Trinity College Dublin GAA Newsletter

Transcription

1 Trinity College Dublin GAA Newsletter March, 2013 Inside this issue GAA Club Reports Alumni Reports GAA Football Ladies are All Ireland Champions winning the Lynch Cup How to keep in touch GAA Development Officer Conor Laverty A chara, This season has seen an increase in membership of all clubs and a number of additional teams competing in competitions, which has seen an additional Hurling Freshers team and a Camogie seconds team for the first time in its history. The GAA Ladies Football Club was successful in their bid to win the Lynch Cup beating DIT in the final. The men s team will continue to compete in the Sigerson. The Hurling Freshers reached the semi-final of the championship and the Senior team made the Ryan Cup weekend. The Camogie club entered two senior teams this year with the Senior A team reaching the Championship weekend. The Handball Club memebership continues to grow and this year seen the club gain confirmation of a One wall court in Trinity s Sports Centre. The Santry Development has gained momentum in Trinity College and we hope to hear about a positive outcome in the near future. 1

2 Men Football The Senior team competed in the Ryan Cup (Division one) of Senior Football for the first team in 10 years. They were drawn in a group including Queens Belfast, University of Ulster and St Mary s Belfast. Unfortunately they were defeated in all 3 group games. The second game in the group give a true reflection on what level the senior team is at coming within 2 points of UUJ and having chances to win the game. In the relegation playoff semi-final Trinity faced beatensigerson finalists in 2012 NUI Maynooth. TCD produced an outstanding performance and won the game by 3 points to maintain DivisionOne football next year.the intermediate team played 3 league games winning only one but competing well in the other two. It was decided that the Club would use the intermediates this year as a feeder team for seniors and also to give new inexperience students a chance to play Gaelic football this has been a great success with 6 new students lining out for Trinity including 2 foreign students. The Fresher s won all 3 of their group games and beat UCD 2 s in the quarter final off the league, in the semi-final they came up against a strong Mary Immaculate side and were defeated by 2 points. 2

3 DU Camogie The Camogie Club for the first time in the clubs history foundeda second s team and entered into Division 3. The reason for the introduction of this team was to continue the interest of members. Previously the Club had a panel of 30 players but not all players were successful in getting regular games, therefore would lose interest throughout the year. Many players continued to play throughout the year this year and they beat Marino convincingly but were beaten in the second game by 2 points against a strong DIT 2 nd s team. The Senior A team competed in Division 2 and was in a group of 5 teams. In the first match they were on the losing side against St Pats,Drumcondra. After this defeat they had a winning streak of 3 games securing second place in the group. The Fresher steamattended a one day blitz and a seven a side tournament and are showing some very promising signs for the future. One of the Clubs highlights this year so far was the fundraising event they held for Friends of Leukaemia. The girls decided to run a 26 mile marathon on a treadmill in Trinity s Sports Centre and each player was involved and run at least 1 mile. They had t-shirts printed and collected money on the day of the event in total the raised over 600 euro. 3

4 DU Ladies Gaelic Football This season the Ladies team appointed a new manager Steven Maxwell, this has proven tobeen very successful with the students and he got a great response from the team. The Senior ATeam completed in the Lynch Cup after defeat in the final the girls were not to be stopped this year defeating DIT in the Final to become All Ireland Champions. The Senior B team was promoted to Division 3 and was really out of the team s depth struggling against DCU and UCD 2 s teams. These teams are off a standard as are Senior A team, this is one area that needs addressed next year as we run the risk of losing players because the difference in standard as the results show. The new income off freshers has been very positive for the club and of an extremely high standard which will ensure Trinity Ladies are in a strong position for years to come. The fresher team performed well at the two blitz days, which was held in Cork. 4

5 Trinity GAA Ladies All Ireland Champions Trinity College Ladies Gaelic footballers had a St Patrick s weekend they will remember forever when they ended an 8 year famine and became Lynch Cup Champions, defeating neighbours DIT in the final. Trinity beat Cork in the semi-final and beat them 1-10 to 1-8. The day of the final was crisp and clear a day many would describe as a perfect day for football and Trinity set out to finish what they aimed for. The game got off to a lively start with first blood going to DIT. Trinity responded clinically with Lucy Mulhall converting a free kick and then dispatching a superb goal to the net. DIT went straight up the other end and a speculative effort drop wickedly to settle in the corner of the Trinity net. The game was evenly matched and the sides traded scores throughout the first half to leave just the minimum between the sides at the break. The second half was all or nothing. Trinity had lost the decider a year ago by a point and the desire among the team to ensure that this time would be different was evident. Caitriona Smith put the team 1-8 to 1-7 up before Siobhan Melvin played a real captains role edging them ahead by 2. DIT weren t finished yet though and an inspirational goal left them ahead at a crucial stage in the game 2-7 to 1-9. Trinity didn t panic though. DIT threw everything they had at Trinity and Clare Foley was called to stand up and make an exceptional save to keep Trinity ahead. There was a determination seeping through the team now that victory was in reach. The team work and composure Trinity showed during the last few minutes despite only holding a one point lead was fantastic. At one stage they kept the ball in play for 2 full minutes an amazing feat in itself before finishing the move with a point from corner back and vice captain Rachel Coleman Horgan. It was these small pieces of collective and individual talent that left Trinity ahead at the final whistle on a score line of 1-13 to

