ATTENTION TURNS TO 2017 FOLLOWING SUCCESSFUL AGM 

The club held our AGM last Thursday night in the club rooms in front of what was a disappointing crowd but we understand people are very busy this time of year. However, that didn’t stop us from holding another very successful AGM and now our focus turns to 2017. Outgoing Chairman Liam Kenny opened proceedings by welcoming all those present and like always, we started our meeting with a prayer to remember all those we have lost over the past year. Especially our much loved and greatly missed club legend, Fred Sheedy. Fred was a massive personality and a wonderful member of our club. He represented his club and county so well during his time with us and he will never be forgotten. We also remembered the Clancy family who suffered a terrible tragedy last year and our thoughts and prayers are also with them during this sad time.

REPORTS

Following our opening prayer, it was time for outgoing secretary Shane Tobin to give us his last report as secretary. As always, he provided us with a wonderful and comprehensive account of the club’s activities over the past year both on and off the field. The highlight of course was winning the U21 ‘A’ North Cork hurling final with a defeat over Fermoy in Mallow under lights. This made us back to back U21 hurling North Cork Champions and that was no easy task to achieve but under the guidance of Noel Day and his backroom team, our lads worked hard to pull it off. It was also fantastic to see our intermediate hurlers make great progress this year under the guidance of Kilworth men back in charge. That was wonderful to see and considering where we were this time last year, we have come a long way and much more progress can be made with this fantastic bunch of players. With narrow defeats to both Fermoy and Bandon, the two teams who contested this years’ final, it is evident we aren’t too far away. It was great to finally see that heart, determination and never say die attitude always associated with Kilworth GAA back in abundance. Off the field, we had wonderful success at the Scór competition with Joe Aherne winning the North Cork and County Competitions while also coming runner up at the Regional stage. Just last month we had further success at Scór Sinsear with Eirinn Kenneally winning the solo-singing competition and we also won the Ballad group with Eirinn, Aine, Olivia and Caoimhe. Back in April we held our 1916 Commemoration to honour those who fought for Ireland’s freedom and did so by planting seven trees on the bank to the side of the main pitch. We recognised the contribution of our club members who have given years of wonderful service to their club by asking them to plant each tree. It was a lovely ceremony and we now have a beautiful plaque in the shape of Ireland along with two pictures hanging in the club rooms to mark the special occasion. A special thanks to Mossie McNamara for organising this.

Shane gave us a run down on all the games we played this year from Minor all the way up to Premier Intermediate, highlighting the highs and the lows and bringing back many memories of the past year. We played a total of 65 games this year ending with the disappointing defeat to Ballincollig in the U21 ‘A’ County Hurling semi-final played at Watergrasshill. The Cavanagh’s Car Draw was a fantastic fundraising success for the club this year as we raised fantastic money and Shane thanked the sub-committee who took charge of this. We had 3 winners in the lotto over the past year – Tom McCormack, Noel Fenton and Frank Shaw. The lotto now stands at €2800 and the numbers will increase from 24 to 32 on Monday December 19^th. Shane congratulated club referee Aidan Hyland on a great year and there is no doubt he will go on to get many more games and even bigger games during the coming year.

Shane closed his report by encouraging new members to get involved in running the club. New members, young people are great assets to our club. They have new ideas, new ways of looking at things and that is what every club needs to thrive and move forward. Remember this is your club and the only way to make a difference is to get involved. You won’t regret it! Shane commended the rest of the top table for all the hard work they have done all year and he also thanked the previous Chairmen he worked with, Fergus Flynn and Peter Mannix. This brought an end to Shane’s 9 years as secretary and 2 years as PRO as he stepped down from the position. Shane has been an outstanding secretary for this club. He has always given the job 100% and he has always gone about his work in the most professional manner. He was exemplary and that was clear for everyone to see. His reports at each of our weekly meetings are always completed in great detail and for those who attend the AGM each year, you will know that his secretary’s reports are second to none. Many members at the meeting thanked him for all his hard work and for everything he has done over the past 11 years. He will be greatly missed from the top table but no doubt he will still be around to help out in any way he can. I would also like to personally thank Shane for all his help when I started out as PRO. He was always there to answer any questions I had and he made the job much easier for me so thank you for everything.

Mossie McNamara then gave his treasurers report for the past year and it is great to see the club in a healthy position heading into 2017. However, to keep it that way a lot of work needs to be done by the club as we don’t have the success of the last year’s car draw to look forward to this year. We need to think of new and exciting ways to fundraise so if you have any fresh ideas then please send them our way! We would like to thank Mossie for all his work in ensuring the club is in a healthy financial state and for keeping us on track all year.

Next on the agenda was outgoing Chairman Liam Kenny’s report. Liam recalled 2016 as the year of “wetting our appetites” for the future. He remarked on how great it was to have Pat Greehy back on board and in charge of the intermediate hurlers. Liam mentioned how important it is we produce local coachers to we can keep key managerial roles in the club rather than looking elsewhere. He commended Elton, Aidan and Brian on putting junior football in Kilworth in a much better place than what it has been in previous years. He commended the juvenile club officers for the wonderful job they continue to do and he also congratulated the camogie club on a successful first year and wished them every success for the future. Liam finally thanked all those he worked with over the past three years and for all the help they provided to him during his time as Chairman. Liam did a fantastic job as Chairman for the past 3 years, having very clear goals in mind and he continued to work to achieve them. He always had the best interests of the club at heart and everything he did, he did for the better of the club. Again, many members congratulated Liam on doing a great job and Chairman of the juvenile club John Heggtveit also thanked him for the wonderful cooperation between both clubs and he hopes that continues with the new chairman which we are sure it will.

