Stephen Mulligan
We wish you a Merry Christmas!

Dub Club Chronicles - Clontarf GAA!

"From the point of view of a GAA Club, to me it really is part of the community. And no matter whether you've always lived here or whether you've just arrived here, there's something here for everybody really. We’re a very proud club and I think anyone that wants to get involved would be welcomed with open arms...”

Featuring contributions from Kevin Hoy, Caoimhe O’Connor, Eoghan Hannigan, Claire O’Brien, Carmel Neelan (Maxwell), Daniel O’Sullivan, Ciaran Doran and Will Lillis, the latest episode of AIG's Dub Club Chronicles has been released - and it focuses on us, Clontarf GAA: “the biggest small club in Dublin". 

Watch it in full here: 

Launch of the Patrons of Clontarf GAA initiative

Today we are delighted to launch the “Patrons of Clontarf GAA” initiative. This is a new annual programme open to individuals, families and businesses. We are looking for a donation of €1,000 per year of participation. All donations will go towards the resourcing of the club as we aim to create the best possible experience for all our members.

BENEFITS OF THE PROGRAMME:

  • Patrons will be formally recognised by the display of a list of Patrons in a prominent area in the clubhouse as well as on a dedicated page on the club website.

  • Patrons will receive a “Patron of Clontarf GAA” window sticker and Business Patrons will receive a certificate for display in their premises.

  • They will also be entitled to publicise their membership of the programme on their social media platforms and website.

  • Patrons will be invited to attend the Sponsors night which is an annual night of appreciation which provides an excellent opportunity for sponsors and business owners to raise their profiles with each other and club members.

  • When Dublin qualify for any of the senior inter-county All Ireland Finals (football, hurling and camogie) and the club accordingly receives a ticket allocation all paid up Patrons will be included in a Patron and Sponsor only raffle for two tickets for each final.

We propose to maintain an annual register of Patrons so that future generations will have a real sense of connection with the many people who support the club and who continue to build on the foundations laid by past generations. If you are ready to sign up and become a patron you can click below or if you have any queries please contact Jude Hanratty our club administrator at administrator.clontarf.dublin@gaa.ie or by phone at 01 8530454.

Clontarf via Ukraine, a year on...

On the first anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine our thoughts and prayers are with those killed, injured, and displaced by the war.

Over the last year Clontarf GAA club has been proud to play our part in the wider community effort to welcome new families arriving here as a result of the conflict.

Through our Irish Life GAA Healthy Club programme, we have a strong focus on being an inclusive club. As part of this we aim to reach out to people in local temporary accommodation and those from different traditions.

To all our club volunteers and mentors who have got involved we say thank you.

To all our new families in the locality we say: It’s been our privilege to get to know you and we stand with you in friendship and solidarity.

Усім нашим новим сім'ям у цьому районі ми говоримо: Для нас було за честь познайомитися з вами.Ми хочемо висловити вам свою міцну підтримку та непохитну солідарність.


Shane Carthy Talk

We had a big turn out of minor and U16 players in the club on Thursday evening 2nd February to hear a talk from Shane Carthy on minding your mental health.

Many thanks to Shane for a fantastic thought provoking talk.

Park Run Success!

As part of our Mental Fitness Month for January, we invited our members to try out the parkrun on Saturday 21st and we were delighted to see so many of you out in the Red and White! Thanks to Pat Walsh for the great photos and Parkrun Ireland for their great welcome!

Every Step Counts 2023


A quick reminder from the Healthy Club team for your attention about the Every Step Counts Challenge which starts next week on Wed 11th January and runs until 15th February. So far, we have around 65 people signed up to our Every Step Counts challenge Clontarf team which is great. The challenge kicks off next week and we need to get lots more people signed up and recording their KMs to have a chance to compete as well as we did last year!

Signing up is really simple - just follow these easy steps:
📱 Download the app
💬 Register or log in (if you have an account already)
💪 Select your challenge (Social▶️Leinster▶️Clontarf GAA❤️🤍)
🚶‍♀️🚶 Track your walks or runs from next week (11th Jan Start)!
↔️ Connecting your phone's step counter/activity tracker is really important or we won't get the benefit of all your walking! Remember - Every Step Counts!

The challenge lasts for a month and it's a great excuse to get yourself and the family out for a much needed bit of air. There is some good banter back and forth between the clubs on Twitter too, so keep an eye on @clontarfgaaclub to follow all the craic!

Stay safe, stay well, and if you see anyone out in their club colours, this year you can stop to say hi! There is also lots more information on our website around what the healthy club are doing (clontarfgaa.com/healthy-club) and some more specific information on physical activities to think about to stay well throughout the year (clontarfgaa.com/physical-activity)

Inaugural Nora Arthur Memorial Tournament

On 27th December we held the Inaugural Nora Arthur Memorial Tournament at the club in which six teams of adult players, mentors and parents competed over the course of the afternoon for the memorial trophy named in honour of Nora.

The eponymous trophy was presented to the winning captain Darragh Fagan (Junior!) on behalf of the winning Team 6 by Nora’s Dad, Neil.

The Teams

The final and the overall Winners

After 15 high-intensity and dramatic matches including a couple of penalty shootouts, a tense and exciting final ensued between Team 2 and Team 6. Team 2 would eventually win the day by a score of 3-1 with a couple of goals from young Cian O’Connor proving the difference between the sides in the end. A worthy final for a brilliant day of sport and craic.

But the real winners of the day were the Arthurs and the Community of Clontarf GAA who came together to bring some light into a dark time for the family. While they were at it, they raised more than EUR3,000 for a worthy cause close to the hearts of the Arthur family (https://oscarskids.ie/).

That sum is still being added to and a final total is yet to be reached. If you would like to donate, please click this link and just donate as a "non-player”. This link will be open until 10pm on 29th December.

A sincere thank you to all the volunteers who helped organise the day and make it such a success.

Gallery

With apologies for the smartphone quality (not quite up to our usual snappers’ standards!), here are a a few shots taken on the day of the people and the games that made it a special day to remember.

Ukrainian Family Christmas Party

The Clontarf community came together on Saturday for a special Christmas party for local Ukrainian families, hosted in St Anthony’s Community Hall.

Well done to all the volunteers who helped make it happen, including local residents, An Garda Síochána, and the young leaders on our local GAA Dermot Earley programme.

Special thanks for the wonderful music to the OLV Gospel Choir, the Ballygall folk group and our Ukrainian choir - who performed a musical selection which included Molly Malone and N17! And great to see Santa there too!

Clontarf GAA was delighted to help support this wonderful family event. Some photos below of the event.