Westmeath GAA notes
January 16, 2012ANNEBROOK HOUSE HOTEL ANNOOUNCED
AS NEW SPONSOR OF WESTMEATH GAA
There was a large attendance at the first county board meeting of 2011 held last Wednesday night in Cusack Park, where Chairman Tom Farrell announced a three year sponsorship deal with the Annebrook House Hotel. Tom opened the meeting, welcoming the new club officers present and wished everyone a happy new year. The main item on the agenda was transfers and re-gradings which were dealt with in a speedy manner with a number of transfers before the committee already agreed to and a number objected to which will need to be looked at in more detail.
Secretary of the football board Gerry Coyne reported on the recent football board meeting where the main business was the adoption of the Planning report, where there will be a slight change in the format of both the senior and Intermediate with the top four teams being seeded, while the Junior football championship will remain as was in 2011. He also told yhe meeting that Philip Kiernan Snr had been chosen as the final selector for the Senior Team and that Ton Keenan was chosen as a selector for the U-21 team. Gerry spoke of the upcoming fundraiser (white collar boxing night) which is to be held in the Mullingar Park hotel on Saturday 28th January. Finally he wished Des Maguire who is in hospital at the moment a speedy recovery.
Hurling Board Delegate Tony Robbinson reported from the Hurling Board meeting the which also dealt with the Planning report and confirmed that senior clubs must name 12 players with intermediate naming 10. He said that the Christmas raffle had been a huge success and thanked all the sponsors.
In his report from Ard Comhairle Seamus Whelan informed the meeting of the changes to rule where match bans will be the order of the day during he upcoming leagues, he told the meeting that 6 counties one of which is Westmeath had been selected for a sports science pilot programme in conjunction with Waterford IT. Seamus confirmed the venues for congress Laois 2012, Derry 2013, and said that it looked likely that from 2014 Congress would be held in Croke Park. He expressed concern that the so called closed season was not being fully adhered to and that if this was the case it could have serious consequences for Chairman and secretaries in every county. Tom Farrell assured the meeting that Westmeath were adhering to the closed season guidelines.
Tom Farrell announced the members of the CCC committee for 2012 who are as follows, Tom Farrell, Pat Lynagh, James Savage, Vincent Kenny, Gerry Coyne, Jim Rock, Michael McHugh, Liam Mc Daniels, Frank Mullen and Albert Lowry.
Tom Farrell informed the meeting that John Keane of Rosemount would be the new ASAB officer for the County Board.
He congratulated Garrycastle on making history for Westmeath GAA by winning the Leinster Club football championship and being the first team to do so.
Tom announced the new sponsor thanking all previous sponsors of Westmeath GAA and in particular Robert Bagnall and the Hilamar Hotel for their sponsorship over the last number of years he also wished Robert a speedy recovery and good health on his road to recovery.
Tom Farrell informed the meeting for the annual Chairman's, Secretaries and Treasurers meeting will take place on the 8th February in the Annebrook House Hotel and this year all club PRO's must also attend.
WALSH CUP
Westmeath face neighbours Offaly on home turf next weekend in the first round of this years Walsh Cup competition. Westmeath lost out to Antrim at this stage last year and will be looking to make better progress in the competition this season. Neither sides have met competitively in the last few years, with Offaly coming out on top in this same fixture back in 2007 (2-22 to 1-07). Westmeath will field a young side as Brian Hanley builds for the future, but of late this young side have been impressive in their performances, Even though it's only the start of the season this one should be a cracker, as the excellent work which has been done at underage over the last few years is starting to show dividends.
