Kilmaley GAA club held its annual general meeting at the clubhouse last week, when Conor Clancy and Bernie Burke stepped down as chairman, having served three years, and treasurer, after serving five years.
Noel McGough is the new club chairman and a follow-on club meeting will be held to ratify Emmet Pyne as club treasurer, as he was unable to attend the AGM due to work commitments. Martin O’Malley was appointed as U-18 team manager for 2013.
Financial reports were delivered by the club treasurer, Bernie Burke, and her assistant, Marie Lynch. Both were recognised for their outstanding work with the Kilmaley GAA lotto over the year.
The success of the U-14A team which won Féile honours and the minor hurlers in capturing the county A title was highlighted, along with the involvement of a large number of players with county squads, in particular Daire Keane and Michael O’Neill’s achievement with the Clare U-21s in winning All-Ireland honours and Conor Cleary and Aidan McGuane with the county minors.
Outgoing chairman Conor Clancy also paid tribute to all involved in helping the club win the Bord na nÓg A club of the year award. This was the club’s second time receiving this award in three years.
However, he stressed that even though the club is certainly making strides in the right direction, everyone must ensure that all involved continue to focus on underage player development that is critical to keeping the club to the forefront of underage hurling in Clare. “This must be the top priority and complacency must not be allowed to set in,” he said.
Both the chairperson and secretary paid tribute to all who helped to prepare the teams and all who coached and trained other teams in the parish. They also acknowledged all who organised, supported and contributed to the different fundraising events that were held during the year in particular all involved with the Féile fundraising committee that raised over €20,000.
The chairman also took the opportunity to recognise Kilmaley’sonly referee, Martin Kennedy, along with David Dillon on his outstanding efforts on the yearly publication of the club magazine in chronicling the activities of the Kilmaley club, a role he first took on in 1980.
Finally, both the chairman and secretary acknowledged all who were involved in the field development committee in 2012 and commended them on securing €80k of funding from the Capital Sports Lottery grant. Despite many setbacks, this group have made huge progress as the club strives to complete the development of a state-of-the-art project.
The following were elected for 2013:
President, Canon M McLaughlin
Chairman, Noel McGough
Vice-Chairman, Conor Clancy
Assistant Treasurer, Bernie Burke
Secretary, Martin Moloney
Registrar, Steven Clancy
Bord na nÓg delegate, Noel Clancy
County Board Delegate, Martin Enright
Coaching and Games officer, Donie Neylon
PRO/cultural and language officer, Eugene McMahon
Children’s officer, Sean Hehir
Field manager, Freddie Markham
