Clara Camogie AGM Secretary’s Report 2017

A Chairde Ghaeil, Ba mhaith liom failte a chur roimh gach duine anseo anocht go dti an cruinniu bliantuil. Ba mhaith liom failte speisialta a chur roimh na daoine nua.

I would like to welcome everyone here tonight to our 2017 Annual General Meeting, especially those who are joining the Club as members, mentors, committee members or managers for the first time in 2018. It can seem a bit daunting when tasked with new responsibilities. However, in my own case at least, I can vouch that the rewards far outstrip the work involved.

I read recently that ‘success is where preparation and opportunity meet’. It’s a good motto for Clara Camogie Club. We have great coaches who are dedicated and passionate. We enter as many competitions as we are eligible for and we perform to a high standard consistently. This is what we do!

As can be seen from the reports below, our teams won many, many matches. More importantly, they gained so much experience and each squad improved immensely through hard work and determination. It was the enthusiasm and positive attitude of the girls that so impressed the coaching teams and the committee. Never to be kept down, the teams rose to the occasion time and time again.

Our U6 girls trained and played friendly matches along with the U6 boys. Our u8’s, 10’s and 12’s took part in all the Go Games blitzes, and our U12’s were in group 5 in the league and competed well in each game. They all thoroughly enjoyed their season.

Our U14’s competed in Roinn A and started off the league very well. Unfortunately they were knocked out by in the first round of the championship and then lost the shield semi final to James Stephens. As with most clubs Féile Na nGael was the highlight of the summer. We hosted St. Mochuas from Armagh, and competed in Division 2 where we did really well to reach the semi final of the Cup. The team were, however, desperately disappointed on losing out to Dicksboro. Clara also held a special Féile celebration on the Friday night at the pitch, where we welcomed back the Clara Féile winners of 25 years ago. We were delighted to be accompanied by President Catherine Neary who had coached the winning Clara team of 1992 and we even had a drop in guest in the form of Seán Kelly, former President of the GAA. A great evening of going down memory lane was had by all.

Our U16C team were our only title winners this year, defeating Shamrocks in the Championship final. It was a truly heart stopping game that was only decided after extra time; the girls played fantastically well and we are incredibly proud of the effort that they put in.

Our U18C’s had heartbreak twice this year, losing both the league and championship finals to /Carrickshock. Again they put in a fantastic effort with very limited numbers on their panel.

Our Intermediates started out the season taking part in the Leinster League and the senior league and have trained hard all season, but unfortunately they also suffered heartbreak losing to St. Brigid’s by just 2 points in the Intermediate County Final; we also have still to meet St. Brigid’s in the All County League final, so hopefully we will have better luck on that day.

The club was well represented on all the county teams this year, including U13, 14, 15, 16, 17, Intermediate and Senior, with the girls on the U14 and U17 squads winning All medals. We are very proud in particular of our senior representative Aisling Nolan, with her dedication to her training, her fantastic attitude and work ethic she is truly a great role model to all our players.

Not forgetting our hard working committee, one of the most fun fundraisers we’ve had in a long time was our Clara-In Sync, with club members, hurlers, Camogie players and even mammies taking part, but it was ‘Ken and Barbie’ that stole the show (also known John and Conor Phelan), thanks to all the participants and to the committee for literally keeping the show on the road. Thanks also to our coaches, our parents, our supporters, not to mention of course our players; it’s the goodwill and cooperation between all parts of our club that keeps it working so well. Here’s looking forward to starting it all over again in 2018.

U-6 Camogie: - We had a very enjoyable year in 2017 with the Under 6 team. The trainers for the year were Denis O’ Callaghan, Ken Breen, Eamon Phelan and Bill O’ Keeffe. We had an average of 24 kids training every week and a good mixture of boys and girls in the group. We played our first game against on the 12th of August in Clara and the kids really enjoyed themselves. There was a good mix of boys and girls on both teams so it was very even.

We played U6 boys team on their new pitch a week later on the 19th August. We had a great time again with the girls going very well against an all boys team. We split the teams into smaller groups on age to give the younger kids a good chance to get on the ball.

