An exciting club quiz in aid of Nenagh Day Care Centre, our volunteers continue to aid the vulnerable in our community and an important survey for our juvenile section. All this and more in this week’s news on the Blues
Exciting Club Quiz for Nenagh Day Care Centre
Nenagh Éire Óg are holding an Online Family Table Quiz at 7:30pm on Saturday the 25th of April – the first of its kind within the county! What better way to spend a Saturday night in lockdown?
Registration is €10 per family and there will be a raffle on the night with some great prizes in store including a Q&A session at half time with Irish Rugby Star Donnacha Ryan.
The quiz will be streamed via Zoom and promises to be a night of great fun! To register or for any queries text/Whatsapp 0879492471, 0876693645 or 0851120299. Proceeds will be shared with Nenagh Day Care Centre and the quiz is open to all, not just club members.
Helping the Vulnerable
Once again we wish to thank our army of selfless volunteers who have been busy purchasing groceries, fuel, delivering prescriptions and generally helping the vulnerable and over-70s in our community throughout the last three weeks. It is during times of crises that we really see the benefit of a tight and caring community and the people of Nenagh and indeed our club, have been more than willing to put the shoulder to the wheel to help those in need.
Thank you to our senior players
Throughout the last number of weeks the senior hurlers, footballers and camógs have been making short videos with skills challenges for our juvenile players. The generosity of spirit has been heartening to see and we all wish to thank the players for putting so much effort into this.
We also wish to thank Niall Cahill and Catherine McTiernan for all their help with this initiative and of course without the enthusiasm of the families and players it would not be the massive success it is. And remember Barry Heffernan’s 2019 championship jersey is up for grabs for one of the lucky participants.
Having watched Killian Gleeson’s skills video during the week, Richie, Noel and John have confirmed that the senior hurlers will be training with blindfolds on in future to develop their kinesthetic awareness abilities. You can see Killian’s video here:
Condolences
The club would like to extend its deepest sympathy to the wife and family of the late Matt O Meara, Toomevara. Matt was a stalwart of Toomevara serving in a number of capacities including as a player, secretary and mentor with many teams.
To his wife Norah, daughter Ciara, sons Shane and Aidan, son-in-law Aidan, daughters-in-law Andrea and Violeta, grandchildren Donncha, Aoileann, Aodhan, Lily-Anne and Sean, as well as his many cousins and friends we offer our condolences
https://rip.ie/death-notice/matt-o-meara-toomevara-tipperary/420526
We also extend our deepest sympathies to the family and friends of John O’Shea, Patrickswell, Limerick. John’s son-in-law, Darragh Droog, has been involved with our senior hurling team for a number of years now.
To his wife Eileen, daughters Donna and Suzanne, brother Denis, sisters Maureen (O’Shea), Evelyn (Stoneham), Ann (Hartnett) and Joan (Murphy) and his many relatives and friends we extend our deepest sympathies.
https://rip.ie/death-notice/john-o-shea-patrickswell-limerick/420624
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a n-anamacha
YouTube
We have been making a number of past matches available to view on our YouTube channel over the last few weeks and this has proved to be very popular. Here is another game for you to enjoy. The 2013 clash with Moneygall in Cloughjordan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oef-WKjgqdU
Best Jersey in North Tipperary
Now we all know that our jersey is the nicest jersey not just in North Tipperary but the whole of the GAA universe and now we have a chance to officially confirm our status as the Nenagh Guardian are currently running a poll on Twitter to decide the best jersey in the division.
In the first round we went head to head against Ballina and came out on top and for the next round we need your help. So please keep an eye on the Guardian’s Twitter account for the quarter final competition and vote early and often for Nenagh Éire Óg.
Nenagh Eire Og are the first club through to the best club jersey in North Tipp competition by edging out Ballina 55.2% to 44.8%@NenaghGuardian @BallinaGAA https://t.co/jXks9P69L3 pic.twitter.com/Uo9felx5E8
— NenaghGuardian (@NenaghGuardian) April 19, 2020
The Guardian’s Team of the Decade
In last week’s edition of the Guardian Shane Brophy, Liam Hogan and James Hayden picked their North Tipperary club team of the decade and we were delighted to get two players, Michael Heffernan and Hugh Maloney, onto the starting fifteen with Barry Heffernan settling for a place on the bench.
You can see the team in the photograph above and remember please support local businesses during these difficult times and buy the local paper on Wednesday.
1960 Silver Street, Street League
Here is a photograph of the Silver Street, street league team from 1960 coloured in by Rob Toohey. Rob has a superb collection of local characters from times past on his Facebook page and for a wonderful trip down Nostalgia Lane, his page is well worth checking out.
Can anyone name any of the people in the photograph? If yes please email us on eireognenagh@gmail.com or contact any of our social media channels.
If you have any Nenagh GAA related photographs please email them to eireognenagh@gmail.com or private message any of our social media channels and we would be thrilled to publish them.
Juvenile & Camogie News
Éire Óg Juvenile club and Camogie club skills challenge continues each day having completed five weeks to date. We plan to continue these daily challenges as long as possible to facilitate all underage players that wish to take part involved in club activity on a daily basis.
The daily skills challenges have proven to be a great success with our younger members and their families. In order to monitor and improve this project can you please complete the below survey which is completely anonymous. The results will guide us as to how this project could be improved to make it more worthwhile and enjoyable for our Future Stars.
Survey
The survey can be accessed here.
Watch this space as an exciting new One Club Family Project is in the planning stages and will be announced shortly. Thank you to those involved in bringing this project to fruition.
This weeks challenges were around skills development and fun which involved striking on the run and blindfolded catching. Parents and children alike participated by entering either a participation thumbs up or a score to their respective group text. Much family fun was had in the beautiful sunshine completing the challenges this week.
