Glin club notes
December 19, 2017AGM
The Glin GAA Club AGM is set for the 5th of Jan at 8.30pm in clubhouse. Motions are to be given to the club secretary by December 29th. It is hoped that as many players and members as possible will be present on the night and new members are welcome.
Sympathy
Glin GAA would like to extend their sympathies to the family and friends of Michael Christopher Meade, Church St., who died recently. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam uasal.
2018 Intermediate C'ship
At last Sunday evening's County Convention, the draw for next year's championship was made. Glin were drawn in Group A against the following teams: Mungret, Pallasgreen, Bruff, Claughaun and Athea. Group B consists of Gerald Griffin's, Galtee Gaels, Mountcollins, Castlemahon, Rathkeale and Galbally. The opening round is provisionally scheduled for mid April. The top team of each group will go straight into the semi-finals, while 2nd and 3rd go into a quarter final. With the intermediate championship looking very competitive this year, it looks like there will be a lot of interesting and close games to look forward to.
Looking Back through Glin GAA's History
At this time of year when the GAA scene is quiet, we will once more go back through the archives to provide readers with some more snippets from Glin GAA club's history, with a particular focus on the memorable players and matches. We begin with an piece from 1959 which profiled Maurice J. O'Shaughnessy and the Glin team around the turn of the 20th century.
When the Glin Emmets Football Club was founded in 1898, it soon attracted to its ranks some of the best men ever to have played football. Some of these noted men were M.J. and his brother Paddy Fitzgerald, Ned Dore, Mick Fuery, P. J. McCoy and the subject of this piece, Maurice J. Fitzgerald. Born at Ballyanne, Rathkeale, Maurice moved to Glin just as he began national school. When the club was formed in 1897, Maurice was one of its earliest organisers and the club became known for not only for its high standard of football but for its sporting spirit and fair play. Then regarded as one of the very best midfielders in the county, Maurice was a man of splendid physique and ranged throughout the field being as prominent in defence as the attack.
Maurice and Paddy Fitzgerald, brothers of Limerick Commercials 1896 All Ireland winning captain, Con, (Note: it was winning county championship club who represent the county in the All Ireland Championship in those times) were stalwarts of that side too and Ned Dore was a half back who was impossible to get past. Then there was Mick Feury, an all round man of his day in athletic fields, who often competed nationally in sprinting events against the elite athletes Kiely, Horgan and Paddy Leahy at that time. P.J. McCoy, the captain, unlike the rest was medium sized man who was one of the most spectacular footballers in the wing forward position. He was also an all round athlete who made up for his difference in size with unconquerable grit and determination. There were other notable players too. Mick Moore played fast and stylish football in the half back line and Jack Dunne, a hard forward to beat who was to captain the team in later years. The strength of this team was its athletic ability, speed and strength.
Their main serious rival at the time was Abbeyfeale, who were under the direction of the renowned parish priest, Father Casey. Glin and Abbeyfeale had some heroic tussles for the championship of the West and on one particular occasion it was awarded to Abbeyfeale on a technicality. Had it been otherwise, Glin would have met Commercials in the county final in what would surely have been a memorable encounter, but it was not to be. Glin did invite Commercials to play a series of challenge games but the County Board gave the Glin lads a "rap on the knuckles" because the challenge did not go through the proper channels. The Glin team which did beat Abbeyfeale by 1 -3 to 0-1 in the 1900 West Championship was P. McCoy (capt.), M. Fitzgerald, P. Fitzgerald, P. Moore, M. O'Donnell, P. Lynch, M. Lynch, C. Magee, P. McNamara, P. Kelly, M. O'Shaughnessy, E. Dore, m. Wren, M. O'Donnell, P. Walshe, J. Trehy and J. Corbett.
Maurice J. O'Shaughnessy was a sound nationalist and nephew to John the Fenian of Ardagh, and Charles O'Shaughnessy of Kilfinane, men who were involved in 1867 rebellion. Maurice was an early Sinn Féiner and headed the poll at the ballot election of the Committee of the Glin Volunteers in 1916. In the early 1900s, the then Knight of Glin, Maurice O'Shaughnessy and D.M. O'Leary started the original Glin Coursing Club and were the first President, Secretary and Treasurer respectively. The three owned dogs and competed for the Irish Cup and other prominent stakes. Maurice was secretary of many other social and sporting events and lived to be recognised as a most popular and personally-liked man in the Glin, possessor of a big heart and an open hand.
