Clanns U13 girls league champions celebrate receiving their medals.
By Felix O’Regan
Clanna Gael Fontenoy CelebParticipation is all important. Whatever the outcome, win lose or draw, this is the unspoken motto of Clanna Gael Fontenoy. But when special effort and particular achievement deserve recognition, the club is not found wanting.
Club Achievement Awards
So it is with the Club Person of the Year Award and the Colm O’Briain Memorial Award for the most committed U15 player of the year. The former is a long-standing, prestigious award which honours the highest standard of commitment and dedication to the club; the latter is a more recent but no less important award for the U15 age group in memory of Colm O’Briain, popular and committed team mentor, who died tragically in 2016.
The club Christmas Dinner provided the occasion for the announcement of the 2018 award winners.
Declan Darcy received the Club Person of the Year Award for his tremendous work and support for the club throughout the year. Notwithstanding his very busy schedule as selector with the Dublin senior football team, he has devoted huge energy and time to under-age coaching at the club. While he emphasises that success is not just about winning trophies but about enabling players to get the most out of themselves, he was instrumental in the Clanns U15 girls’ football teams lifting both the Division 1 and Division 5 league titles in 2018. Barry Moylan received the Colm O’Briain Memorial Award. Through his attitude, dedication to training and commitment to his team, he showed himself to be a very deserving recipient.
Clanns players feature with the Dubs
Apart from the satisfaction and honour of playing with your club, the ultimate achievement for many players is to play for their county team. Over the years the club has provided many fine players, male and female, to bolster Dublin county panels. This proud tradition continues with the recent selection of Kate McKenna and Hannah Lohan to the Ladies Dub Stars teams: Kate for the Senior Stars and Hannah for the Junior Stars.
In addition, Evan Caulfield has been selected to the Dublin U20 football panel: recognition of the great football he has played over the years for club’s under-age teams and most recently for our intermediate football team.
U13 girls celebrate their success
Befitting their super achievements and hard work, the U13 girls’ football squad recently received their 2018 Division 1 League winner and Championship Shield runner-up medals at a special ceremony in the Intercontinental Hotel, Ballsbridge. The medals were presented by Clanns and Dublin ladies football star, Kate McKenna – to the delight of all there. The ceremony was followed by a parent and daughter presentation on the exciting developments for the 2003-2005 girls’ teams for 2019 – including the very good news that Kate will be joining the coaching set-up for the coming year.
New Junior football team bodes well for future
There is no doubt that, for a club to be really successful, it needs strength in depth. So it bodes well for the future of the club that, after an absence of many years, a new Junior Men’s football squad has been formed for the 2019 season. The squad will cater for minor players who have successfully completed their journey through the juvenile ranks, for intermediate players who are stepping down from the demands of that level, as well as other players who would like to get back into Gaelic having taken a break for whatever reason. New players are also welcome to join the squad.
The squad will be managed by an experienced team, including Pat Kane, Mick Costelloe and Roger McGrath. They will initially train with the intermediate squad and, as the season progresses, will train on their own. The division in which the team will play is not yet known, but it is hoped that it will be testing while allowing the team to find its feet. The return from foreign climes of Simon Beirne, who in his time was an excellent club footballer and mentor, has acted as a catalyst for this initiative.
Training on Tuesday and Thursday evenings at 19.30hrs is already underway and new players are welcome – contact Roger McGrath at roger.t.mcgrath@gmail.com.
