Newtownmountkennedy
SCHOOL NEWS
POP UP RACES – Registration is open for a 5k Road Race around Newtown on SUNDAY MAY 28th followed by a FAMILY FUN DAY in the grounds of the SENIOR SCHOOL. All offers of Donations and Sponsorship as well as Volunteer Helpers greatly appreciated.
SPEECH and DRAMA EXAMS – Congratulations to all the children who entered for Speech and Drama Exams with the Irish Board of Speech and Drama. These exams are very popular with pupils in all classes. This year Four students were awarded gold medals for outstanding achievement: Kate Shevlin, Cillian Coffey, Lauren Coffey and Mae-Li Turner. Many Thanks to Ms. Keane, Class Teachers and parents.
NEWTOWN 2050
Forward planning group, Newtown 2050 is organising a follow-up meeting in the Parkview Hotel at 8 p.m. on April 27 to discuss the future development of the village. The next Newtownmountkennedy Local Area Development Plan is currently being written and Newtown 2050 is holding a public meeting/workshop to help tease out the issues facing the village.
This will be a facilitated meeting using PPN resources. All villagers are welcome; especially those new to the area who want to get involved and contribute to the future of the town. Please come along, make suggestions and let it be known what you would like to see improve in the village.
Newtown 2050 is seeking anyone with similar interests and relevant skills to join their group. For more information pleasecontact newtown2050@gmail.com.
GAA CLUB NOTES
Newtown seniors take on Coolkenno in the league next Tuesday the second at home, throw in at 8. Please come along and cheer the lads on.
Many thanks to the staff in the Parkview Hotel and all club members involved in the organisation of the Newtown Punch Up in the Parkview Hotel last Saturday night. It was a hugely successful night with over 400 in attendance to watch and great craic was had by all.
Newtown’s junior magpie’s nursery program has returned, running every Saturday at 10 a.m. on the pitch, an hour’s fun and excitement is guaranteed each week for four to 8year olds. If you need more info please give Barry a buzz at 086 8390507.
Following on from their first blitz in Avoca a couple of weeks back the under-sevens and under-9s had a blitz last Friday in Greystones and are training every Tuesday at 6.30 p.m. Their next blitz is at home on Friday, May 5.
The under-11s started their league last week and are playing Barndarrig away tonight (Wednesday) the U8_U10 girls had their first blitz lately in Ballinakill, they are training every Wednesday at 6.30 and are going to Roundwood on Thursday, May 4, for a couple of games.
The under-12 girls had two great wins over An Tochar and St Nick’s recently they are training every Friday at 7 p.m. The under-14 girls are training on Mondays at 7 p.m. and Saturday mornings at 11 a.m., their first league game is tomorrow night at home against Clann na Gael.
The under-13 boys played Clann na Gael a couple of weeks back in their first league game and they just won out in the end in a high scoring game. The visitors were very strong up the middle and started better gaining an early lead but Newtown gradually got on top as the first half wore on and a succession of good scores had them 6-5 to 3-2 up at half time.
The second half was pretty even with Newtown maintaining their healthy lead up till the last 10 minutes when Clann na Gael got on top as Newtown tired and lost their shape and a burst of late scores from the away side had Newtown just hanging on in the end to start the league on a winning note.
Team on the night – Seán Bishop, Marcel Kodajca, Shane Synnott, Martin Kelly, Adam Hussey, Shane Dunleavy, Luke Breen, Jason Carthy, Charlie Sullivan, Bobby Dowling, Daragh Heffernan, Matthew Cooley, Ryan Clarke, Adam Martin, Luca Synnott Elliott, Pádraig Gammell.
The under-16 girls are training Mondays and Fridays at 7 p.m., the girls have had two good wins against An Tochar and Blessington in the league.
We have a large number of kids playing for our fast growing juvenile sides, more kids means more helpers so if you feel you are in a position to help in any capacity our future GAA stars then please get in touch as it takes much more than a manager to run each team. We are still short of help for some of our teams and may not be able to enter teams at all ages due to lack of mentors, please give Tom a ring at 087 6611480 or Shay at 087 2699620 for more info.
