On Toome ground
December 30, 2005
The Toome club has never lacked for ambition or forward planning. 2005 was another case in point.
Toome club members wore their new crest with pride in 2005 and despite mixed fortunes on the playing field will look to the upcoming season with much optimism.
Nobody among the Saffrons would quite go as far as to say that the club is on the crest of a wave right now though.
Instead, everyone closely connected to the club believe that a continuation of their 'sleeves-rolled-up' policy needs to be consolidated to convert honest endeavour into silverware in 2006.
But, make no mistake about it, the gaels of Toome are a resolute and ambitious bunch whose wont it is to look ahead rather than back.
In this regard, it is important to record the fact that while there were high-profile disappointments during 2005 for the club, progress was made nonetheless.
For instance, one of the best initiatives over the course of the past year year in the club was the introduction of the 'Go-Go Games'.
Certificates were presented in the community centre in the summer to well over thirty children who took part in the "Go-Go Games" during the holiday period. Toome's early involvement in the scheme was commended at county board level.
The Go-Go games continued through the winter in the club's sports hall.
There's been a lot of work overall put into the underage side of the club in the last few years and the Go-Go Games, mainly for the four to ten year olds, went down a real treat.
Like every other club, Toome is mindful of the need to keep its finances in a healthy shape and to accumulate enough funds to invest in the future of the club. The club had an excellent year in terms of fundraising.
The Club Lotto continues to generate much needed revenue, while new initiatives such as the club's inaugural Golf Classic, and the All-Ireland Ticket Raffle, were very successful.
The raffle turned out to be a great success, raising much needed funds. Tickets were sold near and far with the club advertising on the internet in order to maximize revenue.
Meanwhile the club's inaugural Golf Classic took place on Saturday 13th August in Castleblayney Golf Club and was extremely well supported. In all, 25 teams took part, with over 50 generous sponsors rowing in to help the Toome cause. There was an excellent selection of prizes on offer and we had a bumper entry from people from outside the club as well as club members.
The club's year finished on a high note with the staging of the club's Annual Bazaar, which took place on Sunday 11th December. The chidren from Toome and surrounding areas were spoiled too as Santa took time out from his busy schedule to come to the Community Centre to meet the children. There was a large crowd in the hall, and there was a real buzz throughout the attendance for the Bazaar.
Meanwhile on the field of play, a huge effort was put in but as is always the case, not everybody can get their hands on silverware at the end of the year. In the league there were some good performances and the building blocks are in place to move up the table next year.
The championship saw Toome win our first championship game in a number of years by beating Fergal O'Hanlons, in early May.
Toome (JFC v Fergal O'Hanlons, Clontibret May 8th);: Noel Gorman, PJ Kelly, Mark Kelly, Keith O'Reilly, Francis Quinn, Colin Wilson, Donal Comiskey, Gary Casey, Stephen Quinn 0-1, Stephen Lambe 0-3, Edward Ruddy 0-3, Alan Lambe, Gerard Cunningham 1-2, Aidan McDonnell 1-1, Keith Casey. Subs: Mickey Doneghy 0-1 for E Ruddy, Jim McArdle for A McDonnell, Brendan O'Reilly for D Comiskey, Patrick Walsh for S Quinn, Tony McMahon for K Casey.
After that the club faced one of the favourites for the championship in Monaghan Harps and it was no surprise that they went on and won the title. Harps showed their class by going on to win the Ulster junior competition.
However, Toome were right in there with them for most of the game and it was really only in the last ten minutes or so that they really pulled away. With only a point in it with 10 minutes to go, it was anyone's game, but the Harps' experience guided them through in the end to pull away by 1-11 to 0-8.
Following the Harps setback, the team was defeated in the championship on Friday evening 8th July by old foes Killeevan.
The first half was very tight, with a typically opportunist goal from Breffni Morgan levelling matters shortly before half time. Toome made life extremely difficult for Killeevan for long periods. Indeed the match underdogs were not flattered to be in front by a point at the break although both sides could look back on a series of missed chances throughout the half.
Sadly Killeevan's experience told in the second half, and they pulled away to win by five points. Some of the best football played by Toome this year was in the B Competitions. The B team narrowly missed out on a league semi-final place, losing its deciding final league fixture to eventual league champions, Doohamlet.
The team showed a lot of courage and camaraderie during the year and their effort during 2004 were epitomized in their final league match against would-be champions Doohamlet.
Doohamlet v Toome 08/06/05
Team: N Gorman; D Lambe, M Kelly, PJ Kelly, K Casey, C Wilson, B O'Reilly; G Casey, A Lambe; T McMahon, G Flanagan, M Donaghy; G Cunningham, J McArdle, P McGeough. Subs: B Morgan, E Ruddy, P Walsh, C Watters, S O'Reilly.
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