AGM 2008 Secretary's Report

2008 Tinahely GAA Club

DATE: 12th December 2008, 8pm

VENUE: Tinahely GAA Clubhouse, Tinahely

A Chairde Gael

It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to the AGM of the Tinahely GAA Club, in our splendid clubhouse. This is my report on Tinahely GAA for the year 2008. My aim in this report is to give an account of the club's activities both on and off the field of play. Firstly, I would like to start with our performances on the field of play. Senior Kieran Kenny, Niall O Dare, Paul TyrrellTThe training of our senior team started in January using the gym and hall. The attendances at these were very good. The league commenced well beating teams An Tochar, Ballymanus, Arklow, Kiltegan and drawing against Rathnew, Stratford and Blessington. We finished with 11 points and in 12^th place. In the Championship our group included Bray, Kiltegan and Arklow. The Arklow game was one we expected to win but only managed a draw, 2-9 apiece which we were disappointed with. The Kiltegan game was lost as well, 2-10 to 10 points. A game, which one would of thought, belonged to Kiltegan. We held out till the very end, but luck was not on our side that day. After this, things went wrong for the management team, with only Niall O’Dare left, I had to act quickly to get things sorted out. Paul Tyrrell came on board and we managed to find trainer, Paul MacNamee with only two weeks left before the Bray game. It was always going to be hard! The Senior quad stuck together and showed their commitment, we need to beat Bray but unfortunately lost out by one point with the final score line reading 1-11 to 2-7. We fought every inch of the way and players gave everything they had, unfortunately it was not to be. This put is into the relegation plays off in the Keating Cup. We lost to Roundwood and managed to defeat Arklow to keep our senior status.The Club is mostly judged by its status and achievements of our senior team. With the talent that we have within our Club throughout our teams, I feel we underachieve year after year. A certain amount of the responsibility for this can lye with the Management and Club itself, however without the full cooperation and dedication of the players success will continue to elude us. While I have no doubt about the level of commitment of the players while on the pitch, I would like to see a more mature and disciplined approach to preparations off the field.I believe that every players wants to achieve success and is prepared to sacrifice everything to reach their goal, however the level of in-discipline throughout the year was inexcusable. The level of bickering between players themselves, abuse towards referees and sometimes the team mentors was appalling. This is not a platform from which to build on neither is a good example to set for our younger players coming through who may see this type of behaviour as the norm.I appeal to all players for this coming year to be more conscious of the task at hand and channel their efforts into achieving good results and not the referee’s attention. In saying that in the Championship during ’08 the team showed passion and commitment and gave everything of them in the pursuit of victory and unfortunately it just wasn’t meant to be. My wish for the coming season is for us to get back on track and take the positives from last season and learn from our mistakes and push forward in 2009. Junior B Jim Lillis, John Gammell, Killan R.It was a disappointing year for our Junior B team in 2008. We only managed to finish 3^rd in the league which by our own previous standards was quite poor. The most important games in the league were only narrowly lost and feedback from both mentors and players would suggest that had even a slight effort been given at training this league was there for the taking.In the Championship our first opponents were Avondale. We managed to secure a 3-6 to 1-6 victory over them despite a very disappointing performance. We then played Baltinglass and after a very good team performance and hard grafting we beat them 3-12 to 2-8. This placed us in the semi final against An Tochar. This match was played out in Arklow and after chasing them for most of the game we fought hard and the game resulted in a draw. The replay was in Annacurragh on a wet and windy night; unfortunately we exited the Championship at this stage by being defeated 11 points to 6 points. The Junior B Team has great potential and I am convinced that if more attention was given at training and attendance at matches, we are more than capable of winning the Championship in ’09. I feel that if the Clubs second team was regularly competing at Junior A level, I feel it would be a great benefit to the club as a whole and also provide a much better standard of football for our younger players coming through the path to senior ranks.Junior CKevin Darcy, Brendan Furlong, Willie FurlongWe entered a third team into the league this year due to the high number of players we now have at the Club. The Junior C team had a pretty good first season and managed to finish 6^th in the Division 4 Senior League. Well done to Kevin Darcy, Brendan Furlong and Willie Furlong for their endeavours through the season.The first championship outing was against Fergal Og’s where we managed to beat them by the narrowest of margins and the game finished 1-14 to 1-13. The quarterfinal was played out against Kilbride in Baltinglass and after a hard battle with Kilbride managing to steal a few fortunate goals, they beat us 3-6 to 11 points. Personally at the start of the year, I had reservations about entering a second team in the Junior B league and I thought that it might have an impact of having two weak teams as opposed to one strong team. However, the benefits of so many of our players /members getting regular football has far outweighed my concerns and for our Junior B & C teams to finish 3^rd and 6^th respectively in the South East League is a credit to the strength of our Club.Juvenile Many thanks to all of those who take care of our Juvenile Teams. The hard work makes sure that these young players will reach their full potential. U8 – Took part in four blitz this year and did very well in all of them.U10 – Took part in blitz throughout the year and also did very well.U12 – They entered into the West League and B ChampionshipU14 – They entered into the West League and B ChampionshipU16 Luke O Toole’s reach their league final but unfortunately were defeated by Eire Og 1-5 to 5 points.U18 Luke O Toole’s reached the semi final of the Championship loosing 3-9 to 2-4 to Blessington but managed to win the Shield beating St Kevin’s 13 points to 10 points.Well done to all mentors and players throughout the year!!Ladies The Ladies Senior Team did extremely well under their mentors Colm Kenny and Enda Kenny. The girls trained very hard throughout the year and it certainly paid off for them. The managed to secure victory in all of their league games earning them Junior C League Title. The then went on to win the Junior C County Championship, the Junior B County Championship and finally the Ellen Kinch Cup. Congratulations to them and we wish them well in the 2009 season.Thanks also to the Ladies Club who helped out the Club this year with lotto direct debits and also their contribution to helping out for the Opening weekend of the Clubhouse and various other functions.Ladies Juvenile:U14 – Won the County Plate by defeating St Pats.U12 – Won the U12 County Championship.I am extremely delighted that the Ladies Club has taken off, there are many talented younger players coming up through the ranks and I have no doubt that Tinahely GAA club will be sporting a Senior Team within a few years. We also must recognise the number of young girls playing football at county level. Well done to them and congratulations for your dedication to GAA.Scór In November this year we participated in senior Scór competitions. We not have any success but had a thoroughly enjoyable night. I would like to see more people participating for the club in 2009. Club Development To date we have seen many improvements wit our Club. The new floodlights were repaired during the year and have enabled training to be facilitated during the dark winter evenings.The fully equipped Gym is now in maximised to its potential with new carpet laid and the partition dividing the gym from the meeting room.An excellent job has been done on the grounds and the Clubhouse all in preparation for the Official Opening of the Clubhouse by President Nicky Brennan on the 27^th June 2008. It is a credit to everyone involved in order to get the grounds and Clubhouse looking splendid for the occasion. There has been a lot of work done at our grounds within the last 12 months including the power hosing of the stand and border walls, painting of the stand, new seating for the stand, etc. and we should continue to keep improving our facilities during 2009.Our Fas employee, Nicky Byrne, is employed to work 20 hours a week maintaining the grounds, cleaning of the clubhouse, etc. Thanks for Fas and to Nicky for his work to date.As Tinahely is such a large club and with having to facilitate many training night and match fixtures, Darren Dunne took on the role of organising this task for facilitating one and all. Many thanks for Darren for his job and I think everyone will agree that it made such a difference when booking training nights and matches.Funding Weekly Lotto On the weekly lotto, I would like to issue a plea to the members today to help out with selling tickets for the lotto and to get as many as possible to sign up for the €5 direct debit. The more people direct debits we have will increase the revenue for the lotto. I would like to see all players and members signed up for this. Thanks to the lotto committee for selling tickets, collecting tickets and organising the weekly draw. Golf Classic

