Archive for category: General

Now that the dust has settled after the fantastic Feile Peil na nÓg Liatroma event that finished on Sunday evening its time to reflect on the effort by many to host such a spectacle.

The event captured the heart and imagination of may people in the support counties Roscommon, Sligo and the main host county Leitrim as it did with many of the visiting teams who traveled near and far to the picturesque North west.

It was a huge undertaking and the subsequent praise heaped upon the various local committees and the main event committee is justified. While the counties Leitrim, Roscommon and Sligo may jostle on the field while in competition the unity if the three while under the Feile flag was very evident over the last number of months and in particular last weekend.

This event was a logistical nightmare with 170 plus teams participating in 11 competitions divided between boys and girls teams with all the visiting teams hosted in the local communities. An extra competition, Division 7 boys, was introduced for this event and the winners received a cup donated in memory of Niall Higgins, Drumshanbo.

The parade alone would have been enough of an event for any committee to organise and it went extremely smoothly considering over 5,000 team members were asked to assemble in an organised fashion on the field in Pairc Sean Mac Diarmada. Thankfully a large car park exists to handle the numbers of buses and coaches required to transport everyone. The Gardai, local stewards and local businesses must come in for praise for organising the parking and traffic arrangements on a very busy national route.

Throughout the weekend the results came flooding in to the results centre from the 41 event centres located throughout Leitrim, Roscommon and Sligo. By Saturday afternoon almost 236 games were played and it was down to the 22 semi-finals for the evening. Saturday night the results were processed and we had 22 teams to play in the 11 finals on Sunday. The finals started at 9am and a great start for Leitrim with our first ever Feile winners- Drumreilly/ Aughawillan. The rest of the day saw thousands watch the remaining finals, including the skills final, all of which were recorded by Setanta Sports. Our new stand was never without a calling supporter or on occasion a tearful eye.

The results centre was a picture of calmness while the results website was anything but quiet as on Friday alone over 5,000 pages of results were served. Saturday was extremely busy as the administrative team verified and posted the results while 13,200 pages were demanded throughout the day. Sundays finals saw in excess of 7,000 requests for results and even on Monday as everyone recovered 5,400 pages were reviewed. A big thank you to the 41 coordinators for speedily relaying the results back to the centre and to the team there who quickly received, verified and uploaded each result into the software that managed 55 tables which were required to keep track of proceedings.

The curtains were drawn on a wonderful event on Sunday evening as the mix of elated winners, happy runners-up and supporters made their way home. Finally the Feile Committee made up of a very hard working group of people could take a collective sigh of relief. These individuals lead by Chairman Stephen Flynn and Secretary Patricia Bohan should be extremely proud of their efforts.

Thanks also is due to the National Feile Committee who were at hand throughout the weekend and the best of luck to the Cavan representatives who received the Feile flag on Sunday evening and who have 12 months to prepare for Feile Peil na nÓg 2008. To all the parents and members of local committees throughout Leitrim, Sligo and Roscommon please take a bow as you fed, entertained and housed the visiting teams. Each of you did your selves proud in the presentation and smooth running of your own local events. While Setanta Sports recorded the field action it was down to the 2 men James Molloy and Willie Donnellan to catch all of the action on camera and their efforts are on display via the Photo Gallery on this website.

To all concerned Feile Peil na nÓg Liatroma was a wonderful event and will stay in the memory of many for a long time.

 

 

05-Jul-07 by Brendan Doyle – PRO

FEILE PEIL na nÓg 2007
29th /30th June, 1st July

Leitrim will host the 26th Feile Peil na n Og this year, with the kind help and support of our neighbouring counties Roscommon and Sligo. This is Leitrim’s first time to host the national competition and it is a great honour to be able to do so.

Feile na n Og is one of the largest events in the National G.A.A. calendar, and was launched by the President of the G.A.A. Mr. Nicky Brennan at a special ceremony in the Bush Hotel, Carrick-on-Shannon on Wednesday 23rd May.
The President of the Ladies Football Association Ms Geraldine Giles, along with officials from G.A.A. and Ladies Boards in the three counties and participating clubs were all present on the night.

This year, a total of 164 teams have registered to take part in Feile, made up of 104 boys teams and 60 girls teams. There will be over 4000 players in total between visiting and host teams in the three counties for the weekend from Friday June 29th to Sunday 1st July.

