Club notes for week commencing 19th March 2012

The first underage coaching session including the nursery takes place on Saturday 24th March at 5 – 6pm. (4 to 12 years old)

We then revert to our usual Friday evening slot from Friday 30th March at 630 – 730pm.

 

Our qualified schools coach Ms. Bernie Corroon will lead our new initiative to give 4 to 6 year old girls and boys, an age appropriate introduction to sport and gaelic football. This will not be just concentrating on GAA skills but also fundamental skills known as the ABC’ s(Agility, Balance, Coordination). Children will follow a programme to develop their individual motor skills (jumping, throwing, catching) and it is our aim to keep the coaching sessions fun and with plenty of variety. Contact Bernie @ 087 9282432. Easons have kindly agreed to sponsor our Nursery programme We would like to thank them for their sponsorship  and look forward to a  successful summer for ourselves and Easons.

 

Team contacts for 2012: Under 8’s: Jimmy Hughes 086 3457564; Under 10’s: Stephen Cleary 087 6405723; Under 12’s: Marc Cunningham 087 8362297; Under 14’s: Jimmy Murtagh 087 6943273, Under 16’s: Johnny Murray 086 3739408; Minors: Eunan McCormack 087 8384055; Seniors: Tommy Kelly 087 2949714.

 

Lotto Results 19/03/2012

Jackpot 1: €14,000

Numbers drawn: 4, 12, 23, 24

Result: no winner

2 x €100 winners: Bill Keogh, Catherine & Lorraine Seery.

Jackpot 2: €1000

Numbers drawn: 10, 16, 22, 23

Result: no winner

Next week’s draws to be in The Downs Clubhouse jackpots €14,000 & €1200

 

If you are not currently subscribing to our lotto, the weekly club lotto is available to play online at our website. www.naduntagaa.com

You can also register online to receive our free weekly email which includes lotto results and club notes.

Please spread the word to Na Dunta Gaels around the country and the world, encourage them to play lotto online.

An annual lotto ticket for €100 can be bought  with 2 weeks free on line or from Matt Carley or Anthony Rowan.

 

We are continuing with our text message service via TEAMER 51001 which we use to notify members regarding various club activities. If you wish to avail of this service, please text your name and number to 087 8362297. These messages are free to receive and a reply is not required. We currently have over 300 subscribers but would like to extend it further to ensure all our supporters are kept up to date. If you no longer wish to recieve these messages then please text STOP with your name and number to 087 8362297. We want to avoid unnecessary duplication where several copies of the one message are going to the same household.

 

You can register to receive our free weekly newsletter email at our lotto website www.locallotto.ie – just search for The Downs. The newsletter is sent every Monday night and includes that night’s lotto results and club notes.

Facebook you can now keep up to date with the club’s activities on our new FACEBOOK page:

http://www.facebook.com/TheDownsGAAClub  and TWITTER @TheDownsGAA.

 

Bingo  continues every Friday at 8.30, come along and bring a friend for an enjoyable nights entertainment. Jackpot is now €1,600

 

We are planning to provide a First-Aid person  to cover our underage coaching sessions which recommence on March 24th. This will be arranged on a rota basis so we are looking for 6 volunteers to do 1 hour each on a Friday @ 630pm every 6 weeks or so. Training will be provided if required. Please contact Trudie @ 0879890121 to get involved or if you would like to avail of the next first aid training course. Defibrillator training will also be arranged shortly – anybody interested should contact Trudie or any club official. A reminder that a Defibrillator is located at the clubhouse at the external wall of the entrance porch.

 

Membership is now due Adults €20, Family €30, Juvenile €15, OAP €5 Adult Player €40, Student Adult Player €20   

Please note all players must pay membership before playing; please ensure you have your membership paid before first game.

 

Thanks to everyone who  have registered with us on already for 2012 including new members of our nursery sponsored by Easons Mullingar. Registration remains open and can be completed during the next few underage coaching sessions.

