Ulster Council GAA

The Ulster Bank Vocational Schools finals scheduled for today (Friday 29th February) at Healy Park were called off due to the pitch being unplayable.

In the Arthurs Cup Final (U16), St Pauls HS Bessbrook were due to face De La Salle Downpatrick with a 1.00pm throw in.

Holy Trinity Cookstown were due to face St Pauls HS Bessbrook in the McDevitt Cup Final (U14).

These games have been re-fixed as follows:

Thursday 13th March at St Tiernach’s Park, Clones
11.30am – McDevitt Cup Final (U14): St Pauls HS Bessbrook v De la Salle Downpatrick
1.00pm – Arthurs Cup Final (U16): St Pauls HS Bessbrook v Holy Trinity Cookstown

This entry was posted on Friday, February 29th, 2008 at 9:55 am and is filed under Homepage News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

- Saturday 1^st March 2008 -

Allianz National Football League Division 2
An Cabhán v Baile Átha Cliath
Kingspan Breffni Park @ 7.00pm
Referee: Patrick Fox, Iar Mhí

Cavan will be looking to make full use of home advantage in a bid to get their first win of the National League, following defeats by Monaghan and Armagh in the opening two rounds.

Following an opening round win over Westmeath and a walkover over Cork, Dublin are sitting joint top of Division 2, and will travel to Breffni Park hoping to extend their unbeaten run.

Cavan: J Reilly; M Hannon, P Reilly, K Fannin; A Forde, R Flanagan, D Sheridan; D McCabe, M McKeever; M Reilly, M Lyng, R Donohoe; J Reilly, S Brady, S Johnston.

—

Allianz National Football League Division 4
Aontroim v Uíbh Fhailí
Casement Park @ 7.00pm
Referee: Martin Higgins, Fear Manach

Antrim boss Jody Gormley has named an unchanged line-up as he looks to guide his side to a fourth straight win in Division Four of The Allianz National Football League.

The Saffrons are up against Offaly at Casement Park on Saturday evening in a game that will easily be their toughest to date in the campaign, with The Faithful County also possessing six points from their three games played and sitting as favourites for the division.

Paddy Cunningham and Michael McCann have been among those to star for the in-form Saffrons so far this season and boss Gormley will no doubt be looking for more of the same against Pat Roe’s Leinster side.

Antrim: S McGreevy; T Scullion, A McClean, K O’Boyle; J Loughrey, S Kelly, J Crozier; J Quinn, M McCann; A Gallagher, K Niblock, T O’Neill; P Cunningham, M Magill, M Dougan.

—

- Sunday 2^nd March 2008 -

Allianz National Football League Division 1
Cill Dara v Dún na nGall
Newbridge @ 2.30pm
Referee: Joe McQuillan, An Cabhán

League Champions Donegal face a tricky away game against Kieran McGeeney’s Kildare in Newbridge on Sunday. In the opening two rounds, Brian McIvor’s troops have snatched late, late 1 point victories over Mayo and Kerry respectively.

Donegal will be without the services of Ciaran Bonner, who is forced to withdraw through injury.

Kildare: T Corley; E Bolton, K O’Neill, M O’Flaherty; A Rainbow, A Mac Lochlainn, G White; R Sweeney, K Brennan; A Smith, P O’Neill, J Doyle; J Kavanagh, P Mullarkey, K Donnelly

Donegal: Paul Durcan, Karl Lacey, Néil McGee, Niall Mc Cready, Kevin Cassidy, Eamonn McGee, Frank McGlynn, Neil Gallagher, Kevin Rafferty, Christy Toye, Martin McElhinney, Brian Roper, Colm McFadden, Ryan Bradley, David Walsh.

—

Allianz National Football League Division 1
Gaillimh v Tír Eoghain
Pearse Stadium @ 2.30pm
Referee: John Geaney, Corcaigh

Mickey Harte’s men are still without a win in Division 1 following an opening round draw with Kildare and a 0-12 to 0-9 defeat to All Ireland Champions Kerry in Tralee.

Galway will be hoping to maintain their 100% record, following on from wins at home to Laois and away to Kildare in the first two rounds.

Tyrone: J Curran; P Quinn, C Gormley, M Swift; D Harte, D Carlin, R McMenamin; K Hughes, E McGinley; R Mellon, R Mulgrew, S Cavanagh; T McGuigan, C McCullagh, O Mulligan.

