All-Ireland Semi-Final

When I was at school I was very fond of William Shakespeare’s work and I can always remember that famous line from Hamlet “To be or not to be, that is the question.” It is a philosophical question and yesterday Sunday 24th January when our senior footballers travelled to Pairc Sean MacDiarmada, Carrick-on-Shannon to play Ardnaree Sarsfields in the AIB All-Ireland semi-final it simply was a case of not meant to be! Unfortunately, there was no fairy-tale ending for our senior team as we delivered a below par performance where everything that could go wrong did go wrong. Having said all that, I cannot take anything away from Ardnaree Sarsfields performance who were by far the better team on the day as they showed the greater hunger and intensity and fully deserved their victory. The flowing football and flair we witnessed during the Ulster campaign deserted us because we just couldn’t get any rhythm going and went down on a score-line Rockcorry 0-6 Ardnaree Sarsfields 0-11. It was a sad and disappointing ending for all the players and team management who have provided us with some wonderful moments and memories during 2015. Winning our second ever Junior Championship title and topping it off with an Ulster title was something very special and we will certainly cherish those memories for the rest of our lives. It’s been a long and testing season and the players and team management involved have given great commitment and dedication and plenty of enjoyment and excitement to cheer about in the village and on behalf of the club I want to acknowledge all their efforts Mickey, Jimmy, Pascal and all the players and thank them for a wonderful year. Keep up the good works lads and look forward to an exciting year playing back in the intermediate ranks.

Juvenile Meeting

We are actively looking for new people to sit on a juvenile committee for the Club and if you feel you could dedicate some time to help out then please do not hesitate to get in touch. Even if it’s only an hour a week it’s all we need, all those hours add up! A meeting will take place on WEDNESDAY 27th JANUARY in the dressing-rooms at 7.30pm to set-up and create a sub-committee that will look after the juvenile affairs of the club. It takes a wide range of people and skillsets to make a club a success and currently we have a small team of fantastic coaches & mentors who are already in place and provide wonderful experience & knowledge about the game to our young players, but as they say there is always room for expansion. We are delighted to have teams ranging from under 12’s, 14’s and 16’s and we have a large number of kids (Under 8’s and 10’s) attending our nursery coaching sessions every Saturday morning. More kids means we need more coaches; so if you feel you are in a position to help coach our future stars then please get in touch with our youth officer Sharon Fox 086-6022919 or pop in to the meeting next Wednesday night. Don’t be afraid, no experience is necessary, just bring loads of enthusiasm and lots of fun, it’s that simple. We will provide training and even if you feel you can’t sign up to coaching a team every week we would still appreciate your assistance on any days that you can help. Many hands make light work!!!

Annual Social & Presentation Night

One of the highlights of the year is always our annual social & presentation night and this year the management committee has decided to hold a dinner dance which will take place on Saturday 20th February in the Hillgrove Hotel. This is always a very enjoyable occasion and this year’s social night will once again be something special as it brings us all together to celebrate, once again, the historic achievement of our senior team that won the Packie Boylan Cup & the Paul Kerr Cup. The night will also include other presentations as we honour the latest inductee into our Hall of Fame and awards will also be presented to our senior, reserve and minor players of the year. So folks, make sure you don’t miss out and make a note in your dairy for an exquisite feast while dancing the night away to some very danceable music of the 60’s, 70’s and the 80’s! Tickets will be on sale shortly and we look forward to your support.

Junior Player of Year – Niall McKeown

The Monaghan GAA annual dinner and presentation of awards took place last Friday 22nd January in the Hillgrove Hotel, Monaghan. 2015 was a special and memorable year for our club, winning our second junior county championship title and topping it off with an historic Ulster junior title.

In the clubs journey to secure promotion back to the intermediate ranks Niall McKeown was a consistent performer and it is difficult to avoid using the old expression ‘like father, like son’ when it comes to our Junior Footballer of the Year and like his father (Gerry) Niall McKeown was simply unyielding in the full back position wearing the ‘Nr 3’ jersey. Over the years Niall has grown in stature and blossomed into a model player and was re-appointed captain of the Rockcorry senior team and showed great energy, enthusiasm and responsibility for the role and his performances throughout 2015 were consistent, uncomprising and tenacious. Niall’s approach and positive attitude to every game was one of wholehearted endeavour, determination and leadership. As captain he played an influential role and he stepped up and demonstrated remarkable leadership skills, (both on and off the field), communicating, motivating and encouraging his team-mates with comments like “we can do this” or “this is our game”.