Hard luck to both Seán Gregory and Laura Murphy, who were on county teams representing the club but both suffered defeats last weekend.
The Kellogg’s Cúl Camps are returning to Newtown once again this year from July 24 to July 28 and online registration is now open (kelloggsculcamps.gaa.ie)
Newtown extends our deepest sympathies to our fellow clubman Ruairi and the extended Martin family and friends on the sad passing of Nancy. Sympathies also to Mick Hagan on the passing of his sister Veronica. May they both rest in peace.
The lotto returned to €2k last week following a recent win, but rolled over into this week with numbers 8, 9, 23 and 27. There were four match-three numbers who won €50 each
There is a good stock of club gear now available to buy for any enquiries regarding club gear please contact Ruth at 087 7472682 or Amy at 086 3332195.
MENS’ SHED
We extended the hand of welcome to TD Steven Donnelly as he visited our shed and surrounds last week, Steven was quite taken aback with what we have at Killadreenan and the strides we take in our activities to support the community through projects such as Buddy Benches, fairy houses, and especially our Santa Sleigh at Christmas.
Thursday sees the music sessions ever so popular with Dermot, George, Pierce, Andy and Joe with the odd guests dropping by guest musicians are very welcome, as are singers on Thursdays, beginning at 7.30 p.m. in the ‘Ned Carroll’ games room at the shed in Killadreenan.
Croke park in the morning and Leinster house in an afternoon in June: a social outing greatly looked forward to, and all for €25, well done lads.
All allotment work watering, weeding, etc is in full swing as we speak, and the race is on for the first harvest in May with lettuce, and spring onions to the fore, with great interest being shown elsewhere to melon, courgettes, peas, beans, strawberries, and even to artificial flowers (well you just can’t talk to some people).
Member Derrick Carroll has been appointed Safety Rep for 2017 and we wish him well in his new position, on Monday last a delegation of members travelled to Blessington shed to take part in a cluster meeting where the CEO of the National Association addressed the different shed’s on assorted business.
A car trailer has been fully restored by the shed members, as has a pony trap, a decision as to their usage going forward, will be discussed at a later date by the directors. Because we feel that the newly formed (of which the Men’s Shed is a member) Newtownmountkennedy Community Forum has and continues to work for the better good of our community and Village, we were privileged to extend the Forum a small monetary donation to help out with much needed funding for admin expenses.
We would like to thank all those within our community for their generosity and continued good will towards our Men’s Shed it is much appreciated indeed.
NEWTOWN JUNIORS FC
Our under-9s and under-11s had no fixture last weekend, as their opposition were unable to field. Both games against Roundwood and Enniskerry Red respectively have been refixed for midweek.
Of the games that were played our under-8s enjoyed an excellent series of games away to Ashford Rovers. L8on, David, Albie, Alex and Leon all found the net in a close game. It was disappointing to see that some players never turned up or worse never bothered notifying the coaches that they wouldn’t be travelling to the game.
Our 10’s were involved in a close game away to Greystones where they were edged out 3-2. Cormac Chance scored both Newtown goals and he along with Dylan Dunleavy were the star players.
The under-13s gave it their all in the Premier Shield final against Wicklow Rovers ‘A’ as a late goal gave Rovers a 2-1 win. Shane Dunleavy scored the Newtown goal with a header from a Luke Breen corner kick to equalise an early second half opener from Rovers. On the day we congratulate Rovers on their victory. Some of our team probably didn’t hit the h8s they usually do but there were star performers on the day for Newtown in Rebecca Gillan, Laragh Davis, Jason Carthy and Fionn O’Reilly and both teams will have to do it all again next Sunday in the Premier Cup final in Greystones.
