Portarlington GAA Club
2022 – AGM – Table of Contents:
Clár U15 Development Football
Minutes of Previous AGM U17 Hurling
Secretary’s report U17 Football
U5 Football Go games 2022 Report
U7 Football Games Development Report
U9 Football Juvenile Chairperson’s Report
U7 Hurling U20 Football
U9 Hurling Junior Football
U11 Hurling Senior Football
U11 Football Treasurer’s Report
U13 Hurling Vice-Chairperson’s Report
U13 Football PRO Report
U15 Hurling Chairperson’s Address
U15 Football In Remembrance
WHERE WE ALL BELONG
Portarlington GAA Club
2022 – AGM – Clar
1 Miontuairiscí don Chruinniú Cinn Bhliana
Deireanach / Minutes of Last Year’s A.G.M.
2 Tuairisc an Rúnaí / Secretary’s Report
3 Tuairisc Airgeadais / Financial Report
4 Tuairisc Oifigeach Caidrimh Phoiblí / P.R.O.
Report
5 Tuairisc an Cathaoirleach / Chairperson’s Report
6 Toghchán Oifigigh 2023 / Election of
Officers 2023
7 Tairiscintí Faighte / Motions Received
8 Aon Ghnó Eile / A.O.B.
9 Cruinniú a Thabhairt chun Críche /
Close of Meeting
WHERE WE ALL BELONG
Portarlington GAA Club
2022 – AGM – Minutes of previous AGM:
Previous AGM Minutes Secretary’s report for 2021- presented to
all present
Proposed by Padraig Maher, seconded
by Eddie Flood Nothing of note to add in the juvenile
report, acknowledgement was made
November 19th 2021 present: David to all involved in the running of the
Murphy, David Clarke, Darren Bracken, juvenile teams in both football and
Emma McEvoy, Canice McCarthy, hurling, with Joe O Dwyer commenting
Padraig Maher, Aidan Purcell, Maria that the club will be entering a team
Caffa, Tony Bambrick, Gerard Maher, in the minor hurling championship for
Chrissie Ryan, Damien Ryan, Kieran 2022, a testament of the work put in to
Leavy, Grainne McCann, Teresa Coss, establish hurling in the club.
Joe Sweeney, Alan Bracken, Niamh In adult competitions for 2021 it was
Maher, Amy Flood, Eddie Flood, Noel highlighted that in regards to the 2nd
Coss, Mick Murphy, Eddie Downey, team more impetuous has to be done
Aoife Murphy, Cecilia Wrafter, Ivan for the following year on the back
O’Neill, Julia Leavy, Clifford Ward, of another disappointing campaign
Declan Gallagher, Seamus Hunt, Ella in 2021. The club’s failure to enter a
Murphy, Christy Smith, Pat Sweeney, team in the minor championship was
David Murphy jnr, Colm Murphy, Robert addressed by the secretary stating that
Pigott, Tom Moran, Michael Lawlor, Joe despite all efforts it ultimately wasn’t to
O Dwyer, Cathal Ryan, Conor Twomey, be and the executive committee of the
Kieran Hayes, Kevin Connell. club take responsibility for its failings.
The highlight of the year was the club’s
Sympathies senior team winning a much delayed
Sympathies were extended to the families 2020 championship due to covid and
bereaved in 2021 backing up that win 13 weeks later
with another successful campaign.
Adoption of Club Constitution: Those in attendance acknowledge this
Proposed by Tony Bambrick, seconded feat and credit must go to all involved,
by Noel Coss. be it the players, management and the
2021 Consideration of Annual Report club as a whole.
Submitted by Secretary
WHERE WE ALL BELONG
Portarlington GAA Club
2022 – AGM – Minutes of previous AGM:
The financial report of the club members. He thanked all those that
highlighted that covid had a impact on helped him during the past 4 years,
revenue, it was also noted that the club giving special mention to the executive
has loans to pay back over the next 20 committee for its tireless work and also
years and with interest on these loans it to his family. He wished the incoming
is a challenge for not just the incoming chairperson and committee all the best
committee but the club itself to reduce in the future.
these loans as quickly as possible in the Motions:
future years. One club model and the feasibility of
a ladies team – proposed by Niamh
The clubs outgoing chairperson, David O’Neill, seconded by a show of hands.
Murphy addressed its
members for the last time after 4 years Election of Officers:
as chairperson. He noted that it was
an honour to serve as chairperson of Chairperson: Kieran Leavy
the club and in his tenure witnessed the A meeting was called by the clubs
senior team achievements. He also noted chairperson on November 29th 2021
the work that was achieved for the to formalise a committee. It was the
betterment of the club, notably the recommendation of the outgoing
completion of 4 new dressing rooms committee that the positions of
under the stand. This could not be children’s officer and players
achieved without the hard work done representative to be filled by Deirdre
by its executive committee and the clubs O’Connell and Keith Bracken
respectively.
Executive Committee:
Chairperson Keiran Leavy
Vice Chairperson Grainne McCann
Secretary Michael Lawlor
Assistant Secretary Sinead Leavy
Treasurer Maria Caffa
Assistant Treasurer Ronan Mannion
Juvenile Chairperson Declan Gallagher
Games Development Conor Twomey
PRO Jonathan Dunne
Facilities Manager Michael Costello
Finance Chairperson David Smith
Social & Hospitality Officer Elaine Redmond
Bingo Chairperson Niamh O’Neill
WHERE WE ALL BELONG
Portarlington GAA Club
2022 – AGM – Secretary’s Report:
A Chairde,
At the beginning of 2022, we were hopeful that we could achieve 3 county
championship titles in a row. The last time the club achieved this was in 100
years ago in 1920, 1921 and 1922. Having qualified for the knock out the
stages of the championship, we reached the quarter final and played
Ballyroan. We struggled through the game but managed to come out on top
to progress to the semi-final against Portloaise. Although we faced another
tough game and with time almost up, we survived a late attack and reached
the county final where we played our next-door neighbours O’Dempseys.
This was the first all parish county final since 1963. After a tough few games
to progress to the County final, we came out on top with comprehensive
victory to achieve the goal of a 3 in a row after 100 years.
We would like to thank Martin Murphy & his team for their dedication, hard
work and achievements over the last few years. The victories have brought
great community spirit to the town after a few challenging Covid years.
I would personally like to thank Grainne McCann and Maria Coleman for
their support in my role as Club Secretary (especially Grainne as she did all
the work)
I would like to thank Michael Costello and his team Christy Smith, Seamus
Malone and Basil and everyone else who took the time to help with the
maintenance of the field and the new seats in the stand.
I would also like to thank the Chairman Kieran Leavy for all the dedication
and effort he has put into the club.
My first venture as Club Secretary was in 1965. This will be my final year as
Club Secretary and I would like to thank everyone in the club for their help
and support over the years. You won’t get rid of me that easily as I’ll still help
with the lotto and the draws as I have done now for many years.
I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Is Mise,
MICHAEL O’LEATHLOBHAIR, A RUANI.
WHERE WE ALL BELONG
Portarlington GAA Club
2022 – AGM – Portarlington Nursery & Go Games:
U5s / U7s / U9s / U11s
The nursery & Go Games programme aims
to facilitate the inclusion of the younger
members of our community. Children from
the age of 4 are welcome, with the emphasis
of the nursery on all the ‘F’s’, fun, friendship,
football and fitness through sport. The kids
are encouraged to live by the mantra of
‘Give Respect – Get Respect’. We aim to
provide a safe, friendly environment, which
seeks to aid the social and physical
development of children, preparing them
for future participation in competitive sport.
Football Nursery / U5
Portarlington U5’s start their Portarlington sports journey every Saturday
morning at 10:00 in McCann Park. They take part in fun games and ball
work under the watchful eye of coaches and parents. The nursery provides
an invaluable start to team sports and is a great social outlet for the kids. The
nursery went indoors for the Autumn and the hope is to get a few weeks in
the hall in the new year and we look forward to welcoming new members.
Football U7’s
This summer the U7’s trained on a Saturday morning and Wednesday
evening learning and practicing their skills and represented the club with
distinction in the various blitz’s organised throughout the season. Numbers
were good this year with 20-25 kids regularly at sessions. The u7’s also
continued indoors during the winter on a Sunday morning from 10-11am.
Thanks to the coaches who give their time to make this happen.
Parents
The U5’s / U7’s / U9’s/U11’s were cheered on by parents and family
throughout the year, while adhering to Covid guidelines. A special thank
you must go to the parents who made time to bring their children to
training and matches and represented the club with great commitment,
enthusiasm and at all time showed respect to all those around them. Also
an appreciative thank you to all the parents who contributed to the euro
collection and supported club fundraisers / lotto.
WHERE WE ALL BELONG
Portarlington GAA Club
2022 – AGM – u9:
Football U9s
Our under 9s began back in February with 6 weeks in the school
astro which was a great benefit as this particular group had missed
two seasons of our winter indoor training due to covid restrictions. For
the opening few months we concentrated on the basic skills which led
into games based sessions as the season progressed.
We competed in go game blitz’s during the season and our players
skills and teamplay was evident throughout and often complimented
on by opposing mentors. The highlight of the year was the kids getting
to take part in the “O Moore Park Experience “ where they played on
the county pitch and got to climb the steps after to lift a cup like there
senior idols.
Our numbers throughout the season were generally at around 25-30
players, which is down a bit on previous seasons and is something as
a club we need to work on with such a big feeder school beside us.
Hopefully with the buzz from the senior success and the work of our
GPO this will improve
A special thanks to the parents who made the time to bring there
children to training and matches . Lastly,we would like to wish our
older players moving up to the U11 grade and our girls going to
Conleths the very best.
Coaches:
Padraig O Dwyer,Nigel Leahy ,Ronan Mannion,kieren Hayes,Tony
Bambrick,Geoff McCluskey,Simon Honan
WHERE WE ALL BELONG
Portarlington GAA Club
2022 – AGM – u7 and u9 Hurling:
U7 & U9 Hurling
Manager/Lead mentor:
Kieran Hayes,
League Division No: N/A
Championship Grade: N/A
Highlights of the year to date:
Training started in March and continued twice weekly until September.
(Over 50 sessions)
Due to the small numbers, the U7 and U9 hurlers trained together
with the focus on skills development and fun. Throughout the year
new players joined and in all over 25 participated in the sessions and
games at various stages.
All hurlers are also playing football and at times this was challenging
for those who wanted to commit to both codes. As a suggestion the
u11 model of aligning both codes as part of the same session could be
considered for next year. All club members of this age should have the
opportunity to fully participate in all GAA sports.
We took part in 10 Blitz games around the county from Rosenallis to
Rathdowney and hosted a home blitz in August. The training sessions
and particularly the games were hugely enjoyable and there was
clear development of skills and confidence as the season progressed.
Many thanks to the parents and those who assisted with particular
mention to: Joshua Murphy, Mick Murphy, Anthony Johnson,
Aoife Murphy, JP O’Neill, Donna Lyons
& Emer Ward.
