Club Notes, 11th October 2023 | |
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Last week: Crickets. This week: Thunderclaps |
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Last week I was bemoaning how quiet the weekend was about to be in comparison to previous weekends. It was indeed a quiet championship weekend for us; The Minor Girls were the headliners and I'm delighted to say they came good. Well, if last weekend was quiet, this weekend is quite the opposite. We've no less than 5 games at final or semi-final stage this weekend. So, plan ahead. 3 of these are ticketed. I'll get into the details below, but here's hoping we'll see each other on various sidelines this weekend. Sure lookit: I'll give you the "management overview" right away: |
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AGM, and a new executive required. |
| The AGM will take place on Thursday, November 23rd. This is not your official notice, as that will come from the club secretary in due course. However I was asked to re-emphasise that the executive committee's term comes to an end at this year's AGM, and will be stepping down. Members are advised that if they are thinking of forming an executive committee you need to be speaking to a potential team around now. |
| St Vincents Lotto brought to you by Staffords Funeral Home. |
| | Lotto Jackpot, 9 October 2023. Jackpot was €8,350 and there was no jackpot winner. The winner of the weekly prize of €100 was Martin Donnelly. Next week's jackpot will be €8,350. Gwan. Treat yourself. |
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Pitch Side Advertising - Send us a referral, earn money for your team. |
| | Pitchside advertising is still on sale, and momentum is growing here folks! If you know someone who may be interested, please fill in the form here. We'll do the rest. |
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| Spotlight on: The St Vincents All-Stars |
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I was a little surprised to hear that someone had asked "Who are the All-Stars?" recently. I'm clearly not doing a good enough job! The All-Stars were the subject of many-a-weekly club notes when first launched, but I guess not everyone reads every newsletter, and readers come and go. With that in mind, I felt it prudent to re-acquaint readers with this amazing initiative. What is it? The St Vincents All-Stars is a weekly training/fun/games session tailored specifically to children with additional needs. It happens on Friday evenings at 5 p.m., and usually lasts 45 minutes. Why 45 minutes? This time was arrived at after a full pilot programme which took feedback from parents. 1 hour was considered too long, and 45 minutes was considered the best amount of time. Our pitch slots are technically 50 minutes anyway, so it works well. |
| | Who can come along? Anyone! We have a broad range of participants with various needs; if you'd like to bring your child along, or recommend us to a family - we recommend getting in touch via an email to allstars@stvincentsgaa.ie, and the organising team will help with orientation. Who are the supervisors? We have at least a 1:1 ratio of participants to mentors. Mentors are all club volunteers; They come from various backgrounds; but many have experience working as special needs assistants, coaches, and teachers. They are also helped by current club members who are in Transition Year, who take part in the initiative. Everyone who supervises are members of the club, and Garda Vetted. What sort of activities do participants do? This is varied, and tailored to individual participants. With a diverse bunch of participants, some children like to play alone, others prefer groups; we'll chat with the parents and work out what works best for the child. Do the parents need to get involved? No! we open our bar for tea and coffee for parents; they can take a break and enjoy a cuppa, or they can watch from the sidelines. This was one piece of feedback that particularly resonated with us. Parents of children with additional needs explained that anything that involved the child, usually meant the parents must be involved too; They particularly welcomed the fact that we don't expect parents to muck in. Want to know more? Drop a mail to allstars@stvincentsgaa.ie and the friendly team will answer any queries you may have. |
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Big Club Fundraiser Update |
| Expect weekly updates on the Big Club Fundraiser. Here's this week's update. Remember folks, there are 3 events in one. Let's start with the Golf Tournament: As mentioned last week, the golf is sold out. This means we have a guaranteed 140 players; which I think you'll agree is a captive audience of middle to upper-management decision-maker type folks for your brand great start by the organising committee. Sponsorships are still available, and you can purchase them simply online; there's sponsorships at various levels - simply visit our payment page for full details. I also see that the rivalry that comes with this territory is abounding, and I've noticed some bravado "who's going to take our crown" type taunts in the whatsapps. In case you're wondering, here's your target - last year's winners. |