It is heartwarming to see so many families doing the challenges together and registering their scores each day. It is never too late for individuals or families to begin participating or just dip in and out of the challenges as it suits, just send your score or participation thumbs up into the group text on the day, all entries are very welcome.
Reminder, any child that regularly takes part in the challenge will have their name entered into a draw by their coach once we return to training to win a great prize kindly given by Barry Heffernan of his Tipperary jersey from last years All Ireland campaign. Barry will present the jersey to the winning child at a training session.
We are so proud of our adult players in the club who support the challenges on a daily basis and are never found wanting. Our juvenile club look forward to reciprocating the support when get back to cheering on our senior stars on the other side of these strange times. Senior players will henceforth be known both by name and the specific skill challenge which they championed in support of this project.
Thank you also to all the parents who encourage and support participation at home each day, this is central to the children maintaining and developing skill levels and to the success of the challenges. There is a huge amount of coaching taking place each day by parents and this will no doubt lead to an increased number of coaches within the club in the future.
Stay practicing, encourage each other, stay safe, stay home and mind each other.
Rody Boland’s
On the link below is an interesting article about our main club sponsor, Rody Boland’s, and how the interior and exterior of the pub made its way from Mitchel Street to Rathmines. The interior was more or less perfectly preserved from when the pub in Nenagh closed down in the 1930s to when it was moved to its new home in Dublin.
From Nenagh to Rathmines. How a long forgotten Tipp pub was moved to Dublin.
1977 County Minor Champions
We posted the above photograph on our social media channels and once again it attracted a lot of attention. It is of the 1977 minor hurlers which captured the club’s second county title at that age group, the first coming in 1969. The beat Silvermines in the North final and Loughmore Castliney in the county decider. The match programme from this game can be accessed here.
If you have any photographs from the past that you would like published please email eireognenagh@gmail.com or contact any of our social media channels.
The following are reports from the Guardian from both the North and county finals with Brian Heffernan also receiving the Player of the Week accolade following his performance against Silvermines in the North final.
All-Ireland Finals Online – Free to Watch
The GAA, in conjunction with the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, have launched the GAA Digital Archive at Croke Park providing free access to past GAA matches to internet users around the world.
113 All-Ireland finals since 1961 are included in the archive and provincial finals from 1961 also feature. The new archive also includes All-Ireland club finals since 1989.
In all, over 500 football and hurling matches were retrieved from broadcasters and information such as date, result, venue, referee, scorers and teams and substitutions was added.
This might be useful to all GAA fans during this time of isolation!
A look back at the 1969 county minor winning side, more games released on our YouTube channel and our Facebook page reaches a significant milestone. All this and more in this week’s news on the Blues
Happy Easter
Beannachtaí Féile na Cásca ar chuile dhuine idir óg is aosta sa bhaile is thar lear.
The club wishes all our of members, players, supporters and the wider community a happy Easter. This Easter marks the 104th anniversary of the 1916 Rising when Thomas MacDonagh, the man whom our grounds are named after, and his comrades struck a huge blow for Irish freedom. If you would like to learn a little more about the Cloughjordan native, please see our Easter 2016 newsletter below which contains lots of information about him.
http://www.nenagheireog.com/wp-content/uploads/Easter.pdf
We Are Community
Once again we wish to thank our army of selfless volunteers who have been busy purchasing groceries, fuel, delivering prescriptions and generally helping the vulnerable and over-70s in our community throughout the last three weeks. It is during times of crises that we really see the benefit of a tight and caring community and the people of Nenagh and indeed our club, have been more than willing to put the shoulder to the wheel to help those in need.
Our volunteers will continue to provide these services for as long as is required and if you need any assistance please contact club coordinator Bartley Ryan on 086 735 8359.
MacDonagh Park
Thank You
Once again we wish to thank our senior stars for providing daily fun challenges for our juveniles to help keep their skills sharp. The generosity of adult players in doing this is very much appreciated by the entire club. We also wish to thank Niall Cahill for coordinating all of this and of course Barry Heffernan who kindly donated one of his championship jerseys which will be given to one of the juvenile participants.
Juvenile News
Éire Óg Juvenile club and Camogie club skills challenge continues each day having completed four weeks to date. Our plan initially was to complete a fourteen day challenge programme while schools were closed, the situation has continued however as have our daily challenges and we aim to continue these daily challenges as long as possible to facilitate all underage players that wish to take part involved in club activity on a daily basis.
In addition to challenges which focused on fundamental movement, hurling and football skills this week included some fun activities which made for great fun in the beautiful warm sun.
It is heartwarming to see so many families doing the challenges together and registering their scores each day. It is never too late for individuals or families to begin participating or just dip in and out of the challenges as it suits, just send your score into the group text on the day, all scores are very welcome. If you haven’t already stepped out of your comfort zone and get involved, have a go this week.
Reminder, any child that regularly takes part in the challenge will have their name entered into a draw by their coach once we return to training to win a great prize kindly given by Barry Heffernan of his Tipperary jersey from last years All Ireland campaign. Barry will present the jersey to the winning child at a training session.
A huge amount of thanks must go to all of the adult players in the club who have taken part in the challenge to date. It really is hugely uplifting to see the high level of enthusiasm from them in ensuring the juvenile players skill levels increase throughout this difficult time.
Thank you also to all the parents who encourage and support participation at home each day, this is central to the children maintaining and developing skill levels and to the success of the challenges. There is a huge amount of coaching taking place each day by parents and this will no doubt lead to an increased number of coaches within the club in the future.
Happy Easter to all of our wonderful children and families. Stay practicing, stay safe, stay home and mind each other.
Club App
We would like to remind people that our club app, which was designed by Seán McTiernan, is available to download for those with Android phones. This fantastic communications tool is a brilliant way to stay up to date on all club news and fixtures.
Website
Our website www.nenagheireog.com got a facelift recently and we wish to thank Seán McTiernan for all his hard work in this regard.