—

Allianz National Football League Division 1
Ciarraí v Doire
Killarney @ 2.30pm
Referee: Michael Collins, Corcaigh

Paddy Crozier and Derry will travel to Killarney hoping to preserve their unbeaten record in Division 1. The Oak Leaf men are currently joint top along with Galway and Donegal on 4 points following impressive wins over Mayo and Laois.

Pat O’Shea’s Kerry will represent a step up in class, and Derry will need to be at their best if they are to record an away win.

Kerry: K Cremin; M O Se, T O’Sullivan, P Reidy; T O Se, A O’Mahony, D Bohane; S Scanlon, T Griffin; D O’Sullivan, B Sheehan, S O’Sullivan; K O’Leary, K Donaghy, P O’Connor.

Derry: B. Gillis; K. McGuigan, N. McClusker, F. McEldowney; L. Hinphey, M. McBride, M. McIvor; F. Doherty, J. Conway; M. Lynch, B. McGoldrick, E. Muldoon; C. Devlin, P. Bradley, C. Mullen.

—
Allianz National Football League Division 2
Muineachán v Ard Mhacha
Clones @ 2.30pm
Referee: John Bannon, An Longfort

Monaghan manager Seamus McEnaney has made just one change to his side’s starting line up to face Armagh on Sunday as Carrickmacross clubman Stephen Gollogly comes into the half-forward line in place of Eoin Lennon.

McEnaney will be looking to extend the Farney men’s unbeaten run in the league against Ulster neighbours Armagh, who have 1 win and 1 loss to their name thus far.

Monaghan: P McBennett; D Mone, JP Mone, D McArdle; D Freeman, G McQuaid, P McGuigan; D Clerkin, P Finlay; C McManus, V Corey, S Gollogly; R Woods, R Ronaghan, T Freeman.

Armagh: C McKinney, E McNulty, B Donaghy, F Moriarty, C McKeever, A O’Rourke, A Kernan, M Mackin, P McGrane, S Kernan, M O’Rourke, P Courtney, S McDonnell, R Clarke, T Kernan.

—

Allianz National Football League Division 3
Longfort v Fear Manach
Pearse Park @ 2.30pm
Referee: Padraig Hughes, Ard Mhacha

New Erne boss Malachy O’Rourke will be very anxious to see how his team fair on Sunday, as they have been out of competitive action since the McKenna Cup semi-final on 23^rd January – their opening two league games having been called off at late notice due to unplayable pitches.

Longford will go into the match as favourites, after a comfortable win over Leitrim last time out.

Longford: Damien Sheridan, Dermot Brady, Diarmuid Masterson, Declan Reilly, Shane Mulligan, Arthur O’Connor, Noel Farrell, Liam Keenan (Capt), Enda Farrell, David Barden, Paul Barden, Paddy Dowd, Brian Kavanagh, Declan Farrell, Frankie McGee.

—

Allianz National Football League Division 3
Loch Garman v An Dún
Wexford Park @ 2.30pm
Referee: Paddy Russell, Tiobraid Árann

Wexford Park will be the venue for the top-of-the-table clash between Wexford and Down, with both teams currently boasting 100% records in the league to date.

Down manager Ross Carr will be delighted with his side’s opening wins against Sligo and Louth, both as a result of strong second half comebacks, although surely he will see this game as the key fixture in their bid for promotion.

Down: B McVeigh; C McGovern, G McArdle, M Cole; D O’Hanlon, L Doyle, R Murtagh; D Gordon, J Lynch; J Fegan, K McKernan, D Hughes; J Clarke, C Magee, R Sexton.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 28th, 2008 at 2:43 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

A total of 12 teams were represented at a recent Super 9s football blitz at Queens playing fields.

The blitz provided an opportunity for players of varied abilities to represent their class, school and county against schools from their neighbouring county. Secondary schools are asked to run their own class leagues. The format was 9 a side and ensured that each child had maximum involvement. The teams all got a minimum of 5 games.

The next Super 9s Hurling tournament will be held for 2^nd Years at Queens playing fields on 12^th March at 10am. For more information contact Una McKay umckay@ulster.gaa.ie

The Ulster Council has recently launched its NFL – No Foul Language campaign. This campaign aims to encourage our players, supporters, parents, teachers and coaches to lead the way for our children in terms of thinking before we speak, especially when something happens on the field of play that makes us want to shout obscenities in rage of what has happened, or indeed when giving the post match report.

