Club notes for week commencing 9th April 2012

Underage coaching including the nursery continues on Friday evenings 6.30 to 7.30. (4 to 12 years old)

 

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. Nursery is sponsored by Easons, Pearse St, Mullingar.

 

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 09/04/2012

Jackpot 1: €14,000

Numbers drawn: 3, 11, 18, 27

Result: no winner

2 x €100 winners: Barbara McDonagh, Paddy Gilligan

Jackpot 2: €1000

Numbers drawn: 22, 23, 27, 28

Result: no winner.

Next week’s draw in The Cloughan Inn with jackpots of €14,000 & €1200.

 

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

 

We are planning to provide a First-Aid person  to cover our underage coaching sessions on Friday evenings. 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.

 

If you are interested in doing a sports first aid course on 17^th  and  24^th  April  7 to 10pm contact Trudie Rowan 0879890121

 

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.

 

Registration remains open and can be completed during the next few underage coaching sessions.

Online registration on our Local Lotto web site.

 

We played in Clonkill last Thursday and won against Tubberclare. 2 well taken goals by Shane Carroll proved decisive in a great game. Our pitch was closed for work on the goal areas and we thank Clonkill for the use of their facility. We started well but were behind with half time approaching after Tubberclare had taken the initiative and picked off some good scores. We were giving away too much ball coming out of defence and they punished us on most occasions. Our first goal came after a fast move up field and Shane Carroll drove an unstoppable shot low to the corner. We led by a point at the break. Tubberclare went ahead early in the second half and then we went direct again and pulled away. Shane got his second goal with 15 mins left and we were on top for most of the game from there. We were actually in great form and attached relentlessly with very quick hands and sharp shooting. Luke Loughlin and Dean Egerton were running riot and Declan Lynam at centre back stopped almost everything that came his way. The work rate and overall effort was very pleasing. There are many new faces who have just come out of minor and under 21 and they have a great appetite for the game. Tubberclare were in good form too on a night where we were tested all the way. The final score was 2.14 to 0.14. We used 5 subs and thank all panel members for their effort. Team and Panel K McGuire, D Mc Dermott, D Lynam, T Mc Cormick, C Seery, N Murray, C Thompson, V Connelly, A Price, D Egerton, K Smullen, S Carroll, L Loughlin, N Molloy, N Doherty, S Deering, S Loughlin, L Farrell, D Daly, K Bell, M Leavy, K Gavin.

In a well contested game we lost by a point to a determined Bunbrosna team. We wasted many chances but we cannot take away from their effort. We simply did not match them for effort when it was needed. We took many wrong options and never really attacked as a complete unit. That said we had 11 young players line out from the start that were not involved in our last senior champion game. While we came up short we are happy with our effort in general and hopefully we will have learned a lot from the game. Bun were better on the breaks and we were not tight enough when they overlapped. At half time we were level after playing against the wind and we were reasonably satisfied. Bun raised their effort in the second half and got a goal early on which was the deciding factor in the end. We have no complaints from a game that was played in a good spirit. Our young players were disappointed but should be reasonably happy with their effort. Most of the team played Thursday night and we had a tough session Friday which in hindsight might have being a bit too much. On another day we would expect to have more guys getting in shooting for scores but we seemed to have very few lads actually taking it on. We will learn from the experience and move on. The senior players on the squad are a great help to the younger lads and the blending in process is going well. We have championship on Saturday week and we will have to clinical on that day. Full attendance at training and total focus will be required. Team and Panel. K Mc Guire, D Lyman, S Cleary, B Flynn, N Murray, M Dalton, T Mc Cormick, J Smyth, L Folan, D Egerton, K Smullen, N Doherty, L Loughlin, N Folan, S Carroll, N Molloy, D Mc Dermott, S Deering, A Price, V Connelly, K Gavin, D Daly, A Finche, C Carty, B Fitzpatrick.

 

The under 12 boys had a successful start to their league campaign with a narrow aggregate victory over Millmore Gaels recently. Played in the impressive Milltown venue, all 4 sides played good football despite it being very early in the season and the black amber were ably lead by captains Luke Maguire and Adam Conneely. Training continues on Fridays at 630pm and new players are always welcome.

 

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.

 

Our revamped website is now up and running at www.thedownsgaa.com.

Please check it out where you will find lots of information on various aspects of the club as well as opportunities to support us by paying registration fees online, playing club lotto or viewing the latest club gear.

 

We have a limited number of advertising slots on the main page of the website available for sponsors on an annual basis.

Please contact Marc at 087 8362297 for an opportunity to advertise your company or business at a very reasonable rate and at the same time support The Downs GAA Club.

 

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.

 

We extend our sympathy to the family, relatives and friends of Eamon Colgan Assumption Villas, Mullingar, Joseph (Joe) Brennan The Strand, Walshestown, Mullingar, Paddy Murtagh Grangemore, Raharney, Brenda Kinsella, (née Taite)  Derrynagaragh, Collinstown, Brian Delamere Beechgrove, Mullingar.

 

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

 

Underage coaching session including the nursery continues on Friday evenings 6.30 – 7.30

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.

 

Thanks to everyone who supported our annual Easter Raffle  of 3  full sized  chocolate  footballs. Winners: Marc Cunningham, Ciara Conneely, Paddy O’Donnell.

 

Feile semi-final Sunday 15^th