HURLING…CLASH OF ASH: Hurling continues next Sunday, 25ú Eanair, in The Green School Gym. Times: at 4.30pm (ending at 5.30pm) for interested boys. Last week’s group enjoyed their INDOOR session. Beginners, helpers and spectators encouraged to come along…más maith leo an cluiche sciliúil.
ACADAMH NA CARRAIGE: The Austin Stack Girls’ Football Academy training went ahead as usual for all the girls.There was a very impressive turnout last week and they all enjoyed themselves. The U 8 girls are still showing that they are much better than the rest of the academy at getting out of bed on a Sunday morning . All the mentors attended an ethics’ course which ran from 10am to 2pm on Saturday and all benefitted greatly from the experience. A meeting of the mentors was held on Friday last to discuss training, school links, club promotion, etc. As a result of this meeting the academy is in the process of putting plans in place to deliver an even more action packed season for the girls and their families.
Training was well attended despite the weather conditions. Holy Communion preparations (which are very important and of great importance, of course) are making an impact on the Under 10 girls at present and we await their return to training where they can join in the fun. Some new drills were brought into training on Sunday and we hope that they will help to improve the girls’ skills and enjoyment. Parents with any suggestions or comments will be most welcome to speak with any of the mentors on the Sunday morning or they can phone us in the evenings. The ladies will be in action again on Sunday next in The Green Gym. (i) The Under 6, 8 & 10 girls will have throw-in at 10.00am and (ii) the Under 12 ladies will be playing at 11.00am. Hope to see all our girls on Sunday. Ag súil le sibh go léir a fheicint ar an Domhnach beag seo i Spórtlann na Faiche! Birthday wishes to Ciara Murphy who was a magical ten years of age on Thursday 15th, to Eimear Casey who reached the special age of twelve on Friday 16th and to Amy Hartnett who was a lucky seven on Friday 16th…tá súil againn go raibh breithlaethanta deasa agaibh.
FOOTBALL UNDER 6: INDOOR action for our Under 6 boys (born 2003 & 2004) will continue in the Mounthawk School Gym on Sunday next…throw-in time: 10.00am. Our thanks to the school management for the use of their top class hall. Registration Day for all Under 6s will be 22ú Márta.
PEIL FAOI 8: Our Under 8 (born 2001 & 2002) club INDOOR activity continues on Sunday next, 25th January, in the Mercy School Gym in Mounthawk. Time: 11.00am. Ár mbuíochas le bainistíocht Scoil na Trócaire Chnoc an tSeabhaic. Regristration Day for all Under 8s will be Sunday 22nd March.
UNDER 10 BOYS: The Under 10 lads (1999 & 2000) will continue their INDOOR activity on Sunday next in the Green School Gym. Time: 12.00. Ár mbuíochas le bainistíocht Scoil na mBráithre Críostaí, An Fhaiche. Registration Day for all Under 10 boys will be 22nd March.
FAOI 12: All boys born in 1997 & 1998 will begin their ’09 football programme on 22nd February (Sunday @ 12.00) in Cathair Sailí. Meantime, why not come along to NEXT Sunday’s hurling session @ 4.30pm in the Green School Gym? The rubber hurleys are easy to handle…and great fun! Like to be a dual player? Come along and have a go! To register as club member: talk to Éamonn O’Reilly.
PEIL FAOI 14: All our Under 14 footballers (born 1995 & 1996) are requested to attend their next get-together of the new season on Sunday next at 5.30pm in the Green School Gym. We hope that our early preparations will ensure that we can make a good start to our forthcoming ’09 campaign. Tús maith ~ leath na hoibre! And why not come earlier and get warmed up with the hurlers? Why not a championship in 2 codes? To register as member of club: contact Michael Lynch.
PEIL FAOI 16: (Born 1993 & 1994). Give a shout if you haven’t heard! To register: labhair le Noel O’Connell.
SURFING: To find all our news bí linn ar www.austinstacks.ie
ALL PLAYERS: All players need to be registered to play with our club. One can register/become a member by paying €30 for the year (less than 59c a week!!) or by joining the CLUB ROCKIES (family membership + weekly lotto + All-Ireland Final ticket draw + games/training for player = less than €5 per week).
SCÓR NA bPÁISTÍ: The county final of Scór na bPáistí (for Primary School Pupils) will take place at 2pm on 29th March, probably in Glenbeigh. The North Kerry semi-final will take place in Mainistir Ó dTórna at 7.30pm on 13th March and the other semi-final will be on 14th March. Tralee Board/St. Brendan’s Board will run a first round around 7th March (?). We have an amhránaí aonair and a scéalaí agus iad ag cleachtadh ar a ndícheall….but we need dancers, quiz experts and musicians!
SCÓR NA SINSEAR: The county final of Senior Scór will be held at 7pm on 28th February. To reach that final individuals and groups must qualify from the Tralee/St. Brendan’s Board area competitions which will be held around the 25th (?) February. We expect to enter teams for solo singing, aithriseoireacht, tráth na gceisteanna and bailéadghrúpa. Any takers for sketch, set dancing, music, figure dancing?
GAA QUIZ: We hope to have a club quiz team (of 4) in the GAA/Seachtain na Gaeilge Tráth na gCeist competition. Format: all team questions, general knowledge and as Gaeilge…interested?
