News

Bride Rovers GAC Notes For The Week Ahead.

November 8, 2018

Fr. Barry’s Anniversary.

On the right hand side of the altar in Bartlemy Church a small brass plaque is set in the cement floor. It is surrounded by the red carpet and the inscription reads ‘Fr, Edmund Barry

P.P. died May 23rd,1900′. Last Sunday marked the 110th Anniversary of the death of this remarkable man. A native of Carrigtwohill, Fr. Barry had connections with the parish as his mothers people came from Desert in Bartlemy. He had a great reputation throughout the land as a Scholar and Historian. He was particularly interested in tracing the lineage of the Barry clan and it’s various branches. His major work on this project was ‘The Barrys of Barrymore’ which, down to the present day, is regarded as the  ‘bible’ of genealogists.

Fr. Edmund Barry was appointed Parish priest of Rathcormac in 1885. For the next decade and a half he ministered to the people of Bartlemy, Rathcormac and Kildinan. He was an outstanding pastor, caring and kind and was always trying to improve the lot of his people. The year before his arrival the GAA had been founded in Thurles. It appears that initially Fr. Barry had little or no involvement in the Gaelic games. However, he was approached by some local enthusiasts who gathered each Sunday in Kilshannig Lawn playing both hurling and football. Soon Fr. Barry threw himself heart and soul into the formation of two clubs in the parish, Bartlemy Hurling Club and Rathcormac Football Club. Plenty players were available and within a short period the parish Clubs were able to put out three adult teams of twenty one players in both codes. Fr. Barry was chief mentor, coach, trainer and organiser. The teams met with considerable success with the Rathcormac Footballers winning the 1889 Co. Senior Football Championship under the auspices of the O Connor Board and Bartlemy reached the Hurling Final – problems within the GAA nationally led to a serious split within the newly-founded Association which resulted in rival County Boards in Cork.. During the years 1888, 1889 and 1890 the Bartlemy and Rathcormac teams were amongst the best Club Sides in Munster. At that time Tournaments were nearly more prestigious than County Championships and Fr. Barry’ teams travelled far and wide on ‘the circuit’. Fr. Barry was an outstanding Administrator but such were the deep divisions in the GAA at the time he found it impossible to continue. After 1891 the two local Clubs did not affiliate though the legacy of ‘Father Barry’s teams’ lived on and inspired later generations in the Parish to eventually form the Bride Rovers Club. We are very fortunate that Richard Barry of Ballinwillin, Bartlemy wrote a Diary in the 18880’s outlining the matches played and all the adventures of those great teams and their Reverend founder. The last entry in Richard Barry’s Diary is as follows;  Poor Fr. Barry died in May 1900 and the boys of the teams shouldered his remains up to Bartlemy Chapel. It was many the pleasant trip the poor man gave us. There was no priest in the county took such an interest in Gaelic Pastimes. May God have mercy on his soul.

Indeed Fr. Edmund Barry has left us a proud legacy and tradition in the Parish.

 

Calm Before the Storm.

It seems only a short time since our last outing in the Cork Senior Hurling Championship against CIT in the 2009 campaign and yet we are now only a little over a week from the opening contest in this years Championship. Supporters should note that our game v St. Finbarrs on Saturday week May 5th was originally timed for 6.45 but the starting time is now 6.30. This is our fourth time in 5 years meeting the Barrs. We defeated them twice but lost to the Togher side on the last occasion we met.

 

East Cork Junior Hurling League.

Action continues on the Imokilly Junior League front. We had a game in Division Three v Erins Own and a game v Watergrasshill in Division Two.

 

Match Details; JHL Div 3 v Erins Own in Caherlag.

From the first throw in we were under severe pressure and some long range points from Erins Own had them ahead quickly, by 2 points. Some excellent defending by our last line of defence assisted us to settle down and we scored two good points to level matters.  Erins Own then hit a purple patch scoring 1 – 2 without reply to lead 1  4 to  0  2. We recovered to register 3 points and then the wily John O’Dowd scored a goal following a clearance by Gavin to Jason Mannix which saw John steer the sliotar to the net. The half time score saw us behind by 1-6 to 1-5.

