PATHWAY TO 2028
Around this time of the year in 1929 there was great excitement amongst the sporting fraternity in Bartlemy, Rathcormac and Kildinan. Just a few months earlier at a meeting held in the band room in Bartlemy, the Bride Rovers GAA Club had been founded. Previous to that time, separate clubs had been fielded in both Bartlemy and Rathcormac with little success.
The ‘ Golden Era’ of 1887-1890 when parish teams were amongst the best in Cork, was only a memory. For the first few years of the club the band room in Bartlemy, owned by Mike Leary, was hired out as a club headquarters at a cost of a shilling a week. Instead of an annual membership fee, all club members and players paid a weekly ‘ sub’ of one penny. The finance accumulated was used to buy a set of jerseys. Billy Barry of Hightown (later Mondaniel) purchased a set of green, white and gold jerseys. A fee of 2/6 (half a crown) was paid to affiliate to the East Cork Board.
In the early years, the club organised several hurling tournaments for fundraising purposes. Back then the idea of owning a pitch was not on the agenda of any club, except the very biggest. Various raffles, carnivals, 45 drives and church gate collections were the main sources of funds for decades. In the 1920s, ash roots were cut locally and hurleys fashioned from them and in later years of course, Ned Daly became a very well-known hurley maker - a proud tradition still continued today by Denis Ahern.
Now we are just a few years away from the centenary of the club’s foundation and the sporting scene has changed dramatically in our parish. In the last thirty years huge developments have taken place in terms of playing facilities. As our playing numbers increase annually and with hurling, football, ladies football and camogie now prominent in the club, the demand for playing pitches continues to grow.
Next Monday night, February 28th, we plan to launch a new, exciting initiative ‘ Pathway To 1928’. In the last few years our Club 100 Scheme offers three different funding options to club members and supporters. The finance raised to date by the Club 100 has financed the huge improvements undertaken in the last three years. Now we are hoping to get the weekly club lotto expanded in a major way by means of online sales. Modern communication technology is all embracing - some say we’ll have a ‘ cashless society’ in less than ten years.
One way or another, less and less transactions are now completed with - as we used to say long ago - pounds, shillings and pence. ‘Tapping’ and using smartphones to pay for services is a phenomenon that has seen a huge increase in the last two years. As a GAA club, we want to embrace this change by encouraging more and more people to introduce the Bride Rovers weekly lotto to friends, relations, work colleagues and the ‘Rovers diaspora’ all over the World. If a hundred club players, members, parents and supporters could get five extra weekly lotto ‘sales’, it would be a huge financial boost.
So, on Monday night next, we are holding an open night to launch this ‘ Pathway to 1928’. We want to see as many as possible in Scoil Bride on Monday week at 8pm for a launch and presentation of the potential of the online lotto. The more the merrier and all are welcome. Remember a lotto ticket costs just €2 and every ticket sold brings welcome revenue to the Bride Rovers Club.
CLUB EGM
On tonight Thursday, February 24th we have an EGM to deal with the issue of trustees of our club property.
LOTTO
Our weekly lotto draw took place on last Tuesday, February 15th for a jackpot of €17,800. The four numbers drawn were 5, 8, 26 and 32 and there was no winner of the jackpot. Lucky dip winners of €30 each were: John Kelleher, Doneraile; Orla McCarthy, Ballyhooly; Barry Browne, Bartlemy; Geraldine Kearney c/o online lotto and Matt Fitzgerald c/o online lotto
Remember the link to the Bride Rovers lotto is http:// bit.ly/BrideRoversLotto
The lotto jackpot for last Tuesday night, February 22nd was €18,000. Remember each ticket is vital to our club and the ‘Pathway to 1928’ launch next Monday night.
UNDER 11S BACK IN ACTION
The under 11 boys will return to training on this coming Saturday, Feb 26th at 11am in the juvenile pitch. We are looking forward to getting back to the pitch. We have also received an invitation to travel to Celbridge in Kildare in July for the U11 hurling tournament. One of the main organisers of this event is our own former player Ciarain O’Donovan. Hurling in Kildare, he has made some great strides in the last decade with Naas recently winning the All-Ireland Club Intermediate Championship final against Kerry’s Kilmoyley. As always, new players at under 11 are very welcome.