Kind Regards
Kieran
WHERE WE ALL BELONG
Portarlington GAA Club
2022 – AGM – u11:
U11 Football & Hurling
Portarlington U11s trialled something
different this year with the amalgamation of football & hurling training
sessions. We started back training on Thursday evenings & Sunday mornings
with a panel of 24 players, 18 being dual players. Football blitz were every
second Thursday & Hurling blitz every second Tuesday. We also introduced
a new type of 15 minute warm up at training sessions, with the help and
athletic expertise of Rachel Lacey. It involved, fitness, core and agility, and
proved to be a great success in the team’s co-ordination and fitness. The team
thoroughly enjoyed the new initiative. The season started in April and the
U11’s was able to complete their fixture list by mid-September, with a
nail-biting game against our neighbouring rivals, O’ Dempsey’s. All
players got game time and our ethos during the season was Give Respect,
Get Respect.
Some of our U11 players had the opportunity to help out with the U13
football development team & the U13 hurling competition. The U13 football
reached a county final, played in LCOE in August, with U13 hurling making it
to the county semi-finals. This gave the boys some great experience.
Seven of our U11 hurling players (boys born 2012) got the opportunity
to enrol in a 10 week hurling programme, called ‘Setanta’. This
programme was run in the LCOE. It was a skill based programme where
clubs all over Laois got to be involved. This really improved
the boy’s skill and was evident on the pitch at our go-game matches.
U11’s also got the experience to play some cross-border go-games with
Monasterevin, Daingean & Na Fianna (Offaly). Both hurlers and footballers
participated in the O’Moore Park experience in June. The U11s loved the
experience of getting to play on Laois’ home ground.
This year again there was great excitement among the U11’s when the
seniors made it to the County Final. The boys put their singing skills back in
action and made up a song to cheer on the senior team in their county final.
WHERE WE ALL BELONG
Portarlington GAA Club
2022 – AGM – u11 and u13 Hurling:
U11 and U13 Hurling
Coaches:
Mick Murphy, Mick Walsh
Hurling season 2021-2022
It was a very successful year this year. We had a very good numbers the
whole way through. We even gained players through the year. We started
off the year with fifteen players and ended the year with twenty-two. We also
brought up some of the older u11 players to give them some experience for
the next year as they will be stepping up
to u13s.
In this year we played many friendly matches before the season
began to see how are team was and what we had to work on. The most
noticeable game was when we travelled to Tipperary to play Loughmore-
Castleiney Gaa club. In this game we played very well and showed skill that
was developed through the winter program in the Astro. Our league
campaign started off very well as we were
narrowly beaten by Abbyleix to make it into the A championship.
The teams that we played through the year were Abbyleix,
Ballypickas, Clonad and Mountmellick. The championship began
well we were placed in the B championship with Mountmellick, Clonad,
Rathdowney-Errill and Colt Shanahoe we won all of our games and made it
into the quarter-finals. In this game we played Mountmellick and beat them
to make it into the semi-final against Rathdowney-Errill we were unfortunately
beaten by a very strong hurling team. In this game the lads showed great
skill and determination and they represented the club very well.
In my opinion, this was a very successful season as its not very easy to get
to a county semi-final and we hope to go further next season. I would like to
Thank Aishling Hoey as Secretary and all of the parents for traveling all over
the county for matches.
WHERE WE ALL BELONG
Portarlington GAA Club
2022 – AGM – u13 Football:
U13 FOOTBALL REPORT 2022
Coaches:
Conor, Alan, Declan and Derek.
The U-13’s had a very good year in 2022, fielding 2 teams for the
third year running. Thirty five players played U13 football this year
with a lot of new players (approx. 8) to the club and sport. Training
was Tuesday evening, Friday evening and Sunday mornings with
good numbers attending. Both teams reached their respective Finals,
unfortunately coming up short in both. However the progress made
by the team has been superb. The players showed great attitude and
dedication to their physical and skills development and they all got
plenty of game time to implement these skills.
Winter training started in November with the team starting their S&C
programme in the gym and doing running on a Sunday morning since
the end of year.
While it is always nice to win a trophy, which was the aim from the
outset, it was great to see so many numbers turn up every week. The
development and nurturing of the players, especially those new to the
sport was paramount. A thank you to the U11 coaches who helped
out with Development games, getting an insight for the coming year.
A special thank you must go to the parents who made time to bring
their children to training and matches and represented the club with
great commitment, enthusiasm and at all time showed respect to all
those around them.
WHERE WE ALL BELONG
Portarlington GAA Club
2022 – AGM – u15 Hurling:
U15 Hurling Panel
Conor Maher, Miguel Meras, Conor Moran, Lennon Dunne, John Cooney,
Kynan Ryan, Jack Murphy, Sean Moran, Ben McCann, Sean Michael Ward,
Cathal Ward, Cillín Hoey, Ódhran O Reilly, Ciaran Connell, Kolbe Wrafter,
Tadgh O Neill and Darragh Doyle.
It is difficult for any player to play up to the next age aswell as playing their
own age group. I want to say thanks to the large number of players on this
years U15 hurling panel that ended up playing 2 age groups again this year.
Thanks to the players and also to the parents.
This years U15 panel of hurlers were initially placed in a group for alongside
Castletown, Mountrath, Abbeyleix and Ballinakill/Ballypickas for phase 1
of the mixed A/B Championship. They played Abbeyleix and Ballinakill/
Ballypickas in their first two matches with the full panel available to them
against much larger panels of players on the opposing teams. Portarlington
won both matches comfortably on the score board but these were two blood
battles of matches with excellent saves by goalie Conor Maher in particular
in the
Abbeyleix match.
Perhaps we learnt a lesson from this year as regards doing well in the first
two matches of the combined A/B championship that other teams not wanting
to play in the A championship cottoned on quicker than we did……. Because
we won both of the first matches this meant that we would be moved into A
championship for the remainder of the year. This was a part to play in our
predicament of having to give walkovers for other matches during the year
and ultimately being pulled from phase 1 due to conceding two matches. We
only had a panel of 17 players and being in ‘A’ meant that we had to field
15 players for a match. This team throughout every alternate year played
in B and C championship up to now so could always field a team of 13 if 15
were not available.
We had to concede the last match, which ended phase 1 of the
championship.
WHERE WE ALL BELONG
Portarlington GAA Club
2022 – AGM – u15 Hurling:
For phase 2 of the championship we were placed in group B of A
championship against Castletown, Clough/Ballacolla, Borris in Ossory
Kilcotton and Mountrath. We had enough players available to field 15 for
the first match against Borris in Ossory Kilcotton. However the next match in
middle of July against Mountrath we had to concede due to some players
unavailability with injuries and holidays. This effectively ended our
championship in phase 2 as we had then conceded 2 matches. We all
thought was the end of U15 hurling for 2022. The players weren’t training
as we thought it was over for the year and most were concentrating on the
football or Laois hurling development groups/minor hurling.
However we received notification in September out of the blue that we had
a ‘knock-out match’ to play against Park Ratheniska Timahoe on 1st October.
So we rallied the troops and borrowed a few U13 players to fulfil 15 a side
and travelled to Park Ratheniska. The team played well and fought hard but
were beaten by a couple of points.
THINGS TO LEARN
maybe don’t ask the lads to play their best hurling in the first of the combined
A/B championship in hopes of not being placed in A championship and thus
allowing the flexibility of playing 13 a side when 15 are not available!
WHERE WE ALL BELONG
Portarlington GAA Club
2022 – AGM – u15 Football:
U15 Football: Manager/Lead Mentor: Chilly Ward
Championship Grade: U-15A
The U-15 Football got under way in April with the Féile competition. We had
two good wins in the Group stage on Saturday followed by a game against
Portlaoise in the semi-final on Sunday morning. Portlaoise won by 2 points,
with all their scores coming from frees with the exception of a soft goal.
Portlaoise had an easy win against Mountmellick Gaels in the Final and went
on to represent Laois in Féile.
At the end of May we started the U-15 Championship (Phase 1) which
decides who qualifies for the U-15A or U-15B Championship. We were
drawn in a Group with Stradbally Parish Gaels, Ballyroan Abbey and Colt
Shanahoe. We came through all three games with plenty to spare and were
never truly tested, seeing us safely into the A Championship.
First up was our near neighbours O’Dempsey’s in the Old Pound. On the
day, we came away with a comfortable win on a score line of 6-16 to 1-06.
Our next opposition was Mountmellick Gaels in a very fiery game. With one
or two injuries and one player on holidays, Mountmellick beat us by a score
of 3-10 to 1-09. Undeterred, the lads took on Ballyroan Abbey who we had
already played in the Group stage. We won this on a score line of 9-20 to
1-03. Next up was Stradbally Parish Gaels and we eased past them 8-17
to 0-04. In our final game of Phase 2 of the Championship, we took on Park
Rathineska who had beaten us in the U-13 Final in 2021 by the slenderest of
margins. This time we came out on top with a score line of 3-07 to 1-07. That
finished the Group stage and we qualified for the Quarter Final, finishing
second in the group.
Throughout the Season, we looked to Offaly for a number of challenge
games, as we were not getting tested enough. We played Tullamore, Rhode
(twice), St. Broughanns and Clara, losing only to Tullamore who eventually
beat Rhode in the Offaly County Final.
Portarlington GAA Club
2022 – AGM – u15 Football:
The Quarter Final pitted us against Na Fianna Óg in McCann Park. It was a
very physical game and all the players gave their very best. Unfortunately,
we fell short on a score line of 6-07 to 3-13. The old saying “goals win
matches” came in to play as we conceded six goals.
Overall, the players gave 100% this year and we always had 25+ at
training. This group of lads were always eager to learn and trained well all
year. They showed great heart in their games and were sorely disappointed
that they did not go further in this year’s Championship. Eight or nine of the
U-15’s played with the Minors and did not look out of their depth.
Personally, I feel the team underachieved this year. There is a huge
amount of talent in this group of players, I really believe there is a Minor
Championship in these lads, and they will give the U-17 Championship a
good go in the next two years.
The Team Coaches – Chilly Ward, Eddie Byrne, Dean Coss and myself,
would like to thank the players, their parents and the Club for the
commitment and support we received during the year. A special thanks
to our Team Secretary, Georgina for all her hard work throughout the year.
IS MISE A CHARA.
TOM MORAN
Portarlington GAA Club
2022 – AGM – u15 Development Football:
U15 DEVELOPMENT FOOTBALL REPORT 2022
For the first time Portarlington fielded two teams at U15. Earlier in the year
the club entered two teams in the Féile also for the first time, with the
development team playing in the ‘B’ grade.
The Development team played in the Laois Development League playing
home and away fixtures on a Thursday evening, improving with each game.
They also played games against Offaly Development teams.
The development team provided players with the opportunity of plenty of
game time, the chance to try different positions and players new to the club
the platform to practice their skills.
The team was supplemented by players from the U13 team when required so
a big thank you to those players for making themselves available.
Portarlington GAA Club
2022 – AGM – u17 Hurling:
U17 Hurling
As it has been for every second year in hurling this was a very young U17
hurling team with the vast majority of the panel being U15.
This year we were placed in Championship group alongside Portlaoise,
Park-Rath/Timahoe, Mountrath, Raheen Parish Gaels, Na Fianna, Rosenallis
and Ballinakill/Ballypickas.