On Thursday evening our 15’s qualified for the Division 1 cup final after a titanic tussle with Enniskerry in Bog Meadow. With the first leg ending 1-all it was all to play for. Enniskerry took an early lead when a cross come shot snook in under the crossbar. Our lads gradually got back into the game and had a couple of half chances but they stepped up their game big time in the second half. On the hour mark after a good move involving Josh Odlum and Andrew McMahon, Steven Coughlan scored with a near post header. In the final minute what seemed like disaster struck when Enniskerry scored a last minute second goal after a defensive mix up. Newtown forced a couple of corners and from one McMahon was bundled over in the area and the ref awarded a penalty. McMahon took the kick and put it away, the final whistle went and it was penalties to decide the winner. To say the standard of penalties was of the highest quality would be an understatement as our lads won out 9-8 on penalties. On the night there were many top displays and every player played their part but Andrew Waters, Josh Odlum and Ryan Smillie were among the star performers.
Onto the Saturday morning and the team hosted Wicklow Rovers ‘B’ in the league where maximum points from all there games may be required to attain league honours. They started off like a train and raced into a three goal lead thanks to goals from Andrew McMahon (2) and Steven Coughlan. Just before half time Rovers pulled a goal back and added two more in the second half to take a deserved share of the points as Newtown fell way below the levels of their first half display. It felt very much like a draw had been snatched from the jaws of victory. On the day Ciaran Mangan, Alex Kelly and Stephen Doran were among the players who played well.
The following are the fixtures for the weekend of Wednesday, April 26, to Sunday, April 30.
Under-9s at home to Roundwood ko Thursday at 6.30 p.m.; under-11’ away to Enniskerry Red ko Wednesday at 7 p.m.; under-13s at home to Avonmore FC ko at 7 p.m.; under-8s at home to Wicklow Rovers White ko to be confirmed; under-9s away to Greystones ‘D’ ko to be confirmed; under-10s at home to Coolboy Rangers ko to be confirmed; under-11s at home to Aughrim Rangers ko to be confirmed; under-13s vs Wicklow Rovers ‘A’ ko Sunday at 1.30 p.m. (Premier Cup Final – Venue: Greystones); under-15s vs Avonmore F.C. ko Sunday at 3 p.m. (Div.1 Cup Final – Venue: Greystones). (fixtures and ko times are subject to change)
We are hoping to have a ladies’ team competing in the Dublin Women’s Soccer League but we need to recruit a number of new players as emigration etc has seriously depleted our squad. If you are 16 or over and are interested in playing please give Hughie a call at 087 6987653 for further details. If we don’t get a good response we’ll have to knock the team on the head for this season, which would be a pity, so fingers crossed.
Only one player from the club celebrates a birthday in the coming week and he is Seán Thornton from the under-11s. Happy birthday Seán from everyone at Newtown Juniors FC.
The Development Squad are back training this coming Saturday (April 29) starting at 10 a.m. in the top pitch. The teams have confirmed their training times for the week beginning Monday, April 24: under-8s on Wednesdays 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.; under-9s Thursdays 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.; under-10s on Tuesdays 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.; under-11s Wednesdays 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.; under-13s Wednesdays 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.; under-15s Tuesday at 6.30 p.m. (Please check with respective team coaches regards training times as they may change.)
Our latest Last Man Standing competition will be going into week six, as 10 of our Players have advanced to week six. Week six fixtures will be for the weekend of Sat. April 29 – Monday, May 1. Many thanks to everyone for their continued support.
On a sadder note we extend our sincere condolences to the family and friends of Veronica ‘Ron’ Hagan from Wicklow Town, who sadly passed away last week. May she rest in peace.
For further information on all matters ‘Newtown Juniors F.C.’ please contact the secretary at 087 6987653 or by email to hughienolan@gmail.com and you can also follow the club on our Facebook.
CANCER COFFEE MORNING
The East Coast FM coffee morning takes place this Friday, April 28, from 10 a.m. to midday at the Parkview Hotel. Special Guest Eleanor McEvoy. Worthy cause, please support. All funds raised goes to the Cancer Support Groups around the county,