Skryne Gaelic Football Club Strategic Plan
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Plean Straitéiseach Chumann Lúthchleas Gael Scrín, Dul Chun Cinn agus Pleanáil 2014–2018 Skryne Gaelic Football Club Strategic Plan PROGREss & PLANNING 2014–2018 Contents A Brief History of Skryne GFC 2 Skryne GFC Club Crest 4 Message from the President of the GAA 5 Message from the Club Chairman 7 Our Mission Underage 8 To promote Gaelic Games and Culture in Skryne Skryne Ladies Club 11 for people of all ages through providing physical and social activities while maintaining our position at the centre of the community. Methodology 12 Code of Conduct 13 Club Structures and Administration 15 Coaching and Games Development 19 Finance and Fundraising 21 Facilities and Development 24 Club Roll of Honour 31 Acknowledgements 33 claimed to have been the biggest attendance ever at a Feis Cup final. The spectators were not disappointed – after a thrilling game the Tara men won their first Feis Cup by three points. Fr. McManus was transferred to Longwood in 1935, which was a devastating blow to the Skryne club. He returned to Skryne in 1937 as a guest of honour when the new pitch was opened in his name (Fr. Mc Manus Park). With the loss of a few prominent players, Skryne dropped back to Intermediate level in 1936. They bounced back to win the title in 1937 and thus regained Senior status in 1938, a position still jealously guarded to this day. Skryne won the Senior Championship for the first time in 1940 and now remarkably, 75 years later, the Club can celebrate their jubilee. In the golden era of the 1940s they won five more titles, 1941, 44, 45, 47 and 48 and collected the Feis Cup on six occasions. Although a formidable team in the 1950s, they managed only one senior title in 1954, losing in the final on seven occasions. The great Syddan and Navan O’Mahonys teams thwarted them on most occasions. The following decades of the sixties, seventies and eighties were barren except for one Championship win in 1965 and six Feis cups during this period. As All- Ireland champions in 1967, Meath were invited to tour Australia to represent Ireland. This was the first of the now regular international series. Skryne were represented on that pioneering trip by Paddy Mulvany, David Carty and Paddy Cromwell. Skryne had a powerful team in the eighties, contesting five finals, and were very unlucky not to have brought the Keegan Cup home on any of these occasions. After 27 years it all came good again for Skryne in 1992 when they won the Senior Championship for a ninth time. They retained the cup in 1993 beating Navan O’Mahonys in a final for the first time. Skryne added another title in 1999 beating neighbours Dunshaughlin. In the new millennium, Skryne captured the Keegan Cup on two occasions, 2004 and 2010 to give a grand total of thirteen titles. In underage football Skryne were just as successful. They won their first juvenile title in 1954. The most Killana Shamrocks productive period was in the 1970s with all the underage championships coming their way, at under 14, 16, minor and under 21 levels. With the increase of Leagues and Championships, Skryne were well to the fore in winning many of those titles right up to 2015. The game of hurling flourished during the 30s, 40s and 50s. Under the name of Oberstown, the junior hurling championship came to the Club in 1936 and 1939. They added the Intermediate title in 1940 and only A Brief History of Skryne GFC bad luck stopped them from winning a senior title during that period. Many of the Skryne players won Senior hurling medals with the combination outfit, St. Patricks, in 1953 and 54 and in later years with Kilmessan. Skryne has been linked to the Gaelic Athletic Association since 1887. The first team recorded here were As one of the king pins of Meath football, Skryne have a record never likely to be surpassed in the royal known as the Killana Shamrocks from the Greenpark area of the parish. Names such as O’Brien, Corcoran county. Meath’s historic first All Ireland Senior football championship win in 1949 was captained by a Skryne and Dillon were instrumental in the formation of this team in 1887. Around this period and in the early man, Brian Smyth. The team also included the legendary Paddy O’Brien and his cousin Michéal O’Brien. nineteen hundreds there were also teams established in Rathfeigh, Ross and Oberstown. Skryne are the only club in Meath to have been represented on each of the seven All Ireland winning teams Documentary evidence informs us that a Skryne team made its debut in the 1895 Senior Football and also the seven National Football League winning teams. Eleven players from the Skryne club have Championship. Significantly this was the first time that Skryne appeared as a definitive team in an official amassed a total of eighteen All Ireland Senior football championship medals. In the Leinster Championship, Championship. Skryne, unfortunately had no great success in those early decades, although they did reach the first medals were won by four players in 1939. Since that historic day the Club has gone from strength the Junior finals of 1910 and 1912, going down narrowly to Navan O’Growneys and Carnaross respectively. to strength. 