Best wishes to all in the East Cork Junior A Football Final 2023
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Best wishes to all in the East Cork Junior A Football Final 2023
- Sep 22,2023
Best wishes to all in the East Cork Junior A Football Final 2023.
There is a proud tradition of Cuman Lúthchleas Gael in East Cork for many a year and the Division Uí Mac Coille will be celebrating their Centenary in 2024. This year we take the Junior A Football final between Carraig na bhFear and Lisgoold to the Glenville venue. The three Clubs epitomise all that’s good about the game. They are hitting the right tone in catering for their juveniles in a special way. catering for their members, supporters, and community as they all have made massive strides in recent developments too.
It is always a pleasure to hit on to Glenville for a football game and always competitive if you are playing the home team. Recent developments in Glenville include state of the art facilities in new floodlights on their main pitch, a 3G fully lit synthetic pitch, electronic scoreboard, gymnasium, and other upgrades. We have the Eamon Ryan Commemorative medal for the Man of the Match. This will be special on the evening as the late Eamon’s many achievements include a haul of five East Cork junior footballs medals with Glenville and the James Ryan Cup is in memory of his dad another great Gael. Thanks to Glenville for hosting this game, congratulations on the great developments and best wishes for the future.
The Carraig na bhFear Club played in the Cork SHC in 1887 but found the going tough to remain active in the following years. However, the Club is very active since the ‘50s and have hurling & football teams. They have progressed from have their own pitch to purchasing more land and undergoing some outstanding development including a second pitch in 2018 and plans to engaging with the new Scoil and Athar Tadgh National School and Community Council They have a strong population and, a thriving juvenile set up and a special strategy to encourage all players to remain in the sport. Their last East Cork JAFC Final win was back in 1975 and no doubt victory on Saturday evening would be a big step forward for the club.
Lisgoold provide the opposition and are another club with a proud tradition as they played in the first ever Cork senior football final against Lees back in 1887. Like so many clubs they had tough times and found it hard to stay going but enjoyed success in the ‘70’s. They opened their own pitch in the 90’s and taking off with a strong juvenile set up. The club have worked really on some fantastic development off the field building a new club house and synthetic turf facility and, on the field, winning their first Jamesy Kelleher Cup and back-to-back county Junior hurling titles and now play up in the Intermediate grade. They are strong in the football too and hope to capture their first ever junior title on Saturday evening.
We commenced by outlining the strengths of East Cork and the Division’s contribution to the game. Our Chairperson Ms Avril Geary, Secretary Patrick Mulcahy and the CCC have put a lot of work into the smooth running of the games in 2024. There is a five-year strategic plan for Cork football and maybe the promotion of football in the Division could be promoted even more. There is an interesting quote in the foreword of that Cork document by one Reed B Markham, an American educator “If you are standing still, you are going backwards. It takes great effort to maintain forward momentum”. Now I don’t know how Mr Markham got on Cork strategic plan or is he interested in Gaelic football but as regards the clubs Glenville, Carraig na bhFear and Lisgoold his quote is certainly apt. These Clubs are not standing still in their work and they are preparing for the future and we wish them all the best on Saturday evening. Looking forward to the proverbial cracker of a game.
Kieran McGann
PRO East Cork Board.