In support of the NFL campaign, the Council gave away wristbands to teachers, referees and pupils at the blitz.

(Images courtesy of Mark Jones Andersonstown News.)

Related:

NFL – No Foul Language
Super 9s football blitz Gallery

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 27th, 2008 at 2:15 pm and is filed under Homepage News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

After hosting the MacRory and MacLarnon Cup Finals for 11 consecutive years, the coincidence of two home National League games on 15^th and 16^th March has prompted Coiste Aontroma to consider the advisability of hosting the 2 high-profile Colleges Finals on the 17^th March this year.

County Secretary Jim Murray explains “We play Carlow in the National Football League on the 15^th at 7.00pm, and our hurlers play Cork on the 16^th; we have to consider whether we can subject the pitch to 4 matches in less than 48 hours, even in the most favourable weather conditions; there is the additional issue of the demands on our hardworking teams of stewards. We broached these matters with the Colleges Council about 2 weeks ago, and jointly agreed at that stage that it would be advisable to seek an alternative venue in the unusual circumstances of this particular year. We further agreed to defer any announcement until now so as not to deflect attention from the semi finals which were decided last weekend.”

In response, Brother Ennis, Chairman of the Ulster Colleges Council said: “Casement Park is our ‘spiritual home’ on the 17^th March each year, and we are hugely appreciative of the hospitability and support afforded us by Coiste Aontroma over many years. We do understand the reservations which pertain this year. The Casement authorities are rightly cautious about the multiplicity of fixtures on the same weekend. Coincidentally, the MacRory Cup Finalists this year are from the west of the province and, fortunately, Healy Park Omagh has been made available to us on this occasion. However, Casement remains our spiritual home, and we look forward to being back in that unique arena on the 17^th March in future years”.

For further information, contact Ulster Colleges Secretary Seamus Woods on 07966628051

This entry was posted on Monday, February 25th, 2008 at 5:00 pm and is filed under Homepage News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Early goals vital in Vins win

A superb first-half performance saw St Vincent’s knock reigning Andy Merrigan Cup champions Crossmaglen out of the competition in Navan on Sunday.

AIB All-Ireland Senior Club Football Championship Semi-Final
St Vincent’s 2-9
Crossmaglen Rangers 0-11

Vins forward Diarmuid Connolly shone at Páirc Tailteann to set up a repeat of the 1976 decider when the Marino club beat Nemo Rangers to claim their only ever title.

The Vins raced into a ten-point lead by the break backed by a strong wind and playing into the town end of the stadium.

Connolly top scored from play with 0-4 and began the day by winning a free for captain Tomás Quinn to pop over.

The Vins added a goal by the fourth minute to take a 1-1 to no score lead.

A Tiernan Diamond long ball found its way over the corner back Paul Kernan and Mayo man Brian Maloney was left unmarked to dispatch a powerful drive to the net.

Oisín McConville momentarily interrupted the one way traffic to open Cross’ account.

But Connolly immediately replied with a white flag after good work along the left endline.

The Vins with a strong wind at their backs hit four scores without reply between up to the 17th minute, amongst which was another green flag from Quinn.

A Kevin Golden high ball landed on the towering Pat Gilroy, who offloaded quickly to Quinn, who passed a low shot past Paul Hearty in the Cross’ goal.

By the break The Vins led 2-8 to 0-4 but were facing a strong breeze against a Cross side aiming to put All-Ireland titles back-to-back after the interval.

And the Armagh kingpins hit seven points to Vincent’s one – from Connolly – in the second half-hour period to reduce the deficit to four points.

But Vincent’s two goals in the opening period were enough to stave off any comeback and ensure the north Dublin club now lie just 60 minutes away from lifting the Andy Merrigan Cup

St Vincent’s: M Savage; P Conlon, E Brady, H Gill; T Doyle, G Brennan, P Kelly; H Coghlan 0-1, M O’Shea; K Golden, T Diamond 0-1, D Connolly 0-4; B Maloney 1-1, P Gilroy, T Quinn 1-2 2f. Subs: R Trainor for K Golden (on 55 minutes) and W Lowry for P Gilroy (60).
Frees: 20.
Wides: 6.
45s: 0.

