Pictured Above: The U-12 girls take the adventure route in Clara Laragh.
As we keep saying in the Club, it’s all about participation and having fun; and winning is a welcome bonus – particularly among the younger age groups.
So while there was much to celebrate by way of victories at all age-group levels throughout the first half of 2015, it’s the end-of-season events that best capture the true spirit of participation.
Take, for example, the case of the U-10 girls’ team. They chose to mark the end of the season by giving a demonstration to their parents of the skills they had developed. With Clanns man, Declan Darcy (Dublin Senior Football selector), on hand to see if any of the dads deserved a late call-up to the Dublin squad, the girls set about giving the assembled parents a master class in hand passing, soloing, catching and scoring.
The session finished with a girls versus parents target practice drill, in which the girls showed why they are so hard to beat at their age group. Suffice to say, and in true juvenile GAA speak, the parents finished second…
Meantime, our U-10 boys finished off a great season with a well-deserved trip to Clara Laragh Adventure Park in Wicklow. The day started with an away fixture against éire óg Greystones, where two matches were played. This was followed by an afternoon of fun, with plenty of messing and a great team day out.
Clara Laragh was also the end-of-season destination for a group of 24 girls and six coaches/parents from the U-12 girls’ squad. By all accounts, there was plenty of fantastic singing on the journey out and back, with plenty of adventure activities in between – not to mention a super barbeque.
This was a well-earned day out, given their great performances during the season against teams from Ballyboden, Lucan Sarsfield, St. Peregrines, St. Jude’s, Clontarf , Na Fianna and Cuala.
The U8 girls’ team stayed closer to home for their end-of-season celebration. It started with a match against their parents which they duly won, followed by some tasty pizza!
Pictured Above: The U-10 girls show their parents a thing or two.
Dublin senior footballer, Jonney Cooper, was among the many notable visitors to the Club in recent months. He was there as part of an event to mark the achievement of the Club’s Féile 2014 winning team; and to help identify the basis for their future success – whether in sport or more generally in life.
Pictured Above: Dublin senior footballer, Jonney Cooper (far left) with the squad which won the 2014.
The end of season was also marked by a special tribute night in the Clubhouse, where four stalwarts – Shay Connolly, Eugene Davey, Frank White and Michael O’Kane – were honoured for their tremendous contributions to the Club over many years. A fuller report appears elsewhere in the paper.
By Felix O’Regan
