Welcome to the Summer 2021 Newsletter. What a beautiful summer it has been so far and isn’t it great that we’ve been able to get back out playing the sports that we love and have even started some new ones (Handball) and brought back some old ones (Adult Camogie). It has been a very busy few months for the whole club since the last newsletter in April, so let's dive right in...
Team Updates since Return to Play
After a considerable period of inactivity we were all delighted to step back onto our beloved grass from 26th April. Since then there has been a flurry of activity across every age group from Nursery to Adult and in every code. If you are following us on Social Media (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram), you will have seen plenty of reports of Men’s, Ladies’ and Juvenile matches and league successes and so on. At adult level we have four Men’s Football Teams, four Ladies’ Football Teams, three Hurling Teams and one Camogie Team. Here is a quick summary of the year so far for each of those.
Football - Adult Men
1st Team (Division 1 & Senior 1 Championship)
League: 4 wins in the last 4 games has put the Senior footballers second in Division 1N (Northside Group). The final league game is 7th Aug at home v Skerries Harps.
Championship: The lads will compete in the Senior 1 championship and have been drawn against Ballymun Kickhams, Thomas Davis & Skerries Harps in the group stages. Group games are scheduled for Saturdays - 11th Sep, 25th Sep & 9th Oct.
Management: Jack McCabe, Frankie Byrne, Anne O'Mahony, Ronan O’Flaherty, Mossy Ó Cuinneagáin & Cian Buckley.
2nd Team (Division 4 & Junior 1 Championship)
League: The men’s second team, our Junior A footballers have reached the Division 4 Final after topping the Division 4 North with one game to spare. The Final league game is v Ballymun Kickhams on Saturday 7th August in Pairc Ciceam. The Division 4 League Final is scheduled to take place on Saturday 28th August.
Championship: After narrowly losing last year’s Junior 1 final, the lads will be hopeful to go one step further this year. The Junior As have been drawn in a group with Ballyboden St Endas, Templeogue Synge Street & St Brigid's. The group games are scheduled for Sundays - 12th Sept, 26th Sept & 10th Oct.
Management: John Treanor, Anthony Eames, Michael Murphy & Pat Cunningham.
3rd Team (Division 8 & Junior 3 Championship)
League: So far this team has played some great football had some good wins, but also a couple of frustrating 1-point losses. It's a relatively new team with a mixture of both young and experienced players. Plenty to build on here for the championship.
Championship: The lads will play in the Junior 3 Championship with group games against Ballyboughal, Whitehall Colmcille & St Sylvesters. The Games are scheduled for Sundays - 12th Sept, 26th Sept & 10th Oct.
Management: Brendan Doody & Ger Craddock.
4th Team (Division 11 & Junior 6 Championship)
League: The lads have won 4 out 5 games and are in contention at the top of the table. Their next home game is against table-toppers Naomh Mearnóg on Monday 9th August. The lads have other fixtures including Na Gaeil Óga away on 5th Aug and Castleknock away on 22nd Aug.
Championship: The lads will play in the Junior 6 Championship with group games against Na Fianna, Castleknock & St Maurs. The Games are scheduled for Sundays - 12th Sept, 26th Sept & 10th Oct.
Management: Gerry Reid & Kieran McMahon
Football - Adult Ladies
1st Team (Division 1 & Senior Championship)
League: The ladies have won all their Division 1 league games and have confirmed their place in the League semi-final, scheduled for Wednesday 1st Sep at home.
Championship: The ladies will play in Group A of the Senior Championship. Matches scheduled:
15th Sep Away v Thomas Davis, 22nd Sep Home v Foxrock Cabinteely, 3rd Oct Away v Kilmacud Crokes, 10th Oct Home v Na Fianna.
Management: Mick Cronin, Micky McGlinchey, Eoghan O'Grady, Grellan Duane, David O’Neill & Karen Cronin.
2nd Team (Division 3 & Junior A Championship)
League: 1 win, 4 losses.
Championship: The Ladies will play in Group B of the Junior A Championship. Matches scheduled:
15th Sep Home v Templeogue Synge Street, 22nd Sep Away v St Jude's, 3rd Oct Home v Raheny.
Management: John Giles, Darren Lambert, Siobhan Farnham, Papi McCaffrey & Brian Moran.
3rd Team (Division 4 & Junior B Championship)
League - This team has had a tough 2021 as Covid lockdown meant that the planned influx of leaving cert girls that would create effectively a new team at the beginning of the year never happened. Once lockdown lifted, most were understandably ensconced in their studies. The fixtures have been fulfilled by a mixture of players from various teams and age groups so a big thank you to all of them for their support.