1969 County Minor Title
In 1969 our minor hurlers captured the club’s first county minor title after they defeated Moycarkey Borris 8-8 to 1-7 with John Grace scoring 1-7, Denis O’Connor getting 3-0, with Martin Hogan and and Willie Condon scoring 2-0 each while Willie Brennan scored Éire Óg’s other point.
Incidentally we have won county minor hurling titles in the following years: 1969, 1977, 1978, 1991, 1992, 2008, 2012, 2013 while we have won one minor county football title in 1990.
Click on the link to read the Guardian’s match report from November 1st, 1969.
Our club Facebook page reach a significant milestone this week as Emmett Ryan from Clonmel became our 3,000th follower. Thanks to everyone who follows us on all our social media channels. Remember you can follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
YouTube
We have made a number of matches available to view on our YouTube channel recently to help people pass the time. Please visit https://www.youtube.com/c/nenagheireogtipperary to watch these matches. Below is our 2015 county semi final against Drom & Inch which was decided by a last second point by Dáire Quinn, AET.
PJM Fitness
Senior hurler Pearse Morris has set up a brand new Facebook page for his coaching services where he regularly posts updates on positivity, motivation and fitness. You can like his page at the following link: https://www.facebook.com/CoachMorris1/
Lotto
During the current Covid-19 crises our club lotto has been suspended however, you can still play online by clicking here.
This evening Adam Healy and Alanna Morris complete the club’s Q&A session
Name: Adam Healy
Occupation: Student
Schools/College Attended: Nenagh CBS, LIT
Favourite Position: Full forward
Achievements with club to date: u12 north medal, u14 county medal and u21 north medal
When and where did you first start playing GAA? When I was four years old in my back garden with my brother
Biggest influence on your GAA career: my friends and family
What sporting event would you most like to attend? The Super bowl
To date what is your favourite moment in sport? When Mickey Mac came on against Éire Óg Annacarty with no shorts
What has been your biggest disappointment in sport? 2019 county semi final loss
Favourite Venue: Dolla
Favourite G.A.A. player: Killian Gleeson
What sportsperson would you most like to meet? Ronaldo
What is the hardest part of your sporting life? Organising work and college around training times and matches
Toughest player to mark in training? Bookey (Mark Flannery)
Who is the ‘joker’ on the panel? Philip Hickey
Tell us a joke: why don’t China have a cricket team?
Because they ate the bat
What advice would you give to young players? Enjoy it as much as possible
If you wont the lottery what is the first thing you’d buy? I’d buy a pint for my friend Craig Hilmi
Favourite holiday destination: Boston
Favourite Food: steak tips
Favourite Drink: Coke
Favourite Music: all types could go from rap to country
Favourite Film/TV Show: Friday Night Lights/ One Tree Hill (classics)
Favourite book you’ve read? The Gatsby
In ten-years time I hope to be…..fit and healthy with a few pound in the wallet
One thing you may not know about me……I’m the best FIFA player in the town
One thing you may not know about me…… I hate being out of my comfort zone and can be quite shy.
Our senior players continue to set fun challenges for the juveniles, a plea to shop local while our efforts to help the vulnerable in our community continue. All this and more in this week’s news on the Blues
We Are Community
Once again we wish to thank our army of selfless volunteers who have been busy purchasing groceries, fuel, delivering prescriptions and generally helping the vulnerable and over-70s in our community throughout the last three weeks. It is during times of crises that we really see the benefit of a tight and caring community and the people of Nenagh and indeed our club, have been more than willing to put the shoulder to the wheel to help those in need.
Our volunteers will continue to provide these services for as long as is required and if you need any assistance please contact club coordinator Bartley Ryan on 086 735 8359.
MacDonagh Park
Following a directive from Croke Park we wish to advise our members and the wider community that our grounds at MacDonagh Park are now closed. This includes the use of all pitches and property for recreational purposes, including walking, casual games or gatherings. We once again respectfully ask our players, members and the wider community to respect this directive and not to enter our grounds for any reason whatsoever.
Thank You
Once again we wish to thank our senior stars for providing daily fun challenges for our juveniles to help keep their skills sharp. The generosity of adult players in doing this is very much appreciated by the entire club. We also wish to thank Niall Cahill for coordinating all of this and of course Barry Heffernan who kindly donated one of his championship jerseys which will be given to one of the juvenile participants.
The Late Br. Pat O’Connell
We wish to extend our sympathies to the family and friends of the late Brother O’Connell who has recently passed away. Since 1967, Brother O’Connell worked extremely hard to promote the Rice Cup competition and won it in 1969 when he took charge of Our Lady’s Templemore after they defeated Charleville. He later transferred work to St. Joseph’s CBS, Nenagh and won it for a second time as manager in 1988 when they defeated Ard Scoil Rís, 2-8 to 1-2. The 1988 side featured a number of Nenagh Éire Óg players including Pádraig O’Kennedy, Liam Walsh, Frank McGrath, John Tucker (0-1), Michael Loughnane, Mervyn Scanlon (0-1) and Eddie Guerin who scored 1-3 in the final.
He took on the role of secretary, chairman and president of the Rice Cup committee and coached hurling in Nenagh CBS for many years with countless numbers of our players benefitting from his expertise. In 2017, St. Joseph’s CBS made a presentation to him to thank him for his many years of service to the competition and it was made by former Nenagh Éire Óg player, Mr. Paul Dolan.
Those of us who were taught by Br. O’Connell will remember an enthusiastic, kind-hearted and caring man who always had the interests of the students first. His enthusiasm passed on a love of Science and Religion to all his pupils.
To his brothers Sean and Daniel, sisters-in-law Chrissie and Noreen, his nephews, nieces, Brothers in religion, relatives, the staff and students of Nenagh CBS and his wide circle of friends we offer our sincerest condolences.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.