| | Last year's winners: "messesrs [sic] Donohoe, Calvert, MacCriostail and Brady" |
| All credit to ego massaging, but we can't forget the meaning of these events; it's all about the fundraising. The good news is the prizes for the golf are mounting, with 4 balls in prestigious courses, soccer tickets and some very nice golf gear already in place. If your company wants to donate prizes, do get in touch. The big social night: Word has it that the organisers have a theme for the evening! But they aren't letting the cat out of the bag yet. I don't even know, and the PR Officer. That's some MI5 level secrecy right there. Anyway - sales are going well - and you'll need to purchase a ticket to find out the theme of the evening. If last year's event is anything to go by, we had 250 people attending. We will be capping this for safety reasons, so get your ticket early to avoid disappointment. |
| | The Mega Raffle: Remember, 20% of the value of the ticket will be donated directly to the team nominated by the purchaser. The more tickets your team sells, the more money your team will make! Start selling your tickets by sending people to this link. The organisers are even going to be so kind as to provide you with individual social media graphics to allow your team to share. Here's a sneak peek at one done for the U10s: |
| | If you want one done for your team (remember the 20% kick back folks!), drop a note to John McConnell. Mentors and players: Get selling! For those of you who just want to know how they can buy tickets or contribute - simply click on the button below. |
| | Please folks, be considerate with our equipment and our neighbours! |
| We're blessed to have the facility that is MIE available for use - but we remind everyone that this facility is not owned by the club, and we are very grateful to MIE for the use of their pitches. We also need to back this up by how we treat those facilities: In recent weeks we've heard from MIE about nets being left out, and worse, mobile goalposts being left in the middle of the pitch. Some guidelines which we would ask everyone to be diligent about: - If you are playing on the pitch, be aware of who is on it after you. If there isn't a St Vincents team playing immediately after you, you should remove netting, stow them in a wheelie bin, and return it to the club storage area.
- The same goes for flags used during the game - if they are not to be left out for the next game, be sure to collect them all and return to the storage area.
- If using mobile goals, they should be returned to their storage area beside the entry gate.
- The use of mobile goals is only for approved training slots or games. Players are asked not to use them.
Leaving out mobile goals is a particular source of frustration - it means the task of returning them to the storage area falls to MIE staff. We should not expect MIE staff to clean up after us! Parents: You have a part to play here too: Often mentors have other work after a game such as paying the ref, gathering training equipment, kit etc. They would welcome any assistance they are offered. Also: If your child likes to head down to MIE for a kick about, please impress on them that they shouldn't be using mobile goals, or at the very least if they do, they be responsible for their return. |
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Champo Watch: Last Weekend |
| Let's start with the big one: Well done to the Ladies Minor Football Team who were crowned Division 2 Championship winners in their 2 point win over Skerries harps. |
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| A super achievement - well done girls. I'm afraid the only photo I could lay my hands on of the winning team was a pretty low res photo. Skerries photographer, Michael Donoghue, was attending and took some amazing action shots. They've been published to Flickr - head over if you'd like a look. What other games were on last weekend? Let's take a look: Our Junior A footballers suffered defeat in the Junior 2 All County Championship Semi-Final: Losing to Naomh Olaf 2-7 to 0-9. Our commiserations. Our Junior B Footballers gave a walkover to Naomh Fionbarra in the JFC3 Shield. Looking at that table, it looks like we've bowed out of that competition. I can't say I blame them - I question the viability of Shields for Adult games. The Minor A Hurlers had a good show, beating Naomh Mearnog 3-21 to 0-14; they've finished 2nd in the group, so are into a quarter-final. The Minor B team had a 3-point loss to Cuala (2-7 to 2-10), and this puts them into a shield. Our intermediate footballers ended the season on a low note, losing in the AFL4 relegation play-off to Skerries. Final score was 2-14 to 0-7, and they'll play AFL5 next year. Our U16A Footballers gave a walkover to Templogue. Our U16B Footballers won 4-10 to 0-9 against Lucan they've topped their group and will go through to a quarter-final. The U16 B Hurling team played a re-fixed game on Tuesday just gone; they were in their final group stage game, producing an impressive 5-11 to 0-4 win over Fingallians. The group appears to have one game unplayed, but I don't think the outcome will alter their position; they finished 2nd so they'll go through to the QF. Well done U16 B Last Monday saw our Minor Camogie team win in their group stage game against Faughs/Celtic (5-9 to 2-9) they finished 2nd in the table and are through to a semi-final. That's down for 22 October against Castleknock away (10:30 a.m.). Looks like our Minor B Camogie team is also through to the knockout stages, but I believe their next game is a bye. |