24 players have won 64 Leinster Senior Championship Medals. It is a great honour for the Club In 1931 Fr. McManus was transferred to the parish. He took a keen interest in the GAA and the development to have dual All Ireland medal winners in Michéal O’Brien and Brian Smyth, Junior Hurling in 1948 and All of the Skryne team. At this time many of the Skryne players featured with Curraha and Donaghmore. Fr. Ireland Senior Football in 1949 and 54. Michéal holds the record having played in fourteen Senior finals and McManus managed to coax all the defecting players back to Skryne. three replays with Skryne, a feat never likely to be repeated. Under Fr. Michael McManus’s management, Skryne reached the junior semi final of 1932 but lost to Five players from the Skryne club – Colm O’Rourke, Kevin McCabe, Liam Hayes, Trevor Giles and John Navan De la Salle by a small margin. In 1933 Fr. McManus changed the Skryne jerseys from green and gold McDermot – have won twelve All-Star awards between them. Colm, in1991, and Trevor, in 1999, were named to the now famous blue. The enthusiasm within the Club knew no bounds as they swept through to the final as the Texaco Footballer of the Year. Trevor was also chosen as the All Stars Footballer of the Year in 1996 of the Intermediate Championship. The final proper against Rathkenny ended in a draw, the replay did not and 1999. take place until Easter Sunday 1934. Skryne emerged decisive winners and triumphantly brought the first The proud history of the GAA in Skryne is one of resilience and inspiration. Meath Championship title ever to the Club and the parish. Skryne qualified for the Feis Cup final against Martry in 1934. Interest in the final was so great that it is 2 SKRYNE GFC STRATEGIC PLAN 2014–2018 SKRYNE GFC STRATEGIC PLAN 2014–2018 3 Skryne GFC Club Crest Message from the President of the GAA In 1984, to celebrate the Centenary of the GAA, Skryne adopted the Tara Brooch as their club crest. The Táim brea sásta an deis seo a bheith agam mo chomhgairdeas a ghabháil oraibh ar fad ar an lá iontach seo team proudly donned jerseys with the crest for the senior final and the supporters also wore jumpers with the do gach éinne bainteach le Scrín CLG agus an plean seo a cur le chéile. newly incorporated Tara Brooch displayed on the front. It gives me great pleasure to pen these words to mark what is a momentous occasion in the continued On reading the history of Skryne GFC, The Blue Kings of Tara, we can see that one of the earliest clubs success story of Skryne GAA and the work of everyone connected with the Club. in Skryne Parish, Killana Shamrocks (our predecessors), used a shamrock as the crest on their jerseys. This Success on the field may drive the passion and interest of our teams and clubs, but events such as this was as far back as the late 1880s so we can confidently state, and we have photographs to prove it, that underpin our clubs and solidify our presence in our host communities. Plans like this can lead to the physical Skryne GFC were the first club in Ireland to proudly sport a crest on their football shirts. growth of the Club from both a structural and developmental sense and also serve as declarations of intent The Tara Brooch is a celtic brooch dating back to around 700 AD and can be seen in the National for a vibrant GAA community such as this one in Skryne. Museum of Ireland in Dublin. It was not until the early 2000s that most modern clubs began to introduce their Our ability to evolve and develop is central to the GAA remaining relevant from generation to generation, own crests to add to the GAA logo which had been used up to then. After that the GAA logo and the club and projects such as this underline our collective efforts to continue to advance and promote not only our crests were both displayed on the front of the team jersey. Nowadays the team sponsors have been allowed clubs, but the wider activities of the GAA as a whole.