AUSTINSTACKS JUVENILES

GAA WEBSITE

Are you working on the GAA art and skill website? Tá go leor activities ann. Take a peep! Log in at www.gaa.ie/my-gaa/getting-involved/kids-activities? Enjoy!

FAOI 6/8/10

While all Rock football activities are still on pause, we encourage our juvenile players to keep up the home training. Be patient....beireann foighne faoiseamh.... work on your skills and on your fitness....scileanna agus aclaíocht. As the weather is getting better and as the days are getting longer our opportunities for home training are increasing! Please continue to do the following suggested activities: (i) 20 kick passes (left foot and right foot), (ii) 20 solos (cos chlé agus cos dheas), (iii) 20 pick-ups (left foot and right foot), (iv) 20 fist passes (dorn clé agus dorn deas), (v) 20 body catches, (vi) 20 high catches. Tá a lán lán oibre ansin! All that daily ball work can only be good and when you run out on the green sward of Connolly Park as if it were Croke Park you’ll be unstoppable!! Cleachtadh a dhéanann máistreacht! Practice makes perfect! Agus...agus bígí ag ní na lámh....go minic, go mion minic agus go rialta....agus fanaigí 2 mhéadar óna chéile! Níl an Víreas Coróineach imithe uainn fós, faraor!

FAOI 12/14/16

It’s very very important that the older players maintain their fitness levels during our ‘off the field’ period. Ceart go leor, a leaideanna?

Please (i) work diligently on the skills suggested above and (ii) go for a run every day....2 km out and 2 km back = 4km. That’s nearly 2.5 miles a day. Do that run even 4 times a week and you’ll have run 10 miles. You’ll be as fit as a fiddle when the time comes for games! Remember, a little break from the study is a good idea! The fitter you are the better you’ll study! That’s what the experts say!

50 BLIAIN Ó SHIN

(i) What was happening in Kerry GAA 50 years ago? The Kerry footballers were ‘kings’ in 1959.

They won League and Championship. That was the year that the Sam Maguire Cup was left in the Croke Park dressing room after the game! They defeated Down in a tournament final in October...1-11 to 0-9...before going across the Atlantic to win the St Brendan Cup v New York before 15,000 people. Seán Murphy was Texaco Footballer of the Year. In 1960 Kerry defeated Tipperary in Clonmel and then faced Waterford in the Cork Athletic Grounds (now Páirc Uí Chaoimh).

The Déise had had a 0-1 win over Cork but weren’t strong enough for The Kingdom in the Munster final. The Waterford boys had hoped to do as well as ‘57 when they surprisingly defeated Kerry...2-5 to 0-10...in Walsh Park! Galway in the All-Ireland semi-final was Kerry’s next challenge agus bhí an bua ag Ciarraí....1-8 to 0-8. In the other semi-final Down had a two point win over a good Offaly team after a replay.

Then came the final of ‘60 but the 73rd All-Ireland final was won by the men of Down. It was a hard-fought game! As Kerry were getting stronger and more confident in the 2nd half, and not long after Paudie Sheehy had blazed wide, a long kick from James McCartan ended in Johnny Culloty’s net. Then, mar bharr ar an donas, Down’s Paddy Doherty goaled from a penalty. That was it! They were the first group of ‘Northern Ireland’ players to win the ‘Sam’...2--10 to 0--8...which was gleefully accepted by Kevin Mussen. Down’s James McCartan was the choice for Texaco Footballer of the Year.

We had mighty players....Mick O’Connell, Mick O’Dwyer, Johnny Culloty, DJ O’Connor (uncle of The Rock ‘86 hurling captain, Pól Ó Conchúir) and Tralee players Paudie Sheehy (captain), John Dowling and Niall Sheehy (The Rock hurler!).

(ii) How did our club footballers fare in 1960? The Rock footballers lost to Feale Rangers in the preliminary round and later we were defeated by a mighty John Mitchel Club team that included Johnny Kelliher, 4 Sheehys, ‘Thorny ‘Shea and Teddy

Dowd. The Bóthar Buí team won the 2nd of their five-in-a-row! ‘Twas hard to do well in Tralee in those years!

(iii) In ‘60 the Feale Rangers hurling team joined forces with Lixnaw on the eve of the Kerry hurling championship! That combination defeated our hurlers in a preliminary round. In our next round we lost by 0-4 against Uíbh Ráthach and that ended our prospects!

Later, that same Lixnaw team beat the John Mitchel hurlers in the county semi-final.

SCOLÁIREACHT GHAELTACHTA

Four club members...beirt bhuachaillí agus beirt chailíní... have applied for GAA scholarships to Gaeltacht Chorca Dhuibhne but, faraor, the scheme will not take place this summer. An Víreas Coróineach is cúis leis sin! An bhliain seo chugainn!

SCOLÁIRÍ

Go n-éirí go geal le lucht na scrúduithe móra, go mór mór scoláirí na hArdteiste, atá fós ag obair leo!