After months and weeks of organising and preparing, last Friday morning finally saw the first team of golfers tee off in the Blackwater Motors sponsored Kilworth GAA Golf Classic at Fermoy Golf Club followed by a further 49 teams throughout the day. We were blessed to have such fine weather for the occasion and it was great to see so many people out on the course. It’s hard to know where to begin when it comes to thanking people because there are so many but I’ll begin by sincerely thanking our main sponsor Blackwater Motors who came on board this year. Your support and sponsorship is very much appreciated and it is crucial as we look towards building a new club house and updating our pitch facilities, a project that is going to cost in excess of €750,000. We hope to continue our good relationship for many years and we hope you will stay on as the main sponsor for next year’s event. It was great to see your presence at the Golf Club with so many new cars on display last Friday. It was fantastic publicity for our club and you so again, thank you very much! We would like to thank our own Niall Cotter in helping to form the relationship between Kilworth GAA Club and Blackwater Motors and we would also like to thank Jamie O’Callaghan for presenting the prizes in Cotter’s Bar last Friday night.

We would like to thank all those who very kindly sponsored tee boxes or entered teams into the Golf Classic. Without teams and without players, there would not be a classic so we would like to sincerely thank you all for getting involved. Your support of our club does not go unnoticed and it is very much appreciated. The full list of sponsors is as follows: Blackwater Motors (Main Sponsor), Michael Lucey (Top prize in the raffle), Barnes Jewellers Fermoy, Kilally Stables Kilworth, Ger Hennessy Hair Studio, Avondhu Motor Factors, McCarthy’s Mace/ Fermoy Nissan, Kevin O’Keeffe, O’Sullivan’s Centra Kilworth, O’Callaghan’s Dental Practice Fermoy, Denis Twomey Kilally, MJ Coffey Electrician, Molans Garage, Sanmina Fermoy, Noel Flynn, The Arch Bar, Don O’Mahony, Kilworth Camogie Club, Fermoy Print and Design, John and Oliver Sheehan Blocklayers, Liam Magnier Landscaping, Lorclon Civil Engineering, Michael Lyons Building Contractors, Orla’s Hair salon, Kilworth Sheltered Housing, Kilworth Pitch and Putt Club, PPL Biomechanics, Chadwicks, Shaws Fermoy, Laya Healthcare, Fitzgerald Hurleys, Liam Walsh Hurleys and Sliotars, Riordan’s Supervalu Fermoy, Mark Nugent, Silver Bullet Warehousing, Butchers Bar, Mikes Tyres Fermoy, Ned O’Brien and Joe Cahill, Provision Electrical, Walsh’s Pharmacy Fermoy, Ballymartle GAA Club, Mike O’Brien Kilworth, Collins O’Brien Fermoy, Mitchelstown Dental Clinic, Araglen GAA, Fermoy Hire – Dave McCarthy, Corbett Court, Shinnick’s Spar and Post Office Fermoy, Fermoy Credit Union, Ely Search, Kilworth Juvenile Club, Aherne’s Bar Kilworth, Bill Hegarty and Family, Kilworth Celtic, The Village Inn Kilworth, Avondhu Press, Bill O’Flynn, Caman Leisure, Dion Cahill Carpentry and Construction, Circle K, FDC Group, Paddy Walsh Motors Fermoy, Collin O’Meara, Amber Service Station Dublin Road Fermoy, Cross Refrigeration, Aidan Hyland Plastering, McMahon’s Fermoy, Chop Shop Fermoy, Castlehyde Stud, Donal Byrne Motors, Grasstec (Noel Gowen), Strata Programming and Logistics, Alan Kenny, Carrigdhoun Engineering, Kilworth Community Council, Conway Engineering, Dornan Engineering, Henry Construction, Brian Tobin, Maurice McNamara & Kieran Walsh, Pa O’Connor, Sherry Fitzgerald (Donal Barry), Walsh’s Bar Mitchelstown, TOCO Welding, Belgooley Engineering, O’Sullivan’s Centra Kilworth, Con O’Sullivan, D Pack, Eoin Stanton, Islecalsh Engineering (Mark O’Connor), KDC Ltd, Paul Nelligan, Kilworth Sports Complex, Will, Brian and John Hegarty, Will Twomey and Lester Condon Plastering, Kieran Lane, Chris O’Mahony Evolution, Conor Cooney, Des Harrington, Fergal McCormack, James Ronayne Funeral Directors, Noel Gowen, Damien Lynch and James O’Brien, Port of Cork, Pat O’Brien, Pa Browne Plant Hire and Evans Mockler, England.

