This week’s edition of the Cuala Dearg agus Bán Newsletter is out now: Cuala Dearg agus Bán August 2nd (mailchi.mp).
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This week’s edition of the Cuala Dearg agus Bán Newsletter is out now:
Cuala Dearg agus Bán July 26th (mailchi.mp)
The Cuala Sports and Social Integration Project are working closely with the Internation Protection Applicants (IPA) in Blackrock. As part of this work, and in conjunction with a group of teenagers and kids, we are looking to develop a Youth Club for the families and young people in Blackrock. The Cuala SSIP are putting out an appeal to members to help them set up their Youth Club. We are appealing for the following items, if you have any of them available.
If you have any of the above items available, please drop them down to the Cuala Office between Mon to Fri, from 10am to 1pm.
Many Thanks
Damian Byrne
Nobody said it was going to be easy! Erin’s Isle on a Tuesday evening is a tough place to win in any circumstance. To travel there with a League Title at stake without seven regulars makes it a daunting task indeed.
But the Cuala crew stepped up with Asia, Daria, Laragh and Christine stepping up the divisions and Muireann, Sofie and Eabha joining from the Minors.
Tara Leahy made her debut as a goal-keeper and won the Oscar for best performance!
It didn’t start well though. Traffic snarled up on the M50 meant the late arrival of 3 car-loads.
A goal and two points in quick succession from the Isle’s girls had the travelling Cuala supporters worried.
Muireann, Maedbh and Jen in the full-back line were far to busy. Muireann was sweeping across the defence and clearing long balls into mid-field. Tara was immaculate in goals, but the pressure was now sustained.
Balls were raining in on the defence from the diamond outfield. The Cuala girls were second to the ball all over the pitch, and losing the breaks. It was lucky Rob wasn’t there to count the turnovers!
Ciara O’Connor decided that something needed to be done. She took on the mantle of leader and took the game by the scruff of the neck.
She was outstanding. Sarah, Claire and Orlaith followed her lead and began to assert themselves around the middle.
On the inside line, Maedbh and Laragh who had been starved of ball, began to see more action.
Eabha and Saoirse at wing-forward began to fight for everything.
Hannah, Asia and Sofie in the half-back line started to get on top, and the game was beginning to turn.
A long range goal and a few wonderful long-range frees from Ciara brought down the curtain on the first half on a scoreline of 1:2 to 1:4.
Cuala could breathe again, down by two. The “hairdryers” were out at half-time, players were in no doubt what was expected of them in the second half!
They roared out of the traps after the break.
Daria, Susie-lee and Christine were sprung from the bench.
Claire Harrison took the ball at the throw in and launched the ball into the full-forwards. Point.
Sarah Dunne decided it was time to win the game on her own and rampaged forward every chance she could get.
On 45 minutes she took her goal to turn the tide in Cuala’s favour.
Orlaith O’Sullivan, Daria ad Eabha would not allow any ball to be lost and began delivering into the hungry inside forward line.
Daria was like a terrier and would not concede anything to the Isles girls, winning ball after ball and passing off to the shooters.
But Erin’s Isle just wouldn’t lie down. They obviously hadn’t read the script.
Their no. 11 charged through the Cuala defence and danced through tackles before she was in open country 12 metres out. A green flag was beckoning when, out of nowhere, Tara Leahy came off her line to block her shot.
Palpitations on the sideline with 8 minutes to go – what a save!
Fintan had Cuala one point up with 5 minutes on the clock.
Every time a ball was hit goalward, defibrillators and heart-monitors were being distributed by Siobhan on the line!
But they say goals win matches. Up stepped Maedhb Ni Finneadh with a well worked effort followed almost immediately by an absolute cracker from, player-of-the-match, Ciara O’Connor.
Final score 4:6 to 1:7. Cuala move up to Junior 1 and take the league title.
A great campaign and well done throughout to Seonín, Sunni, Caitlin, Lucy, Maedbh, Sarah, Meabh, Caoimhe and Rob who were sidelined by the rearranged date for this game.
Onwards to Championship.
A huge congrats to our Minor Camogie team who won the Division 1 League Final v Naomh Olaf’s last Sunday in Meadowvale. This was a monumentous occasion for the Minor Women’s section, being the first time that they have clinched this title, beating last year’s winners and runners-up along the way. It was a hard-fought match against Naomh Olaf’s, with Cuala coming out on top by a single point.
The sunny evening drew a huge crowd of supporters from both sides, with refreshments set up by our senior players. The 2015 girls also put on a fantastic display of skills vs their Naomh Olaf counterparts at half time.
Well done to everyone involved, including the players, coaches Colmán O’Drisceoil and Tom Butler, and the wider management team. A huge thank you also to all the Cuala supporters who came along.
(With thanks to Cyril Mulcahy for the photographs)
The Feile campaign for both teams kicked off in February 1st, with a presentation of vibrant new club kit presented by senior players Peadar and Emmet, followed quickly by games which continued into late April. Poor weather impacted fixtures leading to some delays.
Cuala A played three tough games in the group stages with the highlight being an away win versus St Kevins-Killians which resulted in them topping their group and into the cup competition. In the cup-semi-final they played host to near neighbours Naomh Olaf. On the day they came up short and went down 1-9 to 2-9 in a game that was in the melting pot right up until the end. A disappointing end to a Cuala team who went down giving their best for the red jersey.