We won one game against Balliakill/Ballypickas but were effectively
well-beaten by most of the teams. We had to concede a match also due to
players unavailability which was inevitable with such a small panel.
Portarlington GAA Club
2022 – AGM – u17 Football:
U17 Football
Manager/Lead mentor: Evin Bennett
Championship Grade: A
Highlights of the year:
Winners 2022 Shield Final V Ballylinan, difficult playing conditions
overall. Panel performed very strongly to get this win especially the
younger members on the panel.
We performed well in championship up to Stradbally game beaten by
an older stronger panel.
I wish to thank all players and parents along with the selectors for a
good year.
Significant challenges during the year:
Biggest challenge was pulling a panel initially and we relied heavily
on those at u15 grade. We eventually had most of the older ages
back playing by the shield final.
There was an unfortunate referee incident early in the season which
resulted in loss of home advantage for us for the remainder of the
season. The GAA handbook does not allow for any sanctions to
referees.
Portarlington GAA Club
2022 – AGM – Games Development Report:
Games Development Overview
The senior team completed three in a row and gave us another great year,
finishing with a Leinster Semi Final defeat in Croke Park. Our Junior team
competed in Divison two and the A Championship and at times found it hard
to field a team, but were competitive in the championship. We entered a
second junior team this year with the aim of providing Summer game time
mainly to our U20 team and while we played one game we had to withdraw
due to lack of availability. Our U20 team only managed to turn out for one
game, conceding two. Again lack of availability was a big issue and the
timing of the competition didn’t help. Participation at adult level, including
U20, should be one of the main club proirities over the next few years,
aiming to provide a developmental pathway to senior level for players and
also a place to play for those not on the senior path.
In 2022 Portarlington fielded teams from under 5 to adult level in football
and from u9 to minor level in hurling. This year was the first year the club
was in a position to field two football teams at U15, U13 and U11. It was
also the first year we fielded a minor hurling team. We also entered two
teams in the Féile Football for the first time, having teams in both the A and B
competitions. This, in addition to good number at go-games level bodes well
for the future of the club. The challenge is to retain and nurture as many of
these players as possible.
Games Promotion Officer
Jamie Moriarty was appointed GPO for Portarlington and Gracefield GAA in
March this year. Jamie worked with our underage coaches and spent a lot of
time in the primary schools.
Jamie focused on working with newer coaches, helping them build confidence
and skill development. Jamie also provided coach workshops in November
and December. Participation from Portarlington coaches was low.
WHERE WE ALL BELONG
Portarlington GAA Club
2022 – AGM – Games Development Report:
It is hoped to run these again before teams go back training with a better
attendance anticipated.
Jamie co-ordinated the 2 cúl camps in the club this summer and also helped
with the Easter and Halloween camps run by the club. He also set up and
co-ordinated the nursey every Saturday morning.
Jamie spends the off –season in the schools, Scoil Phádraig and Sandylane
in the town, providing GAA coaching to our existing players while also
promoting the club and recruiting new members.
The aim for 2023 is to continue to upskill our coaches, increase our numbers
particularly through the school link relationship and develop the skills of all
our players.
Coach & Coach Education
Coaches and mentors were appointed early in the year, with code of
conduct, Garda vetting, child safeguarding and first aid courses provided.
Without the dedication and commitment of coaches the players would not
have the opportunity to develop and flourish. Courses offering Personal
Development via Laois GAA were communicated to coaches during the
year and 4 in house workshops run in the off season. Recruitment and
development of coaches for both codes is another critical priority in the
coming years, particularly as the club continues to grow.
Pitch/Facilities and Community
Tremendous work was carried out by the pitch & hall committee and
well-being committee this year, with McCann Park looking as well as it has
in a long while. This directly resulted in our teams enjoying
excellent facilities which were shared during the year with Banríon Gaels and
St. Conleths. With our own increasing numbers pitch space at times was at a
premium. Thanks to everyone for your understanding, patience and
co-operation.
WHERE WE ALL BELONG
Portarlington GAA Club
2022 – AGM – Games Development Report:
The gym area underwent extensive renovation work early in the year and is
now a super resource available to the club. Our adult teams make great use
of it and our Juveniles started an introductory S&C programme in November.
Our pitches were also used by the schools in the town, Scoil Phádraig,
Sandylane, Presentation Primary and Coláiste Íosagán, for training and
matches in 2022. Our own members benefited greatly from their use and
we picked a few new players from these school tournaments.
We had use of the Astro turf in the boy’s school which was a great resource
during bad weather and even as an overflow on busy nights. Great to see the
u13’s/11’s using it during the winter for skills training.
Other community groups utilise our facilities at various stages during the year
including, Portarlington drama club, Star Camp, Irish Dancing, Fitness classes
and Bingo.
Well Being
A huge effort was put in by the well-being committee this year with a big
focus on aligning games development with the well-being programme.
Players and teams were encouraged to participate in the various initiatives,
with the u13’s and u15’s helping with the painting. Portarlington is leading
the way in Wellness development and is another area of huge focus over the
coming years and all help and support is welcome.
Camps
Portarlington GAA again ran two very successful Cúl Camps during the
summer with large numbers attending both. For the first time we ran our own
in house Easter and Halloween camp with nearly sixty kids attending each.
A huge thank you to all the volunteers who helped make these camps a
success, especially players from our u15 and minor team and siblings of
committee members. Thank you also to Scoil Phádraig for the use of their
school hall and astro turf pitch at Halloween.
WHERE WE ALL BELONG
Portarlington GAA Club
2022 – AGM – Juvenile Chairman Report:
The begining of 2022 allowed the successful. Each are ways to try to
return to familiar territory for our make it more than a chore to be up
Juvenile teams, however there was at the field and hopefully kids want to
a slight shift in how we operate come back to the club rather than it
compared to the past. Our youngsters being a punishment.
had to readjust from a time of social We also worked to improve the image
distancing and restrictions back to of the Club around the town where
remembering the feeling of what its we kitted all players from U13 up to
like to compete and have fun with u17 with Portarlington tracksuits and
your friends. The change due to Covid training tops. On the field we supplied
on our society is evident and it has new Jerseys through our Sponorship
altered the dynamic of how young drive and ensured that each team
people feel and act. This is something were equipped with all training
that the Club is very much aware of equipment that was required.
and with our Healthy Club Initiatave The Club introduced a new Club app
and Mental wellbeing programme we which is available to be used on your
are trying to evolve with the times and hand held device. This allowed us to
become more open and comply with GDPR policy on data
approachable. protection and to create a secure
Alot of work has been done around messaging platform for the parents
the Club over the past year with the while also helping the coaches to
facelift of the hall with the fantastic compile numbers and reports on
new mural and the added paint work events and games. Clubzap also al-
around the grounds. Our youngsters lowed us to make match reports and
played a vital roll with their support with the assistance of Ray Commins
helping paint the respective areas. photography we were able to show
We also tried new fun adventures action pictures of our young players
like cinema nights, painting compe- on the field which was a huge suc-
tions and also on the field we had cess. Player’s skill developement and
fun Blitzes, we also ran Easter and retention was a major focus and the
Halloween camps which were very evidence of player numbers at each
WHERE WE ALL BELONG
Portarlington GAA Club
2022 – AGM – Juvenile Chairman Report:
age group was a testament to the I would like to take this opportunity to
work being done by our coaches and sincerly thank everyone who spend
committes. Our GPO Jamie Moriarty their valuble time working tiresly for
started also to work in the schools, a the future of our youth. To the
large number of Cumann na mBunscol Committees who work behind the
players that won or played in finals scenes, it is incredible the amount of
are involved with Portarlington GAA work that you get through and you do
who bodes well for our future. not get the praise you deserve. To the
Coach developement is also a task coaches who spend hours in the field
that we have the ability to work on teaching skills and drills and
with our GPO and we can evolve on sacrifing time away from their
the great work being carried out by families and finally to all the parents
our dedicated team. Winter who bring their kids throughout the
coaching courses are now under way county and support the Club.
and we strive to have more courses in The GAA is entwind in our culture
the newyear that focuses on Games and it is part of who we are, I would
based drills and creates a player whole heartly ask for anyone who
pathway to develope the skills wishes to give a small bit back to the
associated with each respective age club to come join us. No matter how
group. small or what area of expertise you
Looking forward we are working to can give it is important to us, it is true
try and continue to improve, be it to say that every bit helps. Please
through the aids we can give our support your club to produce young
coaches and ensuring the equipment role models for the future and also
required is available. continue to bring success to
Our development officer is working to Portarlington both on and off the
develope a Strenght and Conditioning field.
programme for the players, we are
working on building a Ball wall/skills Regards
zone so we can work in the off season DECLAN GALLAGHER,
to develope our skills. JUVENILE CHAIRMAN
WHERE WE ALL BELONG
Portarlington GAA Club
2022 – AGM – u20 Football:
U20 Football
After refusing the job on 2 occasions I was persuaded to Commit to
the task with 6 days before our first round.
Joining Jap Murphy and Eric Ward we met on Tuesday the 11th of
October, it was obvious that fielding a team was going to be a
challenge. We were given a list of 20 players some of which hadn’t
laced a boot in 2022. We split the player list and called every player
and knocked on doors. We scraped 16 players for our first outing
against Mountmellick Parish Gaels on Friday the 14th Oct in McCann
Park.
Unfortunately, after the lads put in a battling performance, we found
it extremely hard to put scores on the board and Mountmellick ran out
winners 2-16 to Ports 1-4.
After liaising with our Senior Coach Martin Murphy, it was agreed
that both Rioghan Murphy and Darragh Slevin would be omitted from
our next fixture against Emo scheduled Sat 29th Oct.
We called a training session for Friday the 21st of Oct, 3 players
turned up, with a further 3 training with our Senior team on the night.
Very disappointing.
From this point on, the core of the players showed no appetite for
training or matches. On 2 occasions we had less than 10 players
committing to matches.
We conceded to the Emo fixture dated 29th Oct.
After consulting with our Chairman and Conor Twomey it was decided
to try and rally the players one more time. When this was not
possible, we withdrew from our last fixture against Ballyroan Abbey
dated 8th Nov. This unfortunately concluded a very disappointing Port
U/20 2022 campaign.
WHERE WE ALL BELONG
Portarlington GAA Club
2022 – AGM – u20 Football / Junior Football:
Contributing factors:
1 Small numbers (2023 panel will have similar problems)
2 2 Players playing with our Senior panel.
3 While playing in A Championships has served the Club well, this age
group have never come near any silverware and at times have really
struggled. I think this has not helped in retention of players at this
grade. In my opinion it’s important to keep players in a competitive
Championship.
4 Championship played too late in the year. Other clubs had
similar issues as us.
5 It is possible that those campaigning to revert back to U/18 and
U/21 has merit.
6 I am sorry to report but there was a lack of commitment from
some of the panel, which was a challenge for all involved.
I would like to acknowledge the help of both Jap Murphy and Eric
Ward. Although not evident in results there was a lot of interaction
and effort in trying to persuade players to Commit.
