Season begins against Rathnew for senior footballers
After the long close season and then a longish enough
pre-season, it's the real thing this Friday night for Shane Smith and his senior footballers when they make the short trip south
to take on Rathnew in the first round of the Wicklow League
with an 8.0pm throw in scheduled.
The game will give an opportunity to a lot of fringe players to stake a claim for a starting spot as several players are
unavailable due to commitments with the county senior hurling and football teams.
This will open the door for newcomers like James Healy to measure his progress against a team full of players with county medals while it also offers the chance to some of the older crew
to show they are still able to perform at a top level within the county.
Overall there is a good mixture of youth and age in this panel
and everyone at the club hopes that the players have an enjoyable year playing both league and championship games. If the squad find that level of satisfaction, then I'm sure the results will look after themselves along the journey.
Hurlers face big test against Round Towers
After starting off well in Division 3 of the Dublin league, our senior hurlers will
get a real measure of their own levels when they travel to Clondalkin to take on Round Towers on Sunday morning (10.30pm throw in).
Many of the Leinster Intermediate winning Bray Emmets team will be hundreds
of miles away at that time as they prepare to take on Donegal at 1.0pm in Div 2B
of the National Hurling league.
Like their footballing colleagues, this will give a number of young players the chance to prove their worth and also show manager Paul Carley how much
strength he has at his disposal as he goes for the five-in-a-row in Wicklow later
this season.
Padraig poster boy for Seachtain na Gaeilge
We have many fine dual players in our club and also it is good see so many with dual abilities when it comes to speaking English and our native language fluently. Hurling star Padraig O Duill, (Padraig Doyle), who is also a football man in his
spare time, looked and sounded great when using the cupla focal as a
representative for Wicklow hurling as seen on social media everywhere.
I'm grateful to Brenda Donohoe for sending on the vocabulary (below) which is being highlighted in particular this week and in the week leading up to St
Patrick's Day.
Irish class for 6th Year Oral Exam 2023
It has been confirmed that Bray Emmets Oifigeach na Gaeilge, Brian Lambe, will
be doing a Leaving Cert Oral Irish class in the Clubhouse. The date can be
finalised when we make contact with the interested students.
This class is for any members of Bray Emmets who are sitting their
Leaving Certificate Oral Irish examination in a few weeks. If you are interested
in enrolling, please text your name to 087- 6970589. Go raibh maith agaibh.
Three players wins top awards
A belated congratulations to Eoin McCormack, Brian Nesbitt and Tim Harrington for picking up Garden County Awards at the county's annual GAA function last weekend.
There was a great response in the Arklow Bay Hotel when Eoin collected the
senior club hurler of the year award, Brian the intermediate hurler and Tim the Junior B footballer of the year accolade. Among the enthusiastic attendance was
the county's new elevated President, our own Jackie Napier.
Minor Girls off to a flier
The Wicklow LGFA Minor League kicked off in mid-February and
to date, our team have played three games, coming out as winners in all games.
We faced An Tochar in Bray on the first weekend of the competition and in a tight and competitive match, the Bray
team, which is a good mix of U16 and U18 players, prevailed on the score line of 5-4 to 3-6.
Carnew came to Bray two weeks later and a very strong
showing from our team resulted in a comprehensive win this
time, with a final result of 5-10 to 2-4.
On Sunday, the team travelled west to Blessington and again played some lovely football, coming back over the mountain with the points in the bag on a scoreline of 8-10 to 0-4.
Next up in the Wicklow Minor league is the longer trip west to
face Baltinglass, provisionally scheduled for two weeks time,
face Baltinglass, provisionally scheduled for two weeks time,
while the team are also kicking off in their Minor Dublin league next weekend. Busy but also hopefully rewarding weeks ahead
for this team and their management.
Bray Emmet's Star Steven Hero Of Monkstown Fire
Ste Carton (right) pictured with his Garda colleague Dean Gahan after performing heroics to ensure no lives were lost in a massive residential fire in Monkstown on Thursday night
He has often been a hero for Bray Emmets teams with his goalkeeping exploits since he was a juvenile player, but this week well known senior footballer Steven Carton became a hero in real life while performing his Garda duties.
In tandem with his Garda colleague Dean Gahan on Thursday night,
Steven (known to his teammates as Ste) was alerted to reports of a major fire at a Monkstown residence on De Vesci Terrace.
Steven (known to his teammates as Ste) was alerted to reports of a major fire at a Monkstown residence on De Vesci Terrace.
On arrival, the Dun Laoghaire based gardai were made aware that a
person was trapped in the basement of the burning house.
person was trapped in the basement of the burning house.
The brave duo forced open a door before locating the female resident in
her twenties and escorting her to safety away from the smoke and flames.
her twenties and escorting her to safety away from the smoke and flames.
Immediately, they made their way back inside the building where they also located a man in his seventies at the rear of the house and succeeded in getting him out safely.
The man had suffered from smoke inhalation and was taken to hospital where he is expected to make a full recovery.
Once that job was done Ste and Dean then ensured that residents in adjoining properties were evacuated safely as the fire took hold and there was a fear it might spread.
Ste is still classified as a probationary garda as he is less than a year out
of Garda College in Templemore.
However both Dean and himself showed great coolness under pressure
and bravery in ensuring no life was lost in this potentially dangerous fire.
of Garda College in Templemore.