Crossmaglen: P Hearty; S Finnegan, T McEntee 0-1, P Kernan; A Kernan 0-1, J Donaldson, B McKeown; D McKenna, S Clarke; M Aherne, J McEntee 0-1, S Kernan 0-2; J Murtagh 0-1, T Kernan 0-1, O McConville 0-4, 4f. Subs: M McNamee for M Aherne (on 36 minutes), F Bellew for S Clarke (39), P McKeown for S Finnegan (43), J Hanratty for P Kernan (46) and K Carragher for J Murtagh (52).
Frees: 19.
Wides: 10.
45s: 0.

Referee: Marty Duffy (Sligo)

Whelahan’s inspire Birr to victory

Former winners Birr will once again be in Croke Park on St Patrick’s Day after they easily overcame the challenge of Ulster champions Dunloy in Clones on Sunday.

AIB All-Ireland Senior Club Hurling Championship Semi-Final
Birr 0-17
Dunloy 0-9

The first half was a tight affair with the Offaly and Leinster champions going in 0-7 to 0-6 up.

However, Pat Joe Whelahan’s side went up through the gears in the second half to run out fairly comfortable winners.

Birr hit the ground running with Brian Whelahan grabbing a brace of points and team-mate Sean Ryan also on target as the Midlanders stormed into a 0-3 to 0-0 lead inside the opening 10 minutes.

Dunloy refused to lie down and they went on to hit four unanswered points with a hat-trick coming from Gregory O’Kane, including two frees, and the other point being notched by Damien McMullan.

Birr seemed stunned by going 0-3 to 0-4 behind and even though the teams proceeded to swap points, Dunloy still edged matters by the odd point in nine after 23 minutes.

The first half continued to be a game of fluctuating fortunes but the four-time All-Ireland club winners gradually found a real edge to their game and points from Paul Cleary, Rory Hanniffy and Barry Whelahan countered a fine effort from Paddy Richmond as the Offaly men went into the interval a point to the good.

As the second half wore on Dunloy came under increasing pressure even though Gregory O’Kane notched his fifth point to cut his side’s deficit to 0-8 to 0-11 with 13 minutes of the second half played.

But there was no stopping Birr and a brace of points from Simon Whelahan, his fifth point in a very impressive display, and one from sub Michael Dwane put the Offaly men out of sight.

A brace of points from Rory Hanniffy and Sean Ryan in the closing stages put the final nails in Dunloy’s coffin.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 25th, 2008 at 10:38 am and is filed under Homepage News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

It was a fairly low key Ulster Convention in Newry’s Canal Court Hotel on Saturday last with little by way of controversy, no elections and only one notice of motion from a County Committee. Prior to the start of convention the chairman of Down county Board Kevin Bell welcomed delegates to Convention while the chairman of Newry and Mourne District Council Michael Toal in welcoming delegates to the city spoke of the positive role that the GAA had played in Newry achieving city status and the benefits that the refurbished Pairc Esler would be to the local economy. Special guest on the day was the newly appointed Director General of the GAA, Paraic Duffy and in his address he spoke of the challenges that the GAA had faced in Ulster especially in more recent times, problems that he said “were different from those facing the association in other parts of the country”. He complimented the council and its officials on the courageous decisions they had taken through difficult times. He paid a warm tribute to the work of the council in acknowledging that the GAA in the rest of the country had a lot to learn from Ulster in how they had implemented whole new approaches in addressing things like the legislation on child protection, their approach to strategic planning and governance and he assured delegates that he would be seeking help from Ulster as he has put the completion of a strategic plan for the whole association at the top of his agenda. It was however crucial he told delegates “that the GAA retains its foremost position as the leading sporting brand in the country” but also of retaining the position whereby every club will be at the heart of their communities”. There was good news in his address for Antrim as he would be meeting representatives from that county along with the chairman and secretary of the Ulster Council to discuss the development of structures that would meet the needs of hurling in the province and especially the needs of Antrim. He did however express concern at how certain issues are debated in the association and called for future debate on association issues to be held in the right fora. Following his address Tom Daly made a special presentation to Paraic Duffy to mark his accession to the position of the Director General.

