Published in The Western People.
The annual dinner dance of The Neale GAA Club was held in Fairhill House Hotel, Clonbur, on Saturday night January 29th. Special guests on the night were James Waldron, vice Chairman of Mayo GAA Board and a former chairman of the club; Kevin O’Toole, PRO Mayo GAA Board and Mayo player Austin O Malley, Louisburgh, whose mother is Celia Huddy from Creevagh Cong. Ladies GAA guests were Bernard Comiskey, County Chairman and Enda Carberry, County Treasurer. The function was a tremendous success, with one hundred and eighty five patrons attending, reflecting a very good year for the club in 2004, both at underage and junior level. Music was provided by Ice on Fire.
MC for the night was Ray McHugh who congratulated Pat McGrath on becoming the first Galwegian to be chairman of the club. The aforementioned Pat congratulated the junior A team on winning Division 4 of the county league and the under 16 team on reaching the county B championship final and winning the league title. Some club players had represented the county during the year John Varley for the Mayo seniors in the FBD league and Pat Casey and Owen Hughes, who were members of the Mayo under 21 team that reached the All Ireland final. Patrick Mylotte was congratulated on winning an All Ireland inter firms medal with McHales. Kevin O’Toole thanked James Waldron for his work with Mayo GAA Board, particularly as Chairman of the County Activities.
Austin O Malley presented the annual player of the year awards to the following:
Under 21: Owen Hughes; Junior B: Brian Conroy; Junior A: Donal Hughes; Most Improved Player: Shane McGreal.
Special Merit Awards: Declan Hughes, Stephen Lydon, Kieran Hughes, Patsy Casey, Paul Killeen and Pat Hopkins.
The prestigious clubman of the year award was presented to popular club secretary Richard O’Halloran for his administrative duties as well as the amount of under age coaching that he had undertaken over the year. John McGrath, Gortnacloss, Cong was the Hall of Fame winner, linking the present club to the golden era in the 1950s when The Neale won numerous O’Mara Cup and divisional junior titles. John, an acclaimed corner forward was also a member of the successful winning All Ireland junior team of 1957. Teammate Fr Paraic Maye of Leckaune was midfield.
Division Four County league medals were presented to Owen Hughes (captain), Shane McGreal, Kieran Hughes, Mark Mylotte, Clive Casey, Robert Kennedy, Donal Hughes, John Varley, Declan Hughes, Gerry Varley, Ronan Casey, Paul Killeen, Pat Casey, Pat Hopkins, Neil Varley, Kevin Kennedy, Stephen Lydon, Padraig O’Malley, Tomas Costello, Donal Forde, Richard Forde, Patrick O’Connor, Jarlath O’Connor, Patrick Mylotte, Graham Casey, Sean Reilly, Sean Conroy and Neil O’ Brien.
The ladies’ GAA presentations were Hall of Fame: Nancy Varley, Cong, who was instrumental in the establishment of the first club in 1981 and Helena Lohan, who once again was the outstanding All Star full back in 2004. The GAA Club wish to thank most sincerely all who supported the function on the night.
