CLONMORE GFC AWARDS NIGHT: Saturday, 15 February, 2020.
Running Order
- Welcome by Chairman
- Presentation of Awards to 2019 Award Winners:
- Minor Player: Anthony Kealy-McDonald
- Young Player: Tom Pollard
- Junior: Owen Coleman
- Intermediate: Shane Murphy
- Juvenile Club Person: Ken McLoughlin
- Club Person of Year: Matthew Cullen
- Hall of Fame: Mick O’Sullivan
- Presentation of medals to 2019 Under 20 “B” Championship Winning team and mentors.
- Closing comments by Jim Bolger.
Players of the Year Awards:
1.MINOR PLAYER OF THE YEAR: (name being announced on the night)
The first Award tonight is the Minor Player of the Year Award.
We had a very good Minor team in 2019 and they reached the Semi-Final of the ‘A’ Championship, so the Selectors had a very hard job to pick a Player of the Year.
The young man they have chosen has shown great commitment throughout 2019.
He is described by one of the Minor Selectors as “a great chap, always first to training, always does what he’s told, a super footballer, left foot/right foot, kicked the winning point in the Minor Championship Quarter Final against Tullow last year from full-back and a great prospect for the future”
Not only was this player a star for our Minors but he was also in the squad that won the UNDER 20 Championship and he played many outstanding games for his school, COLÁISTE EOIN.
He is a quiet, unassuming lad who is keeping up a family tradition by playing in the centre half back position where he uses his powerful physique to good effect.
He is eligible to play adult football this year and if he continues the way he is going, he will be playing adult football for Clonmore for many years to come.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I have great pleasure in announcing that the winner of the Minor Player of the Year Award is: ANTHONY KEALY-McDONALD
2.YOUNG PLAYER – Tom Pollard
Our Young Player of the Year is a young man who has shown great dedication to both club and county in 2019 – Tom Pollard
Although traditionally a fast, skilful forward, he showed his versatility by starring for the county Under 20s as an attacking half-back.
He is always a great man to train and he was a regular for Clonmore’s Intermediates last year.
For a small man he is very brave and is not afraid to put his head in where others wouldn’t put their boot.
He showed great leadership in 2019 when captaining our Under 20s to Championship success with some outstanding performances from the centre half forward position. He scored a goal and two points (1-2) in both the semi-final and final and his late goal against Tinryland in the semi-final was crucial as we only won by two points.
Although he always has a smile on his face, he is a player that has a steely determination to succeed and is definitely a player for the future.
The Young Player of the Year for 2019 is TOM POLLARD
3.JUNIOR PLAYER OF THE YEAR – Owen Coleman
The Junior Player of the Year Award goes to a very experienced player who in 2019 stepped down to play Junior after a distinguished career at Senior and Intermediate level.
There is a saying in sport that “form is temporary but class is permanent” and this man certainly proved that in spades in 2019 when he was literally a “one-man scoring machine” for the Junior team, scoring an amazing total of 8 goals and 42 points in 7 games from the full-forward position.
This total included incredible personal tallies of 3 goals and 7 points (3-7) against Tullow and one- eight (1-8) in the League Final against Ballon, which we lost narrowly.
Rumour has it that he has decided to focus on getting back on the Intermediate team in 2020 and we wish him well in that ambition – at his best he is class act and, fully fit, he would be an addition to any team.
The very deserving Junior Player of the Year for 2019 is OWEN COLEMAN
As Owen is unable to be here tonight, his son Calum will accept the award on his behalf.
4.INTERMEDIATE PLAYER OF THE YEAR – Shane Murphy
The Intermediate Award goes to a man who has been an outstanding player for the club for over 10 years now.
He is a role model for our young players with his dedication to training and his leadership qualities. He never has a bad game and can always be counted on to put his body on the line when the going gets tough.
He is extremely popular with supporters for his inspirational style of play, his bravery and the way he can block and dispossess opponents cleanly and without fouling. He plays the game with the perfect combination of physical intensity, speed and skill.
He captained Clonmore to an Under 12 Championship in 2003 and in the 17 years since then, he has gone on to play for Carlow at all levels and to captain Clonmore at all grades.
He is a previous winner of the Intermediate Award in 2010 and 2016 and the Selectors have made a very popular decision in choosing him yet again as the Intermediate Player of the Year for 2019.
Ladies and gentleman, the Intermediate Player of the Year for 2019 is: SHANE MURPHY
5.JUVENILE CLUB PERSON OF THE YEAR: Ken McLoughlin
The Juvenile Club Person of the Year for 2019 is a man who hails from Castlebar in County Mayo.
Ken arrived here a few years ago, met and married a local girl from Tombeagh, Jackie Hackett, and has started a family. As their two sons, Tom and Darragh, and daughter, Eve, started to play football, Ken decided to get involved with the juvenile club.
