Clonmore celebrated the GAA’s 125th anniversary in style last Sunday as the sun shone down on a
hectic day of activities. The Juvenile club got going early on Sunday morning at 11am with competitions for boys and girls from under 8 to under 16, including skills competitions.
In the afternoon, the senior club held their events and much interest centred on the long kick competition with everyone having their own favourite. The competition started on the 30m line which proved relatively easy, but by the time the ball was moved out to the 45m line, there was only three men still in contention – seniors Ronan Doyle & Con Murphy and Carlow under 16 goalkeeper, Mark Hennessy. At 47m it was down to two – Con & Mark, and when the ball was moved to 49m, the only man to kick it over the bar was Mark. This prodigious dead ball kicker was successful again at 54m (60yards) but failed narrowly at 56m. A remarkable aspect of Hennessy’s kicking was that he got the distance with his first kick every time and practically all were straight between the two middle posts. Definitely one for the future !
The well deserved first prize of a new Carlow jersey went to Mark Hennessy, with Con Murphy taking second prize and Ronan Doyle third. All prizes for the long kick competition were kindly sponsored by John Nelson, Templeogue, Dublin, a former Clonmore player of the forties, from Furlong’s Lane, Ballyconnell.
A full scale game was then held between a mixture of intermediate, junior and minors players under the watchful eye of Trainer Seamus McClean and intermediate selectors, Mick Byrne, Mick O’Neill and Paddy Quigley.
The display of photographs and memorabilia in the clubhouse proved very popular with a steady stream of visitors all day. The highlights of the exhibition were the match ball used when Clonmore won our first ever Senior Football Championship in 1955 (courtesy of Denis Cullen), a 1922 Carlow Junior League medal won by Denis’s father Matt playing for Hacketstown, and a 1942 Wicklow county minor medal won by Harry Kenny’s father Paddy again playing for Hacketstown, but this time in Wicklow ! There were some rare Carlow hurling medals on display – won by Mick Murray and Paddy Doyle who played on the famous Fr O’Donnell trained Hacketstown team who won the Carlow Championship in 1947. There was also a multitude of old photographs and newspaper cuttings which evoked great memories of past glories.
The club would like to thank all the people who donated memorabilia especially Mrs Mary Byrne, Eddie Forde, Mick & Tommy Kelly, Frank Donnelly, Denis Cullen, Mick Murray, John Doyle, Eddie McDonald and Harry Kenny.
