If you attend your children's games, or maybe you used to play, or still do. I guess then you see that each team has a dedicated set of mentors who volunteer their time for your team. I'm sure you admire and appreciate them. Maybe you give your time too; we thank you if you do! It probably isn't always obvious just how many people give their time to the club and community, so I wanted to try to acknowledge the army that is St Vincents. These are the people that keep the lights on and the games ticking over.
I told a couple of people that I wanted acknowledge everyone who helps in some way. Some of the advice was not to try that for fear of leaving someone out. So, before I start: If I do miss someone out, it is totally my fault, and I already apologise profusely. I've gathered this information by asking others, by consulting county board lists, our own mentors lists, taken from Foireann, Clubzap; I've looked through mails and so forth. If you're not on the list, please please don't take this personally, and feel free to drop me a note so I can put a future record right!
OK With that out of the way, here's the poeple who help out in one way or another.
Adult Games
At Adult levels we have 2 Junior Hurling Teams, 2 Junior Football teams, An Intermediate Football, Intermediate Hurling, and a Senior Football and Senior Hurling team; we field two minor hurling teams, and 3 minor football teams. We've an adult ladies football team, a minor ladies football team, Senior Camogie, Intermediate Camogie, and 2 Junior Camogie Teams. We also fielded a U18 and U20 Camogie team this year. Our Adult Games director is Niall Lanigan, our Adult Camogie Director is Clodagh Carroll, and our Ladies Football Director is Niamh Adamson. The teams are mentored, coached, managed, statisicified, and physioed by:
Brendan Adamson, Robbie Hughes, Declan Parker, Conor Boland, Gary O'Driscoll, Brian Ladden, Garry Sweeney , Ronan Brennan, Niamh Doyle, Mairead McCarthy, David O'Leary, Mickey Whelan (who is also club President!), Pat Gilroy, Patsy Hetherton, Thomas Russell, Kathryn Kantounia, Aoife Drumgoole, Denise O'Neill, Ferghal Kerin, Helen Drumgoole, Muireann Kelliher, Clodagh Carroll, Lora Smith, Ciarán Barr, Colm Oates, Derek Horgan, Fintan O'Hanlon, John McKenna, Martin Clinton, Michael O'Driscoll, Peter Quinn, Dermot Jordan, Niall Lanigan, Gearoid Quinn, John Walsh, Paul Tancred, Ray O'Neill, Eamon Brennan, Sean L'Estrange, Bob Mulvaney, Hugh O'Neill, Niall Lanigan, Colum Hayden, Cronan Moran, Tony Dunne, Liam MacCuirc, Gavin Burke, Conor Burke, Bob Hand, Brian Ladden, Demot Conroy, Liam Peel, Jim Halpin, Patrick O'Brien, Brian Mullins, Luke Bree, Dr. Niall Moyna, Fergal McCourt.
Another team under the Auspices of Adult Ladies Football is the Gaelic for Mothers and Others (GAA4MO). GAA4MO is spearheaded by Chizuru Ryan and Fiona Delamare, and they are coached by Robbie Hughes, Gary O'Driscoll and Kevin Golden.
Mini-Leagues
At the opposite end of the age range, we have mini leagues. Each Saturday Morning, Juvenile Games Director, Tony O'Connell opens up early, and works with Leigh Ryan, Vannessa Golden, Ronan Brennan, Claire McDonnell and Emma Byrne to get things ready for the youngest ones. They are helped by older Juvenile players and parents to ensure all runs smooth.
