Chairman, Kieran Lynam annual report 2020.
A chairde,
I started to write this as Gaeilge, but between my keyboard putting Euro signs where my i fadas
should have been and my vocabulary being thirty years old, I thought better of it.
It is traditional for the outgoing Chairperson to make a report of the year, but I have found that in
the last fifteen years or so while attending our AGMs the report of the Chairperson and that of the
Secretary seem to overlap more than somewhat.
I know our secretary is a great man for detail so I will leave the detail to him and keep my words
brief. Indeed our treasurer is a man of great words and I will not take from his report but, please
note the fall in income due to the club lotto being shackled by the lock down and restrictions. We
are now online with the draw so LOG ON AND INVEST IN YOUR FUTURE FACILITIES
In a year where it felt as though time itself stood still with each day running in to the next with
seamless ease….. in retrospect it seems to have flown by.
The whole year was sent into turmoil with the outbreak of the Coronavirus and the best of plans
went in to oblivion. All teams of all ages, genders and codes started early training and we
approached the new season with great expectations on many levels. I personally had vowed to do
no development in the club in 2020 except for player development and aspirations of a Junior South
East double loomed large in my mind.
With the lock down and the possibility that we would play no games; my aim for the year changed to
hopefully not attending funerals as chairperson. This wish was cut short by Covid-19 with the loss
felt both personally and as a community, of a great clubman and friend, Paddy Andrews. Ar dheis Dé
a raibh a hanam dílis.
We would have willingly forgone the season to keep everyone else safe but the powers that be,
opened the facilities for matches and training at all levels, albeit with severe restrictions. With this in
mind, I must thank all of those who volunteered this year to act as Covid supervisors. They gave their
time to attend all training and matches, to oversee the sanitising and to document the contacts in
case this information was needed for tracing purposes. I want to give special mention here to
Diarmuid o Murchu (Deano) for completing the thankless task of supervising the supervisors, a job
which earned him some enemies but much gratitude.
I have said I will leave the detail to the Secretary and I will; but just to comment.
I will finish my year in tenure as I started, with the same thought that we do not have two separate
teams in our club, but one panel that plays both codes. Our juniors had numbers we had not seen
training and playing for years so I think the players bought into this and I hope they will continue to
drive this home. The season did not finish as I had hoped but that’s the thing about hopes, there is
always next year! Same players! Same attitude! Who knows?
I would like to thank Pat McCarthy for his contributions with the teams last year; as he has chosen to
take a step back from the selection panel and I would also like to wish those that have stayed in
place a more successful season in 2021 with that dream of a double still attainable.
Across the rest of the club we had a mixed bag of a year. Well done to all players and coaches in the
juvenile and ladies divisions who tried and tried but were unfortunately not to be successful in their
grades. A huge well done to the Under-14 boys who won silverware in hurling and football and the
Under-12 boys who brought home a trophy in football as well. Well done to their mentors and
continued success to them.
As with the past year, a year of plans and revisions, of achievements and setbacks we have had our
gains and unfortunately our losses, too numerous to mention. At this point I would like to remember
all of those who have passed from our midst this year. It was a year where families and clubs who
endured loss were affected doubly by not having friends and family around at the time to help them
grieve, remember and celebrate a life. Only just weeks ago a Vice-President of our club and
President of the South East in the past few years, joined that list and I would like to remember Joe O’
Driscoll now for being the great clubman that he was. Ar dheis Dé a raibh a hanam dílis.
I have bookended my report if you like with mention of two great clubmen who have left us this year
but the thought that I will personally bring from this year would be this; the look of complete joy on
the faces of Anthony Ronayne, John Collins, Neilly o Mahony among others when we beat Valley
Rovers in Hurling. It was the manner of the win and the fight in our present crop of players that gave
them that joy. I hope to see that joy again next year.
To finish I must thank my fellow executive committee members for all the work they have done and
continue to do behind the scenes. Make no bones about it without them we would be in trouble.
Go Raibh Maith Agaibh.
Is mise
Ciarán o Laighneáin.
