Gary Sammon is the GAA Coaching Development Officer at Athlone IT. He has held this position for four years and during that time the progressive third-level college has made huge strides in gaelic games in terms of preparation, promotion and participation. 'Maroon and White 2007' contacted the Garrycastle clubman to get an insight into these activities. Gaelic games at Athlone IT have never been in a healthier state. The students have a choice of all the main codes - football, hurling, handball, ladies football and camogie - as the midlands college enters more teams in more competitions than ever before. Of course, the Sigerson Cup is the flagship event, but participation in the provincial subsidiary league competitions (O'Byrne Cup and Kehoe Cup) is becoming increasingly high-profile. Following a decent effort against none other than Westmeath themselves in the 2007 O'Byrne Cup, the students began diligent preparations for their latest Sigerson Cup campaign. This is one of the busiest times of year for Coaching Development Officer Gary Sammon and everybody else involved in the advancement of the national games at AIT, but Gary was still kind enough to take time out for a brief chat with the county GAA yearbook. Gary took up the position of GAA Coaching Development Officer at the college four years ago. He had previously served as Games Development Officer for the Westmeath County Board and, when he saw the position at Athlone IT advertised, it appealed to him greatly. County football star Ger Heavin had been the first incumbent of the position and he was instrumental in setting up many worthwhile initiatives and structures. Thus, Gary feels that there was a good framework in place when he began his duties and he is satisfied with what he has managed to achieve so far: "Obviously, one of my main objectives has been to increase participation and to get the students more involved in the clubs. We have entered intercounty competitions in the O'Byrne Cup and the Kehoe Cup; the camogie is going well; as is the ladies football; and we're also becoming competitive in handball. We have a total of 14 teams in the college now, compared with maybe seven of eight three years ago, so participation levels are certainly improving." The CDO has a great team of assistants working alongside him to help with training and coaching of the various teams, and he also prides himself on the high quality coaches that the college is producing. Level One football and hurling courses are available through the Sports & Recreational department and students have the option of taking these courses up as part of their studies. A number of coaches who garnered their qualifications at Athlone IT are already working in full-time coaching positions. As stated earlier, the Sigerson Cup is at the very heart of the college's GAA activities. Gary notes: "The Sigerson is the flagship. No doubt about that. The college has competed very successfully at Fitzgibbon Cup level in the past, when we had the likes of Kevin Broderick on the team and Seamus Qualter in charge, and we're always trying to develop hurling here. Ideally, we'd like to play in the Fitzgibbon again and hopefully we can produce a team of that quality." The college's performances in the early stages of the 2007 Kehoe Cup augur well for those aspirations. Returning to the football: "Finbar Egan and Mick Casey are over our Sigerson team this year. Last year we missed out narrowly on qualifying for the finals weekend when we lost to UCC after extra time, having beaten Tralee IT and Cork IT. Even though we lost to [eventual winners] Queens in the quarter-final stage of the league (Ryan Cup) this year, we are progressing nicely. We're seeded after finishing second in our group behind the Guards and we have high hopes of making a bid for the latter stages again." This year's Sigerson is being hosted by Queens in early March. Athlone have been drawn against NUIG in the first round on February 14, with the winners due to face either DCU or Jordanstown in a quarter-final. As for the experience of facing his native county in the '07 O'Byrne Cup - a game in which the students gave as good as they got in the first half - Gary says: "It's great to play in the O'Byrne Cup and to test ourselves against intercounty opposition. It provides the lads with a great opportunity that many of them might otherwise never get, but the Sigerson remains our prime objective." Following the defeat to Westmeath, Athlone IT bounced back superbly with a surprise victory over Carlow in the semi-final stage of the O'Byrne Cup Shield competition. As ever, Athlone IT will have an abundance of wonderful talent at their disposal this term, including Diarmuid Blake from Galway, James Kavanagh and Adrian Kelly of Kildare, Kilcock clubman Declan McInerney who plays for the Kildare U21s, and David Flynn who captained the Roscommon minors to All-Ireland glory in 2006. Thomas Bannon and Adrian Murtagh are on the Roscommon senior panel, while goalkeeper David Bryan and David Glennon are, of course, very much part of the Lake County's u21 set-up. "The standard is at least on a par with county U21 - minimum," Gary points out. "We aim to introduce at least four Freshers onto the team each year to keep things moving along." As he's responsible for the overall promotion of all GAA games in the college, Gary must make sure that he divides his attention between all activities. Thanks mainly to a core staff of volunteers made up by lectures and staff from the college, who take on teams. For example: "We have some great people working in the camogie club in Noel Lawlor and Camilus King and lots of good players from counties like Galway and Offaly.We have just won the Purcell Cup '07 and will be hoping to keep building on this success and challenge for the Ashbourne Cup in the near future. We've also had a lot of really talented ladies here under the management of Gerry Walker, and past players including Cora Staunton, Michelle McGing and Yvonne Byrne from Mayo, some of the game's best-known stars. "This year under the management of Stephen Harney our Intermediate Football team were narrowly beaten after a replay by Cork it in the All Ireland semi-final, while our freshers football team under the management of Vinny Claffey and Sean Connell are going strong and developing nicely. This year under Eddie Casey and James Heffernan we have put a new structure into the hurling club, supported by Michael McMahon secretary of the club, hopefully the work that is been put in, will be rewarded. Generally, Athlone IT draws its players from Galway, Offaly, Westmeath, Longford, Roscommon, Meath, while the catchment area also goes into counties like Tipperary and Cavan from time to time. There were five All-Ireland U21 winning Galway men on last year's hurling team. In 2004, Athlone IT qualified for the Kehoe Cup final against Carlow. This year, they opened with a 2-18 to 2-11 victory over Trinity College Dublin. All in all, the GAA Coaching Development Officer is pleased with how things are progressing at Athlone IT: "The college is fantastic. The campus has expanded considerably with the addition of the new innovation centre, which offers courses to plumbers, brick layers, plasterers, mechanics etc. We're getting some new footballers and hurlers from that. It's nice to get the older, more experienced lads, who are giving us a big helping hand in hurling in particular. With the announcement of further facilities such as 400m running track and fully floodlit astro turf coming on stream, sport is thriving in AIT. "I'm really happy with how things are going. But we can't afford to sit back. We know we have to keep up the hard work. "Finally I would like to thank my colleagues in the Sports Department Gordon Brett, Richard O'Hara, Noel Lawlor and Margaret Mc Guire for their input and assistance in Gaelic Games in AIT . Tweet

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