Juvenile Games
The largest cohort in the club is Juvenile Games. The duties are shared between Juvnile Games Director, Tony O'Connell, Juvenile Camogie Director (Joint) Helen Drumgoole and Denise O'Neill and Ladies Football Director Niamh Adamson. On the boys side of the house, the group are split into CCC1 (U8 - U12) and CCC2 (U13-U16). Similar distinctions don't occur in Camogie or Ladies football. At younger age groups, the participant levels tend to be very high, which requires a lot of mentors; as we may be fielding 3 teams in one location, 2 in another and so forth. Luckily we have massive mentor support here. These teams are looked after by Robbie Lambe, Tom O'Gorman, Kieran O'Neill, Gerard Griffin, Ciaran Dunne, David Dunne, Daire O'Neill, Declan Boyle, Fergal Brett, John Dunleavy, Louise Harney, Niall Boland, Brendan McKenna, James O'Dwyer, Mark McCoy, Martin Cosgrave, Nicole O'Brien, Ciaran Carey, Paula Hannon, Chizuru Ryan, Steven Glennon, Hannah Devlin, Clodagh Carroll, John Ryan, James Byrne, Tony Sullivan, Adrian Broderick, Derek Guilfoyle, Edel Leahy, Aine Fanning, Joe Dunphy, Joyce Murray, Liam Ryan, Louise Cowman, Mairin Delaney, Shane Simmonson, Adrienne Keaveney, Aideen Cleary, Bobby Byrne, Declan Bolger, Denis Paul Foley, Fergal Brett, Jillian Bolger, Joe Dunphy, Lesley Warner, Liz Dunne, Danielle Smith, Stephen Dunne, Ciaran Regan, David Jackson, Jennifer O'Toole, Michael Callanan, Michael McLoughlin, Paul Murphy, Patrick Kilbane, Anna Rojas Cassellas, Ciara McKenna, Colum Clarke, Denis Paul Foley, Gareth Kiernan, John Harrington, John White, Mary Ellen Finn, Catriona McEnery, Ciaran McGee, Jennifer O'Toole, John Harrington, Leszek Pospiech, Marian Kelly, Marie McGee, Nick Redmond, Patrick Kilbane, Claire McDonnell, Patrick Brady, Brian Gilroy, Conor Dignam, Darren Abernathy, Evelyn Byrne, Stephen Dunne, Barry Curley, Ben Quigley, Cathal O'Daly, Diarmuid O'Grady, Enda Leaney, Gary O'Meara, Ian McLoughlin, Mark Keogh, Pat Boland, Tom Boland, Mick O'Connell, Paddy Kavanagh, Peter O'Brien, Adrian Cosgrove, Dave Dinnigan, Donal Doyle, Martin Molony, Peter Gaughran, Shane Beggan, Clodagh Memery, Colm MacDomhnaill, Fergus McCafferty, Gary Finnegan, Gavin Guinane, Michael Kellliher, Patrick Brady, Stephen Brennan, Tom Butler, Anthony Hobbs, Conor Swan, David Feehan, Derek Daly, Eoin Dineen, Gerald Cannon, Geraldine Dunne, Ian Kiernan, John Rushe, Thomas Russell, Bernadette Boland, Conor Boland, Emma Murphy, Fran Corcoran, Ita Sheehan, Jeff Maguire, John Calvert, Paul Daly, Richie Conway, Sven Sackers, Conor Galvin, David McHugh, Emmet O'Toole, Grainne Cooke, Kevin Smithwick, Patrick Regan, Patrick Brady, Peter Clifford, Pierce Williams, Tommy Martin, Alan Duff, Connor Casserly, David Mulqueen, David Feehan, Kevin Golden, Philip Conway, Risteard Brennan, Stephanie Conway, Aodhagan Downey, Aoife O'Malley, David Davoren, Declan Bolger, Eilish Gannon Regan, Ita Sheehan, Michael Callanan, Paddy Clerkin, Patrick Regan, Paul McCormack, Stefán Whelan, Vincent Nordell.