THANKS
EAMON MURPHY
JUNIOR FOOTBALL: victory over Spink and a hard-fought
victory over The Heath which put us
The Junior team this year, like in the into the quarter final against
previous few years, started off with Graiguecullen. We started badly
an air of promise when you have the against Graiguecullen and we were six
players at your disposal, but as usual points down at half time but we rallied
this wasn’t to be the case, during the well and were unlucky only lose by
league campaign we struggled to field two points in the end, plus we were
a team of fifteen. missing a few players due to work
We ended up in a relegation playoff in commitments. On a personal note,
division two, but we dug deep, pulled I was disappointed with the Junior
together and survived the drop with year, especially as most of the Junior
two great wins over Crettyard and panel started training properly with
Mountmellick, who are both the Seniors after our exclusion from the
intermediate teams. championship.
The championship followed with a
CATHAL RYAN
WHERE WE ALL BELONG
Portarlington GAA Club
2022 – AGM – Senior Football:
Leinster Senior Club the 1st time in the Clubs history. A promise was
Championship 2021 made in the dressing room after the game, that
this wasn’t the end and everything would be
Our AGM was held November last year, but done to get back here again next year, but this
surprisingly the football action was still ongoing time go a step further and reach a Leinster Final.
with our senior team embarking on a Leinster
campaign for the first time since 2001. Covid Portarlington 1-14
had put a stop to us playing in the 2020 Leinster St Loman’s 1-12
campaign as Laois champions. Leinster Senior Club Football
Three weeks after history repeating itself and Championship Quarter Final
we had claimed back-to-back titles in the one
year, which last achieved by the club in 1955, Kilmacud Crokes 1-11
we would have home advantage in the ¼ final. Portarlington 0-12
Hopes were high within the group that we could Leinster Club SFC Semi-final
push on and give this competition a good rattle
after our convincing County Final win over Laois This is where the journey ends. Portarlington’s
kingpins Portlaoise. great 2021 campaign came to an end under the
The Westmeath champions would be our opposi- Croke Park floodlights as their brave effort fell
tion and St Lomans were to come through after short against Kilmacud Crokes in the Leinster club
a replay in their county final. This was to be an semi-final.
epic encounter against a very experienced team,
but the lads picked up from the county final and
raced into a 1-06 to 0-02 lead after 15 minutes, Senior Football League
but Lomans who only a few years early contested Division 1A 2022
a Leinster final, narrowly losing it at the depth
weren’t going to just drop their heads and came
roaring back into the game. For the rest of the
game, it ebbed and flowed, but once again we After a disappointing end to our Leinster
came through to win only our 2nd ever Leinster Campaign, we didn’t have long to wait for the
SFC game. new season to begin with the new structured
We were now through to the semi-finals, which league to commence in the late March. The 2022
was for the first time to be played in Croke Park league was to have an eight-team division, where
and also televised on National TV on RTE2. The each team played each other and the top four
whole town & panel were buzzing with excite- would go into the winner’s section and the bot-
ment in the lead up to our Christmas showdown tom four would go into the losers section. Division
with Dublin champions Kilmacud Crokes. Both 1A was comprised of O’Dempseys, Courtwood,
teams didn’t disappoint the national audience Portlaoise, St. Josephs, Emo, Ballyroan Abbey,
and produced arguably the best game of the Graiguecullen and ourselves.
year, and in particular our 1st half performance As defending champions, we wanted to keep the
which was the best I’ve ever seen a Portarlington momentum going and show the rest of the county
team produce to go in 0-07 to 0-03 up against that we weren’t going to relinquish any of our
the heavily backed favourites. Kilmacud came titles easily. We were only back on the pitch a
strong at us in the 2nd half and for large periods week before our first game, where our opponents
it was tit for tat until their all-important goal with were local and parish rivals O’Dempseys came
10 minutes left was to be the difference in the to visit. This was to be the start of a series of
end. The team and management were gutted at battles between both sides that would culminate
the final whistle known how agonisingly close in a repeat of the 1963 Laois Senior County final.
they came to appearing in a Leinster final for Before any ball was kicked the management
knew that this year was going to be challenging
between players retiring, injured and lads going
WHERE WE ALL BELONG
Portarlington GAA Club
2022 – AGM – Senior Football:
travelling. The league campaign as a whole was Winner’s Section Round 1
a success in a way, as fringe and emerging Portarlington 0-8
players got to see a lot of action throughout. Graiguecullen 1-19
We had four wins against O’Dempseys, ACFL Division 1A
Courtwood, St Josephs and Emo, a draw against Winner’s Section Round 2
Portlaoise and two losses against Ballyroan
Abbey and Graiguecullen. This was enough to St Joseph’s 0-13
see us finish 2nd in the division and put us into Portarlington 0-6
the winners’ sections along with the other top ACFL Division 1A
three teams Graiguecullen, O’Dempseys and (Winners Section)
St Josephs.
This section of the league was to be a poor spell Senior Football
for our seniors as we were severely disrupted Championships 2022
with numbers due to more lads getting injured
and lads gone away on their travels. Despite this, Two weeks after our league campaign ended
we were still a win away from making the league the defence of the title was to begin on Saturday
final, but it was to be our 5th defeat in a row and 23rd July against Arles Killeen. Before a ball was
3rd in the winner’s section and with it the end of kicked, all the talk around the county was had
our league crown. Portarlington regressed since their back-to-back
successes.
Within the camp there would have been a cause
Portarlington 1-14 for concern, especially the ending of our league
O’Dempsey’s 2-8 campaign where we had lost 5 games on the
ACFL Division 1A bounce, plus we were going to be missing five or
more players from our previous two titles wins.
Portarlington 2-14 The question that was being asked of this team
Courtwood 0-11 was whether they could reach the levels of fit-
ACFL Division 1A ness, the momentum and the form of the past two
campaigns, could this team which consisted of 39
Portarlington 0-8 players along with manager Martin Murphy and
Portlaoise 0-8 his background team of Alan Bracken, Christy
ACFL Division 1A Smith (selectors), Paddy Lowry (S&C), Darren
Bracken (team secretary), Declan O’ Sullivan
Portarlington 2-14 (goal keeping coach), Alison Holmes, Rachel
St Joseph’s 2-6 (physios), Patrick Donegan (kit & logistics), Tony
ACFL Division 1A Bambrick jnr & snr and David Clarke (stats)
emulate the last club team to win 3 in a row.
Portarlington 0-9 The history books tell us that it was our own
Ballyroan-Abbey 0-11 senior team in 1921-1923 that achieved this feat,
ACFL Division 1A Round 6 would the team of 2020-2022 have it in them
to go to the well one more time and mirror that
O’Dempsey’s 1-14 achievement or would mental fatigue, pressure
Portarlington 0-8 play a part. Questions were definitely asked of
ACFL Division 1A them throughout the campaign towards the
previous 2 where for some reason or other we
were struggling to hit form or the standards that
we had hit ourselves the previous years. Those
WHERE WE ALL BELONG
Portarlington GAA Club
2022 – AGM – Senior Football:
were all very evident in the 2nd round, ¼ final interval. Colm Murphy and Jake Foster were on
and semi final games and had many wondering fire up front, with Sean Michael Corcoran
outside the club was this the end, had mental grabbing an early goal.
fatigue and pressure finally started to bear Arles-Killeen were much improved in the second
fruit, but this group are made of sterner stuff and half, with Colin Dunne and Brendan O’Shea
showed huge character in all these matches to goals putting a bit of respectability back on the
empathetically answer the critics that we weren’t scoreline.
ready to relinquish our titles just yet and came However, Portarlington ran out easy winners in
through each game by a solitary point. the end, as they still very much look like the team
What really matters what a team can produce to beat in this year’s championship.
when playing a final and this team well and truly The reigning county champions could not have
delivered empathetically for the 3rd time in a row asked for a better start to this encounter.
to completely overwhelm our parish and nearest Portarlington midfielder Seán Michael Corcoran
rivals O’Dempseys and get revenge for our 1963 set the tone early with a goal inside the first
County Final loss. Their performance in the final minute of the match.
can only be admired in what was absolutely hor- Donie Kingston got Arles-Killeen up and running
rendous weather conditions produce a display for the championship, with Jake Foster replying
of attacking football to score 2-14 on a day like with Portarlington’s opening point from a placed
that,was incredible and in the meantime claim a ball.
historic 3 in a row. We were also to be the first Donie’s brother, Paul Kingston, popped over
team in a Laois SFC to win 3 finals by double another point for Arles-Killeen from a free, but
digits, an amazing feat by this panel of players that would be their last score for twenty minutes
that showed this team produced when it mat- of the match.
tered. To a man the comprehensively won every Portarlington stamped their authority on
battle on the pitch, the score line seldom lies and proceedings by kicking ten points without reply
this group of players along with the management to put the game beyond Arles-Killeen.
team have earned the right to write their own Centre-back Stuart Mulpeter burst forward to
achievements into the history books. blast over the first of those ten scores. Colm
Taken from match reports of the 2022 Laois SFC, Murphy then fisted another over the bar after
this is the written record of that campaign where Portarlington won the Arles-Killeen kickout.
the team achieved 3 in a row. Colm Murphy then claimed and kicked a mark
Report submitted by Darren Bracken, match after he caught a super pass from Jake Foster.
reports courtesy of Laois Today, images courtesy The Portarlington corner-forward, Foster, then
of Ray Cummins and Paul Dargan went from provider to scorers, as he raised two
white flags in quick succession.
Portarlington 2-23 Man of the match in the 2020 final, Rioghan
Arles-Killeen 2-8 Murphy, added his name to the scoresheet with a
Laois Senior Football fine effort. Rioghan’s cousin, Colm Murphy, then
Championship Round 1 kicked the next two scores to push Portarlington’s
lead out further.
The 2020 and 2021 Senior county champions Jake Foster curled over his third point of the day,
began their pursuit of three in a row against before county man Paddy O’Sullivan came
Arles-Killeen in O’Moore Park on Saturday surging up from wing-back to add another.
afternoon. Martin Murphy’s men had endured a After going a sizeable period of the match
poor enough league campaign by their lengthy scoreless, Arles-Killeen finally returned to the
standards, but they put that behind them in this scoreboard through a Paul Kingston free as we
championship opener. Portarlington were out of approached half-time. Unfortunately for them,
sight in the first half, as they led 1-13 to 0-3 at the the game was pretty much out of sight already.