This year our annual golf classic was held in the Coolattin Golf Club. It proved to be an even bigger success than our inaugural golf classic last year. Thanks again to Jim Coogan and Anthony Darcy for their sponsorship. A big thanks to the organising committee who went out and got sponsorship for the day, and all associated sponsors for this event.

CalendarThe Calendar was a great success this year and we received a lot of sponsorship. Thanks to Michael Morris who spent a lot of time and effort working on the Calendar. Race NightThe Race Night held in O’Connor’s was a great social event and fundraiser for the Club. It brought much-needed funds to the Club. Again a lot of hard work and preparation goes into such a night. Thanks again to all those who sold horses, got sponsors and helped out on the night.Sponsors Anthony Darcy contributed most generously again this year with O’Neill’s football gear for all the players who committed themselves to training. The gear supplied included gear bags, jackets, and nicks. Ran Property again for the 2008 season sponsored the Senior Team holiday. Thanks to them for putting the holiday up again for grabs for the Senior Team for fight for their position to win the league and get the County Finals of the Championship. Unfortunately, the lads did not qualify for this holiday.The cost of the daily running of the club is increasing every year, so I would like to say a heartfelt thank you to our sponsors who have helped us out this year. The sponsorship of events such as the race night, calendar, golf classic, website, juvenile club, ladies club, senior club, has been most appreciated. (Again, too many to mention!)Website June also seen the launch of website www.tinahelygaa.ie . Thanks to Kevin Nolan who designed the site along with Erin Murphy. Thanks to Ran Property who sponsored the site. We badly need help with updating the website and keeping all news stories, match fixtures, match reports, photos, etc up dated. If you are in anyway good at the PC please don’t hesitate to contact me about giving a hand out here.Thanks to all those who volunteered and are currently updating the site each week. (Too many to mention!).We also want to encourage everyone to view and get involved in the site, as there is a whole page where comments can be left on games, results, and other topics of conversation.Dinner DanceThe was a huge success with Brian Cody in attendance. Over 220 people were at the dinner dance, which shows the support our Club has from the local community. Special presentations this year were made to the Ballinglen Team of old. We hope next years dinner dance will be just as well coordinated and as successful.Membership A lot of my time during the year went into collecting membership and this is something that the Club should not have to spend time on. For next year, all players must pay their membership on of before the 31^st January, which is the new deadline.

Sympathy

I would like to extend my deepest sympathy on behalf of the Club, to all officers, players, members and friends who have suffered bereavements during the last year. Club Meetings Numerous Club meetings were held throughout the year. The meetings were particularly constructive and thus we have seen the success of the club grow from these meetings. I wish take this time to personally thank Annmaire Buttle. The amount of work and time she commits to our Club may go unrecognised but I know how much she personally contributes, so a big thank you on behalf of myself and the Club.Conclusion Finally, 2008 has been a very busy but enjoyable year for me. The highlights of the year were the huge success of the Opening Weekend of the Clubhouse and the success of the Dinner Dance.I would like to thank my fellow members of the committee for their help and support of the Club throughout the year. A big thanks to our gatemen, umpires and linesmen on match days, thanks to the ticket sellers and the kit men, Joey and Tommy and all those that help out with washing the jerseys and keeping them spick and span.Thanks to all the supporters who followed the team through the season. To Erin, I wish to thank her for the amount of paperwork, typing out, correspondence and for her patience throughout the year. I would like to wish everyone a merry Christmas and a happy and successful 2009 both on and off the football field and please God at the next AGM we will have the Miley Cup here in front of us. Anthony Murphy

Club Secretary