Congratulations to the Athea U16 team who won the Shield County Final against Ahane on Friday evening last
Con Colbert Monument Unveiling
The West Limerick Republican Monument Committee invite you to the unveiling of a monument to Con Colbert from Monaleena and Athea who was executed after the Easter Rising 1916. This will take place in Con Colbert Hall, Athea on Saturday 24th October 2015 at 4pm.
The monument will be unveiled by Con Colbert’s great niece, Íde Colbert Lenin and his great grandniece, Gráinne Buckley will play the harp. Everybody welcome.
Jamie Kelly, Coole East who graduated recently from UL with a Bachelor of Business Studies in Economics and Finance with Law.
Athea Tidy Towns
Our Annual Church Gate collection will take place this weekend, October 24th and 25th before all masses. This is one of our main fundraisers and will greatly help towards our projects for 2016.
Athea Parish Journal
Please send in your material for the Journal as soon as possible, photos, articles, poems etc. It takes a lot of time to put it all together and time is running out. Where possible please email articles to
[email protected] or bring them in to the office on a USB key.
Pictured at Pairc na nGael last weekend were Paul Curry, Patrick O’Donovan TD, Mairead O’Donovan, Jacqueline O’Connor and Neddy Hunt following the announcement of €35,000 to Athea GAA Club in the recent Sports Capital Programme.
O’Donovan welcomes funding of €35,000 for Athea GAA Club
Fine Gael TD for Limerick, Patrick O’Donovan, has welcomed the announcement that Athea GAA Club will receive €35,000 under the Sports Capital Programme. This brings to €65,000 the amount of funding allocated to the club since last year under the scheme. In total, funding of €1.6 million is being provided for sports clubs and organisations in Limerick, which is great news and a great boost for local communities.
Patrick said that he was delighted that Minister Michael Ring TD made the allocation to the club following his representations to him over the last number of months regarding the ongoing hard work of the club towards the redevelopment of their pitch and facilities at Pairc na nGael. “Only last week prior to the allocations being made I was able to advise the Minister of the significant progress being made at the pitch when I visited the village recently and saw first hand the work being carried out. I would like to wish the club and its hard working officers the very best of luck in their redevelopment plans for the future.”
“In total, funding of over €41 million is being made available to clubs and local organisations around the country under the Sports Capital Programme 2015, announced by Minister of State Michael Ring last week.
“Under the programme the following clubs were also awarded grants: Ballysteen Sportsfield Development Committee (€35,000), Bruree Rockhill Sportsfield Trust (€110,000), Croom GAA Club (€110,000), Fr Casey’s GAA in Abbeyfeale (€38,000), John the Baptist Community School (€110,000), Limerick GAA (€200,000) for its development of Mick Neville Park in Rathkeale, Limerick FC (€200,000) towards the development of its campus in Bruff, Pallaskenry GAA Club (€4,000), Shanagolden & District Community Council (€95,000), St Marys / Sean Finns GAA Club (€14,000) and Templeglantine GAA Club (€95,000)
“It is very welcome that once again, Sports Capital funding is being provided to clubs and local organisations here in Limerick and around the country. The economic recovery allowed this Government to re-instate the Sports Capital Programme, so far €4.9 million has be awarded to Limerick since this government took office. We understand the importance of sport to communities around the country and the imperative to fund it.
“I have used my position as a Government backbencher to get the maximum amount of money for Sports clubs and organisations in this Constituency. I make no apology for working hard and lobbying Minister Michael Ring TD intensively as the Limerick Fine Gael TD to get this money.”
“Over the last four years I have committed myself to ensuring that no stone is left unturned by me to get the maximum amount possible for Limerick clubs and organisations. I know from speaking to the Minister that he is anxious to see another round of Sports Capital Grants in the near future and I will be using my position as a government TD for County Limerick to ensure that I am as successful in the future as I have been in the past with Sports Capital Grants.”
A Great Loss
Ireland bowed out of the world cup on Sunday last to once again fail to get beyond the quarter-final stage. I suppose we should be glad that they reached that far considering the size of our country and the small pool of players available for selection. They have been exceptional over the past few years and have given us some magic moments so the fact that they were beaten on the day by a better team should in no way take from their achievements. Now for the “what ifs”. If we had Paul O’Connell, Peter O’Mahony and Johnny Sexton fully fit, would we have lost to Argentina? I don’t think so because it was evident that the team was lacking leadership both in the forwards and at out half and Peter O’Mahony would have been a powerhouse in the loose where we lost most of the duels. Sexton has the knack of knowing when to kick and where to kick and his place kicking is second to none. O’Connell is without doubt one of the best rugby players, not alone in Ireland, but in the world. His presence alone on the field is enough to strike fear into the opposition and inspiration for his teammates. It has been a privilege to watch him play for Munster and Ireland over the years. He joins a small but unique band of Irish sportspeople that have shown true greatness. I didn’t see Jack Kyle play but those who did say he was one of the great back players of his time. I did however see Mike Gibson, Willie John McBride and Brian O’Driscoll in their prime. They were exceptional players who had that star quality that separated them from all the others and gave them the ability to dictate the outcome of a game on their own. There are many more worthy of mention but these are my personal choices and I am grateful for all the enjoyment they gave me.
There are also people who excelled in other sports. In our own native games I will just mention a couple, one from each code. As a young boy I saw the great Christy Ring play hurling. I have not seen anyone since with the combination of skill, speed and determination to win that he possessed. Though he was tightly marked in every game he succeeded in making space for himself to flick the ball to the back of the net. The story goes that he was in Thurles for a game against Tipperary and after a light snack himself and a couple of his teammates took a stroll down the town to kill a bit of time before the game. As they passed a church, one of the lads said they should go in and say a prayer that they might win the match. Christy said “we will not”. “We will beat them fair and square”. In football there was the mighty man from Valencia, Mick O’Connell. He had everything, style, skill, speed, the ability to kick accurately with both feet, a mighty leap in the air and a football brain second to none. He was like poetry in motion and was unbeatable at midfield. He believed in practice and preparation as is illustrated by the following story. Kerry were training in Tralee for a game against Dublin. In those days there were no managers of teams but they had trainers. On the night in question it started to rain heavily and the trainer said that they would not train on the pitch but would go to a nearby hall to do a few physical exercises. Mick O’Connell looked at him and said “and what is going to happen if we get a wet day against Dublin?” He turned around, sat into his car and drove home.
Katie Taylor is flying the flag for Irish women at the moment. She has won every prize that is to be won in boxing and continues to dominate her weight group. We should be really proud of her achievements and recognise her for what she is; the greatest sportsperson this country has ever produced.
There are many more I could mention like Paul McGrath, George Best, Roy Keane, Liam Brady and Johnny Giles , Vincent O’Brien, Aidan O’Brien, Tony McCoy, Ruby Walsh, Eamon Coughlan, Barry McGuigan, Sonia O’Sullivan etc. The list goes on and on. We are a small country but a great sporting nation.
Domhnall de Barra