Championship - Again, with many of the leaving cert girls away or unavailable for various reasons, this team is now concentrating on getting the players back training and pushing forward for resumption of the league later in the year and on into next year.
Management: John Doyle, Stephen Mulligan, Gwen Ennis & Gerard Creighton.
4th Team (Division 8 & Junior G Championship)
League: So far in the league, this team has one win and two losses. 4 more league games to come in October.
Championship: Their first three Championship matches were a one-point loss to Na Fianna, a one-point win over Erin's Isle and and eight-point win over Judes.
Management: Dermot Kyne, Shane Guerin, Sean Walsh, Ruth Kyne.
Hurling
1st Team (Division 3 & Senior B Championship)
League: The Hurling 1st team are currently second in Division 3 with one game to play. The lads still can still make the League final with the right results on the last day of fixtures. The last league game is 14th Aug at home v Naomh Mearnóg.
Championship: The lads will play in the Senior B Championship with group games against O’Tooles, Castleknock & Kilmacud Crokes. The Games are scheduled for Saturdays - 4th Sep, 18th Sep & 2nd Oct.
Management: Derek Keogh, Brian Maher, Kevin O’Donnell, Gay Byrne, Ronan Hickey, Mick Kelly, John Russell & Brendan Smyth.
2nd Team (Division 6 & Junior D Championship)
League: The Hurling 2nd Team are currently top of Division 6 after a win against Raheny in their recent top of the table clash. A Clontarf win in the final game will confirm a place in the league final. The final league game is 15th Aug away v Wild Geese.
Championship: The lads will play in the Junior D Championship with group games against Round Towers (C) & Na Fianna. The two games will be scheduled for two dates from Sundays - 5th Sep, 19th Sep or 3rd Oct.
Management: Donal O’Sullivan & John Curran.
3rd Team (Division 9 & Junior F Championship)
League: The lads have won their last two games to be mid-table after early defeats. The team is a mix of experience and youth with 5 minors involved in the recent win against St Vincents. The final league game is 13th Aug home v Cuala.
Championship: The lads will play in the Junior F Championship with group games against Raheny, Kilmacud Crokes & Civil Service. The games are scheduled for Sundays - 5th Sep, 19th Sep & 3rd Oct.
Management: Mark Evans, Noel Wardick, Dennis McDaid & Hugh Liston.
CamogieLeague: This was the first Adult Camogie team the club has fielded in decades. The ladies have made a great start, competing in the Junior 4 League and winning their group undefeated. The Team finished their league campaign off on Tuesday 27th July after beating Naomh Padraig 6-11 to 3-5. This was their most physical match yet but the team pulled through and came out with a brilliant result in the end. Throughout June and July, the girls played as hard as they could to get the best possible outcome for themselves and the club. Their first match against Erin's Isle was won 4-14 to 0-3 and it only got better from there, winning against Good Counsel 1-6 to 1-2. Two games were conceded by the other teams so the girls finished the league top of their group. Congratulations to all and we look forward to seeing everyone again at the first championship game. Championship: The first championship game will be Tuesday 24th August with full details yet to be confirmed.
Management: Eoghan Hannigan, Dennis McDaid & Dave O’Keeffe.
Juvenile
So, as you can see, there is a lot going on! As well as all of that Adult action, we had league competitions from Under 13 upwards for the Girls and for Under 12 upwards for the Boys side. One juvenile mentor summed it up nicely: "In many cases, just getting a team out every week has been some achievement! The different age groups have really helped each other out for league matches over the last few weeks and it’s been great to have that cooperation - long may it continue."
Some items of note on the juvenile side:
Boys’ Football and Hurling
U14 Boys (2007)
U14B Hurlers finished the current Group stage of their League sitting in second place in their Group. Having made a thrilling start to their season in our brand new Gilna Opticians geansaí/jerseys, in their first competitive match in 9 months, the boys produced an absolutely cracking display of hurling, tying with St Vincents U14B at 2-6 a-piece. They followed that up with wins against Erin Go Bragh and Setanta before a narrow loss to Na Fianna C which saw perhaps our best performance of the series. 1-2 to 3-5 down at the last water break, Clontarf completed a 2nd-half comeback with 3 goals to almost reel in a very good Na Fianna 3rd team. Great hurling! Lots of strong performances, with support from U13s, Benedict, Mattie and Senan. CT 4-2(14), NaF 3-7(16).
