Officers 2019:
Chairperson: John O’Flynn
Secretary: Deirdre Cuddihy secretarybng.fethard.tipperary@gaa.ie
Treasurer: John Neville
In 2018 the number of kids playing juvenile GAA in Fethard continued to increase and the level of activity undertaken has grown. Playing and training activity now takes places from February – October each year. The Juvenile Club is extremely appreciative of the financial support provided by Coolmore, its main sponsor.
A huge amount of excellent work is being done by a lot of dedicated voluntary coaches and administrators to ensure that young boys in Fethard have a rewarding and enjoyable experience in playing GAA activities. Evidence of this is the increasing numbers taking part year-on-year for the past few years. Also, the result of this effort is that Fethard underage teams, once again, are beginning to compete at the higher grades.
Our U6’s
2018 turned out be a very successful year for our U6 Football and Hurling teams given the initial forecast of numbers seemed to be low for the year. Throughout the year we entered 2 teams to all the various blitzes in both codes. Training began after St Patrick’s Day in March and went right through until September. It must be noted that there was huge improvements in skill level and focus throughout the year. Much appreciation must go to Conor Mc Carthy, Alan Connolly, Valerie Connolly, Alan O Meara and Damien Byrne for working so hard with our u6’s throughout the year.
Our U8’s
The U8’s availed of the new all-weather pitch on Thursday evenings from October to the end of February this year.
We attended all of the county hurling and football blitzes in Rockwell College and Dr. Morris Park in Thurles. There were seven blitzes in total. We also had a hurling blitz in Killenaule in September.
We arranged hurling/ football challenge matches over the summer months in Clerihan, Kilsheelan, Rosegreen, Clonoulty and Clonmel Og.
Highlights of the year were in the three competitions that we entered; the annual David Boland Cup (hurling) held by Moyle Rovers where we were beaten in the semi-final by the eventual winners, the St. Patricks hurling tournament where we had a thrilling draw in the final to the host club and winning our own Danagher Cup in June.
With a panel of 28, we always had over 20 players attending training, matches and blitzes. Great credit is due to all of the parents as we had a lot of traveling throughout the year.
Coaches: Paul Hayes, Perry Daniel, Mark Prout, Stephen Gleeson and Franny Tyrell.
Our U10’s
Squad for the year:Daniel Barry, Sam Coen, Tadhg Cuddihy, Luke Lacy, Alec Knightley, Sam Knightley, Oliver Woodlock, Sam Wyse, Cody Bradshaw, Kelvin Ryan, Micheal O’ Rahilly, Sean Thompson, Cormac O’ Donnell, Oisin McAndrew, Thomas Murphy, Richard Murphy, Shay Breen, and Joseph Gaule.
We didn’t have a lot of success in the football early in the season and things just didn’t go our way unfortunately. We did win a couple of matches and there definitely is potential for next season.
Hurling :
Firstly, we had great success with the Community Games U11 team which had some of the U10’s on it, who won the South Final and County semifinal and were defeated in the County Final by a very talented team from Nenagh.
We played in a number of U10 hurling blitzes and had some challenge matches also. During the year we defeated teams from Ballingarry, Carrick Swan, Moycarkey Borris and Mullinahone to name just a few.
We were invited to the Christian Flannery memorial tournament in Clerihan at the end of June. Unfortunately we started slowly and lost our first match by 2 points to Cahir who were the eventual winners of the cup. We bounced back impressively after this bad start to go on to win the shield for the 3rd year in a row.
We also were invited to the prestigious Frank Maher Tournament on 1st September by St. Mary’s, containing some of the most distinguished hurling clubs in the country. O’ Loughlin Gaels Kilkenny, Sarsfields from Cork and Six Mile Bridge Clare were some of the clubs involved.
Our U10 hurlers had a great day in Clonmel eventually winning the Jimmy Collins Plate. We had 5 tough games in all, eventually defeating Mullinahone in the semifinal and Bredaghs of Belfast in the final. We had outstanding performances throughout the team.
We had the honour of hosting the Liam Connolly Cup in Fethard on the 8th September. Olly Woodlock took on the organization of this event and he had everything running like clockwork on the day. Great credit must go to him for this, crowds turned up and lots of appetizing food and cakes etc were kindly provided by the parents.
