Well done to all our brave young and not
so young Club Members who participated in this year’s St Patrick’s Day Parade
on behalf of St Marys. It was a cold
and wet day which tested everyone, but there was great pride seeing the turnout
of St Marys youngsters march for the Club given the conditions. The day after was an equally cold and wet
day for those who collected in the Bord na nÓg flag day. Our thanks to people contributing for their
generosity. The funds raised will be put
to good use in supporting our underage teams over the coming season.
We are into the 4th week of the
nursery program for U6 and U8 year olds in Summerhill. It has proven a success and will conclude at
the end of the month. Thereafter, the
Saturday morning coaching Season commences on April 1st. This is the cornerstone of our introductory
coaching for the young people in the St Marys area and many of our current
senior men and ladies players started their journey in GAA on Saturday mornings
in Kent Park. A Clean-Up day is planned
on Saturday March 25th in preparation for commencement of the
Coaching. This is definitely a case of
many hands make light work, so if you can spare an hour please be at St Marys
for 11am.
Men’s competitive football will take
centre focus on Saturday when St Marys entertain Calry in their first match of
the season. Throw-in at Kent Park is at
5pm and it promises to be a close encounter.
To date the focus was on the County team which unfortunately could not
follow their great win against Laois with a further victory against a Longford
side that proved stronger on the day to edge a tight contest by 16 points to
2-7.
U16 boys training continues on Tuesdays at
5.30. There are high hopes for this
squad, which is expected to develop strongly to its full potential as the year
progresses. After being edged out in
their first league game against Castleconnor, next up is Coolaney/Mullinabreena
in 2 weeks time. U16 girls are training each Wednesday at
5.15pm and Saturday 10am in preparation for the start of their league campaign
on March 28th. The U14 girls
train each Saturday morning and will commence their own league on April 18th
with a home game against Calry. Many of
the girls are involved with the County panel and played in a Blitz for the
Connaught teams in the GAA Centre of Excellence in Ballyhaunis.
Best wishes to the 3 Summerhill teams in
Connaught semi-final action this week.
Good news in relation to Club Members and our congratulations to Hayley
Kilgannon and Sadbh Brennan on their being part of the winning Moynihan Cup inter-varsity
championship last weekend and to Sarah Keaney who won an All Ireland medal with
Marino College. Another Club Member who
is excelling is Michael Morgan who as earned an international qualification for
the Irish Schools cross country team in Wales representing Summerhill college.
We were saddened to hear of the death of
Annette Munnelly’s father and we send our condolences to her and her family.
These club notes and more detail on St
Marys are available on our social media and the club website at www.stmarys.sligo.gaa.ie