Underage Awards Night

On Sat 29th Jan last a large crowd was in attendance for the Annual Awards Night of Edenderry GAA Club. The awards which have been run for many years now have grown in recent years with the emergence of Ladies Football and the rebuilding of our underage hurling teams.

In what was a wonderful evening in the pavilion, it was standing room only as our MC for the evening Tom Reilly got proceedings underway. He welcomed everyone to the club for the occasion and thanked all that had been involved in coaching our young players during the year. Tom also had a special word for our Guests of Honour on the night, Derek Kelly Minor Footballer of the Year who also represented Offaly in the Leinster Minor Final in 2010, Stephen Guing U21 Player of the Year and a member of the Offaly U21 panel and Alisha Hunston joint captain of the Offaly & Leinster Championship winning Edenderry Senior Ladies team.

The sight at the top table was certainly one that Edenderry will want to repeat year after year as the table was filled with cups, trophies & plaques which had been won throughout 2010 including U12 Ladies championship, U13 Cumann na mBunscoil Football & Hurling titles, U13 Ladies League, U14 Ladies Championship & Offaly Feile and U16 Ladies Championship together with the titles won by the Senior Ladies.

Many of the teams received medals on the night for the various titles they brought back to Edenderry during 2010. These titles were as follows:

U10 Football (boys) Offaly Community Games Champions
U12 Football (girls) Offaly County Champions
U13 Football (boys) Offaly Cumann na mBunscoil Champions
U13 Hurling (boys) Offaly Cumann na mBunscoil Champions
U13 Football (girls) Offaly League Champions
U14 Football (girls) Offaly County Champions
U14 Football (girls) Offaly Feile Champions
U16 Football (girls) Offaly County Champions

Tom Reilly gave a special word of thanks to the National Schools and Mr Sean Fitzgerald in particular for the invaluable work which the teachers and staff put into the promotion of Gaelic Games in the schools. Edenderry GAA have always enjoyed an excellent relationship with the National Schools and the work done in coaching at this level will ensure the future success of the club.

Sean Fitzgerald spoke on behalf of the school and thanked the club for the provision of coaches and equipment to assist them, he also reminded everyone that the school has won 4 of the last 5 Schools Football Finals and this could not have been achieved without the efforts of John Kelliher & Paschal Walsh. In relation to Hurling, Sean stated that Ger Ryan, a teacher from Kinnity was working with the school hurling team and that he had enjoyed winning the School Hurling Final in 2010 more than other wins he has achieved with other teams in the past.


Fiona Brady, Chairperson of Edenderry Ladies GAA thanked all coaches, parents and players for the time & effort they had committed to Edenderry GAA in 2010. While Edenderry had enjoyed tremendous success in 2010 it had also proved an expensive year for the Ladies Club and she thanked all sponsors of the Ladies GAA Club in 2010. Fiona then asked Andy Walsh to accept a presentation from the club to mark the 10th Anniversary of Edenderry Ladies GAA as Andy was one of three co-founders of the club and had been away when the presentation was made to the others at the Senior Awards Night in November.
John Kelliher Chairperson of Edenderry GAA Bord na nOg also thanked everyone involved in coaching in 2010 and stated that everyone gave their time freely to assist in the development of our young players. He thanked the parents for their continued help with car-pooling for away games which was making a huge difference to the costs of running the club. Finally he thanked all the players who showed great commitment to the club in both hurling and football and hoped that everyone continued to enjoy the games.

When proceedings ended all the children were treated to refreshements while DJ Gary Kerrigan kept them entertained with a disco.

Edenderry GAA wish to thank all who helped in any way to make our Annual Awards Night such a success, in particular, our MC Tom Reilly, our Guests of Honour Derek Kelly, Stephen Guing & Alisha Hunston. Special thanks also to Robert Smith for his photography on the night.

Our Award winners were:

Hurling

U8 Player of the Year Adam McCraith Merit Adam Boyne

U10 Player of the Year Andrew Murray Merit Alan Harte

U12 Player of the Year Donie Groome Merit Daniel Daly

U14 Player of the Year Mark Abbott Merit Evan Walsh

U16 Player of the Year Robert O’Reilly Merit Michael McNeilis

Football

U12 Player of the Year Eoin Farrell Merit Daniel Kane

U12 B Player of the Year Craig Mangan Merit Seamus Perry

U14 Player of the Year Adam Mahon Merit David Moloney

U16 Player of the Year Matthew O’Grady Merit Cormac Hurley


Ladies Football

U12 Player of the Year Orla Whelan Merit Aisling Kelliher

Most Improved Laura Whelehan

U14 Player of the Year
Joint Award Niamh O’Connor & Abi Yusuf
Merit Roisin Hurley

U16 Player of the Year
Joint Award Aisling Leech & Orla Kelly

Merit Laura McCormack