Sympathies
The club wishes to extend its sympathies to the Jones family and in particular to Taff whose mother Megan from Ynysddu, Torfaen in Wales passed away recently.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a hanam
We also wish to extend our sympathies to the family and friends of the late John McKenna, Ballygraigue and Cookstown, Tyrone. John’s grandson Pearse Morris is currently part of our senior hurling panel while his granddaughter Ceri played camogie with us for many years. Jason McKenna, another grandson, is another former player with the club.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.
1991 League Final
We have been posting old photographs to our social media channels recently and one which garnered a lot of attention this week was the one above of Michael Cleary accepting the Hogan Cup from North Tipperary board chairman, Borris-Ileigh’s Billy Ryan after we had beaten Borrisokane, 2-12 to 0-13, in the North league final. For our younger members, the North League was a huge competition back in the 1980s and 1990s as the winners got to play the runners up in the North senior championship final for the right to represent the division in the county championship. The finals often attracted well over 1,000 supporters and both Toomevara and ourselves won the Dan Breen Cup coming through this route.
The Nenagh team that day was Seamus Kennedy, Fergal Hynes, Conor O’Donovan, Frank Moran, Denis Finnerty, John Heffernan, Michael Grace, Philip Kennedy (0-2), Jim Nagle, John Kennedy (0-1), Michael Cleary (0-7), Con Howard, Michael Kennedy (1-0), Neilly Corbett (1-1), Eddie Tucker. Substitutions: Paul Kennedy for Grace, Barry O’Brien (0-1) for Howard.
Journalist and clubman Brian McDonnell tweeted that the jersey worn in the photograph should be re-issued and sold as a retro club top, a suggestion that was certainly popular on social media. However, the Nenagh Guardian’s Gerry Slevin had a different suggestion in the paper that week and issued a stinging criticism of the club’s attire and shortly afterwards a new set was purchased, in sky blue and navy and we have been wearing those colours since.
Incidentally, Gerry Slevin was very complimentary of the performance of full back Conor O’Donovan and awarded him the Guardian’s Player of the Week accolade. It is interesting to note that Michael “Babs” Keating, the then Tipperary manager, had no issues with Conor and Michael playing a league match for their club two weeks before a knockout Munster championship semi-final against Limerick. Indeed, it did the lads no harm whatsoever as Tipperary defeated Limerick 2-18 to 0-10 with Michael Cleary scoring 0-5.
That jersey is savage @nenagheireog – needs to be re-released as a retro option for supporters https://t.co/RxjZIpcbSy
— brian mcdonnell (@sixtwofourtwo) April 3, 2020
If you have any photographs relating to our club, particularly from the 1970s to today, please email them to eireognenagh@gmail.com or alternatively send them via private message to any of our social media channels. People love looking at them and it is a great way to pass the time in these difficult days.
Shop Local
We request that where possible, people shop in our fantastic local businesses to help them through these difficult times. Many of them have been very generous to our club over the years in terms of sponsorship and purchasing advertising signs in our grounds and they will continue to do so into the future if we support them now. We also ask you to purchase the Nenagh Guardian on Wednesday. The local paper has been an extraordinary promotor of Gaelic games for well over a century and its archives are a phenomenon resource when it comes to researching games from the past. It would be a shame to lose any of these businesses so please support them now, when they need our custom more than ever. Many businesses are now selling online so please check their social media and websites for further information.
Juvenile News
Éire Óg Juvenile club and Camogie club skills challenge continues each day having completed three weeks so far. We aim to continue it as long as possible to keep all underage players that wish to take part involved in club activity on a daily basis. This week included some fun activities such as Bin Ball which was a nice throwback to last years Cúl Camp.
Family scores can be registered daily, it is fantastic to see so many families doing the challenges together. It is never too late to begin participating, just send your score into the group text on the day, family scores are very welcome. Reminder, any child that regularly takes part in the challenge will have their name entered into a draw by their coach once we return to training to win a great prize kindly given by Barry Heffernan of his Tipperary jersey from last years All-Ireland campaign. Barry will present the jersey to the winning child at a training session.
Sincere thank you must go to Niall Cahill for running the daily challenge and also to all of the adult players in the club who have taken part in the challenge to date. It is hugely uplifting to see the high level of enthusiasm from them in ensuring the juvenile players skill levels increase throughout this difficult time. Thanks also to all the parental involvement at home each day. There is a huge amount of coaching taking place each day by parents and this will no doubt lead to an increased number of coaches within the club in the future.
Wonderful Artists
We were thrilled to received two wonderful drawings from two exceptionally talented artists and camógs in the club, Amelie and Rebecca, both aged eight, who kindly sent us in these two brilliant pictures of camogie players in full flight. The pictures certainly brightened up our week. Thank you girls for the wonderful drawings.
The Peters Family on RTÉ
Many of our younger members are enjoying their time off school and have been continuing their education watching RTÉ’s early morning educational programme. Imagine their surprise when who should put up on screen cheering on Éire Óg but the Peters family. Have a look in the video below!
GAA Activities for Children
The GAA have added lots of fun activities for children on its website including pages to colour in as well as an educational portal for primary school children.
You can access it here.
Matches on YouTube
This week we have made a number of games from 2013 freely available to view on our YouTube channel. These include the drawn and replayed county semi-final games against Kiladangan. To watch these search Nenagh Éire Óg on YouTube.
The GAA Newsletter
The March edition of the GAA Club Newsletter is now available.
This month’s edition includes the following.
- A message from GAA President, John Horan, and GAA Director General, Tom Ryan, on the Association’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
- GAA Community and Health Manager, Colin Regan, describes how clubs around the country have rallied together to help their communities during the current health crisis.
- Details of the GAA’s partnership with SuperValu and Centra to help feed Ireland’s elderly and the most vulnerable in communities across the island at this most challenging time.
