A Chara, 

It’s that time of year again when playing action on the playing fields is coming to a close but planning for the next season is already well underway. However, it is important to relax and take a breather over the next few weeks to spend time with your family. The last couple of months have been extremely difficult for a number of local businesses who were hit with the unexpected floods. We would urge all members and supporters of Aghada GAA to support local this Christmas and do as much of your shopping as possible with these local retailers to help them get back on their feet. Every little helps! 

2 games this weekend: 

Our U16 footballers are in championship action this morning (Saturday) in Rostellan Vs Erin’s Own at 12 noon. This is a County Semi Final so please support the lads if you can. On Sunday at 12 noon our U21 hurlers are back in Championship action. Confusion reigned supreme after the final group game when we thought we had exited the competition but we were thrilled to hear we had in fact qualified for the semi-final against Carraig na bhFear. The game takes place at 12 noon in Carraig na bhFear on Sunday. Please support the lads as they aim to reach the final of the competition just before Christmas.  

Lotto/Rebels Bounty: 

A huge thanks to everyone who supports our club lotto every week. The club lotto is one of the main fundraisers for the club every year and your support is very much appreciated. We are also very grateful to all the local retailers who sell our lotto tickets every week. We would be delighted if our club members and supporters could support these businesses as much a possible over the Christmas season. Our lotto tickets sellers are: O’Shea’s Post Office, Days Eurospar, The Schooner Bar, Guileen Arms, The Harbour view, The Pier Garage, Rosies, Jackos Bar, An Puc Ar Buile and Lower Aghada Pharmacy.  Please support the businesses who have purchased advertising signs down in Rostellan also. Another key revenue stream for the club so please show your support for these outlets.  

The Rebels Bounty draw was also extremely well supported by all our supporters in 2023. Again, we are extremely grateful for everyones support here. The big draw for the December prize of €100,000 takes place on Thursday. Keep an eye of Cork GAA’s social media channel. It could be you!!! Sales for the 2024 Rebels Bounty will also be open in the near future. Maybe it might be the perfect Christmas present for one of your loved ones! (Make sure to select AGHADA as your chosen club). 

2023 AGM Updates: 

Our AGM season has come to a close after a very successful number of weeks. Well done to all the people who were involved in organising each of the Juvenile, LGFA, Camogie and One Club/GAA AGM’s. It was brilliant to see such a big crowd at each of the AGM’s. There is a short summary of each AGM below. My apologies if I missed anything major. In our Christmas newsletter we will have a breakdown of the club officers for each section of our club.  

Juvenile AGM: 

Again, it’s fair to say that our Juvenile section of our club is the heartbeat of our male section of the club. It was fantastic to hear about the number of matches and training sessions each of our teams had this year. It is great to see such an emphasis being placed on promoting both hurling and football in our academies. John Connolly deserves huge credit here for all the work he is doing in this area of the club. The work that John and his mentor team is doing currently will have huge benefits in the years to come. Thanks to all the members of our Juvenile committee who put in a lot of work all year. Often, a lot of the work is behind the scenes but it is very much appreciated by everyone in the club. A special mention must go to Juvenile Chairperson PJ Hurley who stepped down from his position at the AGM. PJ has been an integral piece of the Juvenile committee ever since he left the bright lights of the city to join us down in the country! Thanks to PJ for all his hard work and there’s no doubt we’ll still be seeing plenty of him into the future as he remains a selector with our intermediate hurlers in 2024 which is great to hear. Donal Walsh also stepped down from his position as Juvenile PRO at the AGM. Donal has given the club mighty service over the years and did a marvellous job at keeping everyone updated on our Juvenile teams every week. There’s no doubt we’ll see Donal back in other roles in the club into the future. Congratulations to Pa O’Connor who was elected the new Chairperson of the Juvenile Committee at the end of the meeting. Pa will bring great energy to the role and we wish him the best of luck in 2024. 

Camogie AGM: 

The Camogie section of our club had a fantastic year in 2023 with one of the clear highlights reaching the Junior A County Semi Final. Fantastic progress on the field and hopefully there will be even more success in 2024. A special mention to Donal Morrissey and Cyril Reaney (Joint Managers – Junior A Camogie) who did an excellent job of getting our girls promoted to the Junior A grade and making the team extremely competitive this season in the highly competitive grade. Some of the teams performances were a joy to behold! Well done to all in the camogie committee who are doing a fantastic job of promoting camogie with young girls in the parish. Chairperson Vera Terry is leading the club excellently and gave an outstanding chairpersons address on the night of the AGM. Vera’s passion for camogie in Aghada is second to none and the amount of time and energy she puts into the club is appreciated by everyone concerned with Aghada GAA Club. The camogie committee would love if more members got involved in the coaching of our juvenile camogie teams next year. This is a section of our club that is growing rapidly and would be a brilliant area to be involved in. Do let us know if you would like to get involved. Thanks to Deirdre Sommerville who stepped down from her position of secretary on the night. Deirdre has done a fantastic job as secretary and was a key figure in the successful transition into our One Club model in 2023. Thanks to Mike Daly who stepped down as Camogie PRO at the meeting. Mike has held this roll for a number of years now and did a very good job of promoting our camogie teams. Congratulation to Kim Hegarty who has taken up the role of PRO in 2024. Congratulations to Tim Barry who was elected as Vice Chairperson.  

