The Annual General Meeting of the
Sligo Handball Board took place in the St. Mary’s G.A.A Club meetings rooms in
Kent Park on Wednesday evening last. And in a big attendance outgoing Secretary
Michael McGee in his report to Convention recalled a successful and busy year
in Sligo Handball. Outgoing Chairman
Peter Chambers welcomed everyone to the AGM and in particular to Cyril Feehily
Sligo G.A.A Chairman who was attending his second AGM of the Handball Board.
Cyril Feehily addressed the
meeting and was very happy to receive the invitation to attend the AGM. In his speech the Co. Board chairman said
that handball is a very important member of the G.A.A. family. The Chairman is appointed to the new Croke
Park integration Committee. He stated
that G.A.A President Liam O’Neill wants to bring all the committees
together. The second phase of the Centre
of Excellence will be starting and the Chairman said that we should look for 1
wall court to be put in place in the new centre. He congratulated all the Connacht handball
winners and wished the new Committee well in the coming year.
Secretary’s Report:
In a comprehensive and detailed report
Michael McGee read out the report for 2012 which ran to 23 pages in length. In
his report he congratulated all provincial winners 15 in total.
Juveniles
He praised the Juvenile coaches in clubs the
likes of Martin Golden, Francis McCann, John Cawley, Oisin Quinn, Tom Foody,
Shane Bruen, Stanley Harte, Paddy Walsh, Mick Kelly whom he described as the
unsung heroes in Sligo Handball for their dedication throughout the year
coaching their young members in Clubs. The Juvenile sections continue to make
progress with Aoife Quinn Castleconnor getting to 2 All-Ireland Girls U-15
singles final in the year. Jason Earlis also from the Castleconnor club won a
Connacht title and is making steady progress. A new club has started in
Tubbercurry with John Cawley a teacher in the Holy Family N.S. to the
fore. In May he brought a group of 21
pupils and teachers to Biecz in southern Poland for a schools exchange and
demonstrated the one-wall game. John is assisted by Padraig Maye and
All-Ireland handball champion and also a Masters champion in athletics.
Collooney new development
The turning of the sod in the
Collooney club was one of the highlights of the year in which TG4 also
attended. Eight members from Sligo took
part in the World Handball championships with Oisin Quinn reaching the semi
finals of the Golden Masters Doubles one-wall event. Oisin’s son Odhran played
in 2 quarter finals and Ballymote’s Francis McCann also played in the quarter
finals of the Golden Masters 1 wall category.
Sponsorship
Prior to playing in the world handball championships
the team was kitted out with new jerseys sponsored by the Radisson Hotel in
Sligo. Chairman Peter Chambers thanked Fergus O’ Donovan for the generous
sponsorship of Sligo handball. It is the first time Sligo handball received
sponsorship and Peter Chambers was also instrumental in this.
St. Mary’s won the team league
title their second in three years with a final defeat of Castleconnor in the
closest league in years. Castleconnor organised the Gerard Jones Tournament
where 12 doubles team took part. Young
players like Stanley Harte Jnr, Patrick Fox & Barry McLoughlin all fared
well. As it turned out Patrick Fox
teamed up with Leitrim’s Martin Raftery who win the Cup.
The Secretary thanked all the
Officers for their diligent & hard work throughout the year.
Finance Report:
Peter Chambers read out the
Treasurers report showing a healthy balance sheet at the end of the year. The All-Ireland tickets draw brought in over
€2000 in funding. Peter thanked all the ticket sellers, contributors who made
it a success.
Juvenile Report
Francis Mc Cann Juvenile Officer
thanked all the Clubs that take part in County, provincial and All-Ireland
competitions. And he thanked the parents for bringing the children to
games. He congratulated all the various
winners. The Juvenile Officer looks
forward to seeing the likes of Jason Earlis representing the County at minor
& at U-21 level where for many years Sligo had no representatives at all.
Mc Cann complimented Aoife Quinn on her progress to two All-Ireland finals at
U-15 level and to her coach and Dad Oisin who has worked hard in getting Aoife
prepared for the All-Ireland championships. Mary Foody also congratulated on
winning the U-13 B title. The Castleconnor club as McCann stated “is a club we
really depend on for representation.”
The Juvenile B championships wasn’t well supported by some county’s but
it was great for Ballymote with Jonathon Devanney & Padraig O’ Dowd all
recording provincial titles in their home court. Vincent & Diarmuid Harte,
Rachel Foody & Catrionia Swift also won Connacht titles.
P.R.O. Report
Michael McGee thanked all the
media Sligo Champion, Sligo Weekender, Hoganstand, Into the West, Sligo News
today, Ocean Fm and to Sligo G.A.A for the use of its website. The PRO thanked Gerry O’ Connor Sligo G.A.A
PRO for the many articles he published in the league match programmes
throughout the year especially a 2 page article in the Football final programme on the world
handball championships. Michael also
thanked all the people who text, rang in results to him for the press/radio.
