MILLMORE GAELS MINUTES FEBRUARY 16, 2018 7.30PM MILLTOWN GAA

MEETING CALLED BY James Gunning

TYPE OF MEETING AGM

FACILITATOR

NOTE TAKER Helen McCormack

TIMEKEEPER Ciaran McCormack, Denis O’Roarke, Martin Ryan, Bernard Maxwell, Brendan O Neill, Dale Greenwood, Johnny Duncan, Tom Dillon, Matthew Gunning, Luke Gunning, Harry Pendred, Eddie Somers, Paul ATTENDEES Heduan, Pete Ballesty, Helen McCormack, Damien Scally and James Gunning.

APOLOGIES; Martin and Ailish Mulvey.

James Opened Meeting Welcomed everyone Thanked all Players, Mentors, Coaches and Parents for all the hard work put in over the year in all age groups. As a small club we are very competitive. We have 10 to 12 players who are playing at county level. Thanked Eddie Somers, Jim Dalton, Tom Carey. Michael O Roarke for up keep of pitches etc. Minutes of 2017 meeting were read out Proposed by Dale Greenwood Seconded by Denis o Roarke.

Underage Reports

U8

Millmore under 8's fielded many children this year. We trained on Friday evenings from the beginning of April. We had over 30 children at training all year.

29/4 We hosted the first blitz of the year in Milltown. Taking part were Millmore, Lilliput Gaels and . We fielded two teams on the day.

13/5 We took part in a blitz in . Taking part were Millmore, Shandonagh and St. Lomans.

13/6 We took part in the blitz in Cusack park. This was a great opportunity and experience for the children. We played two games against Ballycomoyle and .

15/7 In July we travelled to to take part in the St. Lomans blitz. We fielded 3 teams on the day and played matches against Multy and St. Lomans.

29/7 We took part in the Tyrellspass blitz. Taking part were Millmore Tyrellspass and / St Joseph's.

12/8 We hosted a blitz in . Taking part were Millmore, Rosemont, and Ballycomoyle. We fielded two teams on the day.

The under 8's really enjoyed their blitzes throughout the year and were very successful in most of their games. We also hoste d two blitzes during the year. Thanks to Ballymore and Milltown for their assistance in hosting these games.

Mentors: Brendan Lynn, Damien Byrne, Liam young, Joe Maguire, Frank McLoughlin, Johnathon Hughes, Mike Dillon, Kieran Molly, Padraig brogan and Ciaran McCormack

U10

Millmore under 10 training took place every Friday evening at 6.45pm. This was run in tandem with the under 8 training. During the year we had a panel of between 15-20 children. We played several Matches and blitzes during the year.

11/4 match v in Athlon. One team.

25/4 blitz in Garrycastle. We fielded two teams on the evening. At this blitz were mill more, Maryland/tang, St Mary's, Garrycastle and Rosemont.

9/5 blitz in Ballymore. We held a successful blitz in Ballymore in May with 5 pitches set up. Taking part were Millmore, St Lomans, , Athlone and Tyrellspass.

23/5 We took part in the blitz in Tyrellspass. Teams present were Millmore, Tyrellspass, St Mary's, Mullingar Shamrocks and St Lomans.

20/6 In June we hosted a blitz in Milltown. Teams taking part were Millmore, Multy and Kilbeggan/St Joseph's.

1/8 In August we hosted another blitz in Milltown. Teams taking part were Mullingar shamrocks and Ballycomoyle.

On the 26th of August the team finished the year with the Ballynacargy tournament.

The under 10 panel this year was small on numbers, but the children were very interested and committed. They played some great games during the year and were victorious in a number of Matches.

