Miriam Meagher Town Centre Pharmacy in Drogheda(www.towncentrepharmacy.com) underlined its support for the local GAA scene when becoming sponsors of the new St. Colmcille's adult ladies football team this year. Denis Meagher, who has been a central figure in the Seasiders fundraising activities in recent years, explains more St. Colmcille's fielded an adult ladies football team for the first time this year and with them every step of the way has been their sponsors Miriam Meagher Town Centre Pharmacy. The Drogheda-based pharmacy is owned by husband-and-wife Denis and Miriam Meagher, who live in the St. Colmcille's catchment area and have close ties with the club. Indeed, Denis has been one of the club's most active members over the past decade and currently holds the positions of PRO and assistant treasurer. "We are delighted to be associated with the St.Colmcille's adult ladies football team", he says. "It's the team's first year in existence and we were pleased to be able to help out by presenting them with a new set of jerseys. There has been a great interest in the team which is managed by three of our intermediate footballers, Ciaran Rohan, Graham Reilly and Brian Kelly. The club also fielded a minor ladies football team for the first time this year so our ladies section is making great strides. The minor ladies team has been carefully guided by Graham'reilly and Johnny Tuffy." Miriam Meagher Town Centre Pharmacy has been opened at West Street, Drogheda for the past 20 years and employs a staff of 25, including Mary Whyte, mother of St. Patricks, Stamullen star forward Daithi Whyte. Mary can advise on all minor sporting ailments and can supply all support bandages and appliances associated with same. The Town Centre Pharmacy specialises in high quality health advice and premium beauty products, as well as prescription and over-the-counter medicine. The pharmacy's highly qualified staff can offer advice on a whole range of products, including first aid kits and other items that may be of interest to GAA clubs. The pharmacy boasts a high-spec cosmetics department (CHANEL, ESTEE LAUDER, CLINIQUE, SHISEIDO and SMASHBOX) a sunglasses department, which features all the leading designer brands, and a photographic section where you can buy your digital camera and get all your photos printed and developed. A native of Dublin but now a fully-fledged Meath man, Denis Meagher first got involved with St. Colmcille's 10 year ago when his son Donal started playing for the club's under 8 team. "Along with former Syddan man Michael Garland, Denis helped train the team and the duo along with Micky Brennan (Former Down minor star), John Weir and Colm Hilliard are still managing and training the same group of players to this day. They're under 17s now and it has been great to see them develop as footballers in that time. St. Colmcille's have a very strong underage section at the moment and hopefully this will lead to success at adult level in the near future," says Denis, who also has four daughters, Ruth, Rachel, Rebecca and Roslyn (who is a member of the under 11 girls football team). After a few years with the underage footballers, Denis was elected onto the club committee and immediately immersed himself in fundraising activities. He has played a key role in raising over EUR700,000 which has enabled the Cilles to develop the first all-weather match floodlit (395 lux) sand-based grass pitch in East Meath and carry out a major'revision to their clubhouse at Pairc Ui Ris. The all weather grass pitch has been developed with no down time. "The club has been greatly helped by Stephan Hoey and John Lynch of Elite Landscaping who have carried out most of the pitch upgrade works on our grounds at Piltown. Other contributors were Padraig Giblin of Sportsworld Netting (Scarriff, Catch netting), Moroney Electrical (Pitch floodlighting designed by VCL and Abacus) and Goalpost Ireland. Since the installation of the fantastic match standard floodlights the use of the pitch has intensified throughout the year, especially during the darker months when the pitch was traditionally'rested. The upgrade programme of the grass surface has been vital in allowing continual play even in the most inclement weather. "The ladies accommodation, which was due to be completed in December, includes two dedicated dressing rooms (with showers) for the ladies and girls teams, and three for the men's teams. With our growing female playing membership, we decided to build a changing area specifically for them. The new all-weather pitch is a marvellous job and is in great demand not just with our own teams but with the local school teams as well. We are only too happy to make our facilities available to them," he explains. "We raised the money for these improvements through various car draws, Golf Classics and grant aid. We secured EUR250,000 from the Department of Sport and a further EUR140,000 from Meath County Council. " "On October 4 last, St. Colmcille's held a black tie event at the Bettystown Court Hotel to celebrate five milestone anniversaries in the club's history. These were the centenary of the club's first junior football championship win, the 50th anniversary of their first intermediate football championship success, the 25th anniversaries of their second junior and minor football championship wins, and the 20th anniversary of their second intermediate championship triumph. The latter team, of course, featured Meath legends Robbie O'Malley and Bernard Flynn. It was a wonderful night and it was great to see the huge turnout of players from the past and present, with the players from the 1958 and 1973 teams being presented with memento trophies on the night," the St.Colmcille's PRO'reflects. (Other former Cilles legends include Des Taafe, All Ireland winner in 1949 and Ken Lougheed who was the first English man to win a Leinster minor title while playing for Dublin in the 1940's) Sadly for the Cilles there was no such success to'report of at adult level in 2008. Under the management of Cavan native Paddy McGill, who led the club's third team to a Division 6 league title last year, the intermediate side had to be content with retaining their intermediate championship place  and an admirable  top half finish in league Division 2. Encompassing the ever-growing communities of Donacarney, Mornington, Laytown, Bettystown, Beamore and the Southern Environ areas of Drogheda, Denis accepts that the club has greatly underachieved at senior level in recent years, but remains hopeful that things will change in the next few years. "Our parish now has a population of 17,500, which is an increase of about 14,000 in 20 years. We should be doing a lot better than we have been, but it has only been in'recent years that we've managed to put the right structures in place. As I've already said, our underage section is extremely buoyant at present and I'm confident that the huge effort that's being put in with those age groups will pay dividends in the coming years. Everything is geared towards going senior in the next few years," he adds. Certainly, Pairc Ui Ris is a constant hive of activity where children as young as six and seven are coached in the skills of the game. Underage achievements in 2007 include  U10 O'Mahonys and Cilles Blitz runners up U10 Cilles'reserve blitz winners U11 Wolfe Tones Tournament winners U12 Division 2 Champions U12'reserve league winners U14 Summer Shield runners up U21 Ardcath Tournament winners Following its latest upgrade, the Bettystown venue is now recognised as one of the best facilities in Meath. It was a home from home for the county senior football team last year, and also hosted the Wexford hurling team in 2007. Both panels gave freely of their time to train with the club's young players. Pairc Ui Ris has also hosted Monaghan senior footballers training camp, Meath Vocational Schools, DCU, DIT, South Armagh development squad, St Marys Diocesan Secondary school and the Meath under 14 development squad.St. Colmcille's currently fields teams at under 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, minor and under 21 level, as well as three adult teams. Added to this are a host of ladies football teams from under 8 upwards. Coaching for boys and girls between the ages of six and 10 take place in Pairc Ui Ris every Sunday morning from April to October. The coaching is undertaken by qualified coaches in an environment where fun for all and encouragement are the core values. Perhaps we'll see a few more Bernard Flynn's and Robbie O'Malley's appearing on the football landscape before too long! Tweet

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