On the financial side overall income was up a little on 2006 despite a decrease in gate receipts although expenditure was also down by a small margin. Income had been affected by the robbery that had taken place after a game in Casement Park.

In a wide-ranging address president Tom Daly reviewed all aspects of the association in the province and reflected on how successful teams from the province had been both in inter-county and in schools and colleges competitions. He spoke of the need for sustaining their level of input into hurling development in the province and on the need for the association to be proactive in not only providing facilities for Gaelic Games but in insisting that public funded sports developments should be able to accommodate our games. He expressed concern and regret at the non-implementation of the Irish Language Act which he said was “not acceptable” and assured delegates that the council would be insisting wherever possible that the legislation be proceeded with. Regarding the coverage of the games he called on BBC Radio to “move up from an opt out medium wave channel to mainstream broadcasting and said that it was essential that the TV coverage of matches would see all games free to air.

He spoke also of the international dimension where Ulster was twinned with Canada and Britain but he expressed reservations on the re-establishment of the International Rules series with Australia, his main concerns being player welfare and discipline and he was also critical of the aggressive targeting of young GAA players by the AFL. Regarding the “Maze Project” he told delegates that the Ulster Council had been invited to take part in this project but assured Ulster Convention that the council had no involvement on the political side of the debate or on any impending or forthcoming political decisions. On the question of the grants to GAA players he was adamant that the system as drawn up would mean that the payment of those monies was compliant with Rule 11 as was a signed statement from the chairman, secretary and treasurer of the council that all monies dispersed by them as expenses payments were compliant with the same rule. Integration and diversity would be a part and parcel of going forward but a number of delegates and officers affirmed the position that this should not dilute the core values of the association.

In conclusion he paid attributed to the former director-general of the GAA Liam Mulvihill whose tribute dinner had taken place in Dublin the previous night and he also thanked Miceál Greenan for his service to the Council both as a delegate from Cavan and his 10 years service as an officer of the council.

Motions: Only one motion was tabled for Convention with Tyrone requesting the “Ulster Council to review the organisation of the Dr McKenna Cup competition and the participation within that competition of teams representing Higher Education establishments”. The matter was not discussed on the day but it will be referred to the incoming Ulster Council and Tyrone were assured that there would be a full debate on the matter at the next meeting of the Ulster Competitions Control Committee.

Convention also saw the launch of the new Ulster Council GAA website and the announcement that Catherine O’Hara, Ulster Camogie Council, who was present at convention as a guest was launching her campaign for election as the national president of the Camogie Association.

Officers Elected: All out going officers were returned unopposed. President: Tom Daly (Donegal), V President Aogan Farrell (Cavan), Treasurer: Martin McAviney (Monaghan), PRO: Michael Hassan (Antrim).

(Report Courtesy of JP Graham)

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 24th, 2008 at 10:25 am and is filed under Homepage News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

The Ulster Council were delighted to attend the recent special celebration in honour of Liam Mulvihill who retired as Ard Stiúrthoir, following 29 years of service in the most senior administrative office in the Association.

A native of Kenagh, Co Longford, Liam is the holder of Leinster and All Ireland senior college’s football medals with St Mel’s. He played inter county football with Longford at all grades. At the age of 23 he became Vice-Chairman of the Longford County Board and at 24 he became Chairman. He was a member of the GAA’s Central Council for many years before his appointment as Director General. Liam was educated at St Patrick’s College Drumcondra, U.C.D, Maynooth College and U.C.G. He worked as a primary school teacher and later a School’s Inspector before accepting the post of Director General. Mulvihill also filled various roles with State Bodies throughout his career including the R.T.E Authority, Bord na Gaeilge, the Irish Sports Council and he was a member of the board of the Sports Campus Ireland project at Abbottstown.

The Ulster Council would like to extend their best wishes to Liam in his retirement, and also to his successor as Ard Stiúrthoir, Monaghan native Paraic Duffy.

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 23rd, 2008 at 3:49 pm and is filed under Homepage News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

The first Annual Coaching and Games Development Conference, organised by Coiste Chontae Doire and sponsored by Chambers Coaches, will take place on Saturday 1^st March 2008 in the St. Mary’s Grammar School, Magherafelt. This conference will aim to provide the most innovative workshops, which have been designed to better equip our coaches for the difficult task they face in striving to make their players the best that they can be. Combined with a range of highly skilled, professional guest speakers, this conference promises to benefit all who register to attend it.