Colm Murphy landed the final two scores of the
WHERE WE ALL BELONG
Portarlington GAA Club
2022 – AGM – Senior Football:
half, as the champions held a comfortable 1-13 Stephen O’Neill 0-1 each Arles-Killeen: Paul
to 0-3 cushion. Despite being without a few key Kingston 0-4 (0-2 frees), Colin Dunne 1-1 (0-1
players, Portarlington didn’t look like they had free), Brendan O’Shea 1-0, Donie Kingston 0-3
lost a step in this opening round match-up. (0-1 free)
Paul Kingston and Jake Foster traded scores PORTARLINGTON: Sean Mooney; Cathal Ben-
from placed balls at the beginning stages of the nett, Alex Mohan, Mikey Bennett; Colin Slevin,
second half, before Arles-Killeen gave themselves Stuart Mulpeter, Paddy O’Sullivan; Keith Bracken
a mini lifeline by scoring a goal. (C), Sean Michael Corcoran; Stephen O’Neill,
The powerful Donie Kingston went on a charging Ronan Coffey, Adam Ryan; Jake Foster, Colm
run, as he shrugged off the challenges of multiple Murphy, Rioghan Murphy. Sub: Jordan Fitzpat-
Portarlington bodies. Kingston then offloaded rick for Corcoran (48 mins)
to Colin Dunne, who crashed one into the right ARLES-KILLEEN: Jason Enright; Tom McWey,
corner of the net. James Mahon, Paul McDonald; Niall O’Rourke,
Colm Murphy replied with a free for Dermot Julian, Conor Keightley; Donie Kingston,
Portarlington, but Paul Kingston then kicked a Arnie Mahon; Joe Mahon, Paul Kingston, Aidan
beautiful score out near the sideline. O’Rourke; Colin Dunne, Brendan O’Shea, Sean
Portarlington weren’t faxed though, as Colm O’Shea. Subs: Michael Wall for J Mahon (HT),
Murphy and Jake Foster both registered points Billy O’Loughlin for McWey (43 mins)
from marks. Donie Kingston went tearing up the REFEREE: Des Cooney (St Joseph’s)
field once more, this time squeezing one between
the posts despite being under pressure. Portarlington 0-16
Portarlington responded with Stephen O’Neill O’Dempsey’s 1-12
and Jake Foster scores, with O’Neill’s a corker Laois SFC Round 2 - Winners Section
from a tricky angle.
Arles-Killeen goalscorer, Colin Dunne, converted Now that was a game of football.
a free after Paul Kingston was fouled. Then they Portarlington are through to the quarter-final
grabbed a second goal to cut the deficit to ten of the Laois senior football championship after
points with ten minutes of normal time remaining. surviving a ferocious battle with O’Dempsey’s
Substitute Billy O’Loughlin went route one, as he this evening in O’Moore Park.
launched a long ball into big Donie Kingston. A late point from 2021 player of the year Jake
The Arles-Killeen man managed to break the Foster was the winning score but it was a game
ball down to himself despite being surrounded that could have went either way and few in the
by two Portarlington defenders, before Kingston large attendance would have complained had it
transferred to Brendan O’Shea and he blasted gone to extra time.
to the net. The game ended with O’Dempsey’s pressing
Portarlington responded with a goal of their own hard for an equaliser and they’ll probably feel
though. Colm Murphy pointed a score form play, hard done by that they weren’t awarded a late
before substitute Jordan Fitzpatrick fisted home free. But Port cleared the danger and held on.
the ball after Colin Slevin’s shot dropped well They knew they had been in a right good battle
short. - and no team in Laois had given them such a
Stuart Mulpeter and Paddy O’Sullivan raised game since the famous 2019 semi-final loss to
further white flags for Portarlington, before Donie Portlaoise.
Kingston kicked the last score of the match. O’Dempsey’s can take great heart from the
Portarlington ran out convincing winners in the performance and with Mark Barry and Fionn
end despite a brave second half effort from Holland to come back from America in the next
Arles-Killeen, who can take some positives head- couple of weeks you imagine they can only get
ing into the losers’ section of the draw. stronger.
SCORERS – Portarlington: Colm Murphy 0-10 This was an exceptionally entertaining game of
(0-4 frees, 0-4 mark), Jake Foster 0-8 (0-5 frees, football from first minute to last.
0-1 mark), Sean Michael Corcoran and Jordan Local rivals, in front of a big crowd, playing
Fitzpatrick 1-0 each, Paddy O’Sullivan and good quality positive football. There were big
Stuart Mulpeter 0-2 each, Rioghan Murphy and
WHERE WE ALL BELONG
Portarlington GAA Club
2022 – AGM – Senior Football:
hits but no dirty blows that you sometimes get apiece go astray.
when neighbouring clubs collide. Matthew Finlay started the comeback with a
While the scores were slow to come by in the free then Jack Lennon and Barry Kelly got good
opening ten minutes - Matthew Finlay and Colm scores to tie it up.
Murphy swapping early points - they soon began Port introduced David Murphy - previously
to flow in. assumed retired - with two minutes left of normal
The very impressive Eoin Finlay pointed from time and he got his hands on the ball in the build
play to put O’Dempsey’s ahead and then Sam up to the winning score - one that Foster
Molloy was upended by Scott Osbourne after confidently kicked as we headed for injury time.
a delightful cross-field ball into the square from O’Dempsey’s frantically went in search of an
Micheal Finlay. equaliser but after patiently holding possession,
Osbourne was lucky that the card was yellow it ended in the Abbeyleix end corner when Port
and not black but Eoin Finlay made no mistake turned them over.
by firing the penalty to the net. If only all club games in Laois could be like this.
Matthew Finlay added a free straight away Port hold the bragging rights, for now, over their
and O’Dempsey’s were five points up after 13 neighbours.
minutes. We had a game. Until they meet again, perhaps.
To Port’s credit they responded really well and SCORERS - Portarlington: Colm Murphy
hit the next three points - two from Colm Murphy (two marks) and Jake Foster (one free) 0-4
(one mark) and one from Rioghan Murphy. each, Rioghan Murphy 0-3, Adam Ryan and
Barry Howlin swung over one for O’Dempsey’s Paddy O’Sullivan 0-2 each, Stephen O’Neill
but Port again hit the next three - from Paddy 0-1. O’Dempsey’s: Eoin Finlay 1-1 (1-0 penalty),
O’Sullivan, Colm Murphy (mark) and Jake Matthew Finlay 0-4 (two frees), Sam Molloy 0-2,
Foster. Robbie Kehoe, Shane Nerney, Jack Lennon,
Foster’s point, after a couple of earlier unchar- Micheal Finlay and Barry Howlin 0-1 each
acteristic misses, put Port ahead for the first time PORTARLINGTON: Scott Osborne; Cathal Ben-
- but O’Dempsey’s immediately replied with the nett, Alex Mohan, Mikey Bennett; Colin Slevin,
hugely influential Shane Nerney bombing one Stuart Mulpeter, Paddy O’Sullivan; Keith Brack-
over from distance. en, Adam Ryan; Jordan Fitzpatrick, Stephen
A good save from Podge Bannon on Adam Ryan O’Neill, Rioghan Murphy; Jake Foster, Colm
denied Port and O’Dempsey’s then got the next Murphy, Ronan Coffey. Subs: Jason Moore for
two - one from Matthew Finlay after he danced Fitzpatrick (HT), Diarmuid Bennett for O’Sullivan
inside the Port cover, the next from lively (54), David Murphy for Coffey (58)
wing-forward Sam Molloy. O’DEMPSEY’S: Podge Bannon; Stephen Lennon,
But we went in at the break level after Foster Cormac O’Hora, Johnny Kelly; Jack Lennon,
pointed a free and Paddy O’Sullivan came up Shane Nerney, Keith Kavanagh; Brian Nugent,
from wing-back to get his second. Barry Howlin; Sam Molloy, Barry Kelly, Daithi
Jason Moore was brought on at half time and Howlin; Eoin Finlay, Matthew Finlay, Micheal
went straight onto Nerney in an attempt to curb Finlay. Subs: Robbie Kehoe for Nugent (injured
his influence. - 20), Ben Coen for D Howlin (46), Derek Dunne
Port started the second half well with almost for Molloy (52)
identical points from Adam Ryan and Rioghan REFEREE: Eugene Dowdall (Ballylinan)
Murphy but again O’Dempsey’s had an answer
with points from Robbie Kehoe and Molloy. Portarlington 2-9
Rioghan Murphy, Foster and Ryan then put Port Ballyroan-Abbey 1-11
three up and it looked like they were kicking for Laois Senior Football
home and that O’Dempsey’s were running out of Championship Quarter-Final
both ideas and energy.
But they found it within themselves to get the next
three points, as both sides saw two goal chances
WHERE WE ALL BELONG
Portarlington GAA Club
2022 – AGM – Senior Football:
Portarlington’s quest for three in a row continues Diarmuid Whelan made it a two point game with
after they battled past a serious challenge from an effort from 40 metres but Paddy O’Sullivan’s
Ballyroan-Abbey this afternoon. point from a ridiculous angle put three in it as we
Martin Murphy’s men just about did enough to entered two minutes of injury time.
repel a late surge from Ballyroan - with Paddy Diarmuid Whelan and Davin McEvoy kicked
O’Sullivan’s point from the tightest of angles frees in that period but time ran out and Port held
proving crucial in the end. on.
Ballyroan-Abbey are a young team and they SCORERS – Portarlington: Jake Foster 1-3 (two
are certainly improving as their display today frees), Colm Murphy 0-4 (three frees), Rioghan
showed. Murphy 1-0, Adam Ryan 0-1, Paddy O’Sullivan
Colm Murphy kicked Portarlington ahead as they 0-1 Ballyron-Abbey: Davin McEvoy 0-5 (three
played with the wind but Ballyroan-Abbey had a frees, one mark), Connaire Gee 1-0, Diarmuid
great goal chance in the fifth minute. Whelan 0-3 (one free), Padraig McMahon 0-1,
A long ball broke through the defence and found Enda McWey 0-1, Cathal Doyle 0-1
Davin McEvoy but his low shot just went wide of PORTARLINGTON: Scott Osbourne; Cathal
the post. Bennett, Alex Mohan, Mikey Bennett; Stuart
Adam Ryan added to Portarlington’s tally before Mulpeter, Robbie Pigott, Paddy O’Sullivan; Keith
Cathal Doyle got Ballyroan underway after eight Bracken, Sean Byrne; Adam Ryan, Stephen
minutes. O’Neill, Rioghan Murphy; Jake Foster, Colm
Ballyroan’s low block was really stiffing Murphy, Ronan Coffey. Subs: Jason Moore for
Portarlington’s attack with just Colm Murphy and Bracken (ht), David Murphy for O’Neill (45),
Jake Foster scoring before a Diarmuid Whelan Daragh Galvin for Coffey (59)
effort left it 0-4 to 0-2 after 15 minutes. BALLYROAN-ABBEY: Paudi McDonald; Danny
Murphy and Foster added further points but Brennan, Aaron Carroll, Aaron McEvoy; Con-
Davin McEvoy kept Ballyroan in it with a free. naire Gee, Conor McWey, Mark Cahill; Marty
And then they drew level as we entered two Scully, Cathal Doyle; Davin McEvoy, Shaun
minutes of injury time. Fitzpatrick, Colm Walsh; Padraig McMahon,
Brian Whelan, Diarmuid Whelan and Marty Diarmuid Whelan, Brian Whelan. Subs: Conor
Scully were all involved before Padraig Mc- Brennan for Doyle (ht, inj), Evan McEvoy for Gee
Mahon’s shot was parried by Scott Osbourne (40), Enda McWey for Fitzpatrick (43), Lawson
but Connaire Gee was there to tap home the Obulor for Whelan (45), James McWey for
rebound. McMahon (52)
Portarlington protested for a square ball but the Referee: Hugh Coughlan (Park-Ratheniska)
goal stood and we went in level at the
break - 0-6 to 1-3. Portarlington 0-9
The sides traded points when play resumed Portlaoise 0-8
but then Portarlington went back ahead when Laois Senior Football
Rioghan Murphy finished a strong run with a Championship Semi-Final
lovely finish to the net.