A true team player who leads by example and his ability to read the game and alertness to react to any situation are just some of his key attributes. Utterly dependable and reliable he never fails to give a positive outlook and his immense contribution to the team cannot be under estimated. On occasions, with his athletic pace, he adopted a more dynamic and sometimes roving role and was often described as being faster than Usain Bolt!

His finest hour (to date) was playing at full-back in the Ulster Junior Football Club Championship Final and he was in magnificent form, and please excuse the pun he was “Solid as a Rock” winning everything that came down his way and it was a brilliant showing from Niall to lead the club to Ulster Glory and lift the Paul Kerr Cup…an historic and magical moment for the Rockcorry GAA Club. Once again congratulations to Niall on his award and we look forward to many more years of him wearing the “Green & White” jersey.

Sports Bag Sponsorship

As I have said before, we are always very grateful for any type of sponsorship that we receive from individuals or companies and on behalf of everyone at the Rockcorry GAA club I want to sincerely thank Aidan & Marie Murray & family of Mullinahinch House Private Nursing Home for their kind support and generosity to sponsor new sports bags for the players. We are absolutely delighted with the new bags, they look amazing and we look forward to testing it out during upcoming matches.

Coach Education Courses

During February & March, Monaghan Coaching & Games will be once again running a range of Coach Education Courses at Foundation and Level One. The dates and venues for the courses that they are running are as follows:- A Foundation Award on Friday 26th & Saturday 27th February Venue: Magheracloone (Football). Friday 4th & Saturday 5th March Venue: Cloghan (Football & Hurling) & Friday 11th & Saturday 12th March Venue: Ballybay (Football). The cost for coaches attending a Foundation Award is €30 per coach but if a club can get four coaches attending a course, one will be for free. A Level One Course will be held on Friday 5th & Saturday 6th February Venue: Cloghan (Child), Tuesday 12th, Wednesday 13th & Thursday 14th February Venue: Cloghan (Youth/ Adult). If there is enough interest (minumum 16) to do a Level 1 Hurling Award it will also be accommodated, otherwise it will be run in conjunction with other counties and the Ulster Regional Hurling Officers. The cost for coaches attending a Level One Award is €55 per coach but if a club get 4 coaches attending course, one will be for free.The venues for the two Level One Awards is currently set for the Monaghan Training Grounds but if any club would be interested in hosting one of these courses please get in touch ASAP.

Coaching Workshops

Monaghan Coaching & Games in conjunction with Ulster GAA will be running three coaching workshops that will cater specifically for coaches working with U14 to Senior teams. They will also be running a number of other workshops for coaches working for the younger age groups. All of these workshops will be FREE OF CHARGE and the first one entitled ‘EQUIPMENT FOR FITNESS PROGRAMMES’ takes place on Monday 18th January between 7.30pm to 9pm at Cremartin GAA Club. The second workshop entitled ‘DEFENSIVE/ ATTACKING SYSTEMS AND STRATEGIES’ will be held on Monday 1st February between 7.30pm to 9pm and the venue is Cloghan. The final workshop is entitled ‘GOALKEEPING’ (Kickouts, Shot-stopping & positioning) and takes place on Monday 22nd February between 7.30pm to 9pm and the venue is Cloghan.

National Club Draw

The club are participating in the GAA National Club Draw which features some sensational prizes. The tickets cost €10 each and are printed in books of 5 and are NOW AVAILABLE from all committee members and senior players. I am sure you will agree that there are some fabulous prizes on offer with first prize a new Opel Corsa. You can support the club by buying and selling tickets. Those who buy tickets will be entered into a draw, with prizes provided by GAA Central Council. Each club will retain the proceeds of the tickets sold by their club. For full details please log on to www.gaa.ie/nationalclubdraw.

Club Membership

Club membership is now due once again and can be paid to our club Registrar Pat Brannigan. The annual subscription for adults is €20 with all juveniles under the age of 18 costing €5 and any student that can provide a valid student card the membership fee is €5. It is important that ALL players pay their membership as soon as possible otherwise you will not be covered under the GAA insurance scheme. Please note that club membership will close on Wednesday 30th March 2016.

News

If anyone would like to have some news, events or anything at all included in the club notes or advertised on our website then just get in touch on 086-1041165 or email pro.rockcorry.monaghan@gaa.ie