While it really is all about participation and the enjoyable sporting activity that goes with that, success is sweet when it arises. It’s the icing on the cake!
As yet another playing season comes towards an end for most of our teams, Clanna Gael Fontenoy can celebrate the fact that greater numbers than ever before are having fun playing football, hurling and camogie; and, to top that, many of the club’s teams are regularly winning matches and gaining dominance in their respective competitions.
Our U-12 teams are a case in point, with the A hurling team recently winning the Division 4 league – even before they had completed the full round of fixtures – while the footballers recorded a comprehensive win in their final league game to also claim the Division 4 title.
But there have been many other examples of success, such as the very impressive string of results delivered by our minor footballers through an attractive brand of open, attacking play; the combined Uí Chonaill Fontenoy U-15 hurlers just losing out on promotion from Division 2 to Division 1; our U-13 footballers comfortably holding their own at the very highest level of their game by finishing third in the Division 1 league table; or our U-9 hurlers performing heroics in a recent blitz competition, which was matched by similar feats from our U-8 girls’ football team in their blitz.
Our adult section has not been without success either – epitomised by the selection of a number of our footballers (David Lyons and Ricky Joyce) for Dublin senior trials.
But pride of place almost certainly goes to our U-13 girls, who won the Division 2 championship with an impressive run of matches against strong opponents all the way. Their emphatic 6-7 to 0-6 win over Scoil Uí Chonaill from Clontarf in the final reflects the skill and determination of this bunch of talented players.
Meanwhile, activities off the field of play have been every bit as hectic and, indeed, productive. A new Coaching Manual has been designed with both new and experienced club coaches in mind to provide a structured, consistent framework to assist all coaches in the club’s Juvenile section. It will be instrumental in helping coaches to plan and manage both individual and team development from the Club Academy at U-6 right through the juvenile age groups.
The club’s own Coffee Shop is another new development, where patrons can enjoy the best of coffee served on Saturday mornings and on other special occasions by club volunteers who have undergone special barista training. And, at the time of writing, tickets for the club’s Christmas Party had been sold out weeks in advance of the event – further testament to the vibrancy that thankfully pervades the club these days.
Clanna Gael Fontenoy is generously sponsored by Dublin Port Company.
