GRASSROOTS

ÉIRE ÓG GREYSTONES

WHERE ARE THEY NOW? We head to Sydney, Australia to catch up with Ollie Nolan. Ollie was part of the club’s historic back-to-back minor winning football teams.

He cites the late Pheliam Byrne as his favourite ever teammate and recounts a story of one of the lads being hosed down post-match following an unfortunate encounter with a sheep! Read more at https://eireoggreystones.com/player-profiles/.

Weekly lotto: Our lotto is the mainstay of our fundraising. It is especially important at the moment as we can’t engage in our usual fundraising activities, so please do give it your support. The winning numbers in this week’s lotto were 6, 16, 27 and 28. The weekly cash prize winners were Francis Finnerty and Marcella Ni Shuilleabhain. Tickets for this week’s jackpot are available online.

Home coaching and drills for primary school children: Every Monday, Wicklow games and coaching development produce videos which outline some of the skills of Gaelic games. They are easy to replicate and try at home. No need to go anywhere! They are all available online.

National club draw extended: The draw for all the great prizes in the GAA’s national draw has been extended from March 10 to June 4. The decision was made to give clubs the opportunity (hopefully) to be able to sell tickets in person. So now you’ve got even more time to buy a €10 ticket to win prizes like a car or All-Ireland tickets. You can buy them at http://eireoggreystones.com/national-club-draw-2021/.

BLESSINGTON

First of all I would like to thank Noreen Keegan Kavaganah on all her hard work and time that she gave over the past 10 years as our club PRO. Noreen has done an exceptional job in keeping everyone up to date near and far with all club news, be it social, on match day scores to general everyday occurrences within our club.

Noreen is not going anywhere though as she’s still our valuable club secretary and the mentor to incoming PRO Lisa Jackson, giving guidance and advice on all club related business and management.

So unfortunately we are still in these strange times with the Covid-19 pandemic and while there is no activity within our grounds there is still plenty happening in the backround. Zoom meetings and Microsoft Team meetings are the new way of us all keeping in touch with each other, and last week our Ladies held their annual awards night to acknowledge the hard work and efforts of everyone involved through Zoom. It’s was a totally different experience to what they are used to but it was a huge success and congratulations to everyone involved including all of the girls/ladies awarded on the night.

Senior players player of the year: Amy Ryan; Teresa Sargent player of the year: Erin King; Frank Reid young player of the year: Elaine O’Dwyer; Elsie Hennessy junior player of the year: Síne O’Neill; Junior players player of the year: Becky Doran; Under-16 Blue player of the year: Emily-Rose O’Toole;

Under-16 Blue players player of the year: Alana Carroll; Under-14 Blue player of the year: Robyn Brennan; Under 14 Blue players player of year: Aisling Brennan

Our under-16 white team girls had there virtual awards last weekend. A great turn out. I would like to say a big thank you and well done to our three girls who received awards.

Niamh Kinsella won player of the year, Sadhbh Cotter players player and Roisin Murphy most improved. Well deserved.

Thanks so much to Michelle Richardson for helping me out on the night and throughout the year. A big thank you to Paddy O’Connor for all his commitment and the three senior lads for helping out, Mikey, Patrick and Jordan. Also thank you to Damien Flanagan, Sean Ferris and Jeanette Fisher for all the help throughout the year.

Under-14s Girls Feb Fitness Challenge - Our under-14s girls team and doing a km challenge for the month of February with weekly leaderboards. 27 girls are involved and after two weeks have walked, jogged and ran a total of 1,500km between them.

Coaches are super proud of the effort being put in. They’ll be flying when we get back on the pitches. We are also planning some zoom catch ups over the next few weeks with some fun activities.

The Healthy Club Project team have also been kept busy in the background and have gained excellent recognition from Croke Park on their contribution so far to the project.

There are 150 clubs involved in phase four and Blessington have been singled out numerous times to come forward and present at webinars on their ongoing successful initiatives, Healthy Eating, Inclusion and in general to speak with other clubs involved that are struggling with the project.

Healthy Club Officer Lisa Jackson has since been put forward to sit on the Wicklow Healthy Club Committee. As part of the Inclusion section some of the team members got together and distributed care packages made by Karen to each of our 17 children involved in our Sunday sessions, needless to say the delight on their faces when we arrived with them was priceless.

Helping me along the way with this task is Alana McMahon who has been an excellent support to Noreen in the past and so far is proving to be just as valuable to me too so thanks so much Alana for staying on board with us. You can contact Alana on 087 676 9142 or mailto:alana_mcmahon1@hotmail. com if you would like anything added to our Instagram page or to pass on any information regarding our club.