There were 2 groups: Group A consisted of; Fethard, Holycross and St. Mary’s. Group B consisted of Borrisoleigh, Kilsheelan and Ballingarry. We defeated Holycross in our first match and lost to St. Mary’s in the second. All teams in our group had 1 win each and we narrowly lost out on scoring difference for a place in the final. The cup was eventually won by Borrisoleigh and the shield went to Holycross. A very enjoyable day was had by all and we are very grateful to the support given to the club by the Connolly family.
The coaches are very proud of this group and everything that they achieved in 2018. Not only to win 2 hurling trophies but to witness the great level of improvement since the start of the year.
Coaches & mentors: John Lacy, Olly Woodlock & Donie Barry.
Our U12’s
U12A Campaign in Gaelic Football
We started back training for the u12 Gaelic football campaign in late January on the astro turf with training every Monday evening at 6pm. 2018 saw us enter one team in the A championship, something that had not been done for a few years previous but following a successful autumn/winter league campaign in the “A”, a few months earlier and winning the final of that competition versus Commercials it was decided that we could be competitive in the A.
Our first game was away to Kilsheelan and we came up short on the day by a couple of points but we bounced back with victories against Moyle Rovers, Swan & Commercials to book a place in a South semi-final. This took place in Ballingarry vs Moyle Rovers, a game which we won well.
That secured us a place in the “A” south final vs Kilsheelan which took place in Ballylooby on the May Bank Holiday weekend. While beaten on the night, by a team that would later go on to win the County A title, we were not far away from them overall. We led at half time by 3 points and with hind sight (being a great team) should have been able to kick on but it was not to be.
However this is a very good bunch of players and have no doubt if they are kept together going forward, they won’t be far away from success and have proved that it is well within their capabilities to compete in the “A” division.
Mentors: Eugene Walsh, Sean Kiely
U12A Campaign in Hurling
We played our first challenge on Saturday 19th May v Cashel, on Monday 4th June we played Fourmile Water in a challenge game, this was a very competitive game and a good education for our players.
We trained hard for the rest of June in preparation for our 1st Championship game V St Marys Clonmel. St Mary’s ran out deserving winners on the day.
On Monday 25th June we played Ballingarry in our 2nd Game. After a slow start we improved as the game went on and we ended up losing by 3 Points. Our performance was a big improvement on the first game, now we were under real pressure to win a game to kick start our Championship.
On Saturday 30th June we played Carrick Swan in our 3rd Game. This was a must win game, we started poorly and with 10mins gone in the 2nd half we were staring defeat in the face. What happened in the next 10mins changed our season. Every player raised his game 100% and with some great attacking play, great scores and brilliant defending we ground out a great win.
Our 4th Championship game was to be against Moyle Rovers but we received a walk over as they couldn’t field a team.
On Monday 30th July we played Kilsheelan in our 5th game. This was a big game as the Winner would go to the semi Final and the loser would be in a playoff V Swan. After a slow start we powered into the game and got some great scores and never looked like losing and ran out comfortable winners and by doing so reached the Semi Final.
On 9th August we played our South Semi Final V St Mary in front of a home crowd in Fethard. From the very 1st whistle the boys were brilliant, the scores they got, the way they used the ball, the passing but most of all the tackling and hooking and blocking was just a joy to watch, after we got early scores on the board we were never going to be beaten. South Final here we come.
On Monday 13th August we travelled to Mullinahone to take on Carrick Swans in the South U12A Hurling Final having made steady improvements through every game on the way to the Final, we knew we were in with a great chance provided we played our Best. A huge crowd had gathered and there was a great sense of occasion. Both teams showed some nerves at the start of the game but after 7-8mins we started to get into gear and after getting a couple of points on board we pounced for 2 goals which gave us a platform to go and win the game if we could. Again our tackling, hooking and blocking was a joy to watch and our team work all over the field was brilliant from such young players. We went in at half time with a nice lead but there was a lot of work to get through. The 2nd half didn’t live up to the quality of the 1st half but the commitment was there for all to see and with a big Fethard Crowd roaring their team home we ran out deserved winners even though the Swan rallied with a couple of late goals.