Port were flying now and a second goal from An absolutely outstanding save from Scott
Jake Foster following a swift handpassing move Osborne was the match winning moment as
left them 2-8 to 1-5 up as we entered the final Portarlington withstood a ferocious test from
quarter. Portlaoise this evening.
Ballyroan-Abbey were rattled but they sprung Martin Murphy’s men looked in real trouble as
Lawson Obulor from the bench and he caused they trailed by three points with 11 minutes to
a bit of trouble which led to points from Enda play of a low scoring affair.
McWey and Davin McEvoy. But Jake Foster and Paddy O’Sullivan dragged
The latter then won and kicked a mark to narrow them level before Rioghan Murphy put them
the gap to three points with 52 minutes on the ahead in injury time.
clock.
WHERE WE ALL BELONG
Portarlington GAA Club
2022 – AGM – Senior Football:
Portlaoise had the chance to dethrone them but Portlaoise desperately sought an equaliser but
Osborne pulled off a stunning save and almost ended up with the winner.
Portarlington will now meet O’Dempsey’s in the Aidan McGovern burst down then line and
final. This game was so cagey and niggley at the centered where Kieran Lillis came steaming in
start that it was very difficult for either team to at the back post to palm in what looked like a
gain some momentum. certain goal.
Portarlington began with three wides and However, keeper Osbourne leaped like a salmon
Portlaoise had two – although one was nearly a to deny him and Cathal Bennett burst out with the
goal when Robbie Pigott was dispossessed and ball before being fouled.
Kieran Lillis shot for goal but it just looped wide. A couple more minutes were played but Portlao-
We actually had to wait 11 minutes for the first ise couldn’t score again
score – and it was a beauty from Ricky Maher
from in front of the stand. SCORERS – Portlaoise: Ricky Maher 0-4 (two
Portarlington took their wide tally to five and frees), Paul Cahillane 0-2 (one free), Oisin Fitz-
remained scoreless by the midpoint of the half as patrick 0-1, Ciaran McEvoy 0-1
Portlaoise led 0-1 to 0-0 – but that did change a Portarlington: Jake Foster 0-4 (three frees, one
minute later when Ronan Coffey was fouled and mark), Stephen O’Neill 0-1, Paddy O’Sullivan
Jake Foster pointed the free. 0-2, Rioghan Murphy 0-1
That sparked them into life as Stephen O’Neill PORTLAOISE: Graham Brody; Gary Saunders,
landed their first from play a minute later after a Ben Dempsey, Chris Finn; Colin McEvoy, Aidan
great pass from Colm Murphy. McGovern, Gareth Dillon; Kevin Swayne, Ciaran
The game threatened to catch fire as Ciaran McEvoy; Paul Cahillane, Benny Carroll, David
McEvoy struck straight back – but it quietened Holland; Damon Larkin, Kieran Lillis, Ricky
again with some further wides. Maher. Subs: Jason Maher for Swayne and
Portarlington went back ahead through Paddy Oisin Fitzpatrick for Holland (both 44), Kieran
O’Sullivan but Paul Cahillane quickly levelled it O’Donnell for Cahillane (47), Frank Flanagan
up with a score from a very tight angle. for Dillon (59)
The final score of the half was a Ricky Maher PORTARLINGTON: Scott Osborne; Cathal
free as Portlaoise led 0-4 to 0-3 at half time. Bennett, Diarmuid Bennett, Alex Mohan; Stuart
Jake Foster and Paul Cahillane exchanged points Mulpeter, Robbie Pigott, Paddy O’Sullivan; Keith
when play resumed and then Maher put two Bracken, Sean Byrne; Jason Moore, Stephen
between them after Ciaran McEvoy was fouled. O’Neill, Rioghan Murphy; Jake Foster, Colm
Maher then took his tally to four with an Murphy, Ronan Coffey. Subs: David Murphy for
excellent point on the run after a great turnover D Bennett (35, inj), Jordan Fitzpatrick for Coffey
by Colin McEvoy to make it 0-7 to 0-4 after 40 (39), Daragh Galvin for O’Neill (59)
minutes. Referee: Des Cooney (St Joseph’s)
Paddy O’Sullivan continued to take the fight to
Portlaoise with a fine point on the run and then Portarlington 2-13
Foster landed a free to leave it 0-7 to 0-6 as we O’Dempsey’s 0-8
entered the final quarter. Laois SFC Final
Oisin Fitzpatrick kicked an excellent points
moments after coming on but was then black Portarlington have claimed the Laois SFC title for
carded for a pull down on Paddy O’Sullivan with the third year in a row, an historic success not
49 minutes on the clock. achieved by the club since 1923.
Jake Foster made it a one point game after 54 For the third season running, Port saved their
minutes and then levelled it four minutes later best performance of the campaign for the final.
with another. And they have achieved such a run of success by
In the end, 66 minutes were played and completely overwhelming Graiguecullen,
Portarlington took the lead in the 62nd minute Portlaoise & now O’Dempsey’s in a county final.
through Rioghan Murphy.
WHERE WE ALL BELONG
Portarlington GAA Club
2022 – AGM – Senior Football:
Port played with the wind in the first half and in Port even finished with 14 men, following the
a frantic opening quarter they slowly but surely black carding of Ronan Coffey, but the result was
made their dominance count. never in doubt and O’Dempsey’s bad day was
There had been rarely a county final quite build made even worse when Scott Osborne excel-
up like it, so rarely had such close rivals and lently saved a Mark Barry penalty.
neighbours done battle on the biggest day of all In the end 11 points separated the sides.
in Laois. A Leinster club campaign, with the Wexford
While the wet and windy conditions didn’t help, champions away first, begins in two weeks time.
O’Dempsey’s could make no real headway SCORERS - Portarlington: Colm Murphy 1-4
against the brilliant Port defence where. (0-2 frees), Adam Ryan 0-3, Rioghan Mur-
Colm Murphy had been held scoreless in the phy 1-0, David Murphy 0-3, Scott Osborne
semi-final against Portlaoise, a rare occurrence, 0-1 (‘45), Jake Foster 0-1, Ronan Coffey
but he hit the ground running here, putting his 0-1, O’Dempsey’s: Mark Barry 0-4 (two frees,
side into a lead early on after being fouled one mark), Matthew Finlay 0-3 (one ‘45, one
himself. free), Conor Meredith 0-1.
He’d go on to score four points in the first half PORTARLINGTON: Scott Osborne; Cathal
while his brother David, starting his first game Bennett, Robbie Pigott, Alex Mohan; Stuart
of this championship, was outstanding, landing Mulpeter, Jason Moore, Paddy O’Sullivan; Keith
two wonderful points from play in an imperious Bracken, Sean Byrne; Adam Ryan, Stephen
display. O’Neill, Rioghan Murphy; Jake Foster, Colm
Adam Ryan was also in a different class, kicking Murphy, David Murphy. Subs: Ronan Coffey
three from play. Jake Foster, Scott Osborne (‘45) for O’Neill (injured - 22), Diarmuid Bennett for
and Ronan Coffey - on for the injured Stephen O’Sullivan (48), Darragh Galvin for D Murphy
O’Neill - hit brilliant points too. (injured - 51), Jordan Fitzpatrick for Ryan (56),
For O’Dempsey’s, they pulled a rabbit from the Eoin McCann for Foster (57)
hat by throwing Conor Meredith in for his first O’DEMPSEY’S: Eugene Nolan; Cormac O’Hora,
start of the year, and though he did point Robbie Kehoe, Johnny Kelly; Jack Lennon,
brilliantly in the sixth minute, O’Dempsey’s Stephen Lennon, Shane Nerney; Barry Howlin,
struggled to get shots away, even if they got up Brian Nugent; Fionn Holland, Barry Kelly, Conor
the field on plenty of occasions. Meredith; Matthew Finlay, Mark Barry, Micheal
Mark Barry pointed a mark in the 10th minute Finlay. Subs: Eoin Finlay for Michael Finlay (40),
but it was to be their last score of the half. Daithi Howlin for B Howlin (40), Keith Kavanagh
Port hit nine without reply and by half time there for Nugent (44), Ben Coen for Meredith (50),
was ten points between the sides, 0-12 to 0-2. Eoghan Fitzpatrick for Holland (50)
O’Dempsey’s had the wind at their backs in the REFEREE: Des Cooney (St Joseph’s)
second half, but they’d a huge lot of ground
to make up. And they were playing against an Leinster Senior Club
exceptional side at the top of their game. Championship 2022
Mark Barry did get the first two points of the
second half, both frees after fouls on Conor For only the fourth time in our Club’s history, we
Meredith, but the game was properly ended would once again represent Laois as Club
as a contest in the 38th minute when Rioghan Champions in Leinster. After coming so close in
Murphy cracked home a lovely goal after an last year’s campaign, the team were eager to
O’Dempsey’s kickout went wrong. go one step further and make a Leinster Final
And things went from bad to worse two minutes and win it. Three weeks after our county final
later when Robbie Kehoe got red-carded after success,we were drawn away to play
lashing out at Jason Moore. Wexford champions Castletown Liam Mellows in
David Murphy and Matthew Finlay (free) Wexford Park. This game was to be a titanic
swapped points before Colm Murphy fired home
a second Port goal in the 48th minute.
WHERE WE ALL BELONG
Portarlington GAA Club
2022 – AGM – Senior Football:
tussle against a very big physical defensive side. Murphy, his background team and some players
Once again the lads showed tremendous their last game and it has been a hugely success-
character to come away with a 4 point win. It ful period under this management and group of
came at a cost though with the final whistle just players , they played a style of football that had
about to be blown two players would receive red everyone enthralled , where not only the people
cards and miss our ¼ final. of Laois got to witness , but the whole of Ireland
We were to meet Carlow champions Palatine in on Live National TV.
the 1/4 final in Dr Cullen Park and talk before We would like to thank Martin and wish him
hand was the loss of our two players going to the very best of luck, as he sets out on his new
cost us, but the team produced their best perfor- adventure as selector of the Offaly Senior
mance of the year racking up a score line of 3-19 footballers. I’m sure he will bring the same level
(3-16 from play) to run out emphatic 19 points of success and structures to them, as he has
winners. brought to Portarlington over the last numerous
The promise that was made in the Hogan Stand years and leaves with three senior titles and a
dressing room less then a year previous was division one league title to his credit . To the rest
answered and we were back in a semi-final in of the management team and players who have
Croke Park to take on defending champions and given huge commitment over the last 4 years
our nemesis, Kilmacud Crokes . The town was , a huge thank you for giving us some memo-
buzzing with excitement and after the two rable days that will live long into the future .
previous games where loads of supporters It has been an amazing journey and one that
made the trips to Wexford and Carlow , they is definitely not finished and I’m sure that the
were now believing that this could be our year to dedicated committed bunch of players will be
win a Leinster title . Within the group, we were back again next year and in years to come to
quietly confident and expectations were high that win more Laois Senior Football Championship
if we could produce the same level of perfor- titles and add a Leinster Senior Football
mance as the previous year that we could come Championship title .
away with a win. Unfortunately for some reason Report submitted by Darren Bracken, match
the team never got going or were anywhere reports courtesy of Laois Today, images courtesy
near performing to their potential and as gutted of Ray Cummins and Paul Dargan
as they were feeling after last years loss,this time
they would be very disappointed that they never Portarlington 1-11
got up to last year’s performance and meekly Castletown Liam Mellows
exited the Leinster campaign with a whimper. (Wexford) 0-10
Kilmacud proved to be much improved from last Leinster Club SFC Round 1
years game and were deserving winners on the
night, but I think the criticism from outside the Portarlington 3-19 Palatine 0-9
club wad unjust as this performance wasn’t a true Leinster Senior Club Football
reflection of the team’s ability and potential. Championship Quarter Final
It was a disappointing end to our year in which
the management and panel of 39 players have Portarlington 0-4 Kilmacud Crokes 1-12
real ambition of winning a Leinster title, but it was Leinster Club Senior Football
also a very successful year again for us winning Championship Semi Final
a third title in a row. It has been an amazing
journey over the last 4 years , culminating in
historic achievements , winning back to back titles
in the same year , within three months of each
other , then doing a three in a row which was
last achieved in the club over 100 years ago.
