HUGE TURN OUT FOR
While AGM reports on another great year in Wicklow
SUPER TURN OUT
ON October 5, 14 schools took part in the third and fourth class girls blitz in Bray Emmets GAA Grounds. 20 teams in total took to the eight pitches which was a fantastic turn out for the first girls blitz of the year.
The emphasis on the day was participation and to get as many young girls on to the pitches to enjoy themselves; even if it was their first time attending a blitz. Some fantastic football was played on the day and everyone enjoyed the day and the experience.
The fourteen schools that attending on the day were:
St. Brigid’s N.S. Greystones, St. Kevin’s N.S. Greystones, St. Laurence’s N.S. Greystones, St. Patrick’s N.S. Wicklow Town, St. Peter’s N.S. Bray, Ashford N.S., Kilcoole N.S., Kilmacanoque N.S., Moneystown N.S., Newtown N.S., Ravenswell N.S. Bray, Gaelscoil Chill Mhantáin, Gaelscoil na Clocha Liath and Scoil Chualann Bré.
Many thanks to Bray Emmets for the use of their facilitates. To Dave, Mícheál and Garrett for their assistance, to the young whistlers and to all the teachers and parents who accompanied the children to the blitz.
AGM 2017
The AGM of Allianz Cumann na mBunscol Chill Mhantáin took place in the Parkview Hotel, Newtown on October 5. In attendance was Ronan Keddy, Billy Cuddihy, Jill and Craig Aston, Dominic Leech (Ladies GAA), Claire Frawley, Garrett Doyle (GDA), Emer Fahy, Tara Walshe, Colm McAdam, David McDonnell, Dave Barry, Mícheál Ó Murchú, Sinéad Ní Chreán Loinsigh, Sara Jane Montgomery, Pamela McDermott, Jim O’Riordán and Bridget Kenny (Wicklow GAA). Cathaoirleach
Jim O’Riordán welcomed everyone, saying it was good to see Claire and Emer back from their travels as well as a few new faces, which are always welcome.
Jim mentioned that the use of Allianz is essential and that it has been noted at national level that Wicklow is one of the counties to the forefront in our use of Allianz.
Jim thanked the GDA’s for their assistance all year. Paul Garrigan sent his apologies, Garrett Doyle was in attendance and Darren Hayden has now been appointed as the GDA for South Wicklow. It is hoped that there will be a GDA appointed for hurling.
Jim thanked Bray Emmets for the use of their grounds all year and all the teachers for their hard work in the promotion of gaelic games across the county. Jim mentioned that the hurling and helmet scheme is now up and run- ning and that schools have been emailed information regarding the scheme. It is great that schools can now buy helmets and hurleys with the assistance of the county board.
He also talked about the club/ school link and that teachers can talk to their local clubs about this. Jim spoke about the Fun and Run programme, which caters for children with additional educational needs. Children from Newtown were involved in it this year and it was a very positive experience. Jim encouraged schools that were interested to get involved with it. He spoke about the national awards and encouraged schools to enter.
Cisteoir
Cisteoir Tara Walshe gave a comprehensive report of the year’s income and expenditure and thanked Dave Barry for his help in assisting her in her role in the past year. It was decided that as much as possible we would use Young Whistlers to referee, to cut down on referee’s expenses, particularly in the blitzes for the younger children.
PRO
PRO Pamela McDermott thanked the local media for their continued support, namely The Bray/Wicklow People, Wicklow Times and Wicklow Voice. Our articles are featured weekly and it’s great to get such good exposure.
We have a weekly slot on East Coast Radio and we would like to thank Michael Seargeant for his continued support. We feature in our county yearbook and our followers on Twitter are growing all the time. At the recent National Cumann na mBunscol meeting in September the use of Twitter was really emphasised as it’s an instant form of communication and a great way of exposing the work that we’re doing in Cumann na mBunscol in Wicklow to a vast audience.
If interested you can follow us @cnmbwicklow and our website is www.cnmbwicklow.ie which has all our up-to-date information. Online registration for Sports Day appears to be a continued success but please don’t hesitate to contact us should there be a problem.
Pamela emphasised the use of the Allianz name, sign and logo on all photos and articles and thanked them for their continued support. She also thanked all those who email in the articles and the GDA’s who take photos and send on information. She appealed for articles from all schools as the children are well able to write reports and would like seeing their article in the paper. If any school has any information it would always be welcome. Email to pro. cnmb.wicklow@gaa.ie. If possible please send information by Friday to have it for the papers and radio.
Pamela spoke about the National Awards and encouraged schools to take part, it may appear as a daunting task but is actually quite do-able, that most schools are doing the work anyway that’s it just a matter or recording it. The completion of the project is worthwhile, particularly with great prizes on offer.
National Awards
Pat Trainor Hall of Fame Award (awarded for lifetime contribution to Gaelic Games in primary school) - This award recognises a teacher who has given outstanding service to the promotion of Gaelic Games at primary school level. County and provincial Coistí are invited to nominate suitable candidates. Entries will explain in no more than 1000 words why their nominee is worthy of this award.
Public Relations - Entries in this category highlight coverage of Cumann na mBunscol affairs in a county or province. Scrapbooks, ring binders etc featuring examples of Press coverage of Cumann na mBunscol activities in 2017 are ideal for this category. Websites may be included but can- not replace newspaper coverage.
County Publication - County histories, magazines, fixtures booklets for 2017 may be submitted for inclusion in this category.
Promotion of Gaelic Games and Culture…. County and Provincial Committees - Committees are asked to show innovative work in promoting Gaelic Games and Culture.