It was brilliant to see young and old, past and present players enjoying the moment. And most of all the proud parents. Celebration took place everybody relived the match over and over again but now we had a huge task of facing the mighty Borrisleigh in the County Semi Final.
On the 18th August we travelled to Thurles to take on Borrisleigh in the County Semi. Reports coming from North Tipp were that this team were exceptional. It’s fair to say this game was over after 5 mins, constantly attacking with goals and points. The 2nd half was just a formality as we were very well beaten on the day.
Coaches Tony Shelly, Eugene Purcell, Sean Kiely and Stephen O’Donnell
U12’s C Football
Match Day 1. We were given a walkover by Ballingarry as they couldn’t field a team, so we had our first 2 points on the board.
Match Day 2. We travelled to Mullinahone to play our second game on Saturday evening 24th March, We struggled with the poor field conditions but battled hard to come out on the right side of a high scoring game. Final score Mullinahone 6-5 Fethard 6-7.
Match Day 3. We were at home again for our next game against Carrick Swan onFriday 30th March, We went about our business playing some lovely Football at times and running out easy winners. Fethard 6-7 Carrick Swan 0-0.
Match Day 4. Our next game was against Clonmel Commercials on Saturday 14th April, Commercials played great football on the day and were just more physical than our boys on the day, it wasn’t to be our day this time and Commercials won handy. Fethard 0-4 Commercials 4-7.
Match Day 5. Our last group game saw us play Kilsheelan/Kilcash on Thursday 19th April, the game would determine who would finish second and get to a South 1/4 Final. We started well and got a couple of quick goals and looked to be in control, but we tired in the second half on a very heavy pitch and Kilsheelan got a few quick goals to make the last few minutes a little more tense than we would have liked but we held out to win. Fethard 3-7 Kilsheelan/Kilcash 3-5.
South 1/4 Final We were on our travels again to Cahir on 29th April to play Ardfinnan in this 1/4 final. We were back to our brilliant best in lovely conditions in Cahir playing outstanding football at times and scoring at will with everybody contributing to this fine win including a fine penalty save from our Goalkeeper Sarah Smith to keep Ardfinnan to a score of 1-5. It finished Fethard 4-10 Ardfinnan 1-5.
South Semi-Final Again we were in Cahir to play Clerihan on Wednesday May 2nd in this south semi-final, we were massive underdogs going into this match as Clerihan were reigning County Champions and went unbeaten in their group matches this year. We started really well and got 2 quick goals and tagged on some points to lead 2-3 to 0-1 early on, but Clerihan being the strong team that they are started to get into their stride and scored a couple of goals of their own but we managed to get to half-time 3 points ahead. The second half was just as exciting and the game was from end to end and the teams couldn’t be separated at the final whistle Fethard 4-6 Clerihan 3-9. Extra time was 5 mins aside and Clerihan got off to a great start scoring 3 points without reply to leave them ahead at half time, the second period of extra time saw Fethard start the best and like Clerihan in the first period we got 3 points without reply to leave the final score after extra time, Fethard 4-9 Clerihan 3-12. So it was down to who could get the next score to win, Clerihan had a chance to wrap it up straight from the off but sent the ball wide. from the kick out we broke up the field and with a lovely kick pass up to our Full forward Sam Coen and he didn’t disappoint with a lovely well taking point with his lethal left leg to win by the narrowest of margins, A cruel way for Clerihan to lose but the heart that our lads showed that they can beat anyone on their day. Our Panel is, Sarah Smith, Sean Mc Evoy, Troy Delaney, Tj Keane, Alec Knightly, Daniel Barry, Zach Smith, Lee Delaney, Ben Allen, Sam Coen, Paddy Ryan, Danny Hayes, Criostoir Sheehy and Kelvin Ryan.
South Final On the 7th May we travelled to Ballylooby to again play Clonmel Commercials in the South Final, Once again we could not contain them and the match was over as a contest at half time, we fought hard again in the second half but Commercials ran out worthy winners on a score line of 2-10 to 0-2
Our U14’s
In 2018 the u14s were graded B in both football and hurling. The coaching team was Michael Moroney (Manager) and Brian Delahunty.