We also got to play in GAA Headquarters two
years running, were televised Live on National
TV three times. It was to be our manager Martin
WHERE WE ALL BELONG
Portarlington GAA Club
2022 – AGM
NOV
2021
DEC New executive committee formed FEB
2021 Subsequent sub-committee 2022
Formed Finance Committee Streamlined appointed Application made to the Secured main sponsor
Bank Accounts First Aid Kits distributed Laois Community Activities Fund of Senior Teams
to all teams Purchase of new defibrillator
JAN (Adrian Dunne Pharmacy)
pads and recalibration of same 2022
Successful application to
GAA Health Club Project
Ireland Lights Up Initiative
Childrens Poster Competition
MAR APR MAY
2022 2022 2022
Huge sale of Laois All-County Tickets Application and drawdown of Laois Co Launch of Summer Clean Up Project
Launched ClubZap Launched Website Co Community Grant Easter Weekend Completion of club gym Replacement
of seats in stand New CCTV installed
Launched ClubPort/Cairde Flag Collection Easter Camp
Awards night/dinner dance First Aid training provided to coaches Darkness into Light Walk
JUN JUL
2022 2022
Application and drawdown of Laois Completion of application for
Co Co Discretionary Grant Community Centre Funding Grant
Application fo rebate of rates Commencement of Club Mural
Clean up with Skips Completion of pitch floodlights
AUG SEPT Golf Classic OCT
2022 2022 2022
Secured Sponsorship of new scoreboad Distribution of club tracksuits and Halloween Camp
(Portarlington Credit Union) training top to all players u13-u17 Clash of the Rivals Event
Winter indoor training events for
Re-Launch of Euromillions Completion Clubzap webinars juveniles. Refresher First Aid Course
of Roof Repair Visit by Minister Jack Chamber’s to club
JAN
NOV 1980s Night out 2022
2022
DEC Ireland Lights Up Initiative
Successful application and award 2022 Plenty more to come! Stay Tuned!
of integration grant
GPO Coaches Workshops Sign up to Volunteer in what-
Cinema night for Juveniles Mystery Tour for Coaches and ever capacity you can - Every little
GPO Coaches Workshops
Committee Members helps/Everyone is welcome
Christmas Party for Juveniles
WHERE WE ALL BELONG
Portarlington GAA Club
2022 – AGM – Treasurer’s Report
WHERE WE ALL BELONG
Portarlington GAA Club
2022 – AGM – Treasurer’s Report
WHERE WE ALL BELONG
Portarlington GAA Club
2022 – AGM – Treasurer’s Report
WHERE WE ALL BELONG
Portarlington GAA Club
2022 – AGM – Vice-Chairperson’s Report:
A Chairde,
I would like to thank all our members for your continued support of Portarlington
GAA Club. A club is nothing without its members and the positive impact that it
brings to our own community. It has been a great privilege and honour to
represent the club as Vice Chairperson and assisting with the Secretarial role
over the last year.
What a year we have had both on and off the field! Winning the three-in-a-
row was without doubt the icing on the cake to bring this season to a very
successful close. Hearty congratulations to all team members and mentors.
2022 will undoubtedly be remembered as the year Portarlington GAA experi-
enced an almost unprecedented level of success, but we must remain vigilant to
the challenge of retaining our young players and coaches, with a particular
emphasis on minor and under 20 levels. Success breeds success and now more
than ever can our club build on this momentum. Our coaches have kindly
completed comprehensive reports and summations of each team this year, all of
which are included in this booklet.
Our success off the field is without doubt also a cause for celebration. I would
like to extend a massive thank you to all those involved who kindly gave their
time to clean, rejuvenate and revamp the exterior of our clubhouse, stand and
surrounding grounds. I am sure you can all agree that our clubhouse now
stands proudly in our community and highlights the ethos of our club “Where
we all belong”. A special thanks to Adam and Darren Warren who created,
designed, and completed our fabulous mural. As a wise man once said, “a
picture paints a thousand words”. Their vision, talent and commitment is just
unbelievable. It looks amazing and brings with it a huge sense of pride as you
enter the grounds. The mural certainly compliments the fantastic work that
Michael Costello and his team have done since last November, day in, day out.
The grounds look just fantastic.
As I write this report, we are still awaiting the decision on our application for a
grant under the Community Centre Investment Fund 2022. We are very hopeful
of a successful application as a grant such as this would certainly assist our plans
to refurbish the interior of our Clubhouse.
Health and Wellbeing has and shall remain to the forefront of our club. In
January this year, we were successful applicants of the GAA Healthy Club
project. The Healthy Club project aims to assist GAA clubs explore how they
support the holistic health of their members and the communities they serve.
Portarlington GAA Club actively contributes to the health and wellbeing of their
members by providing opportunities to develop their physical, social, and mental
health. This project has also helped us solidify our ongoing goals, identify areas
WHERE WE ALL BELONG
Portarlington GAA Club
2022 – AGM – Vice-Chairperson’s Report:
where we can or would like to improve, empower our members and ensure that
anyone who engages with our club benefits from the positive experience, be
they players, officers, coaches, parents, supporters, or members of our local
community.
The healthy club model, which is based on best national and international
practice, also aims to embed a healthy philosophy in our club while integrating
energy, strength, and wellbeing into the day-to-day club activities in a
sustainable way. Portarlington GAA club is at the heart of our community,
making it a beacon for progress in our community
Darren Geoghegan, our Health & Wellbeing Officer, has made tremendous
progress with this project over 2022. There have been some fantastic events
completed and they have all been hugely successful; we had the “Ireland Lights
Up” in January/February and the “Darkness into Light” walk in May. Through
the summer months we had our “Summer Clean Up” involving members of our
community from young to old helping out with the clean-up and painting around
the grounds. Our club also broke down barriers and held talks on substance
abuse and gambling addiction and of course the “Clash of the Rivals” in
October was a hugely successful fundraiser for the “Fight for Johnny’s Girls”
campaign. This is just a fraction of the work done in promoting Health and
Wellbeing in the club. On behalf of Portarlington GAA, I would like to extend a
huge thanks to Darren for all his ongoing hard work in this regard.
We have applied and have been successful with a number of grant applica-
tions throughout 2022. I’m very grateful to both Stephen Jaffray and Michael
Costello for assisting me in the preparation and submission of those applica-
tions. I would also like to extend a special word of thanks to Pascal McEvoy and
Aidan Mullins for their support through the Laois County Council grants.
WE WERE AWARDED GRANTS SUCH AS:
Sports Capital Grant €113,000
Laois County Council Discretionary Grant €25,000
Integration Grant €11,400
Laois Community Activities Fund 2022 €8,536
Ireland Lights Up €1,000
Healthy Club Grant €1,000
Women In Sport Grant Scheme €1,050
Sports & Physical Activity Grant Scheme Grant Application 2022 €511
Grants are crucial to our club. They effectively provide the financial fuel that
enables to us to progress and develop. With the increasing competition for
participants that derives from different sports, our club is aware that we have
to invest in order to give our members the best possible experience and
WHERE WE ALL BELONG
Portarlington GAA Club
2022 – AGM – Vice-Chairperson’s Report:
gain the best outcomes. This means providing access to quality playing and
training facilities and the latest technologies in sports equipment. In order to
provide such facilities, club fundraising is never enough. We need to continue
to actively pursue all grants available to us. Furthermore, while grants provide
a positive impact to our club, they also contribute to effective change within our
community.
In addition to our successful grant applications, we also inaugurated two new
membership packages in 2022, Club Port €330 annually and Cairde Cúil an
tSúdaire €1,000 annually. These initiatives coupled with the generosity of our
main sponsors and the support from many local business and individuals greatly
helped with the upkeep of the club in this year. Our own fundraising was also
very productive throughout 2022, I would like to especially mention our Juvenile
committee under Chairman, Declan Gallagher, for their exceptional fundraising
efforts throughout the season. Other successful events such as our Golf Classic
in July raised over €14,000. Our treasurer, Maria Caffa and assistant treasurer
Ronan Mannion have been exceptional in their work this year, managing all of
our finances in a professional manner.
Portarlington GAA Club strives to be proactive in its steps to be as efficient as
possible in the day to day running of our club and we recognise the role that the
digital world plays in this regard. Earlier this year we moved our online
information platform to ClubZap and launched our new website:
www.portarlingtongaa.ie. ClubZap enables us to engage and communicate
directly with our members and supporters and simplifies payment collection for
membership and fundraising. It looks after all of the complexity of getting our
message across to all of our followers through the dedicated club app and
integrates with our club website and social media accounts. Our PRO Johnny
Dunne has grown our followers across all our platforms with his engaging,
entertaining and informative articles. Well done Johnny.
Volunteers are a vital part of the success of Portarlington GAA Club and can very
often go unrecognised for their efforts and the significant personal contributions
made by all our volunteers is something we truly acknowledge and appreciate.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every individual who has
helped our club in any way. To all our members, players, mentors, officers,
committee members, volunteers, parents/guardians and sponsors – thank you.
I would also like us to think of all those in our local community who have sadly
passed away in the last 12 months. There were a number of individuals with close
ties to Portarlington GAA Club who will be sadly missed.
To all, Ar dheis Dé go raibh a n-anamacha.
Ní neart go cur le chéile, Port Abú! Mise le meas I gcúrsaí Spoirt
GRÁINNE MHIC CANNA, LEAS CATHAOIRLEACH
WHERE WE ALL BELONG
Portarlington GAA Club
2022 – AGM – PRO Report:
THE OBJECTIVES OF THE CLUB COMMUNICATIONS
STRATEGY IS AS FOLLOWS:
i. To get the Club’s GAA message to as many people as possible with
particular emphasis on the local catchment area; to develop an
awareness of the Clubs relevance and activities.
ii. To improve the Club’s communication with stakeholders and the
public.
iii. To promote and implement a visible and integrated coherent joined-up
internal and external communications strategy to ensure a consistent
community focused brand for Portarlington GAA Club which is
consistent with the ideals of the GAA and the proud traditions and
history of Portarlington GAA Club.
iv. To play a supportive role to Club Management structures and
sub-sections.
v. To embrace evolving information Technology and
Telecommunications to promote the Club’s message and to specifically
develop Club Social Media, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and to
integrate the Clubzap App for compliance with GDPR legislation.
