Adult membership still available
For anyone who has not signed up to become a member of Galtee Gaels GAA the good news is that you can still join by logging onto www.foireann.ie.
As we prepare to welcome back intercounty games and hopefully crowds will be attending games, being a member of the club allows you to apply for tickets while also supporting your local club.
If any members wish to receive information on how to pay online or pay in person, please contact a member of the committee.
THE SEASON AHEAD
Galtee Gaels Club na nÓg met remotely on last Monday night with the opening of the 2021 season very much in mind.
The protocols as operated last year are very much in mind as the club ramps up its preparations. The club mentors are committed to operate as per GAA guidelines. Any dates mentioned are subject to change.
Preparatory tasks to enable a return to training include registration of players, renewal of membership, recruitment of additional volunteers, Garda vetting and completion of child protection and coaching courses.
MEMBERSHIP ARRANGEMENT
A membership form for each player must be completed and membership fee paid before commencement of training. Membership forms were distributed at Kilbehenny and Anglesboro National Schools and are also available from club officials as listed below.
Youth membership fees are the same as 2020: First family member €20, two family members €35, three and more €50.
To facilitate parents a drop off will take place at O’Mahony Park between 7 and 8 pm on next Sunday evening. Please place the completed membership form/forms with the correct fee in an envelope and drop off at O’Mahony Park without getting out of car. Contacts: Club Registrar Helen Moriarty, Martin 086 6054735, Eric 086 806 5598.
GARDA VETTING
The first step of three in applying for Garda vetting is the completion of the GAA E-Vetting Identification Validation Form”. This form is available for download at Vetting-GAA.ie or from the club officials named below.
Vetting cover is for a period of three years not five as heretofore. A number of club members are due for renewal and this should be done without delay. Due to a high demand for Garda vetting at present some delays are being experienced in the process.
If anyone has any difficulty our Children’s Officer Mairead Fitzgerald is more than willing to help and you can contact Mairead at 087 274 4818,
COACHING AND CHILD PROTECTION COURSES
Coaching and Child Protection courses are being run online on an ongoing basis, contact Mairead Fitzgerald. Please note that the notice for these courses can be quite short so put your name on the list immediately. Now is an excellent opportunity to take these courses due to the convenience of the online participation.
Coaching requirements - club membership ( adult), Garda vetted, foundation coaching course. Thanks to the members who volunteered their services recently . The club are still recruiting for addition volunteers in all age groups.
ALL THE FOOTBALL THEY PLAYED
The following is an extract from an interview by Seamus O’Ceallaigh with Mick Mullins, Kilbehenny village, and published in the Limerick Leader seventy years ago.
“I was at Limerick one Saturday at a County Board meeting when poor Charley Holland, God rest his soul, came over to me and said ‘Mullins if you don’t stop playing with outside clubs we will suspend you and your club as well so you had better admit everything and get reinstated if you want your place in the Limerick team.’
That was May 1934 and I agreed to his proposition. A few weeks later I was on the Limerick team and remained a member until 1938. The first year was a memorable one. We beat Waterford in Clonmel and Cork at Dromcollogher but we lost to Kerry in Listowel in the last minutes of lost time. What a heartbreak!
WON ANOTHER TITLE WITH GALTEE ROVERS
I captained the Galtee Rovers team that won the South Limerick championship title in 1942 and went on to win the county championship defeating Sarsfields 1-5 to 0-2 at Knockane on March 21st 1943. I captained South Limerick’s first senior football team but we were defeated by Knockane.
I was also captain of the Fermoy district LDF that was defeated by Kanturk at Blarney on 2nd of April 1944. I will never forget that day in the Castle Grounds. We had a good team, eleven of them members of Galtee Rovers club, plus Tom O’Brien the Creamery Manager in Mitchelstown with Paddy Cronin and Kevin Barry in Fermoy.
The game was only ten minutes in progress on a slippery, with the ball greasy, when one of our best players, Dave Russell met with an unfortunate accident that finished his football career - a big loss to Galtee Rovers.
During all the years of my active football career, I never missed a game, championships, tournaments or friendly in which my club was engaged. I met some grand footballers during those happy days, Stanley Hollis, Tommy Culhane, Eddie McCarthy, Dave Doherty, Moss Corbett, Mick and John Mackey, Timmy Ryan, Ned Courtney, Owen Carney, Dick Quinn, Paddy Lonergan, Denny Fitzgerald, Paddy Doyle and a host of others.
I was sorry indeed when I eventually had to leave the arena but I still take a keen interest in the game and some time ago presented the South Limerick Board with a cup for one of their competitions.”
Mick Mullins - what a character, footballer and entertainer.