But, weekly games don't just happen. There's more people necessary to ensure that the games go ahead. Consider referees. They have to be recruited and trained. Gavin Burke is our juvenile referee co-ordinator, and Mairead McCarthy co-ordinates referees for the girls. The referees who represent St Vincents are Colm McCarthy, Sean McCarthy, Timmy McCarthy, Colin Doyle, Leigh Ryan, Kevin McDonnell, Joseph O Connell, Aaron Cosgrave, Daniel Peel, Diarmuid Dignam, Senan Ryan, Eoghan Finnegan, Carolanne Canning, Hannah O'Driscoll, Carolanne Canning, Nadine Murphy, Hannah O’Driscoll, Matthew Lambe, Molly Grundy, Máiréad Reynolds, Anna Sullivan, Jane Murray, Aoife Murray, Emily Hughes, Niamh Jevens, Isabel Sweeney, Sally O’Driscoll, Aoife Brennan, Roisín Boland, Ava Dinnigan, Grace Gilroy, Jess Brady, Sarah Preston, Ava O’Dwyer, Eimear Adamson, Isabelle Dunne, Martha O’Malley, Róisín Carbery, Milo O’Reilly, MJ O’Sullivan, Sarah Lynch and Clodagh O’Gorman. 3 Others have trained up too, and are awiting their reffing debut. Good luck to Ronan O’Neill, Aly O’Dea and Cathal Williams.
Pitch Allocation
Pitch allocation and weekly fixtures are done by Tony O'Connell, ably assisted by Michelle Cantwell, and Gary O'Driscoll works on the Camogie fixtures.
Child Safety
Of course, there's duty of care to all children, so our children's officers oversee any child protection issues, and ensure our policies are up to date. We can thank Fran Pedreschi, Niall Boland, Patricia Drumgoole for their work here.
Speaking of Safety, many parents got involved this year too, to help with Covid supervision. They took it on responsibly, and with great enthusiasm. We thank
Covid Supervisors
Michelle Whelan, Aoife Dunne, Bernard Leonard, Aisling O'Meara, Aoife O'Malley, Claire Fitzpatrick, Eilish Gannon, Clodagh Memery, Deirdre King-Nolan, Michael Clarke, Paul Tancred, Colette Brett, Conor Boland, Damien Peelo, Emma Mongey, Ita Sheehan, Richie Conway, Sarah Mongey, Emmet O'Toole, Grainne Cooke, Richie Kelly, Peadar Scolai, Stephanie Conway, Vannessa Golden, DP Foley, Anne-Marie Leahy, Brendan Nolan, Denise O'Neill, Lisa Crowe, Mary Henry, Tony Nolan, Tracy Carberry, Zita Little, Louise Harney, Niall Boland, Claire McDonnell, Donal Doyle, Lisa O'Connor, Martin Molony, Sean Morris, Terry Crowley, Andrew Gough, John Ryan, Colm Oates, Tony Sullivan, Joyce Murray, Louise Cowman, Niamh Adamson, Aoife King, Aoife Drumgoole.
Registrar
As each game starts, the mentors have to give team sheets to the referee. These sheets have names, and GAA member ids; Each player in the club has to be registered with either the GAA, LGFA or Camogie Association (and in the case of many of the girls, two associations). And yeah, you guessed it, that's someone's task too. We thank John Kiernan who works with the Games directors to ensure all of our players are correclty registered.
Long Term Athletic Development
The club acknowledges that players need a pathway to guide them through their development. In line with the GAA learn to play/play to compete/compete to win policy, we had a long term athletic development plan drawn up. This was a project involving Emma Byrne, Leigh Ryan, Michael O'Driscoll, Stephen Keane, Niamh Adamson, Helen Drumgoole, Denise O'Neill, Conor Dignam and Tony O'Connell. Of particular note were the younger members of this group, who took learnings from their current Third Level course to bring to bear on this process.
All Stars
Earlier this year, mentor Sarah Mongey approached the Executive committee with a view to setting up an inclusive activity programme for children with additional needs. Her preparation, drive an enthusiasm saw the project gaining momentum quickly, as the group worked to recruit mentors, and all stars for the programme. This resulted in a pilot programme running from October to December to great acclaim. The project was a great success and will grow in 2022. Well done to all the mentors who took part:
Sarah Mongey, Vanessa Golden, Emma Byrne, Ita Sheehan, Alison Maguire, Anne Harrington, Bernard Mulvany, Brid Power, Catherine McHugh, Joanne O'Reilly, Karen Peel, Laura Duff Regan, Linda Maguire, Niamh Nolan Keogh, Patsy Hetherton, Rachel Regan, Richie Conway, Liz MacGinley, Maria Peelo, Tracey Traynor, Rachel Jevens, Finian McGrath, Denise O'Neill. We also have Jeff Maguire to thank for printing a set of christmas cards for the final session.