 

Coaching commences along with younger age groups on this Saturday evening at 5pm. We are schedued to play our first league game on Wednesday 28th March vs Millmore Gaels in Milltown starting at 630pm. Text message will issue to confirm, please reply. Provisional fixtures for the first phase of the league are on our under 12 page on teamer.net. Any queries contact Marc @ 087 8362297.

 

Div 1 leagueOn Wed 14th we played a home league game v’s Tang at Lakepoint Park and we won by the narrowest of margins 2.08 to 0.13. With a relatively young team we got off to a great start and led 2.04 to 0.01 after 22 mins. Adam price and Niall Folan put away a goal each and we were very much on top at this stage. We played in decent ball to the forwards which resulted in chances of which we finished well. However for some unknown reason we reverted to over-elaboration out the field especially in the middle section. Our progressive play went out the window and Tang came back into the game. We invited trouble and it came over the next 30 mins when Tang were totally on top. Our confidence and discipline suffered. With 7 mins left we were level at 2.06 to 0.12. We rallied again and scored 2 points. Tang finished with the last score and had a chance to draw the game. We held on and were delighted with the effort but frustrated with the failure to stick to what was going well early on. The young lads gave us a great effort and the experience will stand to them. We will have tougher challenges ahead and need to continue the learning. Thanks to Paul Conway and Tang for re-scheduling the game for us. It was a nice gesture to facilitate our weekend in Omagh. Hopefully we will have the opportunity to return the favour some time. Thanks too to St. Lomans for having the facility in pristine conditions for the game. 

 

On Sunday 18th we travelled to Castledaly for a div 4 league game and won 1.09 to 0.08 in what was a good spirited game with both teams fielding mostly young lads. We were on top throughout and probably should have won by a higher margin however given the heart Castledaly always show it was a good result at their field. There was no malice or dangerous play however both teams were guilty of silly backchat and Michael Gordon rightly punished the aggressors on every occasion.  This was the only disappointing aspect of what was a good display. We attacked direct all day and could have scored a lot more if we steadied in front of the posts. This is an area for improvement and will get better with games and at by having intense sessions at training.  It is a great relief to see these young lads come through and play with skill and confidence. Hopefully we will be able to keep them around watch them develop into the next force at senior level. At adult level we are delighted with the progress we are making this year so far. Padraig and the management team are making a great effort. The players are working hard and the honesty of their effort is all we can ask for.

 We welcome anyone who has not got the shoulder to the wheel to get on board as soon as possible. If you can do more now is the time to come good. We ask our supporters to come out whenever possible for adult and underage games alike. 

 

The Club Shop will be open during our weekly underage coaching sessions.

New for this year will be club umbrellas and O’Neills tracksuit bottoms in all sizes.

For more information contact Carmel at 087 9496347.

 

Anybody with football boots that are surplus to requirements can leave them in our new BOOT ROOM located at the pitch end of the old dressing rooms. This has came about following several requests from parents who have boots in very good condition but no longer fit the owners. Kids particularly can grow out of boots quite quickly and this new initiative will allow other kids pick up boots for a nominal fee. All funds received will go to towards underage football. Boots that remain at the end of the season will be donated to charity.

 

Well done to Garrycastle in the football club All-Ireland they came so close to bringing home the title, best of luck in the replay.

 

 

Thanks to everyone who has registered for the coming year . You  can register with any coach, at any training session or in The Shop.

 

The first underage coaching session including the nursery takes place on Saturday 24th March at 5 – 6pm.

We then revert to our usual Friday evening slot from Friday 30th March at 630 – 730pm.

For training times for all teams contact 0874199344.

The Ladies Football are collecting bags of clothes as a fundraiser, so you can now de- clutter and help the club raise funds. Bags of clothes can be left with any team coach or committee member or in The Shop.

 

The club are having their annual Easter Raffle  of 3  full sized  chocolate  footballs, please support our unique raffle.

 

Confirmation

We congratulate the sixth classes from the local schools who are making their confirmation this weekend.