Minor Camogie Division 1 League Winners

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)

U15 Boys Football Féile 2024

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.

  • HSOC
  • Pebble
  • Core Real Estate Advisors
  • Your Parking Space
  • Silva Corp
  • Eyelids Limited

Interview With Cuala Chairperson, Aisling Fay

Interview with Aisling Fay, Cuala Chairperson

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.

What is your role and responsibilities as the chairperson?

The chairperson of the club oversees the operations and strategic planning in the club along with the club executive (An Coiste).

What qualities do you need to have as a chairperson?

I think you need to be organised and have good interpersonal skills. Obviously, an interest in sport also helps!!

Describe your workday as a chairperson

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.

What aspects of the role do you enjoy and what sort of time commitment does it involve?

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.

What is your day job? 

I’m a primary school principal in Gaelscoil naFuinseoige, Churchtown.

Do you have much of a GAA background?

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!

How long have you been a member of Cuala?

20 years but my brothers both played (and still do) with Cuala all their lives.

What is your most memorable Cuala Moment?

Definitely winning the Club All Ireland both years. They were amazing achievements and it really brought the club together as a community.

What’s the biggest change you have seen throughout the organisation in your time?

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.

Where do you see the future of Cuala and especially the ownership of more pitches?

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 Camógs Take Table Top Clash in Style

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.

Cuala GAA Monthly News 1976 – A Familiar Story

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

  • Mick Dunphy on Juveniles
  • John Bailey on the (“Dynamos”) Junior Hurlers
  • Jimmy Doyle on Intermediate Hurlers
  • Peter Burke on Junior Football
  • Mikey Sheanon on U21 Football
  • Joe Mooney U21 Hurling
  • Mrs Priest on Social Activities – and offering some poetic advice too.

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.

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Cartlann Digiteach Cuala (Cuala Digital Archive) maintains an on-line archive of images and stories relating to Cuala, its ‘ancestral’ clubs and other Gaelic clubs that once operated in its area.  If you have any information or material to share with us, please contact –
Michael Goodwin, +353 (0) 87 2266140,  history@cualagaa.ie

Cuala At Oireachtas – Integration

Cuala at Oireachtas with Steering Group for Integration

Cuala players Aisling Groarke and Cormac Spain were in Leinster House on Wednesday to present a statement to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media alongside the Steering Group for Integration in a public session to discuss “integration of the Ladies Gaelic Football Association and Camogie Association with the Gaelic Athletic Association”. The players were invited to attend as representatives of LGFA, Camogie Association and GAA players nationwide following engagement of Cuala with the Steering Group for Integration last year.

Their statement with regards to Integration is now on the public record and can be read in full here, while the presentation can be watched back on video published on the Oireachtas website (Wednesday 10th April, Committee Room 1, video commencing at 13:50).

This was a privilege for the players and club to input into discussions on Integration at such a level. Thank you to Cormac, Aisling and Club Secretary Colm Small who also attended.

Pictured are Colm Small (Cuala Club Secretary), Aisling Groarke (Adult Player), Mary McAleese (Chair of the Integration Project), and Cormac Spain (Adult Player).

A Short Note From Ken Fitzgerald…

A short note from Ken Fitzgerald…

Hi folks,

Just a short note to let you know that I have decided to retire from my role as club coach/youth development officer in Cuala.

I’ll finish on March 22nd, but my last day will be March 15th as I intend to take a week annual leave from 18th to 22nd.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for all the support and confidence shown in me during my time in the role.

I will continue my voluntary involvement with Cuala via my sons’ teams.

I wish Cuala all the best for the future and hope I’m leaving it in a stronger position than I found it.

Thanks.

Le gach dea-ghuí

Ken

__

It’s difficult to sum up Ken’s immense contribution to the club and community in a few words, but we’d like to take this opportunity to thank Ken for everything. His impact in virtually every aspect of Cuala down through the years is clear to see. Go raibh míle maith agat as gach aon rud, agus go n-éirí leat sa todhchaí!

Cuala Casements Monthly Newsletter – June 1972

We first brought you news about an old cuala Casements Newsletter back in 2015. At the time we anticipated bringing you more but somehow Cartlann Digiteach Cuala never quite got around to it. So we’re delighted to put that right and resume publication.  The next ones are compliments of Paul Hogan and Lorcan O’Raghailligh who we thank for taking the trouble to share them.

Two things strike us about these publications. Firstly, the great pride and enthusiasm shown by everyone who contributed to the magazines. Not much has changed, we hear you say.

Secondly, given todays digital/immediate publication capabilities, you can only be amazed at the effort that went into the production process. This was at a time when there were no word processors, no computers, no photocopiers, no clip art or image processing capabilities. You didnt even need electric power. The magazine would have been meticulously “typed as a drift” (oops, discard page and start over) “typed as a draft” to make sure the layout was right and then re-typed onto wax-coated Stencils. Illustrations were hand drawn, even individual fadas had to be added by hand. The page stencil was then mounted on a pre-inked Roneo machine which would be cranked onto as many blank sheets as the intended circulation required. Stacks of pages where then compiled and stapled. (See more on Roneos here ).

So, eventually, one for everyone in the audience – but only when the audience showed up in person – and with a “new 10p” (ask Grandad) to pay for it

It makes our current Cuala Weekly News seem like a walk in the park.

Here’s one from June 1972.  Well worth a read, if only to learn about the Cuala/CBS Eblana “Magnificanet Seven”.  And watch out for more next month.

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Cartlann Digiteach Cuala (Cuala Digital Archive) maintains an on-line archive of images and stories relating to Cuala, its ‘ancestral’ clubs and other Gaelic clubs that once operated in its area.  If you have any information or material to share with us, please contact –
Michael Goodwin, +353 (0) 87 2266140,  history@cualagaa.ie

Cuala Annual Awards

What a fantastic night last Saturday in the Royal Marine Hotel for the Annual Cuala Awards night sponsored by Amgen, where we had the opportunity to honour and recognise the best of Cuala in 2023. A huge thank you as always to AMGEN for their valued support of our club. Special thanks also to the Royal Marine Hotel as our hosts for the evening and to our organising committee of Dermot Malone, Damian McKeown, Breda Kennedy and Angi Crispe. Finally thank you to Bláthnaid Ní Chofaigh who acted as MC, Joe and Nic for entertainment, Liam Madden for photography, and to everyone who attended.

Pictured are AMGEN’s Paul Greene with Dublin players Jennifer Dunne, Jessica Tobin, Grainne Fitzsimons and Martha Byrne. Photo credit: Liam Madden

Comhgairdeas to our 2023 Cuala Award Winners:

Manager of the Year Award – Colmán O’Drisceoil

Ladies Football Young Player of the Year Award – Caoimhe Brady

Men’s Football Young Player of the Year Award – Dave O’Dowd and Cillian Dunne

Ladies Football Player of the Year Award – Fiona Craddock

Men’s Football Player of the Year Award – Cal Doran

Adult Camogie Young Player of the Year Award – Jennifer Sheeran

Adult Hurling Young Player of the Year Award – Jamie Conroy

Adult Hurling Player of the Year Award – Eoghan O’Callaghan

AMGEN Team of the Year Award – Women’s 3rd Football Team

Special Presentation to Michael Fitzsimons and Jennifer Dunne

Club Person of the Year Award – Joyce Groarke

Cuala Men’s Football Fundraiser

Cuala Men’s Football – 6 Nations Forecast

Predict the handicap adjusted winner for each game in the 2024 Six-Nations Rugby Competition and win a cash prize of €1,000.

The entry with the most amount of correct predictions will be the winner.

Click Image below to Enter: