Covid 19 Update

Over the course of the weekend Croke Park published their guidelines for a safe return to playing as the country begins to open up. Details of the plan have been widely reported, with the headline dates being June 29th, July 20th and July 31st. Whilst the issued guidance is quite detailed, we’ve surmised below the particulars of each phase as they apply to playing activity, which at the end of the day is what we all want to see.

29th June – All GAA pitches are open. Training to recommence for Adult and Juvenile teams. Small groups (not more than 10 players and 2 coaches in a designated area of the pitch) for non-contact training i.e. running & aerobic exercises.

20th July – All forms of team and group training permitted. This is a return to full contact sessions with no limit on numbers of players or mentors.

31st July – Resumption of club competitions for all grades and levels.

17th October – Intercounty competitions to take place no sooner than this date.

So, there we have it, at long last we can see light at the end of the tunnel and players, managers and mentors can begin to put solid plans in place. At this time, we are still unable to say what format the new championships will take. This is a decision that will be made by the County and Divisional boards. Hopefully now that this roadmap is in place this will be forthcoming shortly.

In terms of spectators, this is still a little bit up in the air also and will be dependent on government guidance in relation to social distancing. Once there is any information available, we will of course communicate this to members.

To facilitate this timetable there is a quite considerable amount of work that needs to be done in the background. This will entail ground and facilities preparation down to the individual responsibility that must be taken by each player. Prior to the return we will ensure everyone is fully aware of what they need to do to ensure they and their fellow players and coaches are safe.

We’re nearly there folks.

Reeling In The Years

We have something a little different for our feature this week. Joe Power takes us on a trip down memory lane to his playing days, and in particular 1978, the year he captained the club to our 1st senior title. Huge thanks to Joe for taking the time to put this together, we hope you enjoy it and part 2 will be in next week’s notes.

I am still honoured to have been appointed by the committee of the Abbeyside/Ballinacourty GAA club to captain a great group of players, that went on to win the first ever S-F county title for our club in 1978, and to be retained as captain to defend the title in 1979. I think that I was an example that you don’t have to best player to be captain, but to show leadership and commitment on and off the field.

At the age of 32 in 1979, I felt that I was feeling the pace, and wear and tear over the years was catching up on me, so I made it clear to the selectors that I wanted to be regraded to the junior ranks, which did happen.

So, in 1980 and with due respect to the juniors, I enjoyed the easier going pace, especially with training. The senior football team were surprisingly beaten by a well organised Tallow team early in 1980, so it was a quiet year by our standards for the club.

In 1981, when I was working in the Quigley Magnesite factory in Ballinacourty (for younger readers, where the Gold Coast golf course is now) I was told that there was someone looking for me at the gate entrance, so I made my way there, to discover it was the late great Tony Mansfield. Now Tony had been manager of the S-F team since 1978, with his selectors Mattie Power and Vincent Mulligan, and they were still there in 1981, Eddie Cashin was our captain that year. Ned Keane was chairman in 1978. Tony’s mission on that day in January 1981, was to coax me back to the senior panel for that year’s championship, with his gentle persuasion, as only Tony could do, telling me so and so was injured, and the lads coming through were too young, I accepted his challenge, and thanks to him I picked up my third S-F county championship medal, one month short of my 35th birthday.

I won my first medal with the club in about 1960, which was in the street leagues hurling final, when Willie Dunphy, from Knocknagranagh, captained our rural area of the parish team, to beat Bella Beatty’s team from the village. The final was played in what was then known as the show field, behind the stand in the Fraher field.

Most of us that went on to win that historic S-F title in 1978 had come through the ranks with the club from juvenile level, winning western and a few county titles in hurling and football. In 1963 we lost the minor football county final to Tramore, and in 1967 we lost the inaugural u-21 football West final to a group team by a point, and they went on to win the county. It would have been a nice one for us to win, having won the inaugural u-21 hurling county title in 1966.

At the start of the 1978 S-F championship we would have been considered outsiders, which suited us down to the ground.

With Ned Keane as chairman, the committee appointed Tony Mansfield as manager, with Vincent Mulligan and Mattie Power as his fellow selectors. They drew up a panel and a plan, and explained it to us at our first players meeting, they drilled into us the fact that if we gave total commitment to their plan, and made sacrifices, one in particular was that if the wife was going to bingo (which was a big thing at the time) on Tuesday or Thursday night you would not be available to mind the children, as you were training, some fellows were looking at one another at that one. Another one that sticks in my mind from that meeting was Tony making clear to us the importance of putting in the effort at training, as the hole in the wall in banks was only coming in at that time, he said if you go to that hole in the wall and press all them buttons you will get nothing out unless you have been putting it in, I used that saying a lot when involved as a selector with other teams later on.

Training was going well, with a programme being given to a few lads that were working outside the county, we were all together at weekends, and played a few challenge matches inside and outside the county, A new set of Ballinacourty jerseys were purchased by the club, hopefully for a new beginning.