U14A Hurlers go into the break in a strong position after back-to-back wins away to Faughs (a long-time bogey team for us!) and at home to Na Fianna A. In competitive action on P35 for the first time, our A Hurlers took on Na Fianna A in a League match, a tough game for the lads as Na Fianna have a strong team and are going very well. Our lads might be punching a bit above our current hurling level, in with some Div.1 teams, but we hope it will bring them on! The bookies strongly favoured Na Fianna but Clontarf lads paid no heed and, on one if the hottest days of the year, gave a fine hurling display and posted 5-9 to 3-5 to record a memorable win!
U14B Footballers go into the break at mid-table after losses against Castleknock B and Parnells and two wins over TSS B and BSJ B. Both wins required our Mighty Bs to dig deep. Having let an early four point lead slip away in the first half of the Ballinteer match, we struggled to find our shape and keep our discipline, but a goal just before the break got us to half time level at 2-2 a-piece. In the 2nd half, though, some clever positional switches, some great, intelligent footballing and some very stout defending worked to throttle the life out of the Tangerine Dream in the 3rd and 4th quarters. Very satisfying.
U14A Footballers. Despite losing a cracker of a match at home v Ballinteer St John As (2-3 to 2-9), our U14A Footballers are in good shape after wins over Thomas Davis A and Erin's Isle A and now sit in second place in their Group with three matches left to play in this Group stage.
Girls’ Football and Camogie
U12 Girls (2009)
Since our return from lockdown, the U12 girls played 17 games this year (mixed Camogie and Football) and have come away with 17 wins. Some achievement after all the interruptions to their development and training over the past 18 months. Kudos girls!
U13 Girls (2008)
The 2008 group is the epitome of a squad with three teams (T1, T2 and T3) and lots of interchange of players between the teams who all train together. They had a very successful league campaign with T1 making it to a D1 league final in football and D2 final in camogie and T2 and T3 coming 2nd and 3rd in their respective football leagues. A great effort from all the squad to field 3 teams each week during the league.
U14 Girls (2007)
A terrific season so far with both A and B teams making it to their respective football league finals. Both teams battled hard in their finals but were overcome in the end, but lots to be proud of and to build on from here. For the B team in particular who had struggled to even win a match at U13, this was a huge improvement and testament to their tenacity and hard work.
U15 Girls (2006)
This was the first year group in the club to field 2 teams in both camogie and football which is a very impressive achievement. This year, the B group won the D5 league for camogie (winning by 7 after being 6 points down at half-time!) and the D6 league for football. They were also in Féile Semi-Finals that were unfortunately cancelled, so after that disappointment, to resurrect the momentum and keep positive is testament to what a super group they are. They constantly improved and most importantly built up a very strong team bond and friendship. We are all looking forward to the re-scheduled Féile competitions in the last two weeks of August. Their attitude and development are a source of pride and enjoyment to their mentors and parents.
The D1 team in football & camogie didn’t win their league this year but ALL of them are dual players and it was some achievement by the girls to play double weekends (the only age group to do so) over the summer.
Another achievement for the club this year, especially with the summer matches, is that the U14,U15 & U16 worked so well together helping each other out with eligible players in order to field. It worked both ways and definitely felt like a club effort to field this summer which is great as many of these girls will hopefully end up playing minor together in the not too distant future!
U16 Girls (2005)
The A team Won the D1 league for football and the camogie team won the D2 league. The B footballers came very close in their league and finished third, missing out on second place only by points difference. A few of the B team players were also able to help support the A team in winning their league and several play both football and camogie. Bring on the championship where they hope to go one better!
Minor Ladies
Our Minor Ladies made it to the Division 1 League Final but lost out in the end to a very strong Ballyboden team.
Healthy Club Award
CLG Cluain Tarbh/Clontarf GAA has formally achieved GAA Healthy club status! This is the culmination of almost two years work which started with a successful application to join the GAA programme in November 2019. The programme is all about supporting the holistic health of our members and our local community. Our Healthy Club commitment is "to ensure that everyone who engages with Clontarf GAA benefits in a health-enhancing way, be they players, officers, coaches, parents, supporters or members of the local community." Here are some of the highlights to date, many of which you will already be familiar with:
The All Stars programme for young people with additional needs (Ongoing, every Friday evening).
The Community Volunteering group to help vulnerable local people during Covid (Formed March 2020).
Talks on positive mental health and resilience (Tom Parsons, Jigsaw, Nov 2019 and Niamh Fitzpatrick Feb 2021).
#Gimme1000 challenge to raise funds for Pieta House and Irish Heart Foundation (1200+ people participated, with over €22,000 raised - Feb 2021).