Chairman’s Address
Peter Chambers in his address
welcomed Cyril Feehily Sligo G.A.A Chairman to the meeting. He asked that the Sligo G.A.A. take an even
greater interest in the sport and give us some financial support and also
integrate us into the bigger G.A.A family.
We had great success this year
especially at underage level collecting 10 Connacht titles. “This is testimony
to the great work done throughout the county by our coaches.” He asked for more support for the Tubbercurry
club and thanked John Cawley and Padraig Maye for their great work in promoting
handball in Tubbercurry. The sod turning
in Collooney was one of the highlights of the year and he spoke for many present
”we won’t rest until that facility is completed.” Our facilities need to be improved in order
to make them suitable for major tournaments and inter county fixtures. Castleconnor were congratulated in completing
phase 1 of their development plans as was Collooney with work already completed
in its playing court.
Peter thanked the Radisson Hotel
namely Fergus O’Donovan for the generous sponsorship.
Hugh McGarry Collooney Club
Chairman spoke about Collooney Handball Club. “The Collooney site belongs to
the Collooney club but the facility belongs to the County. In reality we could
do with more help he said. The facility will cost in the region of €180,000 to
build. We have to finance it 90%
ourselves. The €25 million lottery
funding will go to the bigger cities he felt and there was a huge volume from
Sligo that also applied including 3 handball clubs. The most he was expecting
was €10,000 anything more would be a miracle.
The Collooney club are relying on members who put in €5 euro a week and
there is the weekly bingo on Thursday evenings.” He asked if any handball
members that would be free to come and help out the Bingo they would be very
welcome. “The centre will be for the
young generation and children not born yet. The Club chairman pointed out it will
a facility for not just Collooney, but for the County and would be seen as a
centre of excellence within the county, where all County handball players will
be able to use the new court.”
Various other topics was
discussed player included registrations came up with the new fees being announced
from Croke Park . Tubbercurry’s John Cawley along with other delegates was not
happy with registrations fee’s applying to Juveniles for the first time.
Already the handball players are members of the local G.A.A Club stated John
and it is not fair to have to ask the parents for registration fees for them to
play handball as well and not to mention to having to pay for the use of the
St. Brigid’s Hall, purchase of gloves, goggles, insurance etc.
Any clubs wishing to organise a
tournament must fill in a request form and return it to Croke Park for
insurance purposes. The Co. Board
G.A.A Chairman asked that the handball board arrange a meeting with the new
finance committee and he offered his “unconditional support” to the handball
board in its request for funding.
Election of Officers took place
Chairman: Shane
Bruen (Collooney)
Proposed by: Peter Chambers
Seconded by: Tom Foody
Fixtures Secretary:
Mark Murphy (Castleconnor)
Secretary: Connell Cannon (St. Mary’s)
Proposed by: Peter Chambers
Seconded by: Oisin Quinn
Treasurer: Oisin
Quinn (Castleconnor)
Proposed by: Peter
Chambers
Seconded by: Hugh McGarry
P.R.O. Michael McGee
(Collooney)
Proposed by: Micheal Jones
Seconded by: Tom Foody
Juvenile Officer:
Francis McCann (Ballymote)
Proposed by: Micheal
Jones
Seconded by: Tom Foody
Handball Delegate to
G.A.A Board meetings: Peter Chambers
(St. Mary’s)
Proposed by: Shane Bruen
Seconded by Connell Cannon
Connacht Handball
Council Representative: Aoife McDonagh Sligo I.T.
Proposed by: Connell
Cannon
Seconded by Tom Foody
Connacht Convention:
Shane Bruen & Peter Chambers
Delegates to National
Congress: Shane Bruen, Hugh McGarry
& Connell Cannon
Cyril Feehily Sligo G.A.A Chairman receiving handball Calendar from Shane Bruen Co. Handball Board Chairman
Sligo Handball Board Committee for 2013 back row left to right: Francis McCann, Aoife McDonagh, Peter Chambers & Michael McGee. Front row: Oisin Quinn, Shane Bruen Co. Chairman and Connell Cannon
Ballymote delegates Martin Golden, Francis McCann & John Cawley
Joe Gorman, Aoife McDonagh & Micheal Jones
Shane Bruen & Hugh McGarry Collooney
Peter Chambers on right outgoing Chairman congratulating Shane Bruen the new Chairman of the Sligo Handball Board
Tom Foody, Micheal Jones, Joe Gorman & Oisin Quinn all Castleconnor delegates
Co. Executive for 2013 Oisin Quinn Treasurer. Shane Bruen Co. Chairman and Connell Cannon Co. Secretary