Our next outing was at the O Loughlin’s tournament on the 27th of August. We played games against , Bagnalstown and . The highlight for everyone was when Tommy Walsh turned up on the sideline for the Tullaroan team and gave great encouragement to both sides.

After the tournament we went up to the Castlewarren Field day for a mini match against Muckalee. Everyone got medals at the tournament and the field day as well as a party bag at the tournament so everyone was in great form at the end of the day.

We played another match against Danesfort on the 7th of September followed by an end of year party on the 15th of September where Lester Ryan was very good to come along and present party bags and certificates to all the kids.

U8 Camogie Report – Mentors: Michael Fitzgerald, Dan McDonald, Padraic Brennan

We had 19 girls for under 8 camoige training this year.We played in 4 blitzs and two challenge games. All girls progressed well and all got good game time which helped develop their skills and positions during games. Michael, Dan and Padraic

U-10 Camogie: Eamonn Dunne, John Leamy

We started this season with a registered panel of 15 players in the U9/10 group which reduced to a core group of 10 regular players for training and matches. A few U8 players joined to make up teams and contributed greatly as always. We played 5 go- games blitzes including two hosted by Clara. We also played several other challenge matches home and away. From mid-summer on the girls really found their rhythm, they played some great competitive games against equally matched or even stronger teams. Win, lose or draw the coaches were delighted with the girls’ effort, commitment, perseverance and took great pride in their performances. It was an enjoyable year with this group of players witnessing their development and improvement. We finished off the year with the Hurlathon. We would also like to thank the parents for travelling and supporting at matches, especially those who helped out on the days we hosted teams in Clara. Well done to the U10’s. Eamon Dunne & John Leamy.

U-12 Camogie: It was a good development year for our U12 squad. The team enjoyed the Go Games blitz’ at the start of the summer and performed very well, winning many matches. Their positive attitude helped them through a difficult U12’s league where they played against teams such as St. Martins (Muckalee), Danesfort, James Stephens, St. Lachtains (Freshford), Lisdowney and O’Loughlin Gaels. Some of these teams proved very strong against us but the girls battled on with such admirable spirit. They learned a lot about team structure, the importance of each position on the pitch and how important it is to support each other. Skills development was also high on their priority list this year and occasionally training with the U12’s boys squad proved very beneficial for them also. Manager: Theresa Carrigan; Mentor: Susan Murphy

A good year for our U-14 Camogie Team

2017 was a hugely satisfying year for our U-14 camogie girls. With a panel of 21 girls we started training on the 10th February and the attendance and effort at both training and matches all year was very impressive.

When the gradings came out we were put into Roinn A and despite some worries about whether we would be able to compete at this level we decided that we would go ahead. We should never have doubted this groups ability to play at the highest grade and we started our league campaign with a bang. We got off to the best possible start by winning our first 4 league games against James Stephens, , Dicksboro & Thomastown. We then had a break from league action by taking part in Feile on the weekend of the 16th-18th June. This was a fantastic sporting weekend. We started with two wins out of two wins at home in Clara on Friday evening and another win on Saturday morning ensured a quarter final in Rathnure on Saturday afternoon. A victory there against Cloughbawn (Wexford) led to a semi-final against Dicksboro in Palmerstown on the Sunday morning. Unfortunately the Clara’s girls bowed out of the competition after a close game against the ‘Boro girls who went on to win the final. The girls were naturally very disappointed but were gracious in defeat and were a credit to the club over a very exciting weekend.

It was back to league action after this where we were unlucky to lose by one point to Glenmore before finishing off our league campaign with a defeat to a very strong St. Brigid’s (Ballycallan) team.

We then put all our efforts into preparing for a championship quarter final against Thomastown. We didn’t get off to a great start and found ourselves 12 points down at half time. However, the girls never gave up and showed great spirit and determination to reduce the deficit to just 4 points with about 5 minutes to go before finally losing out by 6 points. This left us out of the championship and we ended up in the Shield semi final against James Stephens where we were narrowly beaten after a high scoring game.

Our efforts in the championship and the shield weren’t helped by a couple of injuries to key players, particularly a cruciate injury suffered by Grace Barcoe. We wish Grace all the best in her recovery from this serious injury and hope she will be back playing as soon as possible.