- The importance of looking after your mental health at this stressful time, and the resources that are available should you need help.
- A schedule of upcoming coach development sessions.
- Essays from young GAA members around the country on what their club means to them.
You can read and download the March edition of the GAA newsletter here.
Club Lotto
During the current Covid-19 crises our club lotto has been suspended however, you can still play online by clicking here.
Nenagh Get Second Shot at 1993 County Final
In 1993 Nenagh Éire Óg reached their very first county final when they beat Holycross Ballycahill 0-15 to 0-14 and were rewarded for their efforts with a clash against neighbours Toomevara in the decider however, the Greyhounds prevailed on the day winning out by a solitary point, 1-14 to 1-13.
There was naturally much disappointment surrounding the defeat, but the Blues responded two years later when they defeated Boherlahan Dualla to capture their maiden title. The pain of that 1993 defeat still lingers among the Blues but for the players they are getting a second shot at capturing that title and rewriting the history books.
Last February, GAA historian Joe Cummins, while researching for his PhD, was trawling through the paperwork and discovered that both teams had mistakenly filled out their team sheets incorrectly and brought the matter to the attention of the county board. An investigation was carried out and revealed that under GAA rule 6.44, subsection C part 1, both teams were required to forfeit the game. According to the rule, as both teams were required to forfeit, this means that the game has to be replayed.
Officers from both Toomevara and Nenagh have been meeting with the county board executive in recent weeks via teleconferencing to resolve the matter and it has been agreed that once COVID-19 sanctions are lifted, the game will be replayed in Semple Stadium with the rules of the day enforced except for helmets, with the modern day rule regarding faceguards being applied. Galtee Rovers / St. Pecaun’s Paddy Lonergan refereed the game in 1993 and has been appointed to take change of the re-fixture.
It has also been agreed between all parties that insofar as possible, both clubs will field the same starting fifteen under the same management and will only be permitted to use three substitutions and they must come from the list originally submitted to referee Paddy Lonergan on the day.
The Toomevara players will be requested over the next few weeks to return their medals while Nenagh will recommence training in their back gardens with their coach, Liam Heffernan, communicating to them using Skype, Facetime and the Zoom app so as not to break COVID-19 social distancing guidelines. Once the current sanctions the Nenagh panel will resume training in MacDonagh Park prior to the re-fixed final.
The Late Brother O’Connell
We wish to extend our sympathies to the family and friends of the late Brother O’Connell who has recently passed away. Since 1967, Brother O’Connell worked extremely hard to promote the Rice Cup competition and won it in 1969 when he took charge of Our Lady’s Templemore after they defeated Charleville. He later transferred work to St. Joseph’s CBS, Nenagh and won it for a second time as manager in 1988.
He took on the role of secretary, chairman and president of the Rice Cup committee and coached hurling in Nenagh CBS for many years with countless numbers of our players benefitting from his expertise. In 2017, St. Joseph’s CBS made a presentation to him to thank him for his many years of service to the competition and it was made by former Nenagh Éire Óg player, Mr. Paul Dolan.
Those of us who were taught by Br. O’Connell will remember an enthusiastic, kind-hearted and caring man who always had the interests of the students first. His enthusiasm passed on a love of Science and Religion to all his pupils.
To his brothers Sean and Daniel, sisters-in-law Chrissie and Noreen, his nephews, nieces, Brothers in religion, relatives, the staff and students of Nenagh CBS and his wide circle of friends we offer our sincerest condolences.
His funeral arrangements can be found here.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.
Yesterday we met Paddy Murphy and Zoey Gratton so today we are going to find out a little more about both Megan Grace and Shane Hennessy. Enjoy!
Name: Megan Grace
Occupation: Student
Schools/College Attended: St.Mary’s Secondary School
Favourite Position: Wing back
Achievements with club to date: U12, U14 County Final, Minor 2018 County Final
When and where did you first start playing GAA? Nenagh 2007
Biggest influence on your GAA career: Gemma Grace (cousin)
What sporting event would you most like to attend? Any NBA game
To date what is your favourite moment in sport? Winning minor county title 2018
What has been your biggest disappointment in sport? Losing the 2019 schools All-Ireland
Favourite Venue: MacDonagh Park
Favourite G.A.A. player: Brendan Maher
What sportsperson would you most like to meet? Ronaldo/LeBron James
What is the hardest part of your sporting life? Training
Toughest player to mark in training? Alanna Morris / Maeve Coffey
Who is the ‘joker’ on the panel? Ellie Spain
Tell us a joke: Why did the golfer bring two pairs of pants ? – Incase he got a hole in one
What advice would you give to young players? Practice makes perfect. Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard
If you won the lotto what would be the first thing you would buy? A car (Audi)
Favourite holiday destination: Hawaii
Favourite Food: Lasagna
Favourite Drink: Pepsi Max
Favourite Music: Pop/Rap
Favourite Film/TV Show: Power
Favourite book you’ve read? The Fault in our Stars
In ten-years time I hope to be….. A Qualified teacher, fit and healthy and still enjoying camogie
One thing you may not know about me…… I play three instruments
Shane Hennessy
Name: Shane Hennessy
Occupation: M.Sc Aviation Finance Student in UCD Smurfit
Schools/College Attended: Nenagh CBS, NUIG, UCD
Favourite Position: Full Forward
Achievements with club to date: Two minor county finals
When and where did you first start playing GAA? Toomevara under-6’s 😃
Biggest influence on your GAA career: My Dad
What sporting event would you most like to attend? Tokyo 2021
To date what is your favourite moment in sport? Winning the minor county final 2012
What has been your biggest disappointment in sport? Loosing the county final 2018
Favourite Venue: Semple Stadium
Favourite G.A.A. player: John Mullane
What sportsperson would you most like to meet? Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh
What is the hardest part of your sporting life? Being on the physio table 90% of the time 🙄 🚑
Toughest player to mark in training? Mikey Mac
Who is the ‘joker’ on the panel? Alex Jones
Tell us a joke: John Cahalan and Brian Tuite emigrated to London in 2016 after having a going away party and came home after ten days 😅
What advice would you give to young players? Keep the hurley in the hand every day outside of training
If you won the lotto what would be the first thing you would buy? A house in Dublin
Favourite holiday destination: New York and Inis Mór In Ireland
Favourite Food: Chicken Curry
Favourite Drink: Flat white ☕️
Favourite Music: Coldplay
Favourite Film/TV Show: Brooklyn 99
Favourite book you’ve read? I love the Ross O’Carroll Kelly books
In ten-years time I hope to be….. Retired to a villa in the south of France
One thing you may not know about me……I’ve won Munster Medals in the Piano Accordion
Tomorrow we will meet Maeve Coffey and Seán Phelan!