| Champo Watch: The coming weekend |
| OK. This weekend is kind-of a big deal. As mentioned at the start, we've 5 games at crucial stages. 2 Finals, 3 Semi-finals. Folks, get yourself out there. Here's all the information you need to know: The weekend starts Friday! Friday sees our Senior Camogie team take on Naomh Jude in Parnell Park at 7:30 pm. I'd expect a good crowd at this one. This game is ticketed. And you can purchase your ticket at this link. U16 are free, but still need a ticket. Students and OAP are €5, and full adult permission is €9.99. Yes. You read that right. Just when I thought that charging €5.83 into the semi was weird, they've only gone all "Dunnes Stores" and are selling at €9.99. The mind boggles. Ahhnyway. See you in Parnell Park? |
| | Saturday Saturday sees our Intermediate hurlers contest the Intermediate Hurling Championship Semi-Final. That's against Kilmacud Crokes and takes place on PNU1 on Saturday at 4:30 pm. Sunday Sunday hosts no less than 3 crunch-time games: The first is the big one, when the Senior Hurlers contest the Dublin Senior Hurling Championship semi-final against Ballyboden St Endas. This is in Parnell Park and throws in at 2pm. |
| | This game is ticketed: Tickets are €15. OAP and Students are €10, and U16 are free and do not need a ticket. You can purchase your ticket here. Tickets are valid for the double header. If you want to stay for Na Fianna v Lucan after, you can. I hadn't heard about if the game would be streamed, but a search on YouTube yielded a suggestion that it will be at this link. (But only if you can't come in person, like!) Not long after this throws in, our Junior B hurlers will contest the Junior "E" Hurling Championship Semi-final on PNU1; they take on Balinteer St John on Sunday, throwing in at 3 p.m. The final crunch time game of the weekend is the second final of the weekend: The Inter 1 Camogie Championship Final. This is on at 4:00 p.m. over in Abbotstown, where we'll take on Raheny: |
| | This is another ticketed game - with entrance fee set to €5. OAPs and U16 are free, but must obtain a free ticket. All tickets are at this link. Honourable Mentions These games are the crunch-stage games I've called out, but there are still other championship games on, namely: Our U16 A Hurlers take on Raheny in the U16 A Championship group stage. that's on Ard Scoil Rís pitch at 3 p.m. on Saturday. Our Minor A Footballers take on Fingal Ravens in the Minor A Championship quarter-final. It is on Ard Scoil Rís at 11:00 a.m. on Sunday morning. Our Minor C Footballers are away to Clontarf in St Anne's at 11:00 a.m. Sunday Morning. Our U16 Ladies Footballers travel to Tymon North to take on Naomh Jude at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday afternoon in their final group stages of the Division 3 Championship. they are currently top of the table , but two teams can still catch them so all to play for. So folks, lots to get stuck into this weekend. Our best wishes to all players and management. As always, full details of all fixtures on the club website. |
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This newsletter is sent to over 1100 recipients and is a great way to inform members of club happenings. If you want anything included in the newsletter, drop a mail to pro@stvincentsgaa.ie. Comments and feedback are welcome too. |
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I was sent a message just as I started the club notes this week about former player and current mentor Ian Kiernan, who made a big announcement on LinkedIn yesterday. For those of you who don't use Linked In, I'll quote it here (with assumed permission!): "Time for a big change....from 20 years in the Semiconductor Industry in an HVM environment to returning to education to go for a PhD at my original university DCU! Looking forward to working with the Advanced Metallic Systems CDT Cohort 2023" Ian went on to repost a message from "EPSRC & SFI Centre for Doctoral Training in Advanced Metallic Systems" who welcomed Ian to the CDT. I've no idea what an EPSRC is. I think SFI is "Science Foundation Ireland" and I'm assuming that a CDT is the aforementioned Centre for Doctoral Training. Yeah. I'm getting to it. I had to decipher all of this, so bear with me. Ian's Doctorate will be in "Development of a new automated hurley and sliotar interaction testing system" Fantastic: apparently, he saw this call from DCU and it piqued his interest. We wish Ian all the best in this monumental leap and look forward to being his beta testers. we also approve of his choice of attire for the LinkedIn Post: |
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