GAA 125: Don’t forget to watch “An GAA” on TG4 at 9.15pm on Friday….programme 2….and after “GAA Beo” on Sunday afternoon (3.45pm)….programme 3. A 10 week series on our association must be a must for everyone.
THE EARLY DAYS: Two of the founders of Cumann Lúthchleas Gael were journalists agus, dá bhrí sin, the press coverage accorded the foundation meeting of CLG was far greater than what a gathering of a dozen enthusiasts would normally generate. There were also other press reporters present, most of whom sent back enthusiastic reports. Cusack himself reported on the foundation meeting for “United Ireland” and was very enthusiastic in even his opening line: “At a well attended meeting, which was held in Miss Hayes’ Commercial Hotel in Thurles last Saturday, a Gaelic Association for the Preservation and Cultivation of National Pastimes was formed”. “The Leinster Leader” and “The Cork Examiner” (whose reporters, John Wyse Power and John McKay, were founders of the Association) were more detailed than Cusack’s 600-word transcript. McKay even contradicted Cusack when he said: “The meeting was poorly attended and several important athletic clubs in the South did not send a representative but perhaps this was due to the fact that the notice given was very short”. The attendance at the second meeting in Cork on the 27th December 1884 was better, maybe as a result of “The Cork Examiner’s” gentle admonishment of the southern athletic movement. Wyse Power was also interested in giving a good impression, using the same “at a well attended meeting….” opening line as Cusack. “The Cork Examiner” report ran to 1,500 words and included the full text of the circular and the letter from Michael Davitt in which he pleads: “why not make an effort to revive the Tailteann Games? A national festival could be organised to come off at some historic spot, at which prizes could be awarded for merit”. The report ends with a long speech by (ironically) Mr. McKay which was reported verbatim. The account is the most detailed of all those given of the foundation of the GAA down to the “hear, hears”. Some interesting points from “The Cork Examiner” coverage of the meeting emerged: i..Cusack professed that he admired the English Amateur Athletics Association and stated that the GAA “could not do better than adopt somewhat similar rules”; ii…attendance at the meeting was not regarded as a solid enough foundation by at least McKay. He places great stock on the fact that a second meeting would be held within a month; iii…Hurling and football are not mentioned. The whole meeting talked about athletics, and athletics in the sense of one large-scale meeting for Celtic peoples, as Davitt mentioned it, the Tailteann games; iv…Cusack mentioned that he had tried to get real Irish athletic events included in athletic programmes, mentioning specifically the high jump, the long jump, throwing the hammer, slinging the 56 lbs. and putting or throwing the 16 lbs. The Davin brothers, Pat and Maurice, held all the records for these events at the time. Cusack himself was probably once a record holder in the throwing event; v…Finance was not regarded as a problem: the Caledonian Games had yielded £200 profit on an investment of £300 the previous Easter at Ballsbridge. The founders thought that there was a lot of money to be made from athletics’ promotion and the GAA would easily fund itself. A figure of £1,000 for the Tailteann festival was mentioned and Davitt thought that £500 would be forthcoming from the Irish in America; vi…Support was forthcoming from the Caledonian Games’ organisers, Morrison Miller and Welsh Nationalist Kimmersley Lewis; messages were received from Professor Roehrig on behalf of all the Irish in America and from Mr. Lynch ar son the Irish in Australia (this is in Cusack’s and Wyse Power’s reports, not in McKay’s); vii…Cusack’s critical comments on the sporting press are not reported in “The Cork Examiner”; viii…The Association was given the rather cumbersome name of the “Gaelic Athletic Association for the Preservation and Cultivation of our National Pastimes” but within weeks it had been abbreviated to the Gaelic Athletic Association; ix…Cusack reported that Dr.Croke, C.S.Parnell and M.Davitt were to be asked for patronage. McKay said that they were appointed patrons and that caused some considerable confusion as Cusack brought to task the only English newspaper which had a correspondent at the meeting, “The Daily News”, for stating that “patrons had been appointed”. Cusack’s ire was raised by a far more hostile press coverage from “The Daily Telegraph” of the 6th November which reported: “Olympic Games for Ireland hardly seems a serious proposition, yet this is the objective of a new society just started by the Archbishop Croke, Mr. Parnell, Mr. Healy and others of the National Party in the sister Isle. We may be sure that an agrarian offence is no disqualification for a competitor”….Grrrrr! Cusack’s reply in “United Ireland” was an example of his volcanic best: “I presume you refer to the “Gaelic Association for the Preservation and Cultivation of National Pastimes” which was established at Thurles on the 1st inst. by about a dozen Irishmen, not a single one of whom has, as far as I am aware, ever aspired to the position of leader in the ranks of Irish nationalists. Whoever wrote it, it is as vile a production as has ever been evolved out of the wilful lie. Your representative will at all times be perfectly welcome at our meetings, but it may be necessary for him to be acquainted with the Irish language if he wants to report our war shouts on the hurling field”. That was in December 1884. Between the first and second meetings.
Already Cusack had turned his mind towards reviving the skilful game of HURLING and using the GAAPCNP as a vehicle for doing so. Already the infant Association had got a taste of the variety of press coverage it was to experience throughout its history. Ardfhear, a Chíosóig!
BETTER NEWS: Only 15 school days to the mid-term break!!