsating final. Eddie Clifford and Brien O’Tuama were also on the panel.

Pics: (click to enlarge)

Club Members running 2006 Ballycotton 10

Please look at the following pics to see some of our club members taking part in the 2006 Ballycotton 10. Well done to the guys who took part.

Pics: (click to enlarge)

Dinner Dance

The Castlemartyr GAA dinner dance was held last Saturday night (21/1/06) in Garryvoe hotel. An excellent turnout provided a lively and enjoyable evening for all who attended. ”Cheers” band provided music on the night and it was encouraging to see such large numbers of the younger generation at the dinner dance. Guest speaker on the night was East Cork Board Treasurer Oliver Loughlin accompanied by his wife Anne. Oliver wished the club every success for 2006.

Awards on the night were presented to our Hurler-of-the-Year Brian Smiddy and Footballer-of-the-Year Ray Hennessey. Eileen McLellan presented the Frank McLellan Clubperson-of-the-Year trophy to Sean Bownes on the basis of his large input into the day-to-day activities of the club, and also, in leading the Cork Intermediate football team to All-Ireland success in 2005. Congratulations to Sean, Brian and Ray on being deserving winners of these awards.

Hurler-of-the-year prize was sponsored by Sean Bownes Construction. Footballer-of-the-year prize was sponsored by The Viallge Greengrocer.

Pics: (click to enlarge)

Long Puc 2005 Results and Pics

Close to 40 teams attended this years Joselph Walsh Memorial Long Puc Competition - one of our biggest ever gatherings. A great day was had in ideal weather conditions. David O’Keeffee, Ed Dinneen and Damien Coleman comprised the winning team with an excelent score of 47 pucks. Donal Burke, Barra O’Tuama and Anthony O’Donovan were runners up with 49 pucks. Great craic was had afterwards in Cliffords Bar where the prizes were presented.

Pics: (click to enlarge)

Juvenile AGM

Friday 13th January 2006 in Clonmult at 8pm

AGM

The Castlemartyr GAA AGM took place on the evening of Fri 25th November in the local national school. Approximately 40 people attended the meeting that had a genuine air of optimism for the coming season. Presided over by Fr Jack Cogan the following officers were elected to office: President – Christy O’Sullivan, Chairman – Michael Carroll, Secretary – Paul O’Connell, Assistant Secretary – Mick Leahy, Treasurer – Marty O’Brien, PRO – Eamon Roche. Furthermore the following personnel were elected onto the General Committee – Marty O’Keeffe, John Walsh, Donal McCarthy, Carey Joyce, Sean Bowens, David Fleming, Johnny Morgan, Kevin O’Reilly.

Minor Manager for 2006 will be Tony Barrett (hurling and football) while Pa Beausang will manage our U21’s (hurling and football). Bernard Lawton will continue to manage our Junior A Hurlers while Sean Bowens will manage the Junior A Footballers. We wish the officers and team managers great success in the coming year! May 2006 be a year of commitment, hard-work and success!

All-Ireland Junior Hurling 7s Tournament (2005)

10th Sept 05: Castlemartyr GAA participated in the All-Ireland Junior Hurling 7s (hosted by St Judes, Templeogue, Dublin).

Our opening match against Faughs (Dublin) saw us playing our best hurling, winning on a scoreline of 7-6 to 1-1, Adrian Bowens scoring 4 goals. We had to be content with a draw in our next encounter, scoring 2-7 against 4-1 of Newry Shamrocks (Down) again with Adrian scoring both goals and Barra O Tuama and Derek Bowens getting 2 points each.

The next two matches saw Castlemartyr tire considerably losing to both Kildimo (Limerick) 1-4 to 04 and Padraig Pearses (Galway) 1-7 to 0-4. This meant that Castlemartyr would not progress to the 1/4 final of the tournament. However, we did qualify for the ”Shield” tournament where we met the other Cork team in the tournament Ballygarvan. After a bright start we leaked a few goals losing on a scoreline of 3-3 to 1-5.

All in all, this was a very enjoyable tournament and proved to be a tremendous learning experience to the very young panel of players.

Panel: Eanna McGovern, Donncha O Tuama, Barra O ’Tuama, Eddie Clifford, Brian Smiddy, Brian Lawton, Ray Hennessey, Derek Bowens, Michael o’Neill, Adrian Bowens.

Well done to St Judes for putting on a very well organised event and to the group of Castlemartyr supporters on the day.

Pics: (click to enlarge)

Ploughing Championships

Castlemartyr and Dungourney GAA clubs will jointly host an Information Stand at this years national Ploughing Championships which will take place on the farm of Dick & Maureen Forrest, Mogeely, on Sept 27th, 28th & 29th. Furthermore a draw will take place (1st prize: Quad Vehicle; 2nd prize: Holiday worth €1000 euro), with proceeds going to the Juvenile Kiltha Óg club. Tickets are 5euro, or 5 for 20euro, available from members of both clubs.

Castlemartyr GAA Golf Classic - Prizegiving Pics

The Golf Classic took place on Wed 18th May. A great time was had by all. Click on pics below for prizegiving photos & list of winners.

Pics: (click to enlarge)

Club Draw 2005

Our annual club draw is to commence on Thurs 5th May 2005. This years draw will be held over 3 months with a draw each month. There is a bonus draw for €250 which only includes members who have paid the full subscription by the 5th May. Prizemoney is over €10,000. Top prize each month is €1,500 followed by 600, 400, 300, 100, 100, 100, dinner voucher, dinner voucher (ie 9 prizes each month). ENTRY FEE IS ONLY €20 PER MONTH. (please contact committee member regarding tickets) Your support for this draw will be much appreciated as it contributes greatly to the upkeep of the club.

Skills Coach - Primary School

Castlemartyr GAA club has appointed Brian O’Rourke as a skills coach to the local primary school and Brian spends half a day each week developing the skills of the schoolchildren.

Coaching Appointments

On the coarching and training front Graeme O’Sullivan who is resident in Bridgetown, Castlemartyr, has been appointed fitness trainer in respect of both hurling and football. On the hurling side, Tony Coyne of Youghal returns as hurling trainer and will work in collaboration with team manager Bernard Lawton.