The highlight for the B team in the group stages was a resounding win over Round Towers Lusk. Their results had them enter the shield competition with a good deal of confidence as there was a incremental improvement in performance with each passing game. This culminated in them saving their best performance of the campaign for the knockout stages. A comprehensive win over Maurs in the semi-final saw them face Templeogue Synge Street in the final in Thomastown on the 28th April. A beautifully manicured Thomastown played host to a fantastic display from the lads with Cuala winning out 1-14 to 1-7. A great reward for a great bunch.
The 2009 boys enjoyed great support from coaches, parents and supporters throughout all the games. The effort involved in getting teams beyond the white line is real, so they would like to thank all who contributed their time and effort to their campaign. They would especially like to recognise the support from the sponsors who supported the team.
Thank you and congratulations to all of our coaches/mentors who have recently completed ratification by An Coiste, ensuring compliance with statutory and association regulations to be recognised as a Cuala Coach. Your time and commitment to our club is much appreciated.
Ratification is achieved by meeting 4 criteria:
The next Safeguarding workshop takes place on June 25th. Places limited. Register interest here.
For questions on garda vetting or child safeguarding, or if you would like to find out about future safeguarding workshops contact childrensofficer.cuala.dublin@gaa.ie.
An Award 1 (Youth and Adult) coaching course takes place in June. Register here.
For every player and team in Cuala there are a huge number of people working behind the scenes. Recently as part of the Camogie Association Pr-Óg Programme, Hannah Blackmore caught up with the Cuala Chairperson, Aisling Fay to find out more about her role in Cuala.
The chairperson of the club oversees the operations and strategic planning in the club along with the club executive (An Coiste).
I think you need to be organised and have good interpersonal skills. Obviously, an interest in sport also helps!!
I spend around 30 mins every day answering emails. I usually have 2-3 meeting per week with various groups in the club. The Coiste meet once a month and at these meetings we look forward to see how we can progress as a club and what our priorities are that month.
I really enjoy the challenges the role presents. The Coiste are an extremely professional group and we work very well together. I enjoy when we get positive things done in the club. We put a lot of hard work into our clubhouse last year and we are very happy with the amount of footfall we now see in the clubhouse.
I’m a primary school principal in Gaelscoil naFuinseoige, Churchtown.
My family are huge GAA people, they live and breathe GAA so I can’t avoid it. I had the shortest LGFA career when I played for two months with Trinity College in 1993. My talents are not on the football field!
20 years but my brothers both played (and still do) with Cuala all their lives.
Definitely winning the Club All Ireland both years. They were amazing achievements and it really brought the club together as a community.
The growth in the ladies section. It is fantastic to see. We operate the One Club model in our club which allows equal treatment of men and women.
Our priority as the Club Executive is pitches. We are always looking for new pitches and liaising with DLR CoCo to try to upgrade the pitches we use.
Cuala B 3-11 – Whitehall Colmcilles 3-07
With postponements and byes, this was only the Cuala 2nd Adult Camogie team’s second game in the League. They were up against the League leaders in Whitehall, a team that had blasted through their opening matches scoring nine goals and over 20 points. A tough task then, made harder with the concession of a goal straight from the throw-in.
On a pleasant evening in Meadowvale though, and on a pristine pitch, the team warmed to their task. Saoirse Breathnach opened the Cuala account on 12 minutes and two well-taken frees from Ciara O’Connor had them find a foothold in the game. A second Whitehall goal on 24 minutes though put them up 2-04 to three points.
Then up stepped Maeve Moore to blast into the goal. The tide had turned and two more frees from O’Connor saw them trail by the minimum at Half Time.
Claire Harrison and Caoimhe Brady had been working hard in midfield and within a minute of the restart a through ball to Orlaith O’Sullivan saw her power by three defenders and set up Meave Ní Finneadha for a second goal and the lead.
O’Sullivan then joined in the scoring herself with the first of a brace of points, set up by Hannah Hodges who was covering every blade of grass.
The half-back line of Lucy Hartnett, Caitlin Byrne and Tara Leahy, alongside super sub-Doireann O’Donnell were mopping up ball. They won 28 turnovers between them, the platform for the win.
A high ball taken by Byrne, followed by a surging run set up Moore for a second green flag, finished with precision.
Seonín Shaffrey in goals, behind her sister Sunny at full-back and flanked by Rowan Bourke and Meadbh Sheehan took care of the rare ball that flew the half-backs in the second half.
Moya Hoade and Jen O’Sullivan made valuable contributions from the bench before two more O’Connor frees, and second scores for Breathnach and O’Sullivan either side of a Moore single pointer had the home side up by 3-11 to 2-06 before a late goal and a point for the visitors put a final four-point win in the book.
Ballyboden are next up for a Cuala team that is finding something special under its new management team of John Treacy, Siobhán Sheehan and Rob Hartnett and is going places.
We promised you another helping of Magazines from times past so here we go again.
The year is 1976 and the March publication from Cuala G.A.A. is in the hands of editor Noel O’Donoghue. He penned a report on his recent trip to Belfast covering items that have ironically come back into the current news agenda (“every follower of Gaelic Games should visit Casement“) but also reported about events that we hope will never recur.
Runaí Joe Mooney was chasing Subs and promising austerity (plus ca change) but offering some relief (“hurls broken in matches will be replaced at no charge”) though we wonder whether this introduced any moral hazzard?
Of course we had lots of news that seems familiar today with reports of sucesses of the various teams – and made-up of so many still-familiar names
And news too of Naomh Mhuire – still an independent Camogie club at the time but, by this time, already closely associated with Cuala; they formally joined Cuala in 1979.