Mentors: Brendan o Neill, Johnny Duncan, Niamh Duncan, Dolores Whyte and Ciaran McCormack u12

This group of lads had a very successful year. They played 12 games in the league and were victorious in 11 of those games and had a draw against St Lomans in the 12th. They played 3 challenges winning on this occasion v St Lomans, defeated Carrickedmund well and after a thrilling game v Rhode ended in a draw. They also took part in the Mullingar Shamrocks tournament and played some very fine football defeating Athlone and St Lomans to meet Shamrocks in the final where they suffered their only defeat of the year losing by 5 points. Their big success of the year was the Garycastle tournament which we took on as our Championship. We defeated Lilliput Gaels, , Tubber and Garycastle to reach the division 1 Final v Athlone. This game was played under lights and huge crowds came out to shout on this wonderful group of lads. They weren't disappointed by the display of football we were treated to and Millmor e were victorious on a score line of Millmore 1-10 Athlone 1-7. This ended a hugely successful year for Millmore u12s. thank you to all players and parents for all their hard work and commitment.

U14 Mentors: Adam Ellison Dale Greenwood Louie Kiernan & Martin Lynn

Size of squad: 19 players (inc 12’s)

League Division 3 The U14s fulfilled all their fixtures for the year thanks to the U12’s who stepped up and we were extremely competitive throu ghout. We were allocated to Div 3 and played a total of 5 matches winning 4 and losing just once, scoring 223 points and conceding 51. As mentioned we had 5 U12s as part of the panel and none of them looked out of place. As a result of our great run we were alloc ated to the Division 2 Championship

Division 2 Championship Our great form continued as we won 2 of the six group matches losing twice, once to the same side who defeated us in the Leag ue (Tyrellspass) and the team we would eventually meet in the final. Overall, we scored 95 and conceded 1 04 points. In the final shake up we meet Athlone in the Semi Final on a cold and wet evening, but nothing was going to put the lads off their goal of reaching the final. I am delighted to say we triumphed by a score line of 6-9 to 4-7 which on paper looks well but in reality, that is only half the story the team performance was immense every single lad gave everything, and it was as good a performance as you would see anywhere and from any team. We then marched on to the final where St Paul’s lay in wait. I don’t know if it was the fact we reached the final or that the team we were playing had already beaten us well earlier, but the lads showed real signs of nerves, a hard season probably had something to do with it as well. Despite all our best efforts the lad lost by 3 points 2-5 to 2-8 but it is to their credit that they never gave up but just couldn’t catch a break when it was needed. At the final whistle the St Paul’s management team were very magnanimous and knew they had been in a real match. One in particular commenting that it’s a shame some of their own lads didn’t play with the same spirit.

Carrickedmund U15 Tournament We took part as one of 3 invited teams from Roscommon, Westmeath and Kerry as well as the home club who made up the fourth team. It was a good tournament and gave us a chance to bring back a few of the lads that had stepped up to U16 last year. We managed to win one, draw on and lose one of our 3 matches reaching the Final where we played the Kerry team (Beale). The lads did their best but lost out to a stronger and as it turned out much older team 0-2 to 2-7.

Overall As a team of mentors, we can safely say that we were absolutely delighted with the lad’s efforts all year they are a great bu nch and an absolute joy to train. If we can keep them interested this year and add a few of the 2017 U16s we will have a decent squad in 2018. We would like to thank the club for all their support during the year particularly with the tops for the final and the food afterwards. Thank you to Helen and Tommy McCormack for hosting the after final night in the Village Inn. To all the U12s who really stepped up when asked fitted in so well and never let us or themselves down. Finally, to all the parents who showed huge commitment travelling all over the county and showing the good side of the GAA with their support of the team.

U16 Trainers: David Molloy, Johnny Duncan, Dale Greenwood and Barney Maxwell.

In the division 1 league, we finished 5th on the table. We had wins over Lomans and Shandonagh, drew against and lost to the Downs, Kinnegad and Shamrocks, in the championship We won all our group matches against Maryland Tang, Garrycastle and reaching the division 1 quarter final. In the quarter final we defeated Mullingar Shamrocks and lost out to Kinnegad Coralstown in the semi. A number of players from this team trained with the county. Conor Gibney, Ben Mc Gauran and Adam Watson played with the U15 team while Wayne Smith and Jack Murtagh were part of the U16 county team.

