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This week's club notes

November 7, 2018

IOMÁINT Our hurlers trip to Ringtown in the county of Westmeath for their game against the locals in the Division 3 of the Leinster League proved to be a profitable one. Éire Óg won 1-17 to 1-4. An interesting statistic behind this stark scoreline is that only one of our scores, a '65' from the camán of Leon Browne (0-3), came from placed balls – in other words the opposition did not concede a free within shooting distance of their posts. The Éire Óg team showed six enforced changes, four in the backs and two in the forwards, from that which faced Corra Choill in the previous round. But in the instance the substitutes were more than adequate to the purpose.

 

Daniel Sammon, back after a long lay-off, had a very sound game at full-back and effected some great clearances. Together with Paul Gaskin, Seán Hughes and Andrew Walsh (centre-back) he comprised a solid defensive unit.

The Éire Óg players showed no signs of a hangover from the long journey and were up to speed more or less from the throw-in. With the strong wind in their favour they soon had the scoreboard ticking over and at the interval Greystones led 0-13 to 0-2. A goal from Michael Walsh five minutes into the 2nd half ended any hopes Ringtown might have had of making a wind-assisted comeback. James 'Pooch' Cranley who notched up the splendid score of 7 points and Danny Nolan (0-2) were a torment to the host backs throughout. Shane Nolan (0-1) and Leon Browne held the upper hand in the centre. Phelim Byrne, who because of the low oxygen content of the rarefied Ringtown atmosphere had to retire midway through the 2nd half! But he had had the time to tap over 2 points.

 

Our Junior As defeated Baltinglass in Division 3 of the league on Friday evening. It is hoped to have more on this next week.

 

Our senior footballers travel to Annacurra on Saturday next 14th to play the locals in the 2nd round of the Campus Oil League. The game is scheduled for 6pm. The lads travel with some trepidation as for one reason or another Éire Óg teams always find the going difficult whenever they venture into the southern or western recesses of the county.

 

Éire Óg suffered a double whammy last week with both the hurling and the senior football panels losing a high-profile member. However we are not talking here of two individuals but rather of different manifestations of the same person. In short we are referring to the departure of dual player James Kelly – as they say “some man for one man”. James has taken up a position with Jones Engineering somewhere in Holland. One hadn't previously heard of the name of the area and was tempted to describe it as being in the back of beyonds but then one thought could such a term be used with respect to any place in a country such as Holland. James' loss will be a serious blow to the ambitions of both squads so we are keeping our fingers crossed as to the duration of his stay. Beannacht Dé leis in a thaisteal agus go n-eirí an t-ádh leis in a chuid oibre.

 

To mark James' departure the footballers formed a guard of honour at the gate of the pitch after the game against Blessington on Friday and the hurlers appointed him captain for Saturday's match against Corra Choill.

 

COMHBHRÓN The club was sad to hear of the untimely death of Anne Nolan and extends its sincerest sympathies to her husband David and family. Anne and David were familiar figures at Éire Óg hurling matches when their sons Keith and James were actively involved with the iománaithe. Ar dheis Dé go raibh anam Anne.

 

You probably haven't heard as outside GAA circles it has received very little publicity (RTE who could devote prime news time to what can only be described in the context as a trivial item, the crash of Harrison Ford's plane, has been particularly remiss as it has not found time to even mention them) that the 1st GAA World Championships were held at the week-end in Abu Dhabi. What took place there certainly gives the lie to what Kevin Myers said recently in an article “the wild guerilla forays of Gaelic football are so rooted in the complex loyalties of tribe, townland and barony, parish and county that it would be as easy to export bullfighting or harpooning”. The games brought together teams from all corners of the globe with players from the diaspora and more importantly from areas where any connection with this country is, to say the least, tenuous. See gaa.ie and Irish Times website for evidence of the positive attitude held by these latter to Gaelic football.