SENIOR FOOTBALL: Our senior footballers have continued on their winning ways in Div. 1A of the League with a victory over Annacurra at home last week. Again our lads were slow to settle into the game and found themselves 4 points down after 5 minutes. The team cannot afford such a settling in period as that has the potential of plunging it into a 'playing catch up' situation. Luckily that did not occur on this occasion. After this hiccup Éire Óg took over and ratcheted up 20 points while restricting Annacurra to 5. Overall this was a very heartening performance with 15 excellent scores from play, attractive free-flowing football and excellent discipline against what was a very robust opposition – a number of yellow cards were issued but none came our way.
Particularly prominent for Éire Óg were Justin O'Brien, Andrew Walsh, John Paul Connolly (0-1), Sam Thompson (0-5), Karl Manahan (0-7, 5from frees) and Declan O'Mahony (0-3).
FÉILE na nGAEL – Fri. 26th to Sun 28th June – the annual tournament for u-14 football, hurling, camogie and handball. This year Éire Óg is hosting a Roscommon team and preparations are under way. Details next week
STRICTLY COME DANCING: Standing room only and even that was at a premium. Such was the case in the great hall of Fitzpatrick's Castle Hotel on Friday night last where a great crowd of Greystonians had gathered. Why had such a concourse of Na Clocha Liathóirí bypassed the multifarious diversions of their home patch to betake themselves to Killiney?
You haven't guessed? How ill-informed you are! They were there for Greystones' version of Strictly Come Dancing: Strictly Greystones.
As it turned out it was a very worthwhile journey for all in the audience which straddled the age range 18 to 90+ (Beatrice Gunning mother of Alvin of AGL, sponsor of the night) more than enjoyed themselves.
Post-show comments were all in the superlative with words like brilliant, excellent, superb and outstanding being bandied about like, as the saying would have it, “snuff at a wake”.
The show provided entertainment at its best. It was run off with exemplary efficiency and the presentation, lighting being key, lacked nothing in professionalism. The dances were extremely well choreographed and the dancers executed them with a joyous enthusiasm and with wonderful agility and co-ordination. The standard of performance reached by the dancers, a number of whom received top marks from the judges, was quite remarkable when one considers they had only 6 weeks to prepare. In fact it tells of a dedication and commitment some of our footballers and hurlers might do well to emulate!
Each dance was preceded by a short video which involved the couple in a comic situation. These were very well done and drew peals of laughter from the on-lookers. The video Oscar was awarded to that of the sketch acted out by Carmel Gleeson, Shane Mulford, Ann McHugh and Niall Burke. Indeed some of the participants showed themselves to have a latent talent for show biz.
First up on the stage were Laurie Ahern and Leon Browne to do the Tango. The professional judge complimented them on capturing the mood of the dance. They were awarded top marks. We worried for the couples following on. Next came Maria O'Neill and that back who likes to raid into forward territory, Jack Tanner, to dance the Salsa. This tendency of Jack's was fully reflected in their video which aped “The lady loves Milk Tray” ad. Their effort earned them a very high mark.
Jo Lloyd and Johnnie Barry treated us to a near perfect Twist. Johnnie's performance closely approximated that of Chubby Checker in his heyday. Geraldine Kelly and Oliver Leonard danced the Waltz in which each had the unfair advantage of years of practice. No wonder then that they carried off the bronze. Their video drew great laughter. Using Oliver's love of horses it depicted a grandfatherly Oliver being treated as a horse.India was not forgotten on the night with a tribute to Bollywood being paid by Michelle Dowling, Andy Walsh, Veronica O'Reilly and Brendan Lynch. They looked splendid in their Indian attire and captured well the movements of the dance. Andy was praised for the timing and appropriateness of his hand movements. Tara Nola and Adam Dalby treated the audience to an excellent performance of the Quick Step. Their dancing was full of energy, enthusiasm and good timing and went down very well with the crowd. Siobhán Manahan and Anto Byrne's routine rejoiced in the name American Smooth. Siobhán's adroitness allowed her to be in perfect harmony with smooth moving Anto. Anto's persona in the video would stand little chance of a job with A Byrne Construction!
Paula Thompson had Dan (Doc) O'Connor for partner for the Cha-Cha. With Doc's showmanship and Paula's deft movement – we know where Sam gets it from! – they carried off their routine with élan. The task of dancing the Samba was entrusted to Sharon Hughes and Eoin McHugh (in competition with discoing mother Ann). With their very good sense of rhythm they took the demands of this difficult dance in their stride and captured its carnival nature. Rebecca Fusciardi and Dan O'Neill danced a very energetic rock and roll which would not have been out of place in (google it) Bill Hayley's “Rock around the Clock”. Their routine involved Rebecca in high flying, heart-in-the-mouth movements. Judge Brendan Cuddihy said he had no fears of his expertise being called upon as he knew of goalkeeper Dan having a safe pair of hands.
Silver medallist Daire Deeney and Dave Downey danced the energy sapping Swing. Their routine included lifts and throwing and placed huge demands on timing and co-ordination. Their agility drew gasps of admiration from the crowd.
Lorna Fusciardi and Michael Larkin were popular gold medal winners with their superb execution of the Charleston . Their performance was full of energy and included quite intricate movements. One passage involving a dramatic show-stopping throw brought the audience to its feet. Lorna said afterwards that they had never successfully carried off this exercise in practice.
A number of couples were awarded full marks by the judges so the other factors viz. audience voting and sponsorship came into play in deciding the order of merit