Every Step Counts challenge to keep us all active during the pandemic (300+ people walked 78,559Km between Jan and Mar 2021).
And our recent Hurl-a-ton in which we raised funds for two additional local defibrillators (July 2021).
Along the way we’ve had some fun and hopefully all become a little healthier and happier. Huge thanks and congrats to our Healthy Club Project team (led by Ciaran Doran) and to the Club Executive for their support. Most of all though, thanks to everyone who organised, participated in and supported our various initiatives. Now we have achieved Healthy Club status, we plan to continue with a comprehensive range of focused activities. If you would like to find out more, or to get involved, please see our Healthy Club page on the club website or contact any member of the Healthy Club Project Team: Ciaran Doran (Healthy Clubs Officer 087-2679155), Brendan Doody, Carmel Maxwell, Colum Mulhall, Emer Spring, Jeff Johnston, Róisín Kelly, Stephen O’Quigley and Tara Dolan.
Hurlaton 2021
As part of the Healthy Club Initiative, a special fundraiser was held on Saturday 10th July to raise funds for the provision of a public defibrillator. These cost around €2,000 each. The idea was to puck a ball (HURL) from St Anne’s for a (A) Hundred Miles (TON) all the way to Semple Stadium - all without leaving the park. And thus the #Hurlaton21 was born.
The event went off really well and, more importantly, we didn’t just raise the €2,000 we needed; we actually doubled that and raised exactly €4,000 which will allow us to have not one but two new defibrillators for our local area. There was some great coverage of the event with the Evening Herald doing a full page on it and the GAA giving us a mention and a full write up too! Mark Evans did some fantastic video work on the day and produced this video which sums the whole event up very well. All the content is available on our website.
Handball coming back to Clontarf
With the recent simple addition of a few painted lines, the club has turned the back of the hurling wall into a handball court! The club recently hosted a handball session in conjunction with Dublin Handball that saw 20 new coaches get their foundation certificate. Lots more information on our website about the return of Handball to the club.
New Website
The eagle-eyed among you may have already noticed that we have recently refreshed our website with a great new modern look. Day to day updates will continue on Social Media (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram), but all important news items and events, etc. will be on our website also. If you have any suggestions for content or would like to write up a news article please email us at website@clontarfgaa.com and we will review and publish for you. Pictures and videos are always a great addition to text if you have them.
Bar Reopening
An Cúldoras has been open for outdoor service since the guidelines allowed and we have been blessed with some great weather to allow our members to enjoy the al-fresco hospitality. The outdoor area will continue to be a feature of An Culdoras as long as the weather permits, and indoor services have resumed. As per HSE guidelines, it is table service only, vaccination certs are required and contact tracing procedures and closing times will be followed rigorously.
60th Anniversary
11th April 2021 was the date of the 60th Anniversary of the Club’s founding in 1951. You might have seen our posts on Social Media (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram) of memories from the last 60 years. If you didn’t and you’d like to check them out, search the hashtag #CluainTarbh60 on any of the platforms. If you have any other memories to share, feel free to share your own and tag us (@clontarfgaa on Twitter, @cluaintarbh on instagram) or email them in (pro@clontarfgaa.com) and we will post them for you.
On the day of the Anniversary, we held a private, socially distanced ceremony to unveil our 60th Anniversary signage on the astro with Maura Devine, whose father was one of the founders of the club. The moment was captured on the day and was included in the 60-year history video produced by Cormac Hargaden from the PRO Team which has now been viewed over 11,000 times on Twitter. Maura was even featured in The Herald with her own one page spread in the “Legends of the Club” section.
The Anniversary was also celebrated by the club at large with a Big Online Interactive Quiz. A brilliant evening was enjoyed by over a hundred families and some great prizes were won on the night.
Sponsor Offer - Clontarf Orthodontics
Clontarf Orthodontics is a full time specialist orthodontic practice on the Clontarf road across from the DART station and now sponsors the girls' U9 team. Dr. Shona Leydon recommends attending for an orthodontic assessment at age 8/9y and is delighted to offer a complimentary assessment, X-ray and intra-oral scan as needed to all 8 and 9 year olds in Clontarf GAA club throughout the school summer holidays. Call 01-8186571 or email info@clontarfbraces.ie for more details.
Sponsors for 2021
Our full list of sponsors for this year are as follows:
Please support our great partners with your custom whenever you can. They are a vital part of our club and we greatly appreciate their support.
The Club Lotto
The club lotto, supported by Stafford's Funeral Homes, has been building up steadily and is now at a very healthy €9,700. Make sure to join in the fun online.
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