Feile Peil na nÓg 2015: The club was a sea of colour and excitement on Saturday morning for the All Ireland Feile game between our boys and kingpins St Brigids from South Roscommon. This famous club, one of the few to win an All Ireland Senior Club championship from the villages of Kiltoome and Cam about five miles from Athlone were our guests for the week. The night before in Pairc Gharman our boys had a win over Volunteers of Wexford and a loss to Tubbercurry/Cloonacool (Sligo) so everything was at stake in their meeting. The pitches and grounds looked immaculate thanks to the hard work all week of Philip and Joe. The large crowd basked in the sunshine and enjoyed a game of quality fare which our guests won. We then advanced to play Burren Rangers of Carlow that evening in Ferns Centre of Excellence in the shield quarter-final. We won this game which saw us returning to Ferns on Sunday morning for a tilt at Rathvilly (Carlow). Our trailblazing ended here. The team were excellent ambassadors for our club and are a great credit to their coaches Fergus O’Carroll, Gerry Browne and Peter O’Neill, who had them so well prepared and focused. Many thanks to our sponsor Xtravision/HMV who had our boys so well turned out. Juvenile Chairman Kevin Healy and his inner circle of organisers as above with Angela O’Leary (CPO) deserve a lot of praise and thanks. Organising Féile is no easy task and many thanks to the myriad of people who helped out with catering, umpiring, the websites, photos, articles, hosting families, transport, meeting and greeting, the list is endless. Kevin very thoughtfully sent out an e-mail thanking everyone on Sunday night. Congratulations to St Brigids who went the whole way and won the cup. They were very genial guests and it was our honour to host them.
The squad of players are: Jack Ryan, Thade Shanahan, Cian Fenelon, Neill Meganetty, Drew Campbell, Eoin O’Neill, Neil Browne, Niall Sheehy, Fionn O’Carroll, David Prendergast, Oisin Cavanagh, Seán Mason, Gavin O’Shea, Glenn Ryder, Daniel Healy, Seán Cranley, Shane Ryan, Joshua Rushe, Eoghan O’Lonaigh, Daire Devine, Denis Burke, Freddy Happonen, Cillian Keane, Aaron Bailey, Luke Dorgan, Cian Hynes, Toby Owens, Joe Power.
U-12 Cailíní: The u-12 cailíní welcomed their counterparts from Rathnew – new kids on the block – to Greystones on Tuesday. A lovely summer's evening, ideal for both playing and spectating. The girls responded to the favourable ambiance and served up an exciting – Éire Óg won by a point, 3-2 to 2-4 – and entertaining game. This win was a source of no little satisfaction to their management team of Martin Roche and Eileen Hanlon as they saw their charges battle back from being a goal down (1-1 to 2-1) at the interval. Besides this being a young team (very few of the girls have their twelfth birthday in 2015) it has the added problem of being vertically challenged. However, because of the team's character, these handicaps have not greatly inhibited its performance. Overall, Rathnew were a much bigger team but our cailíní, by their gritty determination and brave commitment, made little of this disadvantage. Jane Marren, the powerhouse of the team, was ably assisted by Alex O'Brien, Aisling Goff and Ella Horgan. Alana Ní Sheáin, who was excellent in goals in the first half, played outfield in the second period and scored two goals.
Weekly lotto: There were three lucky people who matched 3 numbers in this week’s lotto draw and they share in 200 euro. Nobody managed to match all four numbers to the jackpots climbs to 4,600. Tickets are just 2 euro and are available at www.eireoggreystones.com
Peil The Junior A team has been performing quite well of late; it registered a victory over Carnew in the championship and put Bray Emmet’s to the sword at home on Tuesday evening. This squad has some very fine players and if only it could summon up an enthusiasm approaching that of its county-winning predecessors it could challenge the best in this division. The game against Carnew was played out in the graveyard quietness of a near-deserted Pearse Park – it was in competition with the country's European game against Scotland. In the event, the entertainment on offer turned out to be at least equal with that in the Aviva. Éire Óg Greystones were the dominant force throughout but it was only in the third quarter that victory was assured. After quite a competitive first period, Éire Óg Greystones held just a one point advantage – 0-4 to a goal. We outscored the opposition seven points to one in the next fifteen minutes and even though Carnew fought back with renewed vigour for the last quarter they failed to make a significant inroad into our lead. Scorers were Willie O'Hagan (0-5), Dominic O'Brien and James Doherty (0-2 each) while Paul Doherty and Anto Byrne added points.
Congratulations to corner-back Tom Enright who having starred for the Senior Hurlers for 7 years broke his duck when he scored his first point for the club recently. Apparently it was no ordinary score as he ran half the length of the field shrugging off three would be tacklers to register his maiden. Rumours of a move to the forwards are just that!