Feile is an international competition for U14 Gaelic footballers with approximately 4100 children taking part this year. Amongst those participating in the competition this year will be a club team from each county in Ireland, teams from England, Scotland and the United States.

One of the highlights of the weekend for all of the players is a parade of all 164 teams in Carrick on Shannon on Friday evening. A total of ten bands have been confirmed to take part in the parade starting in the newly developed Pairc Sean Mhic Dhiarmada which was officially opened by the President of the GAA Nickey Brennan on Sunday last, and parading through the town.

Bands taking part in the parade are The Artane Boys Band, Western Command Band, Longford Pipe Bank, Kiltubrid Pipe Band, Mullingar Town Band, Catlerea Brass Band, St. Michaels Band, Enniskillen, Boyle Marching Band and Killoe N.S. Band, Longford.

Each team will parade in their club colours behind their club banner and there are prizes for best Banner, Visiting Team and Host Team. The Presidents of the GAA and Cumann Peil na mBán will present Pennants to each team captain at the review stand which will be situated at The Town Clock. The parade will be a colourful spectacle and not to be missed. This will be the biggest parade ever in any of the 3 counties and there will be huge crowds in Carrick-on-Shannon on Friday evening to watch it. People are advised to arrive in town early as traffic restrictions will be in place by the Gardai on the approach roads to the town.

During the course of the weekend there will be a total of 271 games played. On Friday 29th June each host club will play their visiting team in the opening round of the competition and the second round games and semi-finals will be played on Saturday at the following venues.

LEITRIM ROSCOMMON SLIGO
Bee Park, Manorhamilton Kiltoom St. Patrick’s
Aughavas Roscommon Town Calry
Leitrim Gaels Michael Glaveys Geevagh
Annaduff Boyle St. Mary’s Sligo
Ballinamore Clan na Gaels Tourlestrane
Drumshanbo St. Dominics Drumcliffe
Carrick-on-Shannon St. Ciarans Tubbercurry
Ballinamore Strokestown Shamrock Gaels
Fenagh St. Croans St. Johns
Drumkeerin Castlerea Eastern Harps
Mohill Croghan Curry
Aughnasheelin Cootehall Coolera
Dromod Elphin St. Farnans
Gortletteragh Enniscrone

On Sunday July 1st, the finals will take place in Pairc Sean Mac Diarmada, Carrick-on-Shannon, commencing at 9.00am. There will be 11 finals in total,
7 boys and 4 girls games.

During the second round games on Saturday 30th June a competition in the skills of Gaelic football also takes place. This involves 1 nominated player from each team going through set routines from different distances. The skills finals are held on Sunday July 1st with an overall winner in both the boys and girls competitions.

If you would like further information on any aspect of the Feile weekend please contact Mary Glancy at 086-8446960.

 

 

29-Jun-07 by Mary Glancy – Feile Peil na nÓg PRO

Due to the Feile Peil na nÓg event that commences on Friday afternoon and continues through to Sunday evening there will be no fixtures for Clubs. We hope to release fixtures for the following weekend by next Sunday.

 

 

26-Jun-07 by Brendan Doyle – PRO

Congratulations to our Senior Football Team panelist Fintan McBrien whose wife Theresa gave birth to their first born, Joey – a bouncing baby boy, last Saturday afternoon just in time for Fathers day.

Both mum and baby Joey, a possible future star of Leitrim GAA, are doing well. Fintan on the other hand is facing a busy week preparing bottles for baby Joey and boots for himself for the big game this weekend against Galway !

 

 

19-Jun-07 by Brendan Doyle – PRO

The President of the GAA, Nickey Brennan will be available for the opening ceremony of the New Stand Facility during the half time break of the Connacht Championship Semifinal game between Leitrim and Galway. Lauri Quinn, vice President and Connact President alongside Leitrim Chairman Gerry McGovern will also be present at the official opening ceremony.

Due to a change in his travel arrangements the President is able to attend the game in Carrick and he will also perform the Qualifier draw which will be aired live on RTE from the the temporary studio in the new Media Centre overhead the seated area of the stand.

The Schedule for the day is:

12:10 – Connacht Minor Semi-final
Sligo v Galway

2:00pm – Connacht Senior Championship Semi-final
Leitrim v Galway

5:00pm – Ted Webb Cup
Leitrim v Galway

6:00pm* – Qualifer Draw Live on RTE.
(*approx. time)

 

 

18-Jun-07 by Brendan Doyle – PRO