A happy New Year to you all, folks, and hope it has already got off to a good start. Well, we are here plugging away in the usual fashion buoyed by the completion of our hurling wall arena. This area is a glorious sight and whilst we call it a hurling wall arena it in effect serves as a Ball Wall as both football and hurling can be practised against it.

It was a joy to see the Saturday Morning Academy practising in it last week amid glorious Springtime sunshine. As we go to print the floodlights are being erected and by the time you read this they will be shining brightly for all the kids to play on. Some important footwear rules for the use of this arena are

Up to under 10– runners are sufficient.

Over 10 to Adult– moulded studs or blades only.

It is very important that these rules are adhered to by all as the longevity of the surface is very much determined by the footwear we wear on it.

Juvenile has started back and is in full swing at the moment. This year the Academy is divided into two sections for boys and girls. Registration continues each Saturday morning and if you wish your child to sign up just pop down at 10.45 a.m. any Saturday.

For the first time ever, the Club has employed the services of a Youth Development Officer and his duties will include the overseeing of the Club’s five year plan for our Juvenile section.

His name is Donal McGovern and Donal comes with a wealth of experience, having served as a Juvenile Coach with Parnell Park. Coupled with the Club’s own coach, Johnny Sadlier, the Club is satisfied that it has put in place all the right structures to deliver its Juvenile Master Plan.

Adult hurlers are on the threshold of returning to senior status after a lapse of 23 years. Their upcoming match against Raheny will determine their fate.

This team includes some very fine young players, all who served their time as the Warriors and is backboned by some steely elder lemons. Whatever the outcome they are a team very much on the up.

They recently travelled to Tipperary for a hurling camp. While the camp was very demanding and entailed 7.00 am morning starts, they were allowed to let their hair hang on the last night.

The local population were shocked to see such a fine body of men enter the local disco. Everything was brewing well for some serious matchmaking until they opened their mouths. Their Dublin accents sent them scurrying back across the floor to Coventry.

The Ladies Adult Footballers have just completed a fantastic season which saw them earn promotion to second highest flight in Dublin football. Having already secured promotion, their league final play off against All-Ireland Junior Champions Cabinteely was plagued with misfortune.

Having to field without five of their top-class players who were all sidelined with injuries, the girls found the hurdle too stiff to climb. Having been behind by 10 points at half-time, they brought it back to a point 10 minutes into the second half.

But, alas, it was not to be and their efforts fell short in the end. However, this is one of the youngest Ladies Footballs teams in Dublin and their future looks very bright indeed.

This year the Clubs Partnership Programme with Trinity College will see an educational dimension added to the Club’s Youth Service. This programme will see our Junior and Leaving Certificate students partake in Grinds and Educational Seminars from Trinity Undergraduates to assist them in their studies.

This is in response to some appalling figures recently issued regarding Ringsend and Irishtown’s record for third level entrees. The aim of this programme is to offer these students a better choice as to what career they might pursue after Leaving Certificate stage. The launch of this programme will take place in early March in the Clubhouse.

At another ceremony recently held in the Clubhouse, the Bingo Committee handed over a Defibrillator to the Club (pictured above). This was warmly welcomed by the Club and our thanks to all concerned.

Our sincere condolences to the Pullen Family on the recent sad loss of Ann. Ann was very much part of our Clubhouse since it was opened in 1989 and her sudden passing has left us all numb here. Ar Dheis De go raibh a ainm dilis.

U15 Footballers are flying it at the moment, having secured six points from their first three matches. Hurling training has resumed for this team on Friday evenings and no doubt that the hurling wall arena will have a huge influence on their skills development in the coming year.

Adult footballers have resumed their campaign and their first league match will commence shortly. It has been a gruelling few years for this team and the demands are very high.

If we can adapt the motto of ‘When the going gets tough, the tough get going’ then we have a great chance of returning to Senior Football, a place where a club like ours belong. Go for it lads!

Over the last number of years this column has touched upon the problems that the Club faces regarding the mass exodus of some of its finest home-grown players to various parts of the country to live.

At a recent hurling match in midweek. Martin Neville gestured to the sideline that he was in some bother. As the first aid man went to his attention believing that Martin had sustained an injury, his problem was revealed when he explained that he had to come off as he had to get home.

Martin lives in Portlaoise. His brother Thomas lives in Swords. Their partners also play for the club and yet they make these arduous journeys twice and three times a week as loyal servants to the club. But how long can these young couples, and we have a multitude of them, sustain this travelling?

In the light of the forthcoming development of numerous sites in this area the demand for social and affordable housing has never been greater.

Therefore, we read with some astonishment that some of our local representatives object to an affordable housing scheme across the road from us at Church Avenue. The mind boggles!