We had the fantastic prize of a week’s accommodation on the beautiful island of Fuertenventura as the top prize in this year’s Golf Classic raffle and for that prize we would sincerely like to thank Michael Lucey who very kindly sponsored it. Michael is a fantastic supporter of Kilworth GAA and Kilworth Camogie clubs and thanks to his generosity, we were able to raffle off this prize and we have no doubt the winner will thoroughly enjoy it! Thank you for your support Michael, it is very much appreciated. On behalf of the club we would like to thank everyone who sponsored a prize in the raffle. We had twelve in total and your support is greatly appreciated by everyone in the club. Thank you to absolutely everyone who sold and/ or bought the raffle tickets. We couldn’t have a raffle without the prizes, but we also couldn’t have a raffle without someone willing to go out sell the tickets and then in turn have people buy them. Thank you all very much for your continued support! We would like to thank Jason O’Sullivan of O’Sullivan’s Centra Kilworth for kindly sponsoring the ‘goodie bags’ for this year’s classic once again. It is great to have you on board each year Jason, you continue to be a wonderful supporter of Kilworth GAA Club and we are very grateful. We would like to wish you the very best of luck with the opening of the Post Office next week too! Thank you to Fermoy Golf Club for allowing us to host our event at the club again this year. The facilities up there are second to none and they are always very accommodating to us. The food each team received after their round of golf was beautiful yet again this year so we thank you for everything.  

We would also like to thank John and Ann Cotter of Cotter’s Bar Kilworth for allowing us to host our prize presentation in the bar last Friday night. It was great to see such a wonderful turnout on the night, including many of our friends at Kilworth Camogie Club and for that we would like to say thank you. The full list of prize winners is as follows: Non-GUI Winners: 1st - Aherne's Bar, 2nd - Kilworth Camogie, 3rd - The Village Inn, 4th - Ideclash Engineering and 5th - Port of Cork. GUI Winners: 1st - Mike Tyres, 2nd – Sanmina, 3rd - Walsh's Bar, 4th - Belgooley Engineering and 5th - Collins O'Brien. Raffle Prize Winners: 1st (Holiday in Fuerteventura) - Jodie Carey, 2nd (Smart TV) - Paddy Walsh Motors, 3rd (Jacob's on the Mall Voucher) - Mary Barrett, 4th (Ger Hennessy Hair Salon Voucher) - Conor O'Mahony, 5th (2008/2014 wine) - Mike Walsh, 6th (Hamper from Walsh's Pharmacy) - Aoidinn Tobin, 7th (Hamper from Walsh's Pharmacy) - Michael Walsh, 8th (Hamper from Walsh's Pharmacy) - Matt Slattery, 9th (Double Wine) - Gerry O'Riordan, 10th (Double Wine) - Seanie Shanahan, 11th (Double Wine) - Catherine & John O'Connor and 12th (Single Red Wine) - Jack Walsh. Well done to all of the winners and thank you again to all those who sponsored the brilliant prizes!

Finally, this Golf Classic would not be possible without the hard work and dedication of a number of volunteers over the past number of weeks and months. We would especially like to thank the leader of that team, Ned O’Brien. This was Ned’s first year involved in the Golf Classic and he did a fantastic job. He put in a tremendous amount of work in getting teams and sponsors on board, selling raffle tickets and coordinating the event, leading up to it and also on the day itself. Thank you for all your hard work Ned and we hope you will stay on board for a number of years to come! I won’t mention the number of people who helped Ned out in organising the event for fear of leaving someone out but you all know who you are and your help is greatly appreciated and it hasn’t gone unnoticed. Thank you very much! As it is each year, the money raised from the classic is put aside for development purposes and this year is even more important than any other as we look to develop our club house and pitch facilities. In order to do this we need to raise much needed funds and the golf classic is one vital step forward towards doing that. We cannot thank you enough for your support of the classic and we hope that you will continue to support us in our efforts to raise money for the development in the future. Pictures from the event will be published in the paper over the coming weeks but if you would like to see them all then please log on to our website at www.kilworthgaa.com or check out our Facebook Page. If I accidently forgot to thank anyone, then please accept my sincerest apologies. It was not my intention to do so and if a mistake has been made, it will be rectified in next week’s notes. Thank you!