REBELS’ BOUNTY
It was to be ‘ draw time’ on tonight Thursday, February 24th when the January and February draws were to be held. However, due to the unprecedented volume of tickets now being processed through the system, the two initial draws are put back until 7pm on next Tuesday, March 1st in Páirc Uí Chaoimh. You can still purchase a ticket for the draw up until 1 o’clock on March 1st.
From a Bride Rovers point of view, every ticket sold helps our development plans, so please if you can at all, support the draw. If you want to be in, just contact any club member or officer over the next few days. Hopefully some of our members will be successful.
UNDER 10 HURLING
The U10 boys return to the pitch this Saturday morning at 10am. Hurling is on the agenda for the first few weeks back as the lads regain their touch and skill levels. New players as always welcomed, as well as any parents who wish to join the coaching setup. Registration will take place on the first morning with the Club 100 being a great option for families. The Club 100 Scheme offers family membership, Rebels’ Bounty tickets and club lotto tickets all in the one ‘package’. There are three options - gold €40 per month, silver €30 per month and bronze €20 per month, team mentors and club officers have all the details. We look forward to welcoming the boys back to the excitement of hurling on Saturday!
EAST CORK DRAWS
The draws for the A and B grade hurling and A and B grade football championships for 2022 will be made on Wednesday next. The Board will meet in the Tom Powell GAA Pavilion, Midleton at 8pm. In advance of this meeting, we will receive notice of the seedings and formats of the competitions. The JFL is due to commence on March 6th with the hurling league a week later.
In the 2022 Junior A grade football championship, the proposal is for 12 teams - 4 clubs having been regraded to Junior B. The dozen in search of a place in the 2023 County Premier Junior Football competition are Bride Rovers, Aghada, Carraig na bhFear, Carrigtwohill, Castlemartyr, Cloyne, Cobh, Erins Own, Glenbower Rovers, Lisgoold, Midleton and Youghal. It’s probably the toughest divisional junior football competition in the county now.
CAR BOOT SALE
Next Sunday is Rathcormac Car Boot Sale day. Help is always required on the day. If you can spare an hour or two on the day, please contact Billy Finnegan at 086-8552537.
1991 CORK V TIPPERARY - THE GAME THAT NEVER WAS!
It was back in 1741 that what is widely regarded as the first ever Cork v Tipperary ‘inter-county’ hurling game was played. The venue was in Glenagowl in Kildinan, the field where the contest took place is still pointed out.
The late Tom Barry BE of Garrynacole, Rathcormac did extensive research into the game and what led to it being played. Two teams picked by landlords contested the match, maybe 30 or 40 a-side. 1740 had been a disastrous year weatherwise in Ireland with severe frosts, crop failure and a Famine which saw thousands die from starvation and sub-zero temperatures. Tom came to the conclusion that as things improved in 1741, there was great relief, even celebration in the country. It is probable that as a kind of means of marking the return of normality, that many events were organised throughout the country and the Glenagowl hurling game was one of these.
The result? Well the Tipp men claimed victory and went so far as to write a poem in Irish praising their hurlers! Not to be outdone, Sean O Murchu the famous Gaelic poet from Carrignavar, replied in verse stating the Rebels won! The poems survived and so the memory of the game lived on in the locality. In 1991 to mark the 250thanniversary of the contest, the Bride Rovers club organised a Cork v Tipperary senior hurling challenge for Sunday, November 24th of that year. Both County Boards supported the venture and a huge crowd was expected for a 2.30 throw in. However, nature intervened and from late on Saturday night it lashed rain. We hoped it might clear up early on the Sunday morning to allow the game go ahead but no. It rained and rained and about 11 o’clock we had no option but to cancel the game.
We tried to reschedule it for the following month and then for the Spring of 1992, but to no avail. We had purchased beautiful trophies, specially engraved, for the game - I still have them at home under the stairs!
NEXT CLUB EXECUTIVE MEETING
Our next club executive meeting will be held in the clubroom on Monday night, March 14th at 8pm. The agenda will be sent out to members in advance.