His first adventure was to help out as a Mentor with the Under 6s. That was the beginning of his career in football with Clonmore, as he had mainly played rugby in his younger days at home in his beloved Mayo.
It wasn’t long before Ken talents were spotted and he began to progress through the ranks within the Juvenile Club - starting out as a Committee Member, then on to Assistant Secretary and finally arriving at the Secretary post, which he has held for a few seasons now.
Ken’s drive and dedication can be seen clearly in the way he conducts himself at monthly meetings. He constantly encourages people to better themselves by organizing Mentors to attend coaching courses. He is also always on the lookout for new people to get on-board which will ensure the success of the club in the coming years.
Ken currently manages the Under 11 team and along with his fellow Mentors, they ensure the players get the best from every training session and every match they play. He has great patience and a very calm personality which are ideal qualities for a Juvenile Mentor to have. These qualities can be clearly seen by the respectful way he deals with players during training and matches.
He is also meticulous in his work and is ideally suited to his job as Secretary of the Juvenile Committee.
For his continued good work in 2019, there could be no more deserving winner of the Juvenile Club Person of the Year Award than: Ken McLoughlin
6.CLUB PERSON OF THE YEAR – Matthew Cullen
The Clubman of the Year for 2019 is a man who has been on the Executive Committee for some time but has taken on some very important additional responsibilities in recent years.
Along with Bobby Connolly, he has been Joint Treasurer for the past three years, a role previously occupied with distinction by his late father, Denis, and cousin, Julianna. The club can rest easy that our finances are in safe hands with Matt and Bobby.
Not only does he do a great job as Joint Treasurer, but he has also joined the weekly Lotto team, another critical job for the club and he gives up every Monday evening to do this job. We thank him for that serious commitment - without the Lotto, the club would not be able to provide the wonderful facilities we now have.
On top of all this work, in 2019 Matt personally organised a major “Community Clean-up” of all the roads-sides around Hacketstown and Clonmore, a big job that was a wonderful success and the good news is, he is planning to repeat it in 2020 – on Saturday 4 April to be exact.
For his trojan work in 2019, I am pleased to announce that the Club Person of the Year Award is: Matthew Cullen
7.HALL OF FAME AWARD - Mick O’Sullivan.
Clonmore GFC is delighted to announce that this year's Hall of Fame Award goes to Mick O'Sullivan and we would like to welcome Mick and his family here tonight.
Mick O’Sullivan was a man who played with distinction for Clonmore throughout the 1960s and 70s, winning Division 2 League medals in 1974 and 1977 and an Intermediate Championship in 1980.
But there’s a lot more to Mick O’Sullivan’s extraordinary story than those bare statistics.
Mick was originally from Ballyconnell and went to work as an apprentice with Bord na Mona in Offaly in the early sixties. In spite of the distance, Mick showed great loyalty to the club by continuing to travel home to train and play for Clonmore. He remembers being involved with the Clonmore Minor team that won the Championship in 1962, only to lose it on an objection, and then losing the Under 21 Final to Eire Og in 1966 on the cruel score-line of 3-3 to 1-7.
Maintaining this long-distance relationship with the club wasn’t as easy in the 1960s as it might be today as Mick didn’t own a car and very few people had telephones in the 1960s.
So the Secretary of the club, JJ Doyle, would send Mick a postcard notifying him of all the matches and fixtures and Mick recalls that if a match was called off, or there was a change of venue, he often received a Telegram from JJ ! Anyone who doesn’t know what a Telegram was needs to ask their Granny or Grandad. Anyway, it was a far cry from WhatsApp groups and text messages.
When it came to transport, Mick often had to thumb the 55 miles home from Tullamore and would have to get a lift back to Tullamore with JJ or Willie Butler or whoever was available. Mick would not arrive home till late at night but his chauffeur might not get home til the early hours of the morning!
Mick also demonstrated his loyalty to Clonmore when his family sold their farm in Ballyconnell and moved to Oak Park in Carlow Town in 1966. Shortly after moving to Carlow, Mick received a knock on the door and there was Jim O’Brien from Eire Og with a Transfer Form in his hand. Again, Mick turned down the opportunity to join the glamour club of Carlow football and stayed loyal to Clonmore.
As a player, Mick is remembered as a great-hearted wing half-back who was uncompromising and fearless. He was described in the match programme for the 1980 Final “as one of the fittest men to ever wear the red and green” of Clonmore. The story goes that if Mick Sullivan was coming for the ball, it didn’t matter whether you were friend or foe, you’d better get out the way because he was not going to pull out. To quote Jimmy Lawlor, ”if a forward got one slap from Mick Sullivan, he’d think twice about coming in the next time”.
For his unstinting loyalty over many years and his wholehearted style of play, it gives me great pleasure to welcome Mick O’Sullivan into the Clonmore Hall of Fame.