At the start of the 2nd half we conceded 3 points but some tactical switches brought us back into the game and 3 excellent points from play has us back in contention. We were now under constant defensive pressure and a wonderful save by Gavin relieved the situation but Erins Own had their tails up and finally secured a second goal following a rebound off the full forwards knee. We came back into the game with some wonderful points and finished up loosing by a margin of just four points, 2-13 to 1-12. On the night the players showed a good appetite for the game and we look forward to good turnout for the training in the weeks ahead.

Scorers: John O’Dowd 1-3, Jason Mannix 0-2, Alan O’Keeffe 0-3, Daniel Lane 0-1, Gerard Healy 0-1, Vincent O’Keeffe 0-1, Daniel O’Brien 0-1. 

Team: Gavin Quill, Mark O’Connell, Alan Broderick, Sean O’Brien, Tomas Kearney, Joe Delaney, Jim O’Connor, Padraig O’Brien, Stephen Pratt, John O’Dowd, Kevin O’Keeffe, Jason Mannix, Vincent O’Keeffe, Alan O’Keeffe, Daniel Lane.

Subs Used:  Philip Butler for Mark O’Connell, Gerard Healy for Daniel Lane, Niall Hogan for Kevin O’Keeffe, Barry Collins for Alan Broderick, Daniel O’Brien for Vincent O’Keeffe.

 

Junior Hurling League Div 2 v Watergrasshill in Watergrasshill, Monday May 24th.

 

We started slowly and despite 3 excellent long range points we went totally out of the game and found ourselves trailing by 4 points having conceded 4frees and a 65. We got back into the contest before half-time and scored 4 long range points to leave the half-time score  level at 0-7 each- all our scores came from play.

Watergrasshill took an early lead in the second half but we got into our stride and rattled over 4 points from distance followed by a goal to lead by 1-11 to 0-8. We took complete control of the game at his stage.  Several changes were made to the team to give further players game time. We increased our score to 1-14 with 3 further excellent points from play. The Hill had 3 points from frees late in the game but we replied with 2 further points to leave the final score at 1-16 to 0-11 in our favour.

 

Scorers: Alan O’Keeffe 1-3, Pat Cotter 0-5, Eoin Murphy 0-2, Cormac Collins 0-1, Liam Forde 0-1, Richard Cahill 0-1, Jason Mannix 0-1, Stephen Boyce 0-1, Stephen Pratt 0-1.

Team: Gavin Quill, Pat Barry, Brendan O’Driscoll, Sean O’Brien, Pat Walsh, Liam Forde, Jim O’Connor, Cormac Collins, Kieran Collins, Stephen Pratt, Richard Cahill, Eoin Murphy, Stephen Boyce, Alan O’Keeffe, Pat Cotter.

Subs Used: James Murphy for Cormac Collins, Ryan O’Connor for Jim O’Connor, Tomas Kearney for Sean O’Brien, Jason Mannix for Stephen Boyce.

Cork V Tipperary.

The hay certainly isn’t saved yet and neither are ‘Tipp bate’ but on next Sunday we have the 2010 version of one of the GAA’s greatest rivalries. It may be only a Munster quarter final but close on 40,000 will come to Pairc ui Chaoimh to see the Rebel and Premier hurlers clash. Having reached the All Ireland Final last season Tipp will feel they can go one better this year. Cork reached the League Final against Galway but on that evening in Thurles they just could not match the skill and power of the westerners. Tipp will always bring out the best in Cork so we wish Brian Murphy and his team-mates all the best. Any Club Members who are available for Stewarding on Sunday please contact the Club PRO.

 Welcome Home.

We extend a cead mile fáilte to Fr. Seanie Barry who is home from Nairobi on holidays for a few weeks. Hopefully he will have an enjoyable stay.

 Bon Voyage.

Going back to Australia next week after a sojourn in Ireland is Jack Ahern from Bartlemy village. Jack was very involved with the club in the mid to late 1950’s before going ‘Down Under’. Along with his wife Julie Jack has been on holidays in Ireland for only the second time in 55 years.

Car Boot Sale.

 Match or no match the Car Boot Sale goes ahead in Rathcormac on Sunday next May 30th. Help is always needed so if any club member can give even an hour at any stage on Sunday it would be great.

Exams.

The Junior and Leaving Cert Exams are only just around the corner and we wish all those who are making last minute preparations all the best with the tests