6 DU Hurling The Hurling Club again this year competed in Division 2. There group was St Mary s, Queens and University of Ulster. The team struggled in thereopening games due to the fact that some senior players were still involved with their clubs. In the first two matches Trinity lost to St Mary s and Queens. In the third game Trinity welcomed UUJ to Clanna Gael, being able to field a stronger team in this fixture, Trinity recorded a victory to set them up well for their championship preparations. This season the fresher s team played two challenge matches and reached the All Ireland semi-final of the championship losing out to Queens by a point. FreshersHurling was one area that the club highlighted last year for improvement this was the case and things look very positive for the club over the next few years. The highlight of the season so far was seeing young hurler of the year Nominee DannySutcliffe line out for the DU Senior Hurling team this can only benefit the profile of the Club and College. 6

7 Handball This season has seen the Handball club membership increase and there have put some coaching/ training structures in place which is making a massive difference when it comes to their competitions. The 60x30 teams and singles GAA Handball Intervarsity s competition took place in Kilkenny on October 26-28th. The players got off to a great start with immediate wins from Darryl Dolan and Lisa McKenna. Ronan McQuillan was unfortunate to meet one of the B finalists in the first round but he fought bravely in the C competition and battled his way to the quarter final where he came up against the eventual winner of that grade and was just unlucky to be playing against the UCD man who had a lot more experience than him. ColmMcElwain shocked the many spectators to his match by being placed in the A grade and giving him a very tight match and only narrowly losing. The next match was a clash of the doubles team of McElwain and McKenna. It was an exhilarating game to watch and many thought it might go to a tie breaker but McKenna pulled off a number of successful serves towards the end to finish the game McElwain then fought his way to the quarter finals of the C grade where he also came up against an eventual finalist before bowing out. Lisa McKenna competed in the mixed B grade where she had some very tough matches against opponents who hoped to out power her in the game. She showed the men in the grade that she meant business by working her way to the quarter finals before losing out to Fergal Lalor a UCC man. Club captain Darryl Dolan reached the A final before losing out to John Fitzgerald from Kilkenny in a tough game. 7

8 Old Boys Hurling Match 2012/13 The annual Trinity Hurling Old Boys match took place on Saturday, 8th December 2012, on the pristine front pitch at Clanna Gael Fontenoy GAA club in Ringsend. The Old Boys team that faced up to Trinity s current Ryan Cup Senior Hurling Team was the youngest team fielded in many years, bolstered by many recent graduates. Some of the older players were pleased to see the average age of the starting 15 fall by an estimated ten years this year, meaning they had less of the field to cover. However, it was noted that a vintage Offaly Jersey sported by an Old Boy was likely older than much of the current team. The management of this year s Ryan Cup team includes three Old Boys Eoin O Leary, Brian Dervan and Aaron Hurley. Strong performances from last year s stars and first-time Old Boys Martin Phelan and Aaron Hurley helped the Old Boys to a rare victory over the current team. Anrud is annamh is iontach. The Old Boys certainly enjoyed recording their first win in many years. After the match the Old Boys dinner took place in Wynns Hotel. Old Boys Secretary Fergal Landy thanked the large attendance of Old Boys for their continued support of the Old Boys and in particular their support of the Old Boys Scholarship Fund. Now in its third year, the Scholarship Fund supports a number of players each year and is playing a large part in raising the standard of Hurling in Trinity. The club is always looking to get in contact with Old Boys. If you played for Trinity Hurling Club at any stage you can get in contact with the Old Boys Committee at 8

9 Old Girls Camogie Match 2012/13 The Trinity Camogs Old Girls event has been gaining momentum year on year since it first started 2 years ago. Thisyear,the match was held in Clanna Gael on Saturday the 8th December at 1pm. Due to work and other commitments, numbers for both sides were short for the match, but that didn t dampen the craic and competitiveness of the day. After a catch up in the dressing rooms, teams of 12 a side were made post grads and first, second and third years versus old girls and fourth years. Seamus Conboy refereed the 20 minute a side game. With 2 former captains in Rachel Ruddy and Roisin O Grady and this year s captain Aine Murphy on the same team, the old girls and fourth years were still unable to hold off the post grad team, with new comers such as Allie Kelly and Emma O Connor helped their team to victory. That evening the girls then headed to our sponsors Kennedy s for food, where more girls who couldn t make the match, such as Liz Grenaham, made an appearence. The girls then ended the night in typical Camogs style on the dance floor in coppers! All in all a great day was had, catching up and reminiscing about good times had as part of being a member of the Trinity Camogs. The event has grown each year, and next year there will be a big push again to get the numbers up. 9

10 Calling all Trinity GAA Alumni Vision: To compete with the best Third Level GAA Clubs in Ireland In order to compete with the best Third Level GAA Clubs in Ireland, we need your support. Please contact GAA Development Officer, Conor Laverty at to support the GAA s Centre of Excellence where we will increase the professionalism of GAA at Trinity. Support can be in the form of administration, finance, coaching along with many other options. Sport Club Alumni Appeal May 2013 Please support our annual appeal which will take place in May A letter along with a donation form will be sent to all sports alumni in order to gain support for our Sport Clubs. 80% of your donation will go to our Club and 20% will go towards the Trinity College Sports Scholarship Scheme. Both once-off and regular monthly gifts will be gratefully accepted. Once you identify the GAA Club in the donation form, funding will be allocated to our Club in order to support its development. Thank you in advance for your generosity! 10