Watergrasshill GAA Notes

  • Mar 07,2023

East Cork Scór   

Coiste Scór Úi Mac Choille hosted the finals of Scór Na bPáistí in Watergrasshill Community Center last weekend. After the semi-finals in Lisgoold the previous week, we were delighted that Ashling Broderick qualified for the Rince Aonar. It wasn’t to be Ashling’s day on Sunday, but everyone in the club is so proud of Ashling for representing us in the final and even more-so when she demonstrated amazing commitment to travel from Dublin to participate having been at a gymnastics competition all weekend.

Commiserations to Ashling and a massive Thank You to our president Lizzie O'Leary and cultural officer Aisling Fitzgerald for continuing to .keep Scór alive and well in Cnocán Na Biolraí. 

Reeling In The Year

Looking back to May and June of 2022, Brian O’Riordan was presented with his €12,900 cheque from our Lotto Committee following his win in late April. Our U-12 boys had a good win over St. Colmcille’s in their first outing as a Rebel Óg team. Meanwhile our U-10 boys continued their Cashman Cup campaign, in what can only be described as a marathon of hurling 20 players in 2 teams had to play 6 matches against Eire Og, Blarney and Carrigtwohill. 2 hard fought victories against Eire Óg were the highlight of the night. Well done to the boys & their coaches on a fantastic effort in a prestigious tournament.

5th class boys from Watergrasshill NS were runners up in the Paul O’Connor memorial tournament hosted by Gaelcholaiste Mhuire A.G. in May. The boys did fantastic, winning their 3 group games & narrowly losing out in the final. Special mention for Sam O’Leary who was awarded most sporting player award for his display in the final. With a mini-heat wave in late May, there were wins for our U-13’s and U-11’s in what could only be described as “fierce heat”.

In early June, we had our Medal Presentation evening in Kades Kounty where medals from 2019, 2020 and 2021 were presented. We had 2019 East Cork Minor D2 Championship, 2019 East Cork U-14 D1 Championship & 2021 East Cork U-17 D2 Shield medals presented. There was also a presentation to our current members who have represented Cork at various grades in the past during that time winning 5 All-Ireland medals along the way, with Daire O’Leary (Cork Senior & U-20), Seán Desmond (Cork U-20), Brendan Lehane, Mick O’Driscoll & Liam foley (Cork Minor) recognised for their achievements.  

A great occasion in June too for club stalwart Jimmy O’Callaghan who took possession of a new mower on behalf of the club from Ryall’s Farm Machinery. The old mower was over 25 years old and the new mower is a huge help in maintaining the pitch. Jimmy along with Charlie Maher continues to do trojan work in maintaining Felix Sarsfield Memorial Park and they are now honing their 4G Astro maintenance skills as our new facility comes on line. They’ve assured us that the new mower will be kept away from the Astro pitch.     

Back In Action

Our adult teams got the 2023 season underway, with our Junior B hurlers getting the season started with a trip to Ballynoe on Friday evening. A good strong performance from the lads having had a disappointing campaign in 2022. We were unluck to lose out by the narrowest of margins on a score line of St. Catherine’s 0-12 to 0-11 Watergrasshill, but the strength of the performance augurs well for the season ahead.

Our Fé-18 boys were given walk-over by Cobh who were unable to field a team. Given the turmoil over the past number of years with respect to the Fé-17, Fé-18 age groups and transition to adult grades, we do hope this isn’t a sign of thing to come for that age group.