Club Lotto is ongoing every second Tuesday. Next lotto draw will be held this week on February 23. The jackpot for this week is €4,200. Can everyone have their tickets back to Hennessy’s next door before 8.30pm on Tuesday, and once again thank you to everyone for their continuing support.

Condolence - The club would like to offer their sincere condolences to the following families on the passing of our former chairperson John Heaphy, also Seán Bowler and Chris Foster. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a h’anamacha.

If anyone would like to be added to the club supporters text or email you can contact me on 086 376 7534 or email pro.blessington. wicklow@gaa.ie. You can also keep up to date with news through our Facebook page and Instagram.

AVONDALE

Our most recent Lotto draw took place on Tuesday, February 16. There was no jackpot winner. The numbers drawn were: 10, 14, 21, and 25. Congratulations to three match-three winners who won €70 euro each: Joyce Heffernan c/o Ray Nolan, Michaela Byrne c/o Online, Niall Canavan c/o Johnny Killeen.

Thanks for all your continued support. Next lotto draw is Tuesday, February 23 for a jackpot of €5600.

Wicklow GAA Coaching and Games Development staff will be hosting 11 TURAS Player Pathway Coach Education online webinars during the month of March.

In order to join the webinars, coaches must register in advance on on the Wicklow GAA website by selecting the webinars they wish to access. Once coaches have registered, a direct link will then be forwarded to the coaches email on the day of the webinar, inviting them to join. All coaches involved with teams along the Player pathway should be registering to attend these webinars.

COOLKENNO

PEIL NA MBAN Dea-scéala! Great news! Coolkenno Ladies GFC are re-establishing an adult team for 2021. If you’re interested in joining the team, please message Coolkenno Ladies GFC on facebook or Instagram.

COMHBHRÓN: Sincerest sympathies to all the Mernagh family on the sad passing of Siobhán. Suaimhneas síoraí dá hanam dílis.

DUNLAVIN

We are looking for people who would like to be involved in organising a walkathon to raise much needed funds to help complete the GAA grounds. This is really beneficial not only for the club but for anyone that uses the walking tracks or drives on the lane. It would be great if we could get more people involved, so if anyone out there is into community spirit, fundraising and walking and would like to be involved contact James on 085 1274139.

Calling all businesses! We are making up new signs which are 1.2m x .6m for local businesses who would like to advertise on the GAA grounds. We have pictures up on Facebook of the new signs which have been placed along the driveway. A huge thank you to Andy and Raymond O’Brien for cleaning and preparing the wall and Eoin Murtagh and Tom Harney for putting up the signs.

Dunlavin GAA club are constantly improving the grounds and we would love to include advertisment images for local businesses. They cost €250 and will be displayed for at least three years. When our matches and training are up and running across all age groups and West Wicklow Fitness are back there will be lots of footfall in the club to see your ad. Please contact Jimmy on 087 2730238 if you would like to book a sign, all we will need is your images and we will do the rest.

Dunlavin GAA lotto results from February 15 - the numbers were: 2, 7, 21, and 22. There was no winner. Well done to one match-three winner who receives €250: Helen Rouse.

The promoter’s prize went to Eileen Dawson. Next week’s jackpot will be €4,600.

Play the lotto on our new website www. dunlavingaaclub.com. Just click on the lotto tab at the top and follow the instructions from there. We will do a live lotto on Facebook every Monday evening at 8pm so tune in.

Have a look at our new website www. dunlavingaaclub.com, you can buy Dunlavin GAA sportsgear, become a member and play the lotto.

There are also lots of great photos and club information there. Happy scrolling!

We would encourage anyone who uses the walking track to become a member. This membership helps to cover the maintenance of the walkway as well as upcoming improvements on the facility, so please become a member on our website or contact Tom on 087 4114622. Thank you all for your continued support.

BALTINGLASS

Our club lotto Jackpot is now €8,900 make sure you are in and play our lotto online now on our page on clubforce.com/clubs/gaa-baltinglass-gaa-club-wicklow/ and press Play Lotto.

KNOCKANANNA

Knockananna GAA Annual General Meeting now takes place on Sunday, February 28, at 7.30 pm via Zoom.

Nomination papers are now available and all members should have received theirs. If you haven’t, just get in touch.

Covid has thought us many lessons this past year and the importance of community is one of them.

As we embark on our development this year we are asking for people to come on board and get involved in your club in 2021. No matter how big or small a role you can play, please get involved .

AN TOCHAR

We are hosting an online bingo for our juvenile players, their parents/grandparents, and their coaches on Saturday next, February 27, at 7pm. The bingo books, which are free of charge, are now available for collection from Keith Grant Master Butchers.

We will be hosting this event using Microsoft Teams. Please contact one of our juvenile coaches should you wish to play and they will provide you with the link through which you can join.