Overall it was a very successful year for this group of players who showed great commitment to the game both during training and matches. Thanks to the players, their supporters and families. We would like to wish Josh Burke speedy recovery.

Minor: . Millmore played in division 2 of the minor league in 2017.This league was made up of 8 teams. Moate, Lilliput Gaels, Caulry, Killbeggan/St Josephs,Garrycastle,St Mary's,Mullingar Shamrocks and Millmore Gaels.We played 5 games in this league, winning 2 games versus Moate and Kilbeggan/St Josephs. Two fixtures versus Mullingar Shamrocks and St Mary's were not played ,due to no fault of Millmore Gaels. In the round robin stage of the Championship we were in a group with Shandonagh, The Downs, Coralstown/Kinnegad. We lost to Shandonagh and The Downs and conceded to Coralstown/Kinnegad, above results put us in to a quarter final against Caulry.This was by a long way our best performance of the year. It was a game we could and should have won.

Numbers were extremely tight at minor level in 2017, due to exams, injuries and so on. This year 2018 we have all last year’s team apart from 2 lads. We would hope to be a lot more competitive in this grade this year. Thank you to the mentors and trainers of the minor panel, for all they done throughout the year.

REVIEW OF SEASON U12 Tom said they had a very successful year, especially the Garycastle tournament which we never won before. Tom said that he was delighted with the support for the players and even on the day of the final, which meant the lads dug deep to win, every game they played they had a crowd. U14 Dale said that they needed the help of some of the u12 squad but had a good year. the numbers for u14 were very tight. U16 Johnny said that they tried Div 1 and didn’t work Semi-final against KINNEGAD on the day it just didn’t go well for us even though we were playing the best in the county. MINOR James said we were very short on numbers in 2017 but this year 2018 we have a stronger team and they are very competitive.

Brendan O Neill has asked if we could get more help for the younger groups. He suggested that we could ask the Senior players to help from both clubs but the question of garda vetting was asked. Johnny Duncan said why not have smaller groups with u10 but again the issue of child protection from parents was asked. Helen was asked to find out about a Children’s Officer for the underage clubs. Adult clubs must have one.

FINANCIAL REPORT Damien gave us an overview of the accounts. Damien asked for a list of gear that’s needed With reference to referee fees Damien asked Mentors to keep account of games, dates and name of referee Damien wished to Thank those who gave sponsorship to the outing the u12 had at Bowling Alley Mullingar. (Johnny Dillon and Mick Kiernan) A great night was had by all.

James addresses meeting As a small club we are very competitive but get great support from all the national schools and Thanks to all. We have 10 to 12 players who are playing at county level. He Thanked Eddie Somers, Jim Dalton, Tom Carey. Michael O Roarke for up keep of pitches etc. He was Disappointed with the crowd for the AGM tonight but the fact it was a Saturday night may not have helped. He thanked Chairperson of Milltown and Ballymore past and present and their families. HE thanked Damien and Helen for their help too.

Johnny Duncan asked if Millmore to put in a u20 team It would be Minor lads to play this competition and it works on a knockout basis Age groups to stay as they are Motion is in Congress.

James said that all underage games there is a shortage of umpires. All Mentors must be registered in their Parent club. Garda vetting is very important. Registration nights were held the 26th and 27th January 2018

Election of Officers

Chairperson: James Gunning Proposed by Dale Greenwood Second Tom Dillon

Vicechair: Peter Ballesty Proposed by Denis O’Roarke Second Johnny Duncan

Secretary Helen Mc Cormack Proposed by Eddie Somers Second Johnny Duncan

Treasurer Damien Scally Proposed by Tom Dillon Second Johnny Duncan