Golf Classic
Thank you to all who participated in our 25th Annual Golf Classic in Moate last Saturday. It was a wonderful day enjoyed by all with a turnout of twenty teams. Thank you to all our sponsors and to Moate Golf Club for their courtesy and the excellent condition of the course.
Appreciation for Artie Pyke.
It was with great sadness that we heard last week of the passing of Artie Pyke. Artie was synonymous with Southern Gaels since the club's foundation in 1973 and before that with the Athlone Hurling Club. He won a Leinster Minor Football title with Offaly in 1947 and went on to represent Offaly in hurling and football at senior level. Having won an array of titles with his home club Tullamore Artie came to live in Athlone in 1963. He married Maisie Feeney and they had a family of eight children.
Artie captained Athlone to the Westmeath Junior title in 1963 and won a Leinster Hurling championship with Westmeath in the same year.
On the setting up of Southern Gaels Hurling Club in 1973 Artie was one of the most influential members. He was instrumental in starting the Street Leagues for juveniles and was consistently a mentor with an array of club teams including serving as selector with the 1986 Intermediate winning side. Artie served as Chairman for six years and was President for the last nineteen years. He also worked tirelessly with Westmeath as an administrator and a selector. Over the years he was a selector with Under 14, 16 and 21 teams that won' B' All-Irelands.
Artie was a true gentleman will be a big loss to our club but a bigger loss to Maisie and their family. We offer them our deepest condolences and sympathies, may he rest in peace.
Intermediate Championship.
Turin 0-21 Southern Gaels 0-8
Southern Gaels though just a point down at half time were overwhelmed in the second half and slumped to a heavy defeat by Turin in Kinnegad last Saturday. After a bright opening Gaels led by 0-5 to 0-2 after the first quarter but Turin then took control and ran our easy winners. Best on the day for Gaels were Tony O'Keffe, Kieran Duncan, Eoin Meaney and Patrick Flynn.
Team: Breen Elliott, Shane Galvin, Kieran Duncan, Killian Coyle, Eoin Fahy, Patrick Flynn, Cathal Mc Givern, Ciaran Connolly, Sean Kilgarriff (0-1), Ronan Farrell (0-1), Tony O'Keeffe 90-40, Louis Page, Dermot Treacy (0-1), Colin Larkin and Eoin Meaney (0-1).
Subs: Fergus Gronenendijk (Connolly), Liam Leahy (Galvin) and Joe Finnucane (Larkin)
All Ireland Football Ticket Draw
The club is running a fund raising raffle with two tickets to this year's All Ireland Football final as the prize. Raffle tickets will be available from all club members at €2. This is a prize that everyone would love to win.