Nollaig Shona agus Bliain Nua faoi mhaise daoibh go léir. The coiste of Éire Óg Greystones wishes all its members, supporters and friends a Happy Christmas and a Joyful and Prosperous New Year. It further extends its gratitude to all who helped in any way to make 2014 quite a successful year. In this it acknowledges especially the dedication and hard work of managers and mentors at both juvenile and adult level and the commitment of the players, hurling and football, who brought us such enjoyment on the field of play. It further recognises its indebtedness to Veronica O'Reilly, co-ordinator of the Lotto, to the teams of scrutineers and to the sellers of tickets. It thanks also Anto Byrne and those who helped him to organise the Golf Classic. A sincere Go raibh maith agaibh to all who took charge of the running of the Christmas Draw and to the sponsors of its prizes.
AGM Éire Óg Greystones 2014 AGM has come and gone, in the clubrooms and its proceedings would justly earn the description 'a good night's work'. Item 4 on the agenda, the election of officers, is often a long drawn out affair as much time has to be spent cajoling people to take up positions on the coiste. Thankfully that was not the case on Tuesday night. There was a general willingness among the attendance to become involved in the club's administration and it did not take long for the white smoke of election to appear and the cry Habemus Coiste to be heard.
COISTE for 2015 is: Uachtarán: Patsy Vickers, Cathaoirleach: Carmel Deeney, Leas-Cathaoirleach: John Keane, Rúnaí: Daniel English, Cisteoir: Odhrán Ó Súilleabháin, Coiste Chondae: Gerry Walsh, Cláraitheoir: Stephen Kelly, PRO: Con Ó Súilleabháin.
BAILL: Conor Monaghan, Eoin O'Neill, Stephen Moody, Gavin McGowan, Tony Duddy, Mark Barry, Anthony Byrne, Brendan Cuddihy, John Wynne, Geraldine Kelly, Daniel O'Connor.
The agm of 2014 had, as agms go, a very satisfactory attendance and there was a vibrancy and positivity about it that hadn't been present in the club's annual meetings for some time. This had older members optimistically harbouring hopes of a new dawn for Éire Óg .
There were 3 motions on the clár and after these had been discussed in an atmosphere of cool maturity, 2 were withdrawn and the one concerning the management of teams was passed.
Comhgáirdeachas to Ciarán 'Mossie' Gaskin who, by default, was handed the tough assignment of refereeing the 2014 Intermediate Hurling Championship Final between Glenealy and Carnew. It did not take long for Ciarán, who has a low tolerance when it comes to the dishonest use of the camán, to exert his authority on the game with his early issuing of a yellow card. Is this the 1st occasion on which Éire Óg, unfortunately not noted for furnishing refs, has had the honour of one of its members refereeing a hurling game at this level?
On reading the headline on the front page of the Sunday Times, 07/12, which went something like “GAA to earn 10 million euro from rugby World Cup” one asked oneself why does the GAA have to be presented always in this negative type of manner? ('the grab all association'). A more honest reading of the situation – surely no one denies the association the right to a rent – would have been 'Ireland's bid for the rugby World Cup would have no substance without access to GAA facilities'.
A particular guí for former members of the coiste, Patsy Vickers, Danny Hatton and Ray Barry, who have been promoted to the Uachtarántacht. Our best wishes also go to an old stalwart of the Club, Jimmy O'Toole and to his wife Hilda who have been somewhat unwell.
