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Claregalway GAA Club Notes - Week Commencing Monday August 24th 2015
Claregalway GAA Football Club decided to run two camps this August to encourage and enable our young players, particularly our teenagers to play football.
Our teenage camp was held in Lakeview grounds for 3 days and extended for a further 2 days to Knockdoemore after canvassing these young people; they really enjoyed the 3 days and wanted to continue. During the camp we invited senior club member to come and impart some of their knowledge and this went down really well with our campers. On the first day we had our Intermediate Captain and U21 All-Ireland medalist Sean Moran, our physio Alan Daly and Joe Kearney, Intermediate player. Alan talked about nutrition and good practices pre & post training and matches. Sean, Alan and Joe went through the warm ups that are being introduced throughout the club and explained the benefits of same. Tuesday our guest was James Nallen who played in five All-Ireland finals for Mayo and won two All Stars, in 1996 and 2004. He won a National Football League medal in 2001. James spoke to both camps, going through drills with the teenagers giving advice along the way. Wednesday Damien Comer, Annaghdown & Galway player, with our own Sean Moran, took a training session in Lakeview with the Teenage Camp. Needless to say our campers were very impressed and delighted to have Damien train them. Damien and Sean also visited the junior camp where Damien’s wrist must have been sore after giving hundreds of autographs on shirts, shorts and boots. Thursday, Shane McDonagh spent the day with us in Knockdoemore. He brought along with him his father’s, Mattie McDonagh’s memorabilia. Mattie McDonagh is regarded as one of the greatest Galway players of all-time having won 10 Connacht titles, 4 All-Ireland titles, 2 NFL titles and 2 All Star titles. Mattie McDonagh is the only Connacht player to have won four senior All-Ireland medals. Shane let the campers hold the All-Ireland medals, read Newspaper articles, and look through the book on his father’s achievements and he also answered questions. Barry Cullinane came along on Thursday too. Barry was part of the Galway squad for a few years as top midfielder. Barry took drills on ball catching and midfield work. Friday was our last day of Camp, what a great week. Our guests were Danny Cummins, JP O Connell and Ja Fallon. JP took the campers both teenagers and juniors through some drills and refereed a match. Ja, a former Tuam Stars player and All-Ireland winner with Galway in 1998 & 2001 took the camper through exercises to aid catching and control of the ball as well as goal keeping. Danny was the celebrity signing autographs by the new time and getting his picture taken with all his admirers. We sincerely thank Sean, Alan, Joe, James, Damien, Shane, Barry, Ja, JP and Danny for taking time out of their day to join us throughout the week and congratulate our members for a great week of football. Thanks also to our coaches and assistant coaches, Deirdre and Kevin Brennan, Charlotte Cooney, Orla Dixon, Darragh Moran, Siobhan Gavin, Megan and Ellie Glynn, Padraig Kearney, Barry Goldrick, Shane Moylan and Conor Campbell. Thanks also to John Morrin our Juvenile Chair who was instrumental in helping to set up the camp.
See our facebook page Claregalway Football Club for pictures.
On September 13th a significant ‘fun run/walk’ event is taking place starting at and finishing at the Claregalway Community Centre. It will commence at 4pm sharp. Registration is from 2.30pm. Entry fee is €5 Child, €10 for Adult & €20 for a family. There are various novelty prizes see attached flyer. The 5K Fun/Walk is for Adults & Juveniles.
- Usual Prizes For 1st, 2nd & 3rd Male and Female
- Juvenile Prizes: 1st & 2nd Male and Female Secondary School
- Juvenile Prizes: 1st & 2nd Male and Female National School
- Novelty Prizes For LARGEST FAMILY: i.e. Mum, Dad And Kids
- Largest Extended Family: i.e. Mum, Dad, Aunts, Uncles, Granny etc
- Grandad and The Country Cousins
- Face painting and refreshments
Come out and get fit supporting your Club – It Will Be A Bit of Craic!
Entry Fee: Adults €10, Juniors €5, Family €20
We also have sponsorship cards which will be given out at all training sessions in the coming days, some teams have them already. It is only €2 per line - 30 lines per card and up for grabs are 2 tickets to the all Ireland hurling final. These cards must be back by September 2nd as the draw will take place on September 3rd.
Another attraction to selling the lines are if the card is returned fully completed the seller will get a free pair of club sock's and free entry to the race for themselves and their family - so its winners all round. Cards that don’t make it back by September 2nd and if returned by the September 13th the seller will still get the free socks and race entry.We are grateful to our sponsors the Unit Gym in the Claregalway Corporate Park for all their support towards this event. For more information call Michele at 087 6478976 /or Margaret at 087 2044158
On the playing field the Junior ladies defeated St Marys in the Championship on Sunday in Barnaderg. Claregalway trailed at halftime 1-5 to 0-2 but put in a great second half to win 2-9 to 1-9. We wish Sarah Coady and Caoimhe Moran speedy recoveries from the injuries picked up in the game. The Seniors ladies defeated St. Brendan’s in the championship and will play Clonbur in the semi final on September 5th.
U14 Gold Girls played Menlough/Skehana in a Challenge game on August 22nd in Knockdoemore. This was the Girls first match for a couple of months and was a very useful outing with the visitors winning out in the end. Training continues on Mondays and Saturday's. The.Championship starts in the next couple of weeks for Green and Gold teams. We wish Laura King and the Galway U16 Camogie team all the best in the All-Ireland Final on Saturday
In Senior mens Claregalway defeated Oileáin Árainn by 1-17 to 2-13 in Division 3 of the Senior league. Our minor footballers unfortunately went down in the Minor A North Championship to Corofin on a scoreline of 4-21 to 1-3. Our U16 boys defeated St Michaels in Division 1 of the championship by 1-13 to 3-2.
Congratulations to Niamh Heffernan, Claregalway GAA Handball Club who achieved the unbelievable by winning four Gold medals at the 2015 World Handball Championships in Calgary, Canada. She has been crowned both the One Wall and 40x20 champion in both 13 & Under singles and the 13 & Under Doubles. Niamh has been a star within the club but only won her maiden National titles earlier this year. She has now turned her attention to the 4 wall code of handball with all finals due to take place on August 21st gone. Niamh's sister Michelle also competed and reached a semi final in the Ladies C but was unlucky to lose by the narrowest of margins and one point. Well done to Niamh and to the club, and best of luck to her in the days ahead. The Club welcomed her home at a homecoming event on Monday evening. Congrats to Niamh and to her backup team of sister Michelle, mother Josephine and father Pat. This result wasn't possible without Niamh's dedication to training over the past few years and especially these past 6 months, along with the hard work from all the coaches in the club and at county level also. We look forward to resuming our training for the club this September with our World Champion in the ranks.