WICKLOW GAA TO
THE cream of the Wicklow GAA crop will be honoured at this Saturday night’s Garden County GAA Sports Stars Awards 2017 at the Arklow Bay Hotel in Arklow.
A year of mixed fortunes for county teams and of jubilation for some club teams, the players who excelled in their chosen sport over the course of the season will be called to the stage by MC Jimmy Dunne to collect their awards and receive the appreciation of their peers for jobs well done in 2017.
The list of award winners represent clubs from all over the county, from Blessington way out west to Bray Emmets in the north.
All the award winners are talented individuals who produced exceptional performances in the season just gone and all contributed richly to an entertaining and memorable year in Wicklow GAA.
Some, like Des Burton and Peadar Smyth, are being honoured for their roles in strengthening the fabric of the GAA in their clubs and the county as a whole, while others like David Maloney from Bray and Jack Hanlon from Baltinglass are being honoured as they start out on their roads to successful and fruitful playing careers.
As always, all the award winners will be looked after superbly by the Wicklow GAA officials and the staff of the Arklow Bay Hotel and with MC Jimmy Dunne painting the pictures of the award winners as only he can, guests are in for a real treat when they take their seats for the meal at 8pm on Friday night.
Well done to one and all on their awards and here’s to a great night. ANTHONY MCLOUGHLIN THROUGHOUT a difficult 2017 season for the Wicklow footballers it was Anthony McLoughlin who was the most consistent performer for the Garden County.
The towering Blessington club man put in some major shifts for the county team in Johnny Magee’s final year in charge and McLoughlin is sorely missed from the currect panel under John Evans for his size and his footballing ability.
Besides his county showings, McLoughlin was to the fore for his club as they reached the Senior football championship final.
A devastatingly poor start did not stop the Blessington men, helped in no small way by McLoughlin, putting up a massive effort in the second half.
If Blessington is to get Anthony McLoughlin’s complete focus in 2018 then Paddy O’Connor’s plans will have received a massive boost, no doubt about it. A worthy winner. WAS there a more frightening sight for a club full-back in last year’s Senior hurling championship than that of Andy O’Brien making his way up top for the throw-in?
Without a shadow of a doubt he is the best attacking hurler in the county with a range of skills that is wonderful to behold and a power and pace that are very impressive.
Scored for fun for the majority of last year’s championships and he was a massive figure in Michael Neary’s championship hopes which were dashed during an amazing semi-final crash to Bray Emmets.
Andy continues to blaze a trail for Wicklow and will feature prominently in 2018, all going well.
With Pat’s coming so close to the decider last year, a fully fit Andy O’Brien will boost their chances in 2018 no end. A most fitting recipient of the Lifetime Achievement award it has to be said.
It has been said by many that Des Burton should write a book, and what a tome it would be, full to the hilt with sporting yarns, successes and failures, highs and lows, joy and sadness, it would make for some fantastic reading.
County titles in a number of different counties, Burton enjoyed a sporting career of some renown and then spent many years passing on his knowledge of the game to the youth of Aughrim. Some man! DID any footballers boots cover as much ground in Aughrim as Nicky Mernagh’s in the Senior football championship of 2017?
The all action Rathnew stalwart was a major piece in the Harry Murphy contructed jigsaw that made a stunning return to the summit of Wicklow club football after a long and hard road to the top.
Rathnew are a team populated by leaders and footballers who never doubt themselves, and Nicky Mernagh is most definitely of this ilk.
Abundantly skillful and blatantly strong, Mernagh drove hard at teams all through the championship and collected the Man of the Match award from the county final after a shift of pure detemination and selflessness.
Injury would curtail his Leinster campaign but he played his part in getting them there and here’s hoping he’ll be as prominent in the Village’s defence of the Miley. EVERY club needs a person like Peadar Smyth.
Hard-working, dedicated, selfless, honest, ambitious, engaging, entertaining, Smyth has helped Kilmacanogue GAA Club to become the force it is today in club football in Wicklow and he is also prominent in the fantastic developments underway at the club itself.
“It’s part of my way of life at this stage. It’s part and parcel of the daily and weekly routine. When you do the roster for the week, you’re doing the roster for what’ll happen in the GAA as well. You’re rostering work and family life and whatever else that’s going with it and that’s just the way it is,” said Peadar recently.
Senior Hurling
THERE was only ever going to be one winner of this award and that was the above mentioned Warren Kavanagh.
The Glenealy man had a stunning season in the red jersey (and Wicklow) in the full-back position which, to many learned hurling people, is not even his best position, which makes the winning of this award even more deserving.
Kavanagh was a rock at the back for Glenealy and Wicklow and when moved out to Centre half-back in the county final he took control of the game and drove Garry Laffan’s charges on to a memorable and totally ancd utterly deserved county crown.
On to Leinster they went and Warren Kavanagh played a huge role in reaching the leinster final and turned in a mighty showing despite the narrow defeat. HERE’S a name we will hear plenty more of in the coming years in Wicklow club and county football.
Jack Hanlon looks to be a young footballer who has the ingredients needed to make a long and distinguished career for himself.
He has skill, power, dedication and ability in abundance and when you factor in a friendly demeanour and a gracious temperment, the footballing world is most certainly this young man’s oyster.
He played a major role in the MFC win for Baltinglass in 2017. IF ever there was a loyal servant to the game of camogie then Donard-the Glen’s Nora O’Neill surely fits the bill.
A long serving stalwart of club and county, Nora had the honour of captaining Wicklow to the Leinster Junior crown in 2016 after a gap of 38 years and she most certainly led by example on the day.
A born leader, O’Neill has held the captaincy of Donard-The Glen during their most recent sucessful period which culminated in her lifting the cup on county final day in 2015 in Baltinglass after a dramatic victory over Knockananna.
Probably most at home in the centre half-back position but can more than hold her own and adapt when the need arises with a move to midfield not out of the question for the formidable defender.
Hailing from a family steeped in the GAA tradition, Nora O’Neill is a most worthy recipient of the camogie award for 2017. KILTEGAN’S Padraig O’Toole proved to be quite the spark in Junior ‘A’ hurling last season.
In fact, truth be told, O’Toole showed his potential in all the grades he competed in last year, in both codes, and the lofty Kiltegan man has started 2018 off in very much the same vein.
Curently playing with the Wicklow footballers under John Evans, Padraig O’Toole has the athleticism and ability to go far in the county jersey.
The former Coláiste Eoin Hacketstown student will be a massive figure for Trevor Doyle’s plans for the Senior football championships this year and is a deserving winner of this award.