UNDER 17 DRAW
Our under 17 footballers played a drawn game 1-7 to 2-4 v Cobh last Sunday in tough and testing conditions. The first match of our league football commenced on Sunday at home to Cobh in extremely wild and wet conditions and these conditions got worst as the game when on.
Cobh won the toss and elected to play with the wind, so we knew we were up against it from the get go, but that didn’t stop the lads defend bravely and it was all about possession and ball control and with this, the lads made sure that we put scores on the board when we attacked. In turn, we scored 1-2 against the galeforce wind and rain that was against us, Kieran Cotter getting the vital goal for us.
The defence were solid and brave to keep the attacking side’s scores down and we went in at halftime four points behind on a scoreline of Bride Rovers 1-2 Cobh 2-3.
The commencement of the second half saw Cobh defend for their lives as they struggled to get past the half way line for most of the half due to the pressure both we and the wind were putting them under. Cobh scored 1 point in the second half, we lacked our shooting boots and struck a lot of wides, but Eldon O’Connor grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck and took control and in the end, managed to put enough scores together to get a draw on a scoreline of 1-7 to 2-4.
Well done to both teams for playing a great game in horrendous conditions.
Bride Rovers: Oran Kielty, Darragh Kielty, Frank O’Flynn, Eldon O’Connor, Ben Knox, Adam Hynes, Luke Harrington, Chikamso Obi, Kieran Cotter (c), Cameron O’Sullivan, Cillian Barry, Louie Roche, Colin Hogan, Ronan O’Riordan, Ciaran O’Dowd. Subs: Cillian O’Sullivan, Gearoid Gubbins, Cormac O’Sullivan, Cormac Barry, Conor O’Riordan.
GAA CONGRESS
The Annual GAA Congress takes place next Saturday with the ‘Green’ proposal for the Senior Inter County Football Championship set to be voted on and more than likely passed. No doubt the football cham
. pionship needs revitalising, but to my mind this proposal will simply add further games to an already swollen inter-county schedule. I see some GAA writers are already suggesting shoving the football All-Ireland back to late August. I think it should never have been moved from September, but this new split season has changed everything.
The 2022 masters fixture plan has just been announced by Croke Park with the hurling All-Ireland final on July 17th and the football decider a week later. God be with the days when the three biggest sporting dates on the Irish calendar were St Patrick’s Day - club finals and the 1st and 3rd Sundays of September, the All-Ireland senior finals. The All-Ireland club semi-finals are on December 3rd this year, so every competition in Cork that goes to a Munster championship will just have a time span of 13 weeks to be completed, 13 weeks of autumn weather with short days.
I remember a time when hurling championship games were played in May, June and July - a time of the year conducive to hurling but now the club scene is relegated to the back-end of the year. So much for respect for the grassroots!
From a fixture point of view and for players and members making plans concerning holidays, weddings, etc the split season has been welcomed by many because of the certainty it brings. Unfortunately, we now also have the certainty of no club championship games during the summer, so sad.
ROVERS U13 BOYS
Training has restarted in the large Astro on Monday and Friday nights with large attendances on each occasion. Our playing season gets underway with football league v Youghal on March 12th. In our football league group we have been graded with Youghal, Erins Own and Midleton.. The hurling league starts a week later v St. Colmans. In this group we also have Youghal and Erins Own. A foundation coaching course is being held this Friday evening at 6.30 in the small Astro, details from 086-1429439.
SYMPATHY
Our sympathy is extended to the Mannix family of Bartlemy on two recent bereavements. Mary Galvin, nee Doolin from Glanmire, died during the week. Mary was a niece of the late Paddy Mannix.
Also last week the death took place in San Jose, California of Mike Gowen, late of Bridestown, Glenville. In his 95th year, Mike was a great GAA man and very involved with the Cork association in California. His wife is Julia May Kearney of Ballybrowney in Rathcormac. Mike Gowen was a first cousin of Bridie Mannix.
CLUB SPONSORS
Rathcormac Tyres, Fermoy Print and Design and Veolia.