This U-14 panel is a very committed and talented group and did us proud in both the Roinn A league/championship and Division 2 of Feile in 2017. We hope they will all continue to play and to improve and if they do they will have continued success into the future. One of the strengths of this group is how well they get on together and the enjoyment they get from training and playing. A special word of thanks to all the parents for their support and encouragement during the year.

Panel: Erin O’Connell, Laoise Phelan, Katie Ryan, Claire Murphy, Anna Walpole, Grace Barcoe, Laoise Nolan, Grainne Glynn, Siobhan Treacy, Rachel Whelan, Peig Carrigan, Keara Ryan, Emma Shortall, Aisling Fitzgerald, Alva Power, Dawn Rowe, Emma Burke, Ada Phelan, Emma Corr, Fay Lannen, Rachel Brickell.

Coaches: David Shortall, Eamonn Rafter, Coleman Ryan.

U16 Camogie: Paul Cody (Manager), David Shortall, John Heeran (Selectors) U16 camoige league began with win over Lisdowney. This was followed up with a loss to Paulstown. Next up was John Lockes and another victory. Our last match was away to St Annes and another victory. This set up a league semi final with Ballyhale and resulted in an 18 point heavy loss. Our championship began with a win over Rower,. We then beat Paulstown in the semi final by 4 points to set up a final with our rivals Ballyhale. Against hot favourites Ballyhale, Clara produced their best hurling of the year and finished level at full time. In extra time a last minute goal secured victory.

Many thanks to my selectors David Shortall and John Heeran. Also U14 and U18 management teams to accommodate training schedules and matches. Our job was made easy with the help of our Chairperson Marian Brennan, Secretary Susan Murphy and Theresa Carrigan. Thanks to Jimmy Fitz and his team for making the pitch available and in great order. The key to our success was consistent high numbers at our training sessions throughout the year.

2017 Summer Cul Camp: This years Cul Camp was, yet again, very well attended with a significant number of players coming from other clubs to join our camp. Children aged from 6-13 from the club had an action packed week where they learned many new skills from experienced mentors and trainers from the GAA and the Camogie Association. We would like to thank them most sincerely for their time and effort spent imparting skills in a fun and interesting manner to our players.

Hurlathon: Bord na nOg once again collaborated with Clara Camogie Club to host the 2017 Hurlathon, an important annual fundraiser for the club. Many thanks to Langton’s Restaurant for providing the hot food, Freshco Shop for supplying the stock for the shop, to the Ryan Family for their generous sponsorship and to everyone who supported the event.

Matches were played from 9.30-3.30 with a fun atmosphere and great interest from the sidelines!

Congratulations are also due to the camogie girls who represented the club on the various county panels this year. They did their club, their county and themselves proud.

Intermediate Camogie Report 2016 We started training in January and competed in the Leinster League. This is a good competition and it is nice to play teams competitively from other counties. The team competed well in the All County League getting to the final but it ended with disappointment. The team had a good run in the championship, again getting to the final but losing narrowly in the final. I think that this group of players are good enough to play senior camogie but it will take a huge effort from everyone to get there. There are other clubs with the same potential as Clara so it will be down to who wants it the most and who puts in the most work.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone on the panel for their commitment throughout the year. The panel is important and hopefully everyone will stick together for 2018.

I would like to thank Liz Neary and John Curtis for their time and expertise throughout the year. Thanks to Gemma Dowling and especially Fiona Phelan for sorting out all the watsaping, to Susan Murphy for all her dealings with the County Board and for being so approachable and easy to deal with and to Paul Cody for taking the sessions while I was away on holidays. Also, thanks to Laoise Nolan and Alva Power, our 'hydration consultants'. Minor Camogie Report 2017 The Minor squad comprised 18 players this year. They played 6 matches in the League and won 5 of them. They reached the semi final but were unlucky to be beaten by Mullinavat/Carrickshock on the day. In the Championship, Clara beat Ballyhale in the 1st round, beat Lisdowney in the semi final and again met Mullinavat/Carrickshock in the final. We narrowly missed out on being county champions by a point in that match. The management team comprised of Martin Tracey, Gemma Dowling and Barry Power and they would like to thank all the players and parents for their support throughout the year.

Susan Murphy Secretary, Clara Camogie Club 2017.