PUC FADA
The Juvenile Club held their first Puc Fada competition on Easter Monday morning, 13th April, in Bartlemy. After the rain that fell over night on Sunday nobody could have expected the day to turn out so nice. The sun shone from the time the first ball was stroke by the Chairman of the Juvenile club, Billy Finnegan, to the time the last team crossed the finish line some 3 hours later. Teams of 3 competed in ladies and gents, adult and juvenile sections over a course of 3 miles – given the unexpected heat of the day all participants were glad of the refreshments provided at the finish line and in Bartlemy hall afterwards.
Before the start of the competition John Arnold explained to the crowds that had gathered at the starting line that it was fitting to have the competition held in Bartlemy, as the Bride Rovers club was formed in the “Bandroom” right next to the start line, 80 years ago this year. He gave some words of advice, and encouragement, to the younger players and wished everyone an enjoyable game. Billy Finnegan then started the proceedings with an exemplary strike up the middle of the road.
Prizes were presented in the Bartlemy Hall to the winners of the various categories, as follows:
Ladies: Irene Hogan, Sinead O’Driscoll, Nora Ahern
Girls: Trish O’Sullivan, Madison Parle, Gillian Buckley.
The first place for the girls was shared between two teams, after a toss of a coin the prizes were awarded to one team; however, the winning ladies team honourably donated their prizes to the second girls’ team of Maria O’Sullivan, Sarah O’Flynn and Rachel O’flynn.
Boys: Won by a team from neighbouring Watergrasshill club consisting of Darragh O’Callaghan, Shane O’Riordan, Kevin O’Neill.
Mens: Gavin Walsh, Denis Lenihan, Graham Knox.
Well done to all our winners and to everyone who participated in the event. All participants came away with a “Certificate of Achievement” to acknowledge their involvement in the day.
Of course an event like this cannot be run or organised without the input from the community, and we would like to thank all those who helped in any way to make this possible – either by, preparing the catering in the hall, acting as marshall on the course,
to O’Coileans bar for the use of the off-license window for advertising, and a special thanks to John Arnold and the Hall Committee for providing the hall for the occasion, and to John himself for the words at the start. We would also like to acknowledge the work put into preparing and running the event by Mossie O’Sullivan, we look forward to many more of these in the future.
After the Puc Fada, tickets were sold in the hall for a raffle in aid of the Fr Seanie Barry Kenyan Relief fund. Thank you to everyone who purchased tickets for this worthy cause. A special thank you to those who sponsored prizes for the raffle: Denis Ahern, Jane O’Driscoll and family, Helen and Mossie O’Sullivan, and to Denis Barry for selling tickets in the bar in advance of the day.