Games Promotion Officer - Emma Byrne
At the risk of singling out one person, our GPO Emma deserves a special mention. If you've kept up so far, I'm sure you've seen her name a number of times already. Officially, her role is Games Promotion Officer - this involves liaising with local schools to promote gaelic games; a job she does with aplomb. Each year, the principles of local schools get in touch to say what a great job she does with the children in the schools; in addition, she's at mini leagues every Saturday morning, worked on the long term athletic development plan, gave a coaching seminar this year and did amazing work to train the mentors and worked on the all-stars programme to ensure it was a success. We're lucky Emma is St Vincent's GPO!
Now, how do you think everything is spic and span when you do arrive down? Yeah. There's more people helping out in this area too
Office Manager - Michelle Cantwell
Michelle is probably best described at the person who does "the rest". As I'm hoping you're starting to realise, a lot of people put in hours. Michelle is the one who runs the office - She takes care of all administration tasks, and co-ordinates everyone. If you have any query, if you call the office, Michelle is the who answers, and in 9 times out of 10 can solve your query on that call! She takes it all on with great attitude. She also knows EVERYONE. She ensures the bills are paid, the deliveries are taken in, the key holders have keys; and everything else.
Speaking of holders. Our key holders are James Reid and Paddy Cunningham. Yeah. They're the lads who are there before you so PNU2 is open (or dressing rooms sometime in the future!)
Tuesday Crew
Have you heard of the Tuesday Crew? The Tuesday Crew are a bunch of retirees, who come to the club every Tuesday and fix anything that needs fixing. One week it may be a leak, the next an electrical problem, and another it could be PNU2 maintenance. They consist of John Quirke, Eamon Early, Tom Byrne, John Mckenna, Nially Lambe, Niall Ward, Paddy Salmon, Derek Horgan, John Ward, Norman Bernard, Jim Harney, Fay Coughlan and Tony Geraghty.
And there's more. Paul Tancred drives a tractor around to cut our grass pitches (he also happens to be treasurer!); Sean L'Estrange got together a team to refurbish and repaint the committee room and gym, and repaint the bar. Our thanks to Pedro Smyth, Fay Coughlan, Eddie Lambe, Sean Lambe, Sean L'Estrange, Bob Hand, and the Senior Footballers for this. We also thank Peter Lillis who has done welding repairs when needed.
Fundraising
In a year where Fundraising was almost impossible, Philip Conway booked a golf course, and persuaded Richie Conway, Aoife Drumgoole and Glenn Jordan to shake the bushes and encourage entries. A great day out, and a few quid for the club coffers too!
Bar
Another area that is challenged by current events, the bar has been able to run thanks to Eamon Lawlor, Frank Brady, Frank Doyle, John Quirke, Ronan Fogarty, Bernard Leonard, Richie Conway, Una Barrett and Paul Tancred. I'm sure there's many a Camogie, U21 and Junior player who would join me in that thanks!
And I'm not finished; there's other jobs done around the place; Grainne McKinney takes photographs of games, Deirdre King-Nolan, Denise O'Neill and Natalie L'Estrange manage the relationship with our club gear supplier, the club accounts auditor is Liam Burns, and Yvonne Farrell is to all intents and purposes, PRO for ladies football; Clodagh Carroll, Denise O'Neill and Aoife Drumgoole are Camogie County board delegates.
Executive
Main oversight on running the club on behalf of the members is through the executive committee. We are your representatives. The 2021 Executive Committee were:
Conor Dignam - Chairman
Tony O'Connell - Vice Chairman
Anne Harrington - Secretary
Dermot Daly - PRO
Paul Tancred - Treasurer
Niall Lanigan - Adult Games Director
Clodagh Carroll - Adult Camogie Director
Niamh Adamson - Ladies Football Director
Tony O'Connell - Juvenile Games Director
Helen Drumgoole/Denise O'Neill - Juvenile Camogie Director
Patricia Drumgoole - Children's Officer
Mark Loftus - Player's Representative
Brid Power - Members' Representative
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