Club sponsors are an invaluable and integral part of the modern GAA scene. Ambitious Drogheda-based club Newtown Blues can boast one of the most high-profile and generous in the business in Manor Park Homebuilders Ltd. Kevin Carney profiles the club and its major sponsor through the eyes of 'Blues stalwart Jack Smith and Michael O'Driscoll of Manor Park Homebuilders respectively. In an ideal world, every GAA club should have a sponsor like Manor Park Homebuilders Limited at their shoulder. The company's largesse is such that Drogheda-based club Newtown Blues has been afforded the comfort - not to mention the peace of mind - to look to the future with confidence and optimism. Though still in its infancy, the sponsorship arrangement between the go-ahead Co. Louth club and the hugely successful construction firm is already showing signs of being a veritable foundation stone to even better times for both parties concerned. Manor Park Homebuilders Ltd is a huge concern in the construction market in this country while Newtown Blues GAA boasts a football pedigree second to none in the Wee County. The two concerns make for natural bedfellows. For its part, defending county senior football champions, Newtown Blues is a club which is beginning to recapture some of the lustre of its not-so-distant past when it ruled over all it surveyed in Louth football circles. Back in the sixties, the 'Blues were the untouchables at senior level in the Wee County and, in winning a four-in-a-row of blue riband senior titles (1961/64), they created a record which still stands to this day. "The club also went on to win the county title in 1966, '67 and '68," Jack Smith, current chairman of the club, chips in. Significantly, Jack was none other than the trainer of the team in the inaugural year (1961) of the club's brilliant run of success. A dyed-in-the wool 'Blues man since marrying into his adopted territory, Jack had previously won a senior championship medal with southside club Naomh Mhuire. He's glad to say that Newtown have done terrificly well over recent years in their attempt to recapture those erstwhile halcyon days. "Although other clubs might have something else to say about it, I think we're the best senior team in the county and, fortunately, we've probably got the best sponsor any club could have behind them to help us maintain our position in the county. "The club has a lot to be thankful to Michael and the rest of the team at Manor Park. Not only are they our main sponsor but they're helping to swell the numbers of fellas that are available to play for us." Surely they're not cloning some of the young locals? "No, I don't think so. The company is carrying out a lot of building work in our catchment area. They're currently building over 400 houses opposite our grounds which should the help boost the population of the area a lot. "The fact though that the company has rowed in behind us with sponsorship is of even greater importance. This is the first year of the sponsorship and I know that everyone at the club appreciates the gesture made by Michael and his colleagues at Manor Park Homebuilders," Jack explains. It appears that the feeling of appreciation is fairly mutual down Drogheda way as Michael O'Driscoll - Chief Executive of Manor Park Homebuilders Ltd - says his company is only too glad to be associated with the 'Blues. "We had no qualms whatsoever about getting involved in helping Newtown Blues with some sponsorship. It was never about getting some useful advertising from having our name on the jerseys. Instead, we thought the sponsorship arrangement was a good way of allowing us to put something back into the community in which we are currently engaged in carrying out a fairly major housing development. "We, at Manor Park Homebuilders, recognise the extremely good work being done by the club in catering for the sporting needs of people in the area from under 10 right through to senior. "It's obvious that Newtown Blues is a very well organised club and it has some very good facilities too which augurs well for its continued prosperity. Hopefully our sponsorship will help the club achieve its goals," the former Cork under 21 All-Ireland medallist (1981) and county medal-winning Castlehaven clubman enthuses. And what of the company's possible long-term relationship with the 'Blues? "We would like to think that the current sponsorship will work out well and I don't see any reason why the deal can't be extended. We plan to construct another 500 houses or so in the Newtown Blues catchment area so we're obviously going to be around the club's headquarters for quite a while to come. "Just like the club, Manor Park Homebuilders are in it for the long haul!" ************** Manor Park Homebuilders Limited - currently employing some 80 people directly - was established in 1979 and since its inception the company has achieved a steady and sustained rate of growth in what has sometimes been difficult circumstances, particularly during the early to mid-eighties. The company displayed the sort of resolve, dedication to the pursuit of excellence and quality customer relations though to ride the economic storms which prevailed in the 'eighties and for the early part of the nineties. Over the years, the company has earned a reputation which is the envy of its peers. In offering its customers top quality housing at extremely good value, Manor Park Homebuilders has seen its turnover and profit levels increase significantly. The company has won many awards for its work since '79. In this respect, it received a lot of kudos for its achievement in winning the Construction Excellence Award for homebuilding in 1997 for its Grattan Lodge, Dublin 13, development. The company has been consistently innovative over the last 22 years, particularly with regard to the introduction of advanced building techniques. Manor Park Homebuilders has also taken a lead on environmental considerations - its homes are largely built of timber frame construction, are extremely energy-efficient. Indeed, in this regard, Manor Park was the first homebuilder to introduce solar houses in the general house-buying market in Ireland. Interestingly, among its list of highly-regarded developments are; Swords Manor (then in 1990 the largest single housebuilding project in Ireland since the 'sixties) and Clare Hall (off the Malahide Road) where an estimated 40,000 people turned up to view the showhouse over the first two weekends of the launch. Apart from the aforementioned ongoing construction of 463 houses on Drogheda's Termonfeckin Road (due to be completed by 2003), the company is also engaged on the development of 176 apartments at Grattan Wood in Dublin 13. On August 25th last, the firm launched a housing scheme at Ongarwood, Dublin 15 of 1,600 houses which will have a village-like development at its core, and at the time of going to press approximately 100 units have been sold. Similarily, Manor Park are invovled with John F. Supple Ltd. in the construction of 416 dwellings at Pembroke Wood, Passage West, Co. Cork. According to Michael, the company has enjoyed a bumper year to date and, given that Manor Park Homebuilders has committed itself to continuing its policy of affording customers quality homes at value-for-money prices, he believes that there are very good grounds for believing that the good times can continue to roll. Tweet

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