Stay safe everyone and maintain physical distance!
This week we meet Paddy Murphy and Zoey Gratton, we partner with Centra Nenagh to help the most vulnerable in our community and Barry Heffernan’s 2019 championship jersey is up for grabs. All this and more in this week’s news on the Blues.
We Are Community
Through our Healthy Club Project, Nenagh Éire Óg is helping the community by delivering groceries, fuel and items from local pharmacies to the elderly and most vulnerable. The club put out a request for helpers to complete these tasks and were overwhelmed with the response from players and members from both our GAA and camogie sections and currently have a team of over fifty people who have been busy these past two weeks. We have partnered with Musgraves and Centra in Nenagh and anyone who needs groceries delivered are asked to phone Centra on 067-31830 or alternatively they can ring club coordinator Bartley Ryan on 086 735 8359 if require any assistance whatsoever.
Covid-19 Guidelines
We all want to get back to our normal lives where we can go to MacDonagh Park to meet up with our friends, return to training, play matches and just generally enjoy life. However, in order for us to do just that it is important that we follow the latest guidelines from both the government and HSE so that we can slow down the spread of the virus and help prevent people in our community from getting sick and possibly even dying. The sooner people comply with all the guidelines the sooner this virus vanishes and we can all get back to doing what we love best, watching and playing Gaelic games.
MacDonagh Park
Following a directive from Croke Park we wish to advise our members and the wider community that our grounds at MacDonagh Park are now closed. This includes the use of all pitches and property for recreational purposes, including walking, casual games or gatherings. We once again respectfully ask our players, members and the wider community to respect this directive and not to enter our grounds for any reason whatsoever.
Sport for Business – 30 Under 30 – Paddy Murphy
All of us who know Paddy Murphy recognise his leadership qualities both on and off the pitch and now the All-Ireland minor and under-21 medal winner has been acknowledged for his abilities by Sport for Business. The William Fry sports and litigation lawyer has been busy in recent times advising clients operating within the sports industry including governing bodies, clubs, competitions, county boards, the IRFU, Six Nations, Tipperary GAA and Horse Racing Ireland. It is a well-deserved recognition for a man who works hard both on and off the pitch. Well done Paddy from everyone in the club.
You can read Sport for Business’s article about Paddy here.
Let’s get to know Paddy a little better!
Name: Paddy Murphy
Occupation: Solicitor, specialising in sports law and litigation
Schools/College Attended: Gaelscoil Nenagh for primary school, CBS Nenagh for secondary school, UL & UCD for college
Favourite Position: Centre forward
Achievements with the club to date: u12,14 & minor county titles, u12, 14, 16 & minor north titles, 2 x north senior titles
When and where did you first start playing GAA? 1998 when I was eight with Nenagh
Biggest influence on your GAA career: Michael ‘Skippy’ Cleary
What sporting event would you most like to attend? the rugby World Cup final with Ireland playing
To date what is your favourite moment in sport? Winning the under-21 All Ireland with Tipp in 2010 What has been your biggest disappointment in sport? Losing the 2018 county final because we didn’t perform
Favourite Venue: Nenagh
Favourite G.A.A. player: Noel McGrath – a class hurler & sound fella who has come through life challenges
What sportsperson would you most like to meet? Roger Federer – a magician on the tennis court
What is the hardest part of your sporting life? Balancing my job in Dublin with training in Nenagh – both are equally demanding
Toughest player to mark in training? Barry Heff -he’s strong, fast, good in the air & a sticky marker
Who is the ‘joker’ on the panel? Conor McCarthy
What advice would you give to young players? Work hard on your hurling skills – it’s easy for players to get fit and strong but your skills will separate you from the average player
If you won the lotto what would be the first thing you would buy? A new Tesla
Favourite holiday destination: Guatemala
Favourite Film/TV Show: the Stranger was pretty good. Game of Thrones too
Favourite book you’ve read? Commit by Enda McNulty for sports psychology
In ten-years time…. I hope to be a leading sports lawyer with at least three county medals
Let’s Meet Zoey Gratton
Name: Zoey Gratton
Occupation: Student Teacher
Schools/College Attended: Gaelscoil, Nenagh College, Mary I and Hibernia
Favourite Position: Wing back
Achievements with club to date: County medals at all levels bar Senior
When and where did you first start playing GAA? Nenagh 2000
Biggest influence on your GAA career: My family
What sporting event would you most like to attend? NBA game
To date what is your favourite moment in sport? Beating Silvermines in the county intermediate semi-final
What has been your biggest disappointment in sport? Losing the munster intermediate club final
Favourite Venue: MacDonagh Park
Favourite G.A.A. player: Paudie Maher
What sportsperson would you most like to meet? Messi
What is the hardest part of your sporting life? Maintaining fitness over Christmas
Toughest player to mark in training? Alanna Morris
Who is the ‘joker’ on the panel? Ellie Spain
Tell us a joke: Why do cows wear bells? Because their horns don’t work
What advice would you give to young players? Always do your best
If you won the lotto what would be the first thing you would buy? A car
Favourite holiday destination: Canada
Favourite Food: Enchiladas
Favourite Drink: Apple juice
Favourite Music: The Script
Favourite Film/TV Show: Brooklyn 99
Favourite book you’ve read? Hunger Games
In ten-years time I hope to be….. Successful primary school teacher and healthy
One thing you may not know about me…… I’m a ciotóg and love Irish
Check our website tomorrow when we will find out a little more about another two seniors, Shane Hennessy and Megan Grace
Juvenile and Camogie News
Nenagh Éire Óg Juvenile club and Camogie club skills challenge continues this week having completed sixteen days so far. We aim to continue it as long as possible to keep all underage players that wish to take part involved in club activity on a daily basis.