Some of this year’s presenters include:

Willie Anderson – former Irish Rugby International. Willie won a total of 27 caps for his county over a six year period. Willie has enjoyed an illustrious coaching career having spells with Dungannon, Ballymena, Scotland RFU and currently with the Rainey. Willie has also spent time coaching at Loup GAC and should provide us with an excellent insight into coaching at an elite level.

George O’Connor – from the St. Martin’s club is County Wexford Director of Hurling, represented his county at senior level in both football & hurling, double All Star, midfielder in Wexford’s 1996 All Ireland win. George will present a practical outdoor session which should engage all coaches and managers of hurling & camogie teams.

Oliver Short – Crossmaglen – former player & manager of Crossmaglen Rangers GAC and Head of Junior School at St. Joseph’s Crossmaglen, Oliver is perfectly poised to deliver some thoughts on the secrets of the Crossmaglen success story.

Paddy Heaney – outspoken and often controversial journalist from the Irish News, Paddy will be presenting his views on the role of the media in the GAA and how clubs and team managers can make the most of their relationship with the press.

Darren McGeehan – representing Pride Sports, will give a presentation on the merits of synthetic surfaces. Is this the way forward for the GAA – especially in an urban environment? Can the synthetic pitch open the door for a wider playing season with a pitch which is always playable? How does the pitch compare to the spring of the turf in the heat of the summer?

Mickey Harte & Pete McGrath – need no introductions as the most successful Ulster All Ireland winning football managers. Speaking on behalf of SportsTracker, the innovative complete sporting analysis system – Mickey & Pete will extol the merits of a system to enable players, coaches, managers and clubs to collect and collate relevant team and individual performance data throughout the sporting season.

Des Jennings – Performance Lifestyle coach at Sports Institute of Northern Ireland. As an athlete Des played soccer for Newry City and Gaelic football for Armagh. As a sports psychologist Des has worked with the Armagh Gaelic football squad, Ulster schools rugby, NI Gymnastics and Irish Trampolining. In addition he has worked with individual athletes from a range of racquet sports. Des will be presenting his seminar “Inside the heads of players – do they need a firm hand or a hug?” with which surely every coach and manager of Gaelic Games can empathise.

Richard Ferris & Kevin Kelly – former Derry football and hurler players, have both vast experience in the field of youth development. Richard is currently full time Youth Development Officer for Glenullin GAC and was formerly Derry Football Development Manager. Kevin was full time Youth Development Officer for Clann na Gael in Lurgan before moving on to become Ulster Camogie Development Manager.

Tony Scullion (Derry) & Diarmuid Marsden (Armagh) – both are former football greats in their respective counties winning All Ireland medals and are coming together as part of the Ulster Council team to present their thoughts on the transfer of skills and drills from the training pitch into the match situation.

Mickey Moran – former Derry & Ulster football star, well known for his coaching contribution to Derry’s All Ireland football success in 1993. Former manager of Donegal and Mayo and currently in charge of the University of Ulster at Jordanstown, Mickey will present an outdoor session which will be of great benefit to all coaches and managers.

The conference attendance is limited to 250, and places will be distributed on a first come first served basis. The cost of attending this one-day event is £10 per person, and you must pre-register by contacting Pauline in Owenbeg on 02877742990 or via email at info@derry.gaa.ie

This conference will cater for all coaches, regardless of ability or qualification level, and we welcome anyone who is interested in attending to further their own personal development. We are opening this up to coaches in Derry before we go further a field. This is a considerable undertaking by the coaching and games committee therefore we would hope that every club in the county regardless of what code you play will aim to have at least five coaches at the conference.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 20th, 2008 at 11:09 am and is filed under Homepage News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Venue: Emyvale GAC, Co Monaghan
Tutor: Anne Devlin

Info: This is an information night for Monaghan clubs to help prevent and detect cancers. It will also include tips on how to make your club a healthier environment.

Contact: Aileen Tohill 07920528791

Please note that these courses are open to anyone interested in coaching and are free of charge.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 11th, 2008 at 11:27 am and is filed under Events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

The GAA’s Fun Do Coaching Resource has won the ‘Best E-Learning Product or Course’ category in the 6th annual Digital Media Awards. The announcement was made at the awards ceremony held in the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Santry last night with Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Eamon Ryan, TD, in attendance as guest of honour.