THE CORE ELEMENTS TO THE IMPLEMENTATION
OF THE STRATEGY:
1. The continued maintenance and enhancement of a quality website
at www.portarlingtongaa.ie
2. The continued issue via email of regular Press notice to regional
media.
3. To continue to use and develop Club Social Media communications.
4. To implement a fully integrated Club email and mobile phone
messaging system utilising the Clubzap App.
5. To assist the Club Registrar and Secretary
The role of the club P.R.O. has changed dramatically in recent years with the
advent of social media and the demand for instant information from wherever
members and followers are in the world.
As such, this year we decided to expand our reach on social media plat-
forms, not only to keep current members up to speed on club games, events
and activities, but also to reach potential new members that otherwise would
not have been aware of what the club had on offer for players and members
alike.
WHERE WE ALL BELONG
Portarlington GAA Club
2022 – AGM – PRO Report:
As well as improving and expanding our Facebook and Twitter pages, we
also set up an Instagram account, which to date has proved to be our most
effective reach to members and followers in the social media realm.
In the first 6 months it amassed over 1,000 followers and continues to grow.
Recently obtained data from our social media providers shows us that the
club has followers on five continents, which not only keeps Port people living
abroad informed on club matters, but also opens the door for more much
needed sponsorship and fund raising, vital for keeping the club alive.
(See data)
2022 also saw the introduction of a new and improved website, which
became more user friendly on mobile platforms, again keeping up to date
with member’s needs, and also tapping into a demographic that are not
social media users but want to keep up to date on events in the club from
wherever they live.
This year also saw the introduction of the Clubzap app for members.
Clubzap has proved to be a very successful tool since its introduction earlier
in the year.
Up to its introduction,
coaches needed to solely
rely on messaging apps to
keep underage players
parents up to date on
training, matches etc. This
has now all been streamlined
into an app that not only
allows teams to communicate
information to parents, but
also for members to find out
fixture times, game results,
pay memberships, lotto and
so much more.
The consensus from
members is that Clubzap
has been a change for the
better within the club.
WHERE WE ALL BELONG
Portarlington GAA Club
2022 – AGM – PRO Report:
WHERE WE ALL BELONG
Portarlington GAA Club
2022 – AGM – Chariman’s Address:
A Chairde Gael,
On behalf of myself and my family I’d just like to say it’s a great privilege to sit
here before you and preside over Portarlington GAA Club’s historical 2022, a
second 3 in a row senior footballing winning AGM and follow in the footsteps of
people who have held this position before me.
When I took on this position we were nearing the end of the COVID 19 pan-
demic, it was a time like no other. Many people in our community were affected
by the virus and we hope that all still suffering will soon be back to full health.
We also were in the middle of a Leinster club campaign so it was full throttle. A
special EGM was called to fill our executive as all outgoing elected committee
members resigned in block and no one nominated went forward.
To all the people who enlisted and put their shoulders to the wheel I applaud
you. The Club wouldn’t run without you. To Gráinne McCann, Vice Chair - our
go to Person for everything that has to be done! Thank you so much for all your
help. We were so lucky to get you on board again. We also welcomed our first
GAA South American treasurer all the way from Uruguay, Maria Caffa along
with Ronan Mannion as assistant and the big Mayo man Declan Gallagher on
board as Juvenile Chairman. Conor Twomey came is as games development
chairperson. Johnny Dunne PRO along with Derek Carroll then Darren
Geoghegan as health and wellbeing officers. Mickey Lawlor returned as
secretary and various Sub Committees were formed in a short space of time.
Elaine Redmond came onboard as ladies chairperson. Niamh O’Neill as Bingo
Chairperson. We also welcomed back Mr Port, Michael Costello, as Hall and
field Chairperson and David Smith as financial chair. To everyone who helped,
Thank You.
To Deirdre O’Connell, our Children’s Officer – once again a sincere thank you
for the incredible work you do for us, year in, year out in the most professional
manner.
The football year continued into mid-December when we were eventually beaten
by Kilmacud Crokes in the Leinster club semi-final in a tough encounter in Croke
Park. As a Port man I so was as proud to see the maroon and green jerseys
grace headquarters. The Hibernian Knights had returned. We remember the
Finlay brothers who brought our beloved colours to the club .
FACILITIES
Our first Job as a new committee was to do a big clean up around the hall,
field and stand .Michael Costello and his team (Seamus Malone ,Christy Smith,
Bazil Maher, Evin Bennett, Peter Hynes, Liam Mullins and Kevin Slattery) began
replacing seats in the stand which were donated by Laois GAA . Huge thanks to
Mick Mc Mahon Arlington Scaffolding for providing his vehicles for
transportation.
WHERE WE ALL BELONG
Portarlington GAA Club
2022 – AGM – Chariman’s Address:
The same group of lads are there setting up bingo along with Joe Sweeney ,
Tony Murphy and Paddy Donagher on a weekly basis.
In February we were allocated €113,707 from the Sports Capital Programme for
the upgrade of field lights and hall refurb. These Jobs went to tender and were
completed during the year.
GYM
The old dressing rooms were gutted and refitted out as a GYM. Huge work
carried out by Evin Bennett and his staff with the help of the hall and field
committee along with Joe Whelan who came out of retirement and put on the
tool bag again. Our senior team got stuck in and removed all the rubble &
rubbish left over. Huge TEAM effort by all and a big thank you to Joe Troy who
supplied the beams & Eddie Byrne for his assistance. It’s a credit to all involved.
The GYM will be named in honour of our great clubman Frank McCague.
HEALTH AND WELLBEING
This in my opinion was high priority on our list as we have been all touched or
know someone who died by suicide, had gambling addiction or drug addiction
or depression in some shape or form in the club. We completed Darkness into
light walk and our magnificent murals are a testament to how we feel and are
represented in the community. We also organised a fundraiser for our clubman
Jonathan Mc Cowen who is very ill with advanced stages of Motor neuron dis-
ease. I will leave it to Darren Geoghegan and Gráinne Mc Cann who were the
driving forces to discuss our health and wellbeing projects.
FUNDRAISING
Finance Focus Group / Committee and future development / Grants. This
committee was of enormous importance to the clubs success this year. We
reached out to a great bunch of Port People for assistance and they immediately
responded in kind. They believed in the idea of a group of people totally focused
on everything financial and development. I asked David Smith to chair the group
but unfortunately David could only attend a few meeting as he fell ill and as we
know sadly passed away this year. May he rest in peace. To say the least their
contributions were invaluable. I am truly grateful. A big thank you to the
following; Declan Hutchinson, Dermot Murphy, Eamon Murphy, Michael Luttrell,
Grainne Mc Cann, Maria Caffa, Ronan Mannion and Steven Jaffray.
SENIOR FOOTBALL
What can I say 2022 will go down in the history of the club as one of our great-
est years. To achieve another 3 in a row after 100 years but to beat our rivals
and neighbours with the game been screened on national TV was special. The
last 20 minutes in the first half were special to see the unanswered scores were a
joy to behold. A big lámha bualadh bos to Keith Bracken and his team, manager
WHERE WE ALL BELONG
Portarlington GAA Club
2022 – AGM – Chariman’s Address:
Martin Murphy Selectors Christy Smith and Alan Bracken and back room Team
Tony Bambrick Snr, Tony Bambrick Jnr, David Clarke, Darragh Sinnott, Declan
O Sullivan, Patrick Donegan, Paddy Lowry, Allison Homes and Rachel Walsh.
We have been so lucky to be involved with such a great team and set up over
the last 4 years we wish Martin the best of luck with his new venture with Offaly
senior football in 2023 and continued success in his future.
I wish the senior team the best of luck in pursuit of a historic 4 in a row in 2023.
If we work hard enough I believe it’s possible. We as a club will leave no stone
unturned to assist them.
JUVENILE FOOTBALL AND HURLING
Huge thank you to all the committee coaches and volunteers who have given
they’re time throughout the year we would have no club without your time and
effort (see reports)
SPONSORSHIP / FUNDRAISING
Huge thanks to our main sponsor Adrian Dunne. We signed an excellent 3-year
financial package with add ons. I also wish to extend a huge thank you to
Portarlington Credit Union for their generous sponsorship of our new
scoreboard. The credit union have always been extremely supportive of Portar-
lington GAA Club. Special thank you to all our Cairde Cúil an tSúdaire
benefactors who contributed enormously throughout the year and also to our
club Port members.
To Our GOLF CLASSIC organisers thank you (see report) this year was our most
successful ever raising over €14,000
Last but not least our biggest fundraiser the Laois GAA annual draw We sold
over 37 euros thousand worth of tickets.
Big shout out to Michael Lawlor who worked tirelessly again and To our great
clubman in New York Sean Michael Manley who sold over 5000 euros worth of
tickets in America. To all members and committee who purchased and sold tickets
thank you. This fundraiser is invaluable.
BINGO
Portarlington Bingo continues to receive widespread acclaim as been extremely
well run, its popularity due in no small way to the effort and efficiency of the
bingo committee. To Niamh O’Neill and her crew thank you for your super work
on a weekly basis. The club could not run without our bingo. We need more help
and bodies if this is to continue.
LOTTO
We have increased our sales dramatically but it’s not enough. We need to sell
more lotto tickets on line if we are to be comfortable going forward and get new
sellers. Thanks to Tom Smith for all his work on the lotto.
WHERE WE ALL BELONG
Portarlington GAA Club
2022 – AGM – Chariman’s Address:
PRO
Big shout out to Johnny Dunne for his excellent reports on ClubZap and our
social media platforms also Emer ward for her juvenile reports.
OBSERVATION
As you all know this is the future of GAA media but we need something also
from the GAA to assist the older population in regards to ticketing online and
information to the wider aging population.
THE FUTURE OF PORTARLINGTON GAA
I’m a firm believer that we should always try to improve our facilities and aim big
and in a way that’s what our predecessors instilled in us when they had visions of
Port been a top venue back in the early 1980s . Building a fabulous youth Centre
installation of state of the art field lights at the time and catering for national
basketball then building a stand in the early 2000s and purchasing a new field.
If we need to keep up with the up and coming club teams throughout the country
we need to be visionaries again. Our facilities will have to be upgraded ie new
club house upgrade all weather sand based or artificial pitch and more lighting
this is a necessity in my opinion. To do all this we need to be driven like our
predecessors and I believe we have the right people here in this room tonight.
It has to be our goal going forward.
OUR DECEASED
This year in particular has been a very difficult time for the club we have lost a
number of former players and members who we hold dear to our hearts. To all
the families I would like to extend our sincerest sympathies. Today I would like to
remember;
David Smith
Paddy Walsh
David Callanan
Paul Fallon
Tom O Shea
Willie Monagher
And to all our club deceased we remember you today
Ar dheis Dé go raibh n -anamacha
Finally I Would like to wish everyone a happy and healthy 2023. And always
remember The Club and the good of the club should always come first.
Go Raibh Maith Agaibh
Is mise
CIARAN MAC CONSLEIBHE
CATHAOIRLEACH
CUIL AN TSUDAIRE
WHERE WE ALL BELONG
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