MEMBERSHIP

Membership for the coming year was then taken up and the prices remain the same as last year. Membership is now due and it can be paid to any club officer as soon as possible. The prices are as follows: Adult Player €50, Adult Non-Player €35, Student and Minor €25, Husband & Wife Player €65, Husband & Wife Non-Player €50, Family (2+2) €100. As always, we thank our wonderful members for supporting the club and remember new members are always welcome! This is your club and your support is vital to the club’s success.

ELECTION OF OFFICERS

Michael Dunne preceded over the election of officers for 2017. The club officers and executive committee are as follows:

President: Bill Hegarty

Vice Presidents: Canon Leahy, John Finn, Peg Sheedy, Lar Flynn, Paddy Whelan, Sean O’ Callaghan, John O’Connor, Michael Dunne, Tom Howard, John Twomey, Dave Hogan, Willie Walsh, Patsy O’Mahony, Sean Hegarty, John Hogan, John Carey

Chairman: John Sheehan

Vice-Chairman: Liam Kenny

Secretary: Ber Wheeler

Assistant-Secretary: Michelle O’Keeffe

Treasurer: Mossie McNamara

Assistant-Treasurer: Mike Walsh

PRO: Michelle O’ Keeffe

Assistant-PRO: Laura Sheehan

Registrar: Alan Kenny

Development Officer: Aidan Hyland

County Board Rep (hurling): Fergus Flynn

County Board Rep (football): Liam Kenny

North Cork Board Rep: John Twomey, Liam Kenny, Peter Mannix

Insurance Officer: Mike Walsh

Irish & Cultural Officer: Joe Aherne Jnr

Club Health and Wellbeing Officer: Mike Walsh

Children’ Officer: Sinéad Murphy (appointed position)

Executive Committee: John Hegarty, John O’Connor, Patsy O’Mahony, Noel Daly, John Condon, Aidan Kenny, Bill Hegarty, Lar Flynn, Tom Howard, John Hogan, Colm Carey, Bill Lane, Pat O’Brien, Paddy Whelan, Ned O’Brien, Dave Twomey, Shane Tobin in addition to all club officers and assistant officers listed above.

Best of luck to all the officers for the coming year. We wish you all every success and here’s hoping 2017 will be a fantastic year both on and off the field!

CLOSING

The new officers took their position at the top table and new club chairman John Sheehan spoke expressing that he hopes he can do as well as chairman as those who have done so before him. He also thanked Ber Wheeler for taking on the role of Secretary. She is a former juvenile secretary and there is no doubt she will do an excellent job this time around with the adult club. Following the passing of the motion that all minor fixtures will now be the responsibility of the juvenile club, John closed the AGM and thanked everyone for coming.  It was another successful AGM and we look forward to what the year ahead has to offer. Here’s hoping 2017 is even more successful on and off the field and that exciting times lie ahead for the club.  

CLUB MEETINGS

Because this is a quiet time of year for the club we are now going to go back to having our meetings every second Monday night. However, the lotto will continue to be held every Monday night @ 8pm in the club rooms. So therefore, our next club meeting will take place on Monday December 19^th and the following will be on Monday January 2^nd and so on.

O’NEILLS ONLINE CLUB SHOP OPEN FOR BUSINESS

We are delighted to announce that the O’Neill’s Club Shop is now up and running on the Kilworth GAA website. O’Neill’s are a fantastic brand, with wonderful quality clothing and sports gear. We look forward to seeing the Kilworth Crest on our new range of club gear and we look forward even more to seeing our wonderful supporters wearing it around the village! Order now and get your new attire just in time for Christmas! It’s the perfect present for any Kilworth supporter at home or abroad. Log on to www.kilworthgaa.com and you will see the shop link on the right hand side of the home page. Thank you for your support!

ST. STEPHEN’S DAY PLAYERS RUN

This St. Stephens Day sees our Kilworth GAA Players present their annual "FUN RUN/WALK" @ 12 noon from the GAA pitch. This is always a fantastic event and everyone is most welcome. Registration fee costs €10 for an adult, €5 for a juvenile and €25 for a family. Registration on the day begins at 10am. There will be refreshments provided before and after the race and there will also be a raffle with some great prices on the day. Please Contact Mark on 087 673 1473 or Kieran on 087 959 2932 for further details. Please spread the word and we look forward to seeing you all on the day.

LOTTO RISES TO €2800

There was no winner of this week’s lotto jackpot of €2650. The numbers drawn were: 1, 7, 8, 19. The lucky dip winners of €20 were: Mary Russell, Denis Motherway, Jackie Ryan and Shannon Doyle. Next week’s jackpot will be back to €2800. It is also important to note that from Monday 19^th December the available numbers to choose from will rise from 24 to 32.

FOLLOW US

Please like our “Kilworth GAA” Facebook page (facebook.com/KilworthGAA), follow us on Twitter @KilworthGaa or check out our new website @ www.kilworthgaa.com. These pages will be updated on a regular basis and Twitter will also have regular updates of the scores and key moments from all our championship games later in the year.

MAIN CLUB SPONSORS: Mike Walsh Pharmacy, Aherne’s Pub, The Village Inn, KDC Ltd and Mitchelstown Dental Clinic.