St Nicholas do their bit for the community
EACH year, Mosney choose a worthy organisation, charity or voluntary group to sponsor in the form of roadside billboards.
This year, they are sponsoring St. Nicholas Gaelic Football Club in Drogheda in recognition of their very positive initiative ‘ Integration through Gaelic Football’ and to highlight their current campaign ‘ Building for the Future’.
In June 2018, Chairperson of St. Nicholas GFC, Dessie McDonald, took the initiative of inviting children from Mosney to take part in the club’s weekly Gaelic Football training sessions. The club grounds at Pentony Park on the Rathmullan Road are neighbouring the main primary and secondary schools attended by many of the children from Mosney which are St. John’s National School, St. Paul’s National School and St Oliver’s Community College.
The initiative started as a 6-week trial whereby the children from Mosney, accompanied by the Mosney Football Coach, attended the training along with children from the surrounding community. Mosney sponsored the 53 seater bus transport to and from the St. Nicholas club grounds each Wednesday evening.
Initially, St. Nicholas Chairperson Dessie McDonald was hopeful that up to 10 to 20 children from Mosney would partake. The arrival of up to 50 children from Mosney each week far exceeded the club’s expectations. The children, aged from approximately 6 to 16 years showed continued commitment, interest, energy and ambition with many displaying natural skill and ability for Gaelic Football.
The success of the trial delighted and amazed the St. Nicholas Club Coaches and Committee. The children thoroughly enjoyed the training sessions and met a lot of their school friends there. On any one training evening, the group of children from Mosney represented up to 10 different nationalities, playing together with children from the local Drogheda community for the one common love of Gaelic Football.
Following the overwhelming success of the 6-week trial ‘Integration through Gaelic Football’, Mosney Management pledged to continue to sponsor the 53-seater bus transport for a further 6 months to continue the fantastic link that has been established to encourage football, fitness and integration through Gaelic Football. This will enable the children and their parents and guardians to meet other children and parents from the area and forge new connections for when they themselves move into the community. Mosney also committed to sponsoring a football kit branded with the St. Nicholas club crest for each of the children attending from Mosney.
Continuing on from this successful initiative, St. Nicholas are ‘Building for the Future’ with the construction of a brand new club house with state of the art facilities at Pentony Park commencing shortly. The large scale plan includes a new club house with dressing rooms, meeting rooms, community hall, bar and catering facility together with a viewing balcony overlooking the grounds.
In order to raise the much needed funds to finalise this project, the club have a fundraising raffle currently underway. The ‘Field of Dreams’ Fundraising Raffle will be held on 27 December 2018 with tickets currently on sale. The prize draw includes many luxury prizes and is limited to 4,000 tickets. To purchase a very much sought-after ticket for the St. Nicholas ‘Field of Dreams’ Raffle, visit www.stnicholasgfc.com