O' BYRNE CUP SHIELD
Westmeath lost out to DIT by 0-16 to 0-13 in a keenly-contested encounter at Kinnegad. With led at the break by 0-09 to 0-07 after good performances from Mark Gorman, Declan Mullen and Callum McCormack, however DIT started the second half stronger with Colm Walshe, Mayo's Alan Freeman beginning to show their class. Kieran martin tried hard for Westmeath in the second half but some important late scores from Freeman sealed victory for DIT. Westmeath now prepare for the first round of the league against Louth on Feb 5th
REFEREES INSERVICE TRAINING
There will be an in-service training course for serving referees in Cusack Park on Thursday 19th and Thursday 26th January @ 7.30pm on both nights. All referees must attend on one of these nights as this is a compulsory training course, failure to attend on either of these nights will restrict you from being appointed to referee any fixtures organized by CLG Iarmhí. All referees will receive official notification shortly. If you have any queries or need more information please contact the referee's administrator Liam McDaniel on 0868386388
MAINTENANCE FREE GOALMOUTHS
Class Grass Ltd is doing a winter roll out for all clubs in Co Westmeath in relation to getting their goalmouth problems fixed once and for all. We have a highly durable artificial grass 25mm 2 tone green with 12mm curl pile two tone green base which is proving highly successful in goalmouths. There is no infill required for this product so once its installed its maintenance free.The product has excellent grip much better than natural grass wet or dry. It also has water drainage holes built in so the water weeps away in to the natural drainage system that is in place. The product is guaranteed in stitch for 5 years and non fade in colour for 10 years. Our grass comes in a 4m and 2m width rolls so in some cases no seaming or gluing is involved. Some clubs may need to repair wider than 4 metres whereby then 1 joint will be required. We encourage clubs that want to proceed to prepare the goalmouths themselves and the can also very easily install the grass also so the costs are cut to the limit. We can then if required supply the grass to the club directly. We can send samples if requested.
* Areas need to calculated in dimensions as follows in terms of lenght, 6.33m long 8.33m long 12.5m long or 25m long in terms of the width of the goalmouths.
* And in even metre distances 2m 4m 6m 8m and so on in terms of how far you come out from the goal line. We also recommend that you start the grass .5m behind the goalkeepers line.
The cost delivery only all in is €26 per sq metre.
e.g below
1) 2 goalmouths just from goalpost to goalpost 6.33m long by 4m wide by 2 goalmouths totals.€1316.64
2) 2 goalmouths going outside each goalpost 8.33m long by 4m wide by 2 goalmouths totals....€1732.64
3) 2 goalmouths going out close to edge of small square 12.5m by 4m wide by 2 goalmouths....€2600.00
For further info please contact Padraic Cuddy Mobile (087)8380618 Office (090)6621219
SPORT-TEXT
Sport-Text is an outsourced, group texting service based in Cork, which allows our customers to keep in touch with their players, committee members and supporters regarding fixtures, training times, cancellations, lottery results and much more.
What they Do
Grapevine Communications offers a simple, reliable, efficient and cost effective method of getting the message across to your group. Simply text, phone or e-mail the text message to us from the comfort of your own home, or even on the go, and you can relax in the knowledge of knowing that your message has been relayed to the recipient as efficiently as though you sent it yourself.
The idea is that you do not have to log in, there is no administration and there is no pressure on you to get your message across. We do all the work for our customer, therefore being the best outsourced Group Texting service out there. We will set up all the numbers on our database according to the clubs needs, dividing them as requested into the separate age groups. Confidentiality is a prerequisite of our business and therefore, we will issue a password to the list manager which he will use each time he wants to send a text or edit a list.
Our charges are extremely competitive at only 0.07c per text message, therefore being much cheaper than your network provider, not to mention having the convenience of us sending out your texts and editing group lists.
So as the new season begins, get in touch with us ASAP to set up your clubs lists and never again be worried that your players will be a no-show at training and matches because somebody did not pass on a message, THAT'S OUR JOB.
For more info Visit their website at www.sport-text.com or contact 0858139590 / 0214928947 to discuss your clubs needs.
I can be contacted by phone on 044 9666476, 087 2777987 or by email on [email protected] Tweet
