Well they all landed for our grand opening. Bertie turned up and had a tour around the place first. President of the GAA, Sean Kelly arrived next and expressed sentiments about the strength of the GAA being in its clubs and nobody disagreed with him.

TDs, Councillors, community activists were all there to join in the celebration. Aspiring FF hopefuls in this area for the next election followed Bertie around the place with a “Look at me Bertie, please” etched all over their faces.

Bertie says “anyone here in Clanna Gael Fontenoy want to run?” and we told him we’d get back to him. Everybody gave their speeches and told us what wonderful people we were and all our knees went jelly, all our heads expanded and all our shoulders broadened to such flattery. And we all clapped ourselves on the back, mindful that a clap on the back is only a couple of inches away from a kick in the ass.

All the folk from Dublin Port were there, Joe Burke, Enda Connellan, Jimmy Carolan, Charlie Murphy, Brenda Daly and Ann Moran.

On the pitch Dublin lined up against Monaghan to mark the occasion. Our own Stephen Saunders from Penrose Street got a run in the famous blue and navy and was so overawed by the occasion that he fainted afterwards. I watched him against St Mary’s of Saggart since and it’s obvious that he still hasn’t recovered.

Father Jack (Nicholson) was the scorekeeper for the night. Now everybody knows that Arklow Jack has no great love for the Dubs even though his mother hailed from Clanbrassil Street. With 10 minutes to go his darling wife Therese slipped Jack an extra number two to give Monaghan the lead by 4 points but alas they didn’t get away with it as Dublin went on to win by two points.

Chairman Patsy Kane gave his speech and told all that the hard work starts now. What you see in front of you, he told the hushed crowd, would all be in vain if we don’t return to senior ranks in the future. And we all nodded.

All of the teams are back in action including the U12 hurlers. There is a great tale here, folks. These young lads never played hurling for the Club before.

After a blitz one weekend they fell in love so much with the game that they started practising each evening down at the Club. President Eugene Davey spotted them and decided to take them over.

The end result is phenomenal. Everybody is born again, most of all Eugene himself. Eugene, who played both football and hurling with the Dubs, has taken 10 years off his life such is the enthusiasm he has found with these lads.

Their first match was away to the mighty Faughs. After an enthralling hour they won the day by a point. The show was on the road. Next stop was Ringsend Park where they faced giants St Marks.
After 15 minutes the game was very much in the balance but by half-time Clanns had begun to hurl like demons and went in leading by 5 points. With much more confidence in themselves they pulled away to record an emphatic victory. Played two won two.

And if ever there was a sign of how cosmopolitan Ireland has become, well this team is surely one. Included in its ranks are Italian Davide Ianelli, Chinese Desmond Soon, American Conor Saunders and Australian Seamus Keating. Who said that hurling is not an international game?

Now the lads can be seen everywhere in the area with their hurley sticks and this has earned them the title of Young Warriors. Eugene has taken his Easter break in southern China happy in the knowledge that he has saved another 20 kids from going through life without the joys of playing hurling.

Inter footballers have won their first match in the league. Second adult team has won their first three matches in the Murphy Cup and are going strong. Well done to Steve McGrath and Co. Third team is competing strongly in their league.

Inter hurlers have been plagued by injuries and should be very strong when all return. All juvenile teams are competing well in their new higher divisions and it is too early to tell how they will finish up.

Saturday morning Academy is flying with a huge interest from the parents seeing them very much involved in coaching.

Good Friday’s Blitz was a popular success with all involved. All teams very evenly matched, so much so that Group 1 winners Longford got through on an aggregate score of plus one point. Group 2 had to go to a penalty shoot-out after the top two teams Dublin and Kerry finished level on aggregate score with Dublin winning 5-4. The final was no different with another penalty shoot-out having to declare Dublin the winners over a gallant Longford side. Great day!

Fantastic night at the TalkSport’s evening in the Club. Sponsored by Dublin Docklands Development Authority, the guests included the Bomber Liston, Niall Quinn, Ray Houghton, Nicky English and Don Givens. Des Cahill hosted the Evening.

Some of the stories told were hilarious and they were only the stories they were allowed tell. Ray Houghton is a nutcase. He danced the socks off everyone afterwards, both men and women. Some craic!

Backchat:
Des Markey travelled back to the Far East recently to try to unearth some more hurlers. Des who hurled everything in front of him in his search, once again came back with nothing only miraculous medals. Is he trying to tell us something here?

Great to see Lynn Flood roll her up sleeves on the opening day. Lynn could be seen sweeping up every piece of unwanted rubbish in the place. When asked what brought on the sudden rush of blood, Lynn said she finally realised that to be a true club person you have to do things like this. Couldn’t agree more. Could Club Person of the year be on its way to Rathmines?

Many of the regulars travelled to Waterford for a weekend away last month. Other regulars were so annoyed at not being asked that they took a trip to Irishtown instead.

Staying with travelling, Tom Ryan travelled to the Big Apple for the St Patrick’s Day festivities. Invited by the Ancient Order of Tipperarians, Tom gave the main speech at the ‘How to improve Lotto sales’ Seminar.

New PRO Jacqui MacDonnell, has produced an excellent Overview document for the way forward for the club. A truly excellent read– everyone that has an interest in how this club should move forward should read it.

A think tank day for all members is planned for next month. Croke Park personnel will chair the meeting and any thoughts or ideas about the future may be incorporated into the final structure of the way forward. Credit is due to Chairman Patsy for his foresight in organising same.

Willie Dwyer has returned from America after 6 years and Sandymount is registering 5.5 on the Richter scale ever since. Everywhere he visits he leaves such an earth trembling effect that his return to the deep south in a few weeks time should bring some normality back to the area.

Any parties or functions coming up. Ring your man Shay at 087-9011716.

Sincere condolences to the Pope family on the death of Fred. Fred has been a true friend of Clanna Gael Fontenoy for some years now and his presence and wit will be sadly missed about the place. Ar dhéis Dé go raibh a ainim.

At the recent TalkSport night in the Club sponsored by the Dublin Docklands Development Authority, Julie Egan was asked up to dance by none other than former Irish Soccer International Ray Houghton. Believing that Ray was someone from The DDDA (Julie thinks that everyone who visits the Club is from the Docklands Authority) she began to inquire of him the fortunes of the Company. Ray, believing he was on a winner here asked our Julie to go to a night-club with him. “Oh I’m happily married,” Julie told him. “Where is your husband?” Ray further inquired. “He’s at home minding the house,” says Julie. “No wonder you’re happily married,”quipped Ray

One of the embarrassments of the SportsTalk night was when a bulb blew on one of the lights on the high ceiling. We couldn’t find a ladder anywhere but up popped the Bomber Liston and saved the day. How many Kerrymen does it take to change a light bulb etc etc.

Anyone see Jenny Heavy’s new car. Well if you haven’t you must be blind. Jenny is like the country farmer in his tractor, beeping at everyone that she meets and stopping for a chat whilst still driving. It’s only when she passes you that you realise that the leg hanging out of the boot belongs to Ger Brannock.

Top: From left: Joe Pat Prunty, An Taoiseach Bertie Ahern TD, Joseph Prunty, Shay Connolly and Eugene Davey.
Middle: Bertie presses the flesh with some potential voters…
Bottom: On left is Joe Burke of Dublin Port Company with Eugene Davey.