Kilmacanogue

SHANE MORAGHAN RIP

Many locals and former teammates were shocked to hear of the sad passing of Shane Moraghan last Friday in the care of staff of the Beacon Hospital.

Shane lived in Stillorgan but from Bray where his dad Alec used to run Londis and was the star of the late Jim Bradshaw’s young Kilmac United Schoolboys for many years and always on the scoresheet. He later went on to become a renowned international swimmer and swam many long-distance endurance tests over the years it so sad to see a young man in his early 50’s leaving us all at such an early age.

Shane was the beloved husband of Andrea (Egan), loving dad of Jack and Luke, son of

The annual Glencormac United FC Christmas Draw took place last Saturday night and it was a great success. New owners of Plucks, Caroline and Shane McNamara welcomed everybody and were delighted to meet so many locals as a big crowd were in attendance. Karl Ivors belted out the tunes and great night was had by all following the lovely platters of food laid on by Plucks.

The €2,000 winner was Gabriel Grehan from Kilcoole, whose son Jamie plays on the under-14s, A great supporter of all things run in the village is Melanie Lee, who won €1,000 while Dymphna Kinch from Rockfield Park scooped the third prize of €500 prize. There was also seven prizes of €100 which were won by Paddy O’Brien, Peadar Smyth, Ellen Giles, Eileen Morris, Big Ricky Thomas, Lesley Ann Wylie and Lisa Brady. A massive thanks to everyone that bought and also sold tickets on the club’s behalf.

Club chairman Christy Devlin was back in hospital last week

The annual senior citizens Christmas party for our wonderful residents took place in the Summerhill House Hotel last Sunday and was enjoyed by all. The Summerhill have been most kind to our senior citizens group over the years and it was once again greatly appreciated on Sunday. Dave, better known as ‘The Wicklow Man’ provided the music and entertained the 100+ Group all evening along with the Sheila Benny Violin Group.

There was also lots of prizes on offer for the raffle and a massive thank you from the committee to all who donated prizes and bought tickets. It was wonderful to see dedicated committee member Breda Connolly in attendance also after her recent illness. ‘Our Breda’ is one the villages real gems and we all wish her well as she recovers.

WELL DONE NIALL

Congratulations to our own Niall Meldon, who made his debut for the full Wicklow Senior Team on Saturday evening v Longford in the Bord na Mona O’Byrne 2019 Cup. Niall was a second half substitute and played very well by all accounts following his introduction in the second half in the narrow 1-07 to 1-06 defeat. (See report on Sports pages).

It is a great honour for Niall and his family and also the Kilmacanogue GAA Club to see him make the panel and also not forgetting Sam O’Callaghan, who is part of the Wicklow under-21 squad. It is a true reward for these young men’s dedication and we have no doubt a few more will

The annual Glencormac United Christmas charity matches will once again take place on Thursday, December 27. First up will be the Joe Molloy Memorial Shield between the Coaches and Karl Bradshaws under-14 Squad. These young men have had a wonderful season this year under Karl and will offer a stern test (before they taste defeat) to the coaches.

Then it’s the Benny Finnerty Cup where the present team will face the Ex Glencormac Squad. Damien Duff has now played for the Glens on five different occasions in Charity Matches and lost all five so hopefully he can put this right before he leaves our shores to take up his new coaching role with Celtic FC in Scotland in January.

All money raised are split between the Irish Heart Foundation and Bray Cancer Support Group (Purple House)

NOTES

If you want an item or a photograph of local interest to appear in the Kilmacanogue Diary, please email colmulligan@eircom.net by midday on Sunday