Annaghminnon Rovers may not have enjoyed much success on the field of play in 2007, but the club had cause to celebrate when their founding committee member Pat Holland was honoured with a President's Award at Croke Park in March. Pat has given a lifetime of service to the club and nobody is more deserving of such a high honour. Annaghminnon Rovers made a national impact in 2007 when one of their most famous sons was recognised by Association president Nickey Brennan for his outstanding contribution to the GAA. Pat Holland has been instrumental in everything the club has done since it was established almost half a century ago, holding down practically every position in the club since its inception. The President's Award he garnered at HQ in March was thoroughly deserved and a welcome fillip for the club as they prepare to celebrate their 50th anniversary during the forthcoming season. The genesis of Annaghminnon Rovers occurred in 1958 and Pat Holland was one of the founders. Since then, he has given incredible commitment to the club, serving his beloved Rovers above and beyond the call of duty. He's still on the committee and will almost certainly be there in 2008 when Annaghminnon Rovers celebrate their 50th anniversary. Fifty years of service - unbelievable! Little wonder Pat was amongst 15 clubmen from all over the island singled out for specialist treatment at Croker at the start of the '07 calendar year. Speaking of the high honour bestowed upon him, Pat is typically reluctant to put himself first. Instead, it's the club that springs foremost into his mind: "It was nice to get it, but it would be twice as nice to win a championship." Still, it must be good for the old ego to receive recognition and respect at national level? "Maybe they only took pity on me," he quips. So how did the club get started back in the 'fifties? "There were three or four of us playing with the Westerns and we thought that maybe we had enough lads in our area to start up our own club. We called a meeting and it started up from there." And the new club got off to a flying start, taking the Wee County by storm with some spirited displays to announce their arrival: "In our first year, we won four or five games in a row, which was a great start. However, trophies proved hard to come by and we didn't win anything of note until the Second Division Championship in 1964," Pat reflects. As for facilities, it was a case of anything goes to begin with: "Back in those days, you played anywhere you could find a field that was reasonably flat and an owner who'd let you use the field. We just stuck up the goalposts and got on with it." But gradually things began to take shape, as the vision of the club led to bigger and better things. "We secured our own pitch in the '80s and then built a hall. At the minute, we're putting up new dressing rooms and meeting rooms. Our clubhouse is essentially a community hall. It's open to the whole community and everybody uses it." The social highlight in the hall is the club's weekly bingo, which is Annaghminnon's premier source of revenue. The club is a focal point in the community and there's usually some event taking place in the hall nearly every night of the week. Pat notes: "The club pulls a lot of people together. It's something that everybody can get involved in and be a part of." In Pat's book, it's not all about winning. It's the taking part that's most important and the main function of Annaghminnon Rovers is to provide an outlet to the young people of the locality. Football gives the youngsters something productive to do in their spare time and the club plays a vital role in keeping them out of trouble. "We feel that it's very important - whether a lad is good or middling - to get them involved and to offer them good facilities. You will rarely see a young lad who plays football, or any other sport for that matter, getting into trouble." Pat continues: "We try our best to keep it going in our end of the parish. We're up against it numbers-wise and we haven't won a lot over the years, but we're still here and that's the main thing. Numbers wise, I'd say we have about 60 members at the moment, including players." For the club's second - and only other - major victory in its 49-year history, Pat goes back seven years to the JFC breakthrough at the start of the current millennium. "The 2000 junior championship was our last success and also our biggest in a while. We had a good bunch of lads who all came through together at the right time. That's what we need. It could be a while before we see it again." Would it be fair to say that the 2007 season was a real struggle for the club? With the field doubled, the new-look JFC was tougher than ever and Annaghminnon failed to win a game in the competition. Was it a year to forget? "It was a struggle, alright. We won a game or two at the start but then things went wrong after we lost our best player to what we feel was a bad decision. Lining Tony Martin for six months was a very harsh sentence and it left us with a real mountain to climb. "We also had a fierce amount of bad injuries and it eventually just became a matter of getting the matches played. We always field 15 for every game and we made sure we kept doing that. It's vital to fulfil the fixtures properly, even if you're losing games. Even when we were short of lads, we got a team out. "Of course, the results were not ideal. Somebody asked me one day who beat us in the championship and I answered: 'Everybody'. There are a lot of strong teams down in the junior championship now and it's very difficult, but we have to keep it going," says the 2007 club treasurer, who doubles up as assistant secretary these days. Does the workload ever seem like too much? "Like every club, there is a core of four or five fellas who look after most things, but it's an honour to be associated with the club and I love the work. I live in Dundalk now but I go to Stonetown every Tuesday night no matter what and we run the bingo there on the Wednesday nights too. Then there are all the matches. It takes up a lot of time, but what else would I be doing? I'll keep going as long as I can." With a twinkle in his eye, Pat concludes: "I won't retire; I'll just fade away." Tweet

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