Ladies Football AGM: 

Similar to our Camogie section, our Ladies Footballers had a very successful season in 2023. Their highlight would also have to be reaching the Senior County Semi Final. The girls fell agonisingly short in this game but did us proud all year. At the AGM, Chairperson Richard Good gave a very comprehensive presentation of the year as a whole which was warmly received by all in attendance. Again, mentors from across all age groups gave a lovely account of the year for each of their respective teams. Well done to Richard who stepped down as Chairperson at the AGM. Richard has done a fantastic job as Chairperson and took on a number of roles including being a mentor with U16 and Senior teams on top of his busy administrative role. Of course, behind every good man is an even better woman! Thanks to Richard’s wife Linda who also stepped down from her position of assistant secretary on the night. Linda has done a wonderful job in this role and also done a great job in the main secretary role previously. We hope to see Richard and Linda back involved in the club in other areas in the not too distant future! Thanks also to Cathal Cronin who stepped back from his Vice Chairpersons role at the meeting. A proud Cloyne man (we won’t hold that against him!) who has done trojan work in the ladies section of our club over the last number of years. On top of his role on the committee, Cathal has done an unbelievable job of getting our second ladies football team competitive on the playing field. Winning the Junior B County Title in 2022 and reaching the Junior A County Final in 2023. This has been a huge reason why our senior team has gone from strength to strength over the last few years. Best wishes to Sheila Linehan who has taken over as Ladies Football Vice chairperson for 2024.  

One Club – Aghada GAA AGM: 

The main AGM of the club was extremely successful with a huge crowd in attendance from all sections of our club. The AGM was very engaging with the members on the night engaging in very constructive discussions on a number of topics. This provided the executive committee with crucial feedback that can be used in 2024. One key decision that was made was to bring in a new play and stay policy for the Juvenile GAA teams in our club. It is hoped this policy will help us retain even more players over the coming years. Our Chairperson address was completed in three sections. Andrew O’Brien gave the attendees a presentation on what some potential club developments could look like over the medium to long term. This presentation was extremely professional and Andrew deserves great credit for all the work he has done in this area. Next our Club Vice Chairperson, Eoin O’Neill who is in charge of our coaching committee, gave our members a comprehensive update on the progress of the coaching committees projects in 2023. The committee have been very busy on a number of new initiatives and it was great for everyone in attendance to hear about these important developments. Well done to all involved here. Finally, Club Chairperson Anthony Connolly gave a wonderful presentation which encompassed all the different things that have happened across the club in 2023. Anthony thanked everyone who helped the club grow in 2023 but forgot one person… HIMSELF! Anthony has done a great job of leading a lot of club projects this year. Most of the jobs that have been done wouldn’t have been done without Anthony’s drive behind them. It is also important to acknowledge our secretary John Murphy who probably has the busiest job in the club. John carries out this role with great professionalism and is always on the end of the phone if a crisis arises. John was one of the key figures in leading the drive to become a One Club in 2022 and was instrumental in making sure our first year as one club ran smoothly and was major success. In summary, the AGM gave all members the opportunity to speak about issues they felt arose in the club and some constructive discussion took place. This will help us strive to be an even better club on and off the pitch in 2024. One key takeaway on the night was the need for more people to attend matches across the year. This is something that has slipped since the Covid 19 Pandemic so it would be great if we could get huge crowds back out in force to support our teams across all sections of the club in 2024.  

Whitegate National School Christmas Market: 

Best of luck to all involved in the Whiteate National School Christmas Market on Sunday (10th December). The market takes place between 12 noon and 4pm. There will be food stalls, fabulous local crafters, hot chocolate and a raffle. Go along and support if you can.  

Club Shop:  

Recently, Ger O’Brien stepped down from running our club shop. Ger took over this job at the perfect time and gave the shop an online presence just before the lockdown came. Perfect timing! Ger was always so helpful to everyone who went into the shop and made sure everyone was looked after when it came to being decked out with the club colours. Thanks to Ger for her huge commitment over the last number of years. We are thrilled to have Jacqui Murphy take over this role in 2024. Jacqui has already got into the swing of things and there’s no doubt she will do a brilliant job! Do call to the club shop to make sure you are decked out in the green and white for 2024. Keep an eye on social media for the shop opening hours.  

Well that’s it this morning. We will have one more newsletter before Christmas but until then, enjoy the build-up to the holidays.  

Slán,  

Uinsíonn Ó Ruacháin  

Oifigeach Caidreamh Poiblí

Vince Rohan - PRO  

Aghada GAA, Camogie & Ladies Football Club

Ár nDícheall Go Deo

Website for most up to date fixtures news and results -http://www.aghadagaa.com/