Promotion of Gaelic Games and Culture…. individual schools.
Submissions in this category must be in electronic form only. Entries on a memory stick. No more than five minutes in duration.
Entries may focus on a single area or a number of areas such as coaching initiatives, table quizzes, promotion of handball, rounders, camogie etc.
School of the Year (150 pupils or less)
School of the Year (More than 150 pupils)
The winning schools in the School of the Year categories will be invited to Croke Park.
30 pupils from each school will enjoy a Stadium and Museum tour
€500 per school to cover bus transport to Croke Park
30 pupils and three staff from each school will have lunch in Croke Park
Camogie Report
Bhí bliain chuíosach mhaith againn i mbliana leis an gcamógaíocht. We organised three outdoor blitzes for the year and while two were well attended we unfortunately had to cancel the May blitz due to the unavailability of schools.
Hopefully this year that won’t be the case as we have changed the date for the third blitz.
Fiona Ní Shuilleabháin, Camogie Officer is hoping to put a list together of all the camogie schools in the county so if interested schools could forward their email/phone and a contact person that would be greatly appreciated.
Please keep an eye on social media for reminders of the upcoming blitzes and contact Fiona for any camogie questions if needed. Táim ag tnúth leis an mbliain atá amach romhainn agus táim ag súil go rachaidh camógaíocht sa chontae ó neart go neart. Hurling Report
Hurling Officer Ronan Keddy thanked Bray Emmets for the use of their grounds and Dave, Mícheál and Garrett for their assistance during the year. He apologised about the final blitz that was organized for Ballinakill but couldn’t take place there due to another event being there.
Ronan hopes that an all county blitz can be held there this year so that hurlers from the whole county can meet up for a blitz for a day. It was decided to keep the non-competitive blitzes with no goalkeeper and points only but to have a goalkeeper and full rules for one of the competitive blitzes. Girls Football Report
Girls Football Officer David McDonnell spoke about the girls football blitzes that were held during the year and thanked Bray Emmets for the use of their grounds and Dave, Mícheál and Garrett for their support.
Girls football continues to grow and it was great to see such a good turnout at the third and fourth class girls Allianz participation blitz this week. It was decided to keep no goalkeeper and points only for the non-competitive blitz but that we may have a goalkeeper with full rules for one of the competitive blitzes.
Tráth na gCeist
Billy Cuddihy, Tráth na gCeist Co-ordinator, thanked the schools for taking part last year and hopes that the attendance will be even higher this year. He encourages schools to take part and get involved as it’s always an enjoyable evening.
West Wicklow
Tommy Brennan, Dunlavin sent his apologies. He sent this report – at our AGM in February, a full list of fixtures were agreed for the year ahead. Teachers from six schools attended the AGM.
The list of fixtures included numerous blitzes for boys football, girls football, camogie, hurling and indoor pella blitzes for boys and girls. We also had blitz events for first and class class children in hurling and football.
Most of these events were non competitive while others were competitive such as the Allianz Coughlan Cup and the Wicklow Times Shield. A major cross country event takes place in Valleymount NS in mid October which will have over 20 schools participating.
None of the above would be possible without the organisation and support of GDA, Paul Garrigan. He has been a tremendous support to all schools in West Wicklow and long may he continue in his role. We welcome the appointment of a full time GDA in Blessington. We have been fortunate also to have Jonathon Tallon promoting hurling in our schools and really appreciate his contribution.
Our issue is the absence of a proper indoor facility in the west as we have to rely on gaps in the timetable in secon level schools to allow indoor events to take place.
We are grateful for all clubs that participate in the club/school coaching programme. We are grateful also to a number of schools and teachers who facilitate events in their area in particular Sharon Broderick (Blessington), Mary O’Keeffe (Stratford), Nora Kelly (Valleymount) and Julie Fitzmaurice (Donard). The fixtures are communicated via email and text. Thanks also to Cumann na mBunscol Chill Mhantáin for your support.
Young Whistlers
We’ve organised young whistlers courses for the past two years. Unfortunately due to other work commitments David Gough is not available this year to run the course. It is hoped to possibly get Danny Harrington, a hurling referee, to do a possible hurling refereeing course. It was decided that this year the GDAs and a Wicklow referee will run this year’s course hopefully.
Wicklow GAA County Board Bridget Kenny, assistant secretary of the County Board, represented Wicklow GAA.
On behalf of the County Board, Bridget thanked Cumann na mBunscol for all their work and that the County Board look forward to working together with Cumann na mBunscol in the promotion of Gaelic games in the county.
Jim O’Riordán asked for clarification on the money that was spent on hurleys and helmets by Cumann na mBunscol, Chill Mhantáin, and if the County Board were going to provide assistance with this.
GDAs
Garrett Doyle, GDA, thanked the teachers and schools for all their support during the year. He thanked the schools that attended blitzes, particularly the schools who bring multiple teams as it allows for many more games.
He thanked Dave Barry and Míchéal Ó Murchú for all their help during the year. Garrett explained that the GDAs will do workshops with teachers if schools want. There are two workshops available. Workshop one is more PE based skills, workshop two is more hurling and football based. This can be used as Croke Park hour. He encouraged schools to avail of this service if interested. Dominic Leech, Ladies Football
Dominic reported that numbers in ladies football are increasing, particularly in the ages 8-12. It was noted that ladies football is therefore benefitting from the work being done in schools and by the GDA’s and Dominic thanked teachers and GDA’s for their contribution.