In Co. Kilkenny Danesfort hurling and camogie club field teams in all grades from underage to junior. More recently the club has been making huge strides with its up and coining camogie team. Ger Woodcock told Hogan Stand a run down on the club and its recent sponsorship deal with local company Forestry 2000. Danesfort Hurling and Camogie club caters for boys and girls from under 8 right through to adult level. The club is a veritable hive of activity as witnessed by the plethora of teams it fields in both codes. Traditionally a hurling club, Danesfort is now gaining a reputation as a young, up and coming camogie team with the potential to garner silverware from underage right through to adult level. On the hurling front the team field teams at junior and "special" junior, while it runs a full complement of underage teams from under 8, under 10, under 14, under 16, minor and under 21. The camogie club is similarly active, fielding a junior team and as well a host of underage teams. Danesfort are now beginning to reap the benefits of considerable work in both codes at underage level over the past five of six years. The junior hurlers, who include county minors Richie and Paddy Hogan are beginning to make an impact in the Junior ranks. "We got to the semi-final last year and we would hope to build on that in the coming years. We have a very young team and we feel could make the breakthrough in the next few years," Ger commented. With the likes of the Hogan brothers and other young up and coming players such as David Forestal and Tim Murphy and more experienced campaigners such as Larry and Tom Mahoney and Ger Power, the club could indeed make the breakthrough in the very near future." Ger added: "Every team needs that little bit of luck to win the junior championship. We have had some very good teams down through the years, but we have always come up short. This team is a good, if not better than any of those teams. They just need that little bit of like to finally make the breakthrough." The camogie team, which came into existence just five short years ago is also on the up on the back of Trojan work at underage level in the past few years. "Bernadette Drennan was one of the first people to get the camogie up and running a few years ago. She isn't as involved now, but her daughters Sarah Rebecca, Denise and Katie are heavily involved," Ger commented. Ger, who manages the junior camogie team added: There is now a very strong underage structure within the club. The camogie club has been established for about five years and it is getting stronger and stronger every year." To the get the camogie club up and running Danesfort started out with an under 14 team. "Most of the girls would have played hurling with the boys at school, so they picked up it from there. We built it up from there really and added other underage teams as we progressed," he confirmed. Within the space of two years the girls had progressed to adult level. "Most of the girls would have been quite young when they started playing junior, but the backbone of our team now would be in the 19 to 25 age bracket." Last year the Danesfort junior camogie made it all the way to the county final, where they went under to Windgap. At the time of writing (mid-August) they had cruised into the county semi-final and were hopeful of going all the way. En route to the semi-final the girls accounted for O'Loughlins, Black and Whites, Piltown, Carrickshock, Glenmore and Mooncoin. With the likes of Grainne Brennan, Aileen Cunningham, Marie Carroll, Deirdre and Aoife Treacy, daughters of club chairman, Pat Treacy; Roisin and Aideen Carey, cousins of the legendary DJ, and Ger's daughter Julie Anne Danesfort and Sarah Drennan Danesfort look likely to make the breakthrough sooner rather than later. Located on the Waterford Road some four miles from Kilkenny city the club is continuing to make giant strides both on and off the field. In that light they are indebted to sponsors like Forestry 2000 who weighed with a jet of jerseys for the camogie team this year. "Bernadette and Denis are loyal supporters of the club and we were delighted with the sponsorship of the set of jerseys. Forestry 2000 and indeed all our sponsors play an important part in keeping the company going," Ger added. The club, which has an adult and juvenile pitch and dressing room facilities has plans in the pipeline to update its facilities in the near future. "We have the teams going in the right direction, so we'll will be focusing our attentions on our facilities in the near future," Ger remarked. "We have a great chairman in Pat Treacy and a very strong committee so we will be looking to improve on what we have in the coming years," he concluded. * Denis Drennan is the owner and managing director of Forestry 2000, based in Cuffesgrange, Co. Kilkenny, a company he established with his wife Bernadette in 1998. As the titles suggests the company specialises in planting trees on contract to the likes of Coillte and many of the leading forestry companies in the country. In that respect the company plants and maintains in the region of 3.5 and 4 million every year. During the peak-planting season from November through to the end of January, the company employs in the region of 140 staff. In the run up to the festive season, a significant percentage of the staff are involved harvesting Christmas trees for the export market. The company also specialises in "design and build" landscaping projects and works for a plethora of building and civil engineering companies throughout Ireland. With upwards on 70,000 houses being built every year, demand for the company's landscaping services is brisk. "There is now a big emphasis on amenity and play areas, within these developments, while more and more people are prepared to pay to have their gardens professionally landscaped," Denis commented. The company also specialises in "labour hire" to the construction and waste management sectors. "The three areas dovetail well together. The forestry side of the business and the landscaping is seasonal, while the labour hire is pretty constant," he commented. He added: "We are an indigenous and green company that focuses on the environment. All the work that we do is centred on improving the environment." Tweet

Most Read Stories