Rockcorry Notes

Sympathy

Firstly, on behalf of everyone at the Rockcorry GAA club I would like to offer our deepest and heartfelt condolences to the family, relatives, friends and club mates of the late Lorcan Kelly (Aghabog) who passed away following an illness. He was a great character, a talented footballer who was totally committed to his club and always wore the Aghabog jersey with pride. A great competitor on the playing pitch, consistent, courageous and honest and I remember having many a tussle with him. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family during this difficult time and may he rest in peace. Ar dheis De go raibh a anam dilis.

Monaghan Electrical Intermediate Football League

I’ve taking a few deep breaths and have been repeating the words “Goosfraba, Goosfraba, Goosfraba” many times over the last couple of days and I’m feeling much better! Our senior team travelled to play Donaghmoyne last Sunday 26th October in the last match of the Monaghan Electrical intermediate football league campaign. From our point of view there was absolutely nothing at stack, except the pride of fulfilling a fixture. Sadly, we struggled to field a team which was very disappointing and disheartening but thankfully we eventually managed to round up enough players to field a team that included a couple of guys carrying niggling injuries and contained a really potent full-forward line that had a combined age of over one-hundred (I will be crippled for a week with aches and pains). For the record, Donaghmoyne were the better team on the day and secured the victory on a score-line 4-11 to 0-8 and while the score-board shows a fifteen point winning margin it does not fairly reflect the brave performance of the team. I have to commend the players that turned up and conducted themselves with grace, dignity and showed tremendous amounts of resilience and demonstrated great character and had we converted some of our chances it would have been a closer contest. This was our last outing of the year and despite having lost out intermediate status this year we have to look forward with renewed optimism. This year was particularly hard and demanding on everyone and while we have slipped down through the grades we have an opportunity to put the record straight. Personally, I definitely believe there’s a lot more to come from this team and provided we can stay injury free and provided we can gain a measure of consistency in our performances there should be no reason why we cannot push for titles next year. However, if we want to seriously challenge for honours next year than there must be a determined effort to make amends. A lot of soul searching must be done over the winter months and the players must show a real desire to bounce back. To use the words of team captain Niall McKeown, who spoke quite elegantly after the game, when he highlighted that “all players need to step up to the plate and commit to working harder next year.”

Thank You

I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank our management team of Mickey Morgan and Jimmy McGeough for all their incredible work and dedication over the last 12 months. Nobody could have predicted how things panned out and it was a very difficult season to be involved and some might say it was the year from hell! There were plenty of dark moments but they worked tirelessly and I imagine there were loads of times when they felt dazed and baffled by the extent of the injury crisis and wondered what on earth was going wrong! Thanks Mickey & Jimmy for your tremendous work and all the best.

Photo Frames

During my term as PRO of the club I always maintained that’s photographs are a wonderful source of capturing a story and it really says it all. Photographs are memories and as the saying goes – “life brings tears, smiles and memories…the tears dry…the smiles fade…but the memories will last forever.” Recently, I put together a couple of photo frames involving Dylan & Caolan Reilly and Calum Calvert. If any parent or player would like to get one done then please get in touch and I would be delighted to provide any assistance.

Annual General Meeting

With the football season now completed there is really only one outstanding item of business left and that’s our Annual General Meeting which has been fixed for Wednesday 26th November in the clubrooms starting at 7.30pm. The AGM is the most important meeting of the year and all club members are invited to attend in order to reflect on the last twelve months and to look ahead for the upcoming year. We should always be trying to innovate and move forward, never sitting still. We need to stand up and take a long hard look at our situation and we need to plan for the future and that future starts straight away. There are many challenges facing the club both on and off the field and one off our biggest challenges is the greater need for people to get involved. Nomination forms will be circulated to all club members over the next week or so and should be returned to club secretary Martina McKeown before the required date.

Senior Citizen Sponsored Walk

Are you ready boots…let’s start walkin! Yes folks, it’s that time of year once again when people get on their walking boots to raise money for the popular Senior Citizen’s Christmas Party. The Rockcorry Dartrey Community Alert committee have sponsorship cards now in circulation and I would urge everyone within the parish and surrounding communities to support this event which takes place on Saturday 29th November. If you are interested in joining the walk and would like to help raise some money you can obtain a sponsorship card from Gerry Coyle. The walk promises to be a great day for all the family but if anyone who cannot do the walk but would like to make a donation then please get in touch. As they always say….every little helps.

National Club Draw 2015.

The National Club Draw was officially launched in Croke Park last Tuesday. Last year, the Draw raised in excess of €2.4m for clubs throughout Ireland. All funds raised were retained solely by the club to assist in funding the development and the promotion of our games. 945 clubs took part in last year’s Draw which included Handball clubs and clubs from our Sister Associations. This year there will be a larger number of prizes, all of which are provided by Ard Chomhairle. It is hoped with an increased take up and heightened awareness that clubs will exceed the €2.4m raised last year. Each club retains the proceeds of the tickets sold by their club and with 2,000 tickets available to each club, it means that clubs can raise up to €20,000.

Top 4 Lotto Results

The numbers drawn on Monday 27th October were 7, 9, 19 and 26. There was no jackpot winner of €10,500.00. The following won €15 each :- Enda McGorman, Aghabog, Fintan McGorman, Aghabog, Joseph Rooney & Sean McGuirk, Rockcorry, O’Hanlon Family, Aghabog, Colin & Selina, c/o Dartrey P.O., Robyn O’Brien, Latton, The Reilly Girls, Rockcorry, John Bradford, Rockcorry. Next week the jackpot will be an amazing €10,600.00 and the draw will take place in Fitzpatrick’s. Thank you for supporting our Top 4 lotto draw.

Annual Top 4 Lotto Ticket

Don’t forget, you can support the club’s Top 4 lotto by entering for 12 months, 6 month or a 3 month period. To play simply select your four numbers between 1 and 28 complete the form and you need never miss a draw again! Tickets cost €90 for the 12 month option. Your continued support is always much appreciated and we wish you good luck in future draws.

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