MISSED OPPORTUNITY In the O'Byrne Cup game against Wexford in Gorey on Sunday week our own Darren Hayden scored a goal which it is widely held would be a strong contender for the 2015 football Goal of the Year. Unfortunately the video of the score(http://ballsie/gaa/well-never-know-gaa-goal-year) has no chance of going viral. Some spectator unwittingly interposes his cowled head between the camera and the action at the precise moment the ball is finding its beautifully arced path to the upper right-hand corner of the goals.
CÚNTAS AN RÚNAÍ Rúnaí Daniel English intimated at the AGM that for geographical and impending domestic reasons he would not be in a position to continue as a representative on the Coiste Chondae. He was complimented for the excellent manner in which he had fulfilled this role.
One concludes then that his attendance at the County Board / reconvened convention meeting on Monday 12th is likely to have been his last for some time. In the instance he did not leave without having made his presence felt.
The cruinniú had as its primary purpose the debating of a motion from the Hollywood club concerning the re-structuring of the junior football championship. In the course of the discussion Jason Doyle, the Kilmac rep, accused Daniel of being involved in a comhchealg (conspiracy) with the top table to defeat the motion, an accusation – as laughable as it was outrageous – which touched Daniel to the quick. He replied saying that he would have no one impugning his reputation and demanded that the delegate withdraw this baseless accusation and apologise. The chairman supported Daniel in this.
CLUB PLAN: Last Monday will have seen the first steps being taken in the formulation and implementation of the club's 5-year plan, the necessity for a leithéid having been mooted in the Rúnaí's annual report. In his cúntas Daniel, while emphatically acknowledging that the members of the coiste were passionate about Éire Óg and its well-being and were giving of their best to ensure its welfare, opined that as things stood the club structures were not adequate to cope with the demands being placed on them. He reported that attendances at meetings had been, in general, less than satisfactory and said that with most members double jobbing within the club, it was quite understandable. This, he said, militated against effective decision-making and where decisions were made led to inadequacies in their implementation.
The primary function of the club is in the fielding of teams and in this area the coiste has grounds for justifiable pride, Daniel said – Éire Óg fielded 5 adult teams in 2014, 3 in football and 2 in hurling. He hoped that this could be sustained in the years ahead.
Our problems lie for the most part in the maintenance of our property and the financial servicing of teams and of our ambitions which include the building of a ball wall and the purchasing and development of the area which is to be used for under-age training. To this end he suggested the setting up of dedicated sub-committees which could recruit extra coiste members. Hopefully last Monday's meeting will have taken Daniel's ideas on board and will have furnished a sound strategic plan.
COMHBHRÓN We in Éire Óg were shocked last weekend to hear of the sudden death of Tom Walsh of Bray Emmets. Tom's omnipresence at GAA events over the last half century clothed him in our eyes with a false image of indestructibility. Unfortunately an bás, ní féidir é a shéanadh.
In his egalitarian outlook, his strong sense of community, his giving without counting the cost and his pride in the roots from which he had sprung Tom epitomised what is best in the GAA ethos.
Tom suffered the stings and arrows of the dedicated follower of Waterford hurling and to his misfortune never saw them make the breakthrough. However he did have one of his wishes fulfilled when Bray Emmets won the County Hurling Championship in 2014.
The notes remembers Tom, almost single handed, running the Bray Emmets juveniles in the 70s. Car ownership was low and Tom was forced on many occasions to make multiple trips to deliver his teams to venues.
The world in which Tom was nurtured is gone so it can be safely said nach mbeidh a leithéid arís ann. His loss will be felt by all who knew him. We in Éire Óg express our sincerest sympathies to Tom's family and relatives and to the Bray Emmets club.
Go raibh leaba aige i measc na naomh