We commenced at the end of January with football training. A couple of challenges were played before the championship started on the 12th April. We played 5 group games, of which we won 3. We defeated Fr. Sheehy’s in the quarter-final but lost out to Killenaule in the semi-final.
The hurling championship started on the 28th June and again the team played a couple of challenges beforehand. We played 4 group games, winning one and drawing another and finishing 5th out of the 6 teams in the group.
Whilst there was no silverware, all in all, a full year was had. The group were reliant on u12s to field a team, and at times during the year it was difficult to get the group together because of injuries to some of the u14 boys and not wishing to overload the u12 boys.
Our U16’s
The u16s are amalgamated with St. Patrick’s GAA and known as Anner Gaels.
In the South u16 football championship we topped the group and were drawn to play Mullinahone in the south semi Final, venue Ballingarry we won on a score line of 4.10 to 3.05. On the 29th of July we played the south Final against Kilsheelan, venue Monroe we won that game 4.20 to 2.04. The county semi-final was fixed for the 6th of October venue Holycross v Burges we won winning on a score line of 5.14 to 0.04.
The final was played on the 13th of October in golden where we played a tough Loughmore Castleiney, this game was the moment where this team showed its character been down by 7 points with 14 minutes to go they never dropped their heads battling all the way to the finish never fazed and never panicked winning on a score 3.07 to 1.14.
From early February up until the final whistle on the day of the county final every player on this panel put in a tremendous effort to get this over the line, it is great to see us back next year at minor A level it will be a challenge but with the same effort they can drive into it knowing it will take a good team to bring them down.
In the hurling championship we won all the games we played in the league stages except for giving Ballingarry a walk over due to a congestion of fixtures in August, our down fall was beating a good Mullinahone team in the last round of the league stages and playing them 4 days later in a south semi-final. In the semi-final we went 8 points down after 12 minutes before we started to hurl and come into the game, we brought them back to within a couple of points but with some great saves by their goal keeper they managed to hold on and we were out.
Mentors – Liam Fitzgerald, John Hurley, Declan Morrissey, Michael Healy
Fethard Juvenile GAA Easter Camp
Our First ever Easter Camp in association with Ribworld started Tuesday 3rd April and ran for 4 days.
We had approx. 80 Boys and Girls each day. By all accounts the Kids had a great time and really enjoyed the camp. The kids all put in a huge effort and co-operated with the coaches to make this camp a success.
This camp would not have been possible only for Ribworld support. Each Child received a Goodie Bag with Training Football, Leather Sliotar, Hurling Grip and a surprise or two.
Cúl Camp
This year’s Cúl Camp yet again had very large numbers for the Club. 139 boys and girls participated in the Camp at the end of August.It was another very successful and enjoyable week for all the kids at Cul Camp this year. The rain threatened a few times but we managed to keep the camp going.
A special word of thanks to all those parents who volunteered for a day or more to help out over the week especially Mick O ‘Mahony and Fiona Ryan. It is because of this help the camp is such a success each year. Ann – Marie Moroney, Cul Camp Coordinator.
Fethard Players representing their Club at South and County Level during 2017/2018
The following Boys represented the club on South and County teams were Darragh Spillane, Conor Neville, Shane Neville, Cathal O’Mahony, Ciaran Moroney and Ryan Walsh.
Code of Good Behaviour
The Code of Good Behaviour outlines briefly the rules and procedures, which should be observed by all players. Adherence to the code should ensure that everyone will enjoy his/her involvement with Fethard GAA Club. The Code of Good Behaviour booklet can be viewed/downloaded here Code of Behaviour
Maintaining Appropriate Levels of Behaviour in our Work with Children & Young People complements Sport Ireland Code of Ethics and the Code of Behaviour (Underage), the joint Code of Best Practice in Youth Sport and addresses the appropriate levels of behaviour, practice and conduct required from our young players, officials, coaches, trainers, mentors, supporters, parents/guardians and clubs. This document can be viewed/downloaded here: Behaviour in our Work with Children