Our intermediates made the trip to Ballygiblin on Sunday afternoon to face the All-Ireland Junior champions from 2022. With a much changed side from our own 2022 campaign, there was a great opportunity for some of our younger players to stake a claim for regular positions on the team with Mick O’Driscoll, Liam Foley and Ryan Murray all starting. It was also great to see Daire O’Leary back in action having come through a difficult period with injury. However, in scenes reminiscent of the Tadgh Keneally & Nicholas Murphy incident a few year back, Daire took a blow to the faceguard within 30 seconds of the throw-in which necessitated a blood substitution whilst a suspected broken-nose was treated. Thankfully, he returned to action about 5 minutes later and immediately steadied the ship on his return. In that opening period Ballygiblin raced to a 0-3 to 0-0 lead within 5 minutes, however once the Hill settled, the score as 0-3 to 0-2 after 10 minutes. The pivotal period of the first half came between the 17th and 23rd minutes where Ballygiblin added 1-4 without reply to lead 1-10 to 0-5. But to their credit, our lads kept working hard and with Seán Desmond leading the line well up front, the lead was reduced to 6 points at half time, 1-10 to 0-7. On the resumption of the 2nd half, the teams traded scores before Dylan Roche rattled the net on 9 minutes, narrowing the gap to just 2 points, 1-11 to 1-9. With scores a lot harder to come by in the second half, Ballygiblin responded well to the Hill goal and had extended the gap again to 5 points again after 22 2nd half minutes. The Hill finished strong however and at the full-time whistle, Ballygiblin ran out winners on a score line of 1-16 to 1-13. Fresh off their Croke Park appearance in January, on balance, Ballygiblin were deserved winners. However, Watergrasshill will be pleased with their first outing of the 2023 campaign. Daire O’Leary, Seán Desmond and Aaron Ricken were our best on the day and with Mick O’Driscoll also very solid at half-back, there was great game time for the younger lads at this level which again bodes well for the remainder of the campaign.          

2023 Membership now open

Our 2023 club membership is now open and we would encourage everyone to renew as soon as possible. Our playing, non-playing and social membership options are available again this year. It’s not just important for players to complete their membership for insurance and registration purposes, but social and non-playing members are just as important to ensure we have up to date member numbers, this help with Capital grant applications to GAA organisations and external private funding to help us continue to develop the best possible facilities for our community.

This year we have simplified the registration process by moving to the Foireann platform, which is provided by the GAA. Everyone will already have profiles set-up on Foireann from the days of COVID health questionnaires, but anyone who needs extra support to resister can just contact any club officer and we’ll gladly help you out. Please visit www.foireann.ie to register.

Rebels Bounty 2023

The Rebels Bounty draw is an initiative of "One Cork" to give clubs a significant opportunity to raise funds. Proceeds from every ticket sold above minimum targets go directly to our clubs in Watergrasshill & Glenville.  We had a fantastic response in 2021 and tickets are now up for renewal. We are asking all members and supporters to renew again this year and support this very important fundraised for both clubs. The 2022 prize fund is over €500,000 with 30 chances to win every month. Entries can be made on-line via www.gaacork.ie/rebelsbounty or through any club member. If you need any assistance, feel free to contact Brian or Paud or please email rebelsbounty@gaa.ie or hillglenvillerebelsbounty@gmail.com. Your support is greatly appreciated with much needed funds going directly into supporting your club and your community, míle buiochas duitse go léir. 

Lotto

There was no winner of the Lotto Jackpot this week. Numbers drawn were 1, 5, 15 & 30. Lucky dip winners are Niall O’Connell, Cillian, Donagh & Laura, Aisling Desmond and Pat Dorgan. Congrats to you all. Next week's jackpot is €2,800 and draw will take place on March 13th in The Fir Tree Bar. Tickets are on sale in some of the village businesses like The Hut Bar, The Fir Tree, Johnny's Shop and our new Lotto stand in Ross's Centra. Tickets can also be purchased on-line via our club website (www.watergrasshillgaa.ie). The Club would like to take this opportunity to thank all our members and supporters of the Watergrasshill GAA Club Lotto. The Club Lotto is a vital source of income for the running of all our teams within the Club and for future development of our facilities, so we ask you to please support it if you are in a position to do so. Remember, if you’re not in you can’t win.

Upcoming Fixtures

Friday March 17th, Rebel Óg East Fé18 D1 League

Watergrasshill V Carrigaline in Watergrasshill at 11:30am

Saturday March 18th, Rebel Óg East Fé14 D1 League

Watergrasshill V St. Catherine’s in Watergrasshill at 3:00pm

Sunday 19th, East Cork Junior D2 League

Watergrasshill V Youghal in Watergrasshill (Time TBC)

Sunday 19th March, RedFM Intermediate Hurling D5 League

Watergrasshill V Castlemartyr in Watergrasshill at 11:30am

Recent Results

Friday March 3rd, East Cork Junior D2 League

St. Catherine’s 0-12 V 0-11 Watergrasshill

Saturday March 4th, Rebel Óg East Fé18 D1 League

Cobh V Watergrasshill, conceded by Cobh

Sunday 5th March, RedFM Intermediate Hurling D5 League

Ballygiblin 1-16 V 1-13 Watergrasshill