The resource has received excellent feedback since it was launched by Uachtarán Nickey Brennan in Croke Park last October, and has been hailed by Kerry manager Pat O’Shea as ‘the best coaching resource that has come out of any sport in Ireland over the past quarter of a century’.

Each pack contains an integrated series of resources incorporating booklets, DVDs and DVD-ROMs which enable parents, teachers and coaches to provide quality training for child players from Nursery level to the end of Primary School.

The resource was developed under the remit of the National Games Development Committee, whose Chairman Christy Cooney expressed his delight at the announcement, adding that he believed ‘the resource is an invaluable aid to the many volunteers working with underage players throughout the country and in our units abroad’. Project Leader and recently appointed Games Development Manager Jimmy D’Arcy stated that, ‘the announcement endorsed the GAA’s innovative approach to developing resources which utilise the most up to date in learning and information technology’ but that ‘the key to the success of the project will be the extent to which the resource assists quality coaching in Clubs and Schools’.

The awards, sponsored by Connect-World, the Digital Hub, and Interactive Return, recognise and reward the most stylish, creative, and pioneering work in the field of digital media, including podcasting, blogging, web design, film, animation, advertising, innovation and e-learning.

The Fun Do Learning Resource Pack can be purchased from http://www.mcsport.ie or by calling +353 (0) 1 2022820. To find out more about the resource visit http://www.gaa.ie/files/flash/fundo_web.swf.

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 10th, 2008 at 12:50 pm and is filed under Homepage News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Antrim hurlers made a little bit of history at Casement Park on Sunday when they became the first team from outside Leinster to win the Walsh Cup as they beat Offaly by 3-9 to 2-7.

In dreadful weather conditions the Saffrons secured a well deserved victory thanks to two goals from Eddie McCloskey and one from Cormac Donnelly to seal a five point win.

Facing a gale force wind in the opening half Antrim started very brightly and McCloskey’s first goal, brilliantly taken after receiving a Donnelly hand-pass, put them into a 1-2 to 0-1 lead.

Offaly settled down and a deflected goal Francis Corrigan and a brilliantly taken one from a narrow angle by Shane Dooley helped them to a 2-6 to 1-4 half-time lead.

Even with the wind and driving rain at their backs Antrim took a while to overhaul the visitors in the second half as dogged Offaly battled bravely to stem the tide.

The Faithful county were still in front with just twelve minutes of normal time left for play when the crucial score came, McCloskey again finding the target as he ran onto a massive puck-out by Ryan McGarry to drill the ball to the Offaly net.

From then on there was only going to be one winner and when ‘Hippy’ Donnelly deflected a high delivery to the net for number three the destiny of the Walsh Cup was secure.

ANTRIM – Ryan McGarry, Arron Graffin, Neilly McGarry, Sean Delargy (capt), Ciaran Herron, Karl McKeegan, Kevin Elliott, Neill McManus, Karl Stewart, Michael Magill, Liam Watson, Patrick McGill, Eddie McCloskey, Cormac Donnelly, Simon McCrory.
SUBS – PJ O’Connell for McCrory; Darren Hamill for O’Connell

This entry was posted on Monday, February 4th, 2008 at 12:56 pm and is filed under Homepage News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

On Wednesday, 30th January, a team of students from Stranmillis University College played a Gaelic football match against St Mary’s University College. This was the first Gaelic football team to represent the College in its eighty-year history and was comprised of students from the Health & Leisure Studies BSc and the BEd primary and post-primary courses.

The Stranmillis team was captained by Paul O’Gara (2nd year Health & Leisure Studies) and the organisation of the match was supported by Ryan Mellon, Third Level Development Officer, Ulster Council GAA.

The team included players with significant experience and with none and, although the Stranmillis team was defeated, the boys look forward to many more matches and tournaments in the future.

Although this was a Stranmillis representative team, students from the University College also have the opportunity to play Gaelic Games for other Third Level institutions.

Amongst a number of examples of this, Odhran Doherty plays for Belfast Metropolitan College and Emma Mulhern for QUB and both are County players in their own right, having represented Donegal and Down respectively.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 1st, 2008 at 2:57 pm and is filed under Homepage News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.