However both Dean and himself showed great coolness under pressure
and bravery in ensuring no life was lost in this potentially dangerous fire.
On Friday, RTE reported on the actions of both gardai and Ste was interviewed on the One O'Clock news by Bryan Dobson and came across very well as the composed and humble individual that he is.
Well done, Ste, from everyone in the club and the town. It is always great when Bray gets positive national prominence - and this was certainly one occasion when that was the case.
Brenda honoured for her voluntary work
Brenda Donohoe and husband Ray at the Wicklow Volunteer Award Centre's prize-giving in the Parkview Hotel last week
She has been a force of nature within Bray Emmets for many years so it was both fitting and gratifying to see Brenda Donohoe's selfless
community work acknowledged last week at the Wicklow Volunteer Centre awards in the Parkview Hotel in Newtownmountkennedy.
community work acknowledged last week at the Wicklow Volunteer Centre awards in the Parkview Hotel in Newtownmountkennedy.
The entire Donohoe family are immersed in Bray Emmets activity with husband Ray a former senior football selector and club officer.
Brenda is forever around Old Conna attending meetings and ensuring that the club and its members get the best of facilities and coaching.
Thanks Brenda for all your time and effort and congrats on this well deserved award.
Footballers Outing Against Tinryland
Manager Shane Smith summed this match at Old Conna on Tuesday night against Carlow club side Tinryland up best when he told his squad
to draw a line under the performance and move on.
to draw a line under the performance and move on.
In the end the slick, mobile and well rehearsed visitors had a facile 1-14 to 1-7 win against a home team that gave run outs to several players yet to taste any senior championship action with the club.
Between injuries and hurling commitments, we estimated that a possible dozen
first team players were missing on the night, which goes some way towards explaining the limp performance.
first team players were missing on the night, which goes some way towards explaining the limp performance.
The positives to come out of the friendly was that close to 25 players saw action.
Hopefully, they also saw the standard of preparation and pass and shot selection they must aspire to if they are to be considered realistic challengers for the Miley Cup this year.
The days of Hail Mary shots and passes must become a thing of the past if our
club if to progress as we all know it can in senior football ranks.
club if to progress as we all know it can in senior football ranks.
Bray players to the fore for Wicklow
We had no less that eight players on duty when Wicklow accounted for London by 0-23 to 0-14 last Sunday with our lads accounting for all but
five of the scores as well.
Skipper John Henderson was unable to line out due to an on-going hamstring injury but his club mates kept the flag flying with Christy Moorehouse getting eight points, Diarmuid Masterson four points, David Maloney three points, Padraig Doyle and Eoin McCormack two points a piece and Luke Maloney one point.
Goalkeeper Conor McNally made a couple of crucial saves in the first half behind a defence that saw Ben Kearney again grow into his role as an
inter county hurler.
Seniors Take Dublin Scalp
Bray Emmets 1-15; Naomh Olafs 1-9
While the above players were away on county duty, our senior squad showed its strength by accounting for Dublin side Naomh Olafs in Div 3 of the Dublin league in Old Conna on Sunday.
Any manager that can slot the likes of Arran Murphy, Daire Henderson, Peter Walsh, Daire Lohan, Liam Benville and Cathal O Dualachain into a team knows he won't be sending out a weakened version of Leinster winners. And so it was proved as the team played well and were well deserving of their six points victory.
Captain Marc Lennon was in scintillating form as was goalscorer Rory Lambe while Ronan McMahon put in an industrious hour in the centre of
the park.
The frees weren't going over for Seanie McDonagh on the day but Michael Boland's eye was in when he took over and he landed some beauties
during the second half.
In defence Peter O'Reilly was vigilant in carrying out a few brave saves while Seanie Maloney, Henderson and Murphy were others to catch the eye.
Bray Emmets: P O'Reillly; D Kennedy, J Anders, S Maloney;
D Henderson, P Walsh, D Lohan; A Murphy, R McMahon (0-1); M Lennon,
L Benville (0-1), S McDonagh (0-2); R Lambe (1-2), M Boland (0-9), C O Dualachain. Subs S Kearney, G Henderson.
Memo Re club Use
A reminder to all members that if anyone wants to use the club outside of their allocated training times, including gym, lounge or meeting room, it must be booked on sportskey in advance.
Happy Shopping in Club
Linda Wogan has asked us to add this link below as many ask how to get onto our shop on line. Bray Emmets Online Shop | O’Neills GAA (oneills.com)
Now is always a good time to buy new stock and there are wide ranges of club colours and equipment available right now.
All Stars Growth Continues
One of the great stories of the past year has been the founding of our All Stars section and last Saturday we experienced our busiest day ever at our session
which are currently being held in Colaiste Raithin before we return outdoor at
Bray Emmets when the weather warms up a bit more.
Jenny and Rob Lackey have been outstanding leaders for all the volunteers and participants and it is really heartening for the coaches when getting such positive feedback as has been the case from families of the children involved.
Look forward to seeing you all there again this weekend at Saturday at 11.30am.
Time To Renew membership
We all put it on the long finger, don't we, but the time is now ripe to pay our membership. This is a reminder from Pat Wogan that the Bray Emmets GAA Club member registration is now due for the '23 season. We ask that you register as soon as possible so as to reduce the significant burden of managing this process on club registrar and committee.
