Chairpersons Report

2020 will be a year best remembered for the influence Covid-19 has had on all Gaelic games and not just for the action on the pitches. The pandemic has thought us to reorganize how we manage our training, our matches and our facilities. The members are to be congratulated with the way they embraced the new rules with enthusiasm. All teams are to be commended with the way they implemented the new structures and their efforts proved successful. Volunteers came out of the woodwork to help. Posters, cleaning facilities, PPE, alcohol gels found and distributed. It was a fantastic effort by so many to get the club up and running in line with Government restrictions. A big thanks to you all, especially the Covid-19 Supervisors.

  • Dublin Ladies Intermediate Football Champions
  • Dublin Senior Hurling Champions
  • Dublin Mens Football Division 2 Champions
  • Cuala Strategic Plan 2018 – 2022
  • Club Together Initiative
  • Implementation of the Player Pathway
  • Hyde Park Travel Family Pledge
  • Breakfast Club ongoing
  • Summer Camps
  • Dermot Early Youth Leadership Programme
  • TY Programme
  • Cuala Awards night
  • Support for Drummo
  • Mass for deceased members
  • New lighting in Hyde Road
  • Back nets completed in Hyde Road
  • Repairs of goal mouths in Shankill and Thomastown
  • Cuala All Stars
  • On Line shop

    What we missed Mini All Ireland

  • Leinster Club Hurling championship
  • Feile 2020
  • Completion of championship competitions
  • Fundraising events
  • Darkness into Light
  • All Ireland Finals
  • Meeting our friends

 

 

2020 is not yet over, so hopefully we will be in a position to celebrate additional Dublin successes. In the meantime, we wish Martha, Rachel, Jennifer, Michael and Con every success as we head to an unusual year-end in the All Ireland series. These will add to the successes on the field across all codes, hurlers, footballers, camogie, ladies football, see section reports. On behalf of the Club, I would like to wish Willie Maher the very best as he begins his new career in Kilkenny and thank him for leading the Senior hurlers to Dublin Championship success for the last two years.

We all look forward to getting updates on the improving condition of Sean Drummond and it is wonderful and inspiring to watch his progress. It will be a long road for Sean but his Cuala family will remain at his side.

On behalf of all members I would like to offer our condolences to those who have lost family members in the last year. Especially the loss of Cathal Gillen, who died way too young. For all those who have lost their lives to Covid-19. Ar dheis De go raibh a n-anamacha.

The Strategic plan continues to move forward. Our coaching structures have improved and with the implementation of the Players Pathway we are now coaching the appropriate skills at the appropriate ages. This will lead to players entering the adult sections with the requisite skills to the required level.

The facilities group continue to look after the existing facilities and a special thanks to Pat Dolfin for his often difficult job in working with DLRCC to get the works done. A major step forward is the agreement that Cuala can now get specific works done, without DLRCC having to do it, all be it that we have to pay their contractors for the works. Pat has overseen the erecting of the new back nets in Hyde road as well as the ground works in Thomastown and Shanganagh. Special thanks to Declan Cronin for his work is securing a grant for the upgrading of the lighting in the Clubhouse, which you will see when we exit the Covid-19 restrictions. Our development group also continue to scour the Borough for opportunities to find additional space for our ever growing numbers of teams. 2021 should see the development of new high quality pitches in Shanganagh, this will take some time to come to fruition. While we continue to look for our own open space, we are finding that other interested parties, with deep pockets, win out over Cuala. We will not give up and continue the search.

The redevelopment of the Hyde road Clubhouse has progressed. The detailed drawings are available on the website. We have progressed the plans to a level where we have passed them to DLRCC. It is hoped that DLRCC will go to a Part 8 planning process for the development. This means that they will drive the planning process. Once we have the planning, an EGM will be called to seek the approval of the members to proceed to go to tender. This will of course necessitate the requirement to have funding in place for the Cuala element of the costs. So watch this space.

Finally, I wish to offer my thanks to the Club Together Team. This group of members went out quietly and helped so many local people who were cocooning during the first lockdown. They shopped, watered gardens, walked dogs, put out bins but most importantly, they were there for someone to talk to. The elderly people they helped really appreciated all the efforts. The Club have received many letters of thanks and I have been informed that DLRCC wish to nominate the Club Together Team for a volunteer award. The team were headed up by Michael Jackson, but as is always the way in Cuala, it was a large group of 100 members who made over 1,000 shopping trips. Thanks also to Musgrave group, Supervalue in Dun Laoghaire and Deansgrange, DLRCC and the GAA for their inputs into the project.

In conclusion, 2020 will be remembered as the Covid-19 year. We may not have gotten to play as many league games as we would like, or trained as much as we would like. We didn’t get out to meet socially. Many of our plans were put to one side. However as a Club our members excelled.

I have seldom been as proud of the GAA family as in 2020. How we supported our fellow members through difficult bereavements and continuing to support Sean Drummond. We helped our elderly in the community. We faced the challenges of reopening post lockdown. We met the Covid-19 training and match day challenges as only Cuala can do, the right way! I thank you all for your efforts during 2020 and look forward to continued successes in 2021.

Chairperson Damian McKeown