Chairman’s Christmas Message

Dear Members

Having just taken up the position as Chairman of this wonderful club; Éire Óg, Inis, I am delighted to have the privileged opportunity to wish ye all and ye’re families at home and overseas a very Happy Christmas and a Peaceful and Healthy 2023.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everybody who has given so generously of their time to support the club in its many activities and initiatives in 2022. We are fortunate to have a large number of volunteers working in various roles within our One Club model and it has been the collective effort of ye all that has helped to develop the club to where it is today.

I wish to pay tribute to our sponsors and patrons of the club for ye’re continued support over the last twelve months in addition to our members, supporters and friends who continue to support our weekly Lottery and other fund raisers throughout the year.

At this time each year we remember those who are sick and in particular those who we have lost over the last year while keeping them in our thoughts and prayers.

We can certainly look forward to 2023 with great optimism following a very positive and successful year both on and off the field. While we look forward to doing it all again in 2023, a year when we will also hope to be pushing on with the Development of our Gym and Dressing Rooms, for now, however I hope ye all have an enjoyable Christmas with ye’re family and friends and would encourage as many as possible to join us on St Stephen’s Day for our Eugene McNamara Memorial Tournament.

Best Wishes in Sport.

Brian Howard

Club Chairman

Development Project update

Santa Claus, in the form of the members of Éire Óg, is being very generous to the club this Christmas. Thanks to the involvement of members and friends of the club, we have now passed the 200 mark in commitments towards our fundraising project-a most encouraging expression of interest and support for the project. Our target is 300 members, so to be 2/3 of the way at this early stage gives us momentum and energy to plough ahead immediately, confident of reaching our goal in the next few weeks.

Detailed design drawings and preparations for going to tender are also on target and should be finalised early in the New Year.

For anybody taking part or spectating at the Eugene McNamara tournament of St. Stephen's Day, members of the Fundraising Committee will be on hand, brochures and biros at the ready, to sign up anybody who has forgotten to return their commitment form to date. Remember the big prize is a well-equipped, spacious gym for the benefit of our teams and general membership, also 2 new modern dressing rooms, showers and toilets, badly needed to cater for our exploding membership.

Scór

Following on from our chat last evening, could you include something along the following lines in your next bulletin:

"Between the jigs and the reels: If you like a bit of trad, if you play an instrument or especially if your child plays, you might be interested in meeting other club members in a similar position, with a possible view to getting together for a few tunes and just maybe eventually leading on to entering a group in Scór na nÓg. The main idea is to broaden the scope of our club to include music, song and dance for enjoyment. If this might interest you, please email Jimmy at windswepthill2@gmail.com. (Or call me on 0876820572) If there are a few parents interested we can arrange to meet and see where it leads us.

Eugene McNamara St. Stephen’s Day Tournament

Itinerary below for this years St. Stephen’s Day event. It’s shaping up to be a super club day with our Academy starting off proceedings at 11am and adult games from 1pm. All members are encouraged to attend and be part of this club day with members from all corners of the club playing in a mostly fun and somewhat competitive tournament…!

At 6pm, our recently elected Club Chair, Brian Howard will make a presentation on behalf of the club to Shane O’Donnell in honour of the hurling All-Star bestowed on him for his outstanding performances in his intercounty exploits with the Clare senior hurlers.

11am to 1pm – Academy Games

1 to 4pm – Adult Games

4pm approx. – Cup and shield presentations

6pm – Club presentation to Shane O’Donnell, hurling All-Star 2022

6 to 8pm – Live music with Lee Wall

10pm – Christmas Raffle Draw – great prizes on offer, please support!
(tickets available at the coffee shop on the day or online here: https://eireoginis.ie/products/9597/purchases/new)

Coffee shop will be open for business throughout the day and the clubhouse will be showing sport in the evening

Good news

A huge congratulations is in order for two club members, Niall Malone and Noreen Vaughan.

Niall was honoured last weekend by Munster GAA for refereeing the Munster U20 hurling final between Limerick and Tipp this year. Niall has also made the national referee panel for 2023. Niall is a fantastic role model for aspiring referees in the club, well done Niall, onwards and upwards.

Noreen Vaughan has very deservedly been awarded Clare Camogie Volunteer of the Year having been nominated by our Camogie committee. That’s another 2 in a row for the club, with Martin Nugent having received the award last year-a reflection of the huge efforts made by the volunteers in the club. Noreen will receive her award at a ceremony on January 6th. News article from Clare Camogie: https://clarecamogie.com/articles/82943

Club Lotto

22/12/2022 numbers drawn: 10, 14, 26, 31. There was no jackpot winner, we had one match 3, with €100 going to Gillian Nugent who purchased her ticket online. Michael O’Shea won the promoters prize of €25.

Well done to all. The jackpot is now €6125, and the next draw takes place on Thursday, January 5, 2023. A huge thanks for your continued support throughout the year.

Club Membership

2023 Club membership for all sections of the club is now available to purchase online at the link below:

Éire Óg Inis Club Membership 2023

Note:

In accordance with GAA Rules, annual Membership expires on 31st December and falls due for renewal on 1st January. It is a requirement for Club Members to be registered so they may be eligible to submit motions/nominations, vote at the AGM and to be included in the Club Draw for match tickets.

Membership income is crucial to the financial wellbeing of Éire Óg. The income generated from the Membership Subscriptions is essential to meeting the considerable overheads faced by the Club. Many thanks for your ongoing cooperation.

GAA Club Newsletter

The December edition of the GAA Club Newsletter is now available.

This month's edition includes the following:

• GAAGO.ie to stream 38 exclusive championship matches.
• Native tree sapling offer.
• GAA Master Fixtures for 2023 published.
• Join AIB for this year's Goal Mile with your club.
• GAA club walking tracks to benefit from Healthy Ireland grant support.
• Club officer training winter series.
• New Female Coach Mentorship Programme for Gaelic Games.
• Energy saving tips for GAA clubs.
• GAA Green Club Toolkit launch.
• Eight All-Ireland champions crowned at 2022 Scór Sinsir Finals.
• Anton O'Toole documentary pulls at the heartstrings.
• Gaelic Games Europe prioritise youth development.

The December edition of the GAA Club Newsletter can be viewed and downloaded below.

https://www.gaa.ie/news/read-the-latest-club-newsletter-december-2022/

Championship 2023 on GAAGO-Early Bird Offer

Details on link below of championship games that will be available exclusively on GAAGO.

Three of Clare’s four Munster Champ. S.H. Round Robin matches are included.

https://www.gaago.ie/championship-2023.html

AGMs

Updates from the club LGFA, Camogie and Adult GAA AGM’s are available here: AGM Updates 2022.pdf - Google Drive

Finally, the Irish Life/GAA Healthy Clubs Steps Challenge will be making a timely return in January, keep an eye out for updates.