Huge thanks must go to the adult players in the club that have taken part in the challenge. It is hugely uplifting to see the high level of enthusiasm from them in ensuring the juvenile players skill levels have increased throughout this difficult time. Thanks also to all the parental involvement at home each day. There is a huge amount of coaching taking place each day by parents and this will no doubt lead to an increased number of coaches within the club in the future.
Ar scáth a chéile a mhaireann na daoine.
Thank you to all of our juvenile members and their families who took time last Thursday evening to participate in the national show of appreciation for health care workers. Well done to all who participated.
Thank you to senior hurler & Senior Hurling All Ireland winner Barry Heffernan who has kindly given us a Tipperary jersey from last year as a prize for our underage skills challenge. Any child that regularly takes part in the challenge will have their name entered into a draw by their coach once we return to training. Barry will present the jersey to the winner at a training session. Well done Barry 👏👏👏
Families Mental Health
Check out the following poster for clever ways of maintaining both your and your family’s mental health during these few weeks of isolation.
Nenagh Library
One of the great facilities the town offers is our wonderful library and with our movements restricted during the current Covid-19 crises why not check out their free online services which can help pass the time? You can join the library for free and get eBooks, audiobooks, online magazines and newspapers or even take language and other courses for free.
Further information about all the library offers can be found here.
Free and Fun Workouts
For anyone that’s missing out on physical activity or for those who wish to have fun family exercise you should check out Joe Wicks channel on YouTube where every morning at 9am he posts new and fun PE videos for you to try at home. These are proving a global hit and a great way to work off excess energy both for you and the children.
You can access his YouTube channel here.
Daffodil Day
We have all been touched by cancer at some stage of our lives and this year, the Irish Cancer Society’s main fundraising drive, Daffodil Day, was cancelled due to the current pandemic however you can still contribute to this wonderful cause by texting DAFFODIL to 50300 to donate €4.
Here’s The Cranberries song Daffodil Lament.
Club Lotto
During the current Covid-19 crises our club lotto has been suspended however, you can still play online by clicking here.
Here is a poem, written in 1869 by Irish-French poet Kathleen O’Meara (1839-1888) titled And People Stayed Home. It seems appropriate for the times we are living in.
“And people stayed home
and read books and listened
and rested and exercised
and made art and played
and learned new ways of being
and stopped
and listened deeper
someone meditated
someone prayed
someone danced
someone met their shadow
and people began to think differently
and people healed
and in the absence of people who lived in ignorant ways,
dangerous, meaningless and heartless,
even the earth began to heal
and when the danger ended
and people found each other
grieved for the dead people
and they made new choices
and dreamed of new visions
and created new ways of life
and healed the earth completely
just as they were healed themselves.”
As Covid-19 continues to wreak havoc, here is this week’s news
“Only when it is dark enough can you see the stars” – Martin Luther King
Wise words from the great civil rights campaigner Dr. Martin Luther King as the Covid-19 virus continues to wreak havoc across the globe. This week the club put out a call for volunteers and we were overwhelmed with the speed at which members demonstrated what stars they are by offering their services to help the more vulnerable in our community and already some have been busy dropping off food and vital medicines to those in need.
We especially wish to thank Bartley and Marion Ryan, who are co-ordinating the volunteers, for all of their efforts.
If you wish to volunteer or indeed require help from any of our volunteers please contact Bartley at 086 735 8359
Adult Players
Another group of stars in the club are our adult players who have been setting daily challenges for our juveniles to complete. This has had the benefit of keeping our juveniles active while at the same time keeping their skills sharp. You can check out these fantastic videos on our social media platforms. A special thanks goes to Niall Cahill for co-ordinating these challenges.
MacDonagh Park
The club wishes to remind people that during the pandemic, MacDonagh Park and all of its facilities are closed and we respectfully ask people to please stay away.
Sympathies
All of us here in the club wish to extend our sympathies to the Gratton family following the recent passing of Ms Ann Gratton, Turnpike. Ms Gratton’s grandchildren all play for the club with Zoey and Adam currently part of our senior teams.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a hanam.
All-Ireland Final Appearances
This week journalist and clubman Brian McDonnell complied statistics on the number of players from each of Tipperary’s clubs who have represented the county in All-Ireland hurling finals from minor right up to senior and we here in Nenagh Éire Óg are proudly sitting in sixth place with 38 players while Thurles Sarsfields lead the pack with a whopping 117 players.
Brian’s article can be accessed here.
From the North division we are currently in third place, one behind Toomevara who are on 39 while Roscrea lead with 46 players. For more information on the North division please click here.
The full list of Nenagh men to have played in All-Ireland hurling finals have been added to the “who we are” section of the website and we wish to thank Brian for supplying the information.
The full list of players are: Mick Burns (9), Jake Morris (4), Michael Cleary (3), Conor O’Donovan (3), Michael Heffernan (3), Barry Heffernan (3), Denis Finnerty (2), Devere Reynolds (2), Michael Shaughnessy (2), Philip Kennedy (2), Paddy Murphy (2), Jack Darcy (2), John Heffernan (2), Edward McGrath (1), Phil Hennessy (1), Michael Gilmartin (1), Pádraig Kennedy (1), Tony Tierney (1), Paddy Kearns (1), John Flannery (1), Mick Hynes (1), Donie O’Brien (1), Seán McGrath (1), Phil McGrath (1), Jack Nolan (1), Billy O’Brien (1), Harry Sheehy (1), Michael Ryan (1), Brendan McGrath (1), Conor McCarthy (1), Michael Kennedy (1), Brian Heffernan (1), Kevin Tucker (1), Hugh Maloney (1), Mick Kearns (1), Gerry Quinlan (1), Frank McGrath (1), Mick Darcy (1)
Mick Darcy also won an All-Ireland senior hurling medal with Dublin in 1924 while the club has four players who represented the county in All-Ireland football deciders. Mark Sheahan won an All-Ireland B title in 1995 while Kevin Coonan became the first man from the North division to captain the county to an All Ireland in 1998 when he led the team to the junior title. Also on that team were clubmen Jim McAuliffe and Chris Bonar.
Check out Michael Cleary’s skilfully scored goal below in the 1991 All-Ireland final when he craftily curled the sliothar around the Kilkenny back’s hurley and placed it perfectly into the top corner of the Cats’ goal.
Happy Mothers’ Day
“A Mother is one who can take the place of all others but whose place no one else can take.” – Old Irish Saying
On behalf of all the boys and men in the club, we wish all the mothers out there a very happy mother’s day.
New Club Gear
The juvenile club are working closely with sponsors A Sportsman’s Dream on new club gear which we hope will be ready to sell once the current pandemic has passed.
A GAA activity for our young writers
Click on the Twitter post below for further information on a writing activity for our juveniles with the chance of featuring in the next GAA newsletter.
Essays of roughly 500-1,000 words max can be sent to clubnewsletter@gaa.ie by Monday 23 March and we'll run a selection of our favourites in the March edition of the #GAA Club newsletter
— The GAA (@officialgaa) March 20, 2020
A crude attempt at colourising the men of 1964 who defeated Roscrea, 5-12 to 2-5, in the North Tipperary senior hurling final.
You can read a full match report from this game at the following link: http://
Club Lotto
During the current Covid-19 crises our club lotto has been suspended however, you can still play online by clicking here.
In these challenging times for our country and indeed the globe, here are this week’s notes
We are Community
During the current crises the club are offering their help to members of our community. If any vulnerable person needs items collected from chemists or shops you are asked to contact 086 735 8359 and we will do our upmost to help.
COVID-19
Following the government’s instructions on Thursday and those of the GAA, we have taken the unfortunate but essential decision to close MacDonagh Park to all activities until March 29th.
A statement, signed by the officers of the club, has been posted to the doors of the clubhouse and we ask all members of the community to please stay away from MacDonagh Park.
Perhaps the advice of journalist Shane Brophy is best heeded in these uncertain times.
A few suggestions for the next 2 weeks:
– Go for a walk twice a day. The country will be a lot fitter when this is over.
– Get jobs done, fence painting (weather meant to improve next week 🤞), de-clutter etc
– Read books gathering dust
– Relax…nothing else to do— Shane Brophy (@BrophShane) March 13, 2020
Just a word that your local butcher, grocer etc…will be open through all this and if we don't support them now they might not be there when it's over or they'll have laid off staff.
Big stores can cope.#Spreaditaround— Shane Brophy (@BrophShane) March 12, 2020
A message from the Uachtarán and Ard Stiúrthóir
We are all hugely proud of the significant role that the GAA plays in Irish society and the positive impact made at Club, school and County level through our promotion of our native games.However, with that role comes responsibility and never has this been more evident than in recent days, and the decision taken to suspend all GAA activity, matches and training at Club, school and County level across all grades and codes until March 29 inclusive.Here, Uachtarán CLG John Horan and Ard Stiúrthóir Tom Ryan spell out the GAA’s position and our request to all of our members to do the right thing and to play our part.Ar aghaidh linn le chéile.
Keep the young players busy
For any underage team that would like to that part there will be a Éire Óg juvenile hurling, football and camogie skills challenge every day for the next two weeks. Each morning a challenge will be set for the boys and girls. A Nenagh senior hurler or camogie player will also take part in the challenge. The aim is to beat the senior and to score the highest score in your age group. Best of luck to anyone who wishes to take part. Scores only (no videos) can be posted on each participating group. Remember it’s to help occupy the children, not to cause upset so please ensure honesty. We will try give out progressions or variations on the challenges each day also. The challenges will be sent out each day via the juvenile WhatsApp groups. The under-12 girls won today while the under-14 boys won yesterday. Our thanks go to Dáire Quinn and Grace O’Brien as a senior player takes on the underage players each day.
Éire Ógres and Under-6
Unfortunately, we had to postpone the last two weeks of our camp but we will celebrate doing the right thing when it’s safe to do so and have a fun morning for the boys and girls where we will present them with their t-shirts.
Club Lotto
This weeks lotto jackpot was not won.
The 5 x €50 lucky dip winners were…..
Ann Gallagher, Richmond
Mary Reddan, St Josephs Park
James Williams, Cloughjordan
Peg Ryan, Silver Street
Carmel White, Yewston
If you would like to join the club lotto online you can do so by clicking here.
Due to the current situation, the club lotto has been temporarily suspended. All tickets sold since the last draw and all online sales will be included when it resumes.
Great morning of hurling done with 60 2nd Class students from @nenaghcbsp, in their excellent new playground. Some great little hurlers on show. Remember to practice the skills you learnt today at home 👍 @TippCumanNamBun @nenagheireog @cnambnaisiunta @NorthTippGAA pic.twitter.com/CqjD4WTWd3
— Paudie Malone GDA (@GdaNorthTipp) March 11, 2020