27/02/2023 - The Weekly Update

This weeks 50/50 lotto results

 This week’s Ballaghaderreen GAA 50/50 draw was held at Mollys Bar.

Jackpot of €562 was won by Neeley and Danny Egan, Kilmovee
Seller: Imelda Towey
Next draw will be held on Sunday night 5th March.
Your support of our weekly draw is greatly appreciated!
Tickets for the 50/50 draw can be purchased online by clicking here or directly from businesses throughout the town. Make sure to have your entries done before 9PM on Sunday 5th March to enter. 

Annual GAA 50/50 lotto ticket

An annual 50/50 ticket, giving entry into every draw for a year, is available to purchase online by clicking here. 

Club membership

The membership portal for Ballaghaderreen GAA Club is now open for 2023.

We look forward to welcoming new members to join our club aswell as returning members that wish to renew their membership. 

New members can register by creating an account on https://www.foireann.ie and selecting Ballaghaderreen, Mayo as their club.

For returning members, the fastest and easiest way to renew membership is online through  https://www.foireann.ie. Your username and password are the same as last year.

We are pleased to announce we are keeping the membership rates the same as last year:

• Adult Membership - €80
• Youth - €40
• Juvenile Over 12 - €50
• Student Player - €50
• Family - €120
• Adult Gold - €220
• Family Gold - €270

For further information on membership you can visit this page by clicking here.
Thank you for your continued support.

Andy’s Leitrim secure top spot at midway stage

Andy Moran’s Leitrim got themselves right back in the Allianz NFL Division 4 promotion race and put themselves top of the league when they handed Carlow a 2-22 to 0-13 hammering in Avant Money Pairc Sean Mac Diarmada in front of delighted Green & Gold fans on Sunday. Leitrims Keith Beirne continued his impressive run of form hitting 1-11 in the game. We’re wondering is there anyway Andy could work a club transfer for this man?

Emily wins Design a Jersey Competition

Congratulations to Emily Horan from Brusna NS who won the design a jersey competition in association with GRG sports. Over 200 children from local national schools took part in the competition design all types of jerseys. Emily was chosen by our senior and minor players alongside committee members. Emily’s jersey is now available online at GRG sports. 

McBrien and Mayo continue impressive run

David McBrien yet again put in an impressive performance as Mayo went top of division 1, defeating Tyrone on a scoreline of 4-10 to 12 points. Mayos win was also boosted by the welcomed return of Tommy Conroy after his long absence due to injury. Next up for Mayo is Roscommon in Hyde Park next Sunday. We’ll all be watching this one!

Easter camp is filling fast

Ballaghaderreen GAA Clubs Easter Camp is filling quickly and we advise anyone who wishes to sign up their children to do so before it’s too late. The week long Easter Camp will be filled with lots of fun activities including Bouncy Castles, Easter Egg Hunds, Sports Day Style Events and of course some GAA Coaching.
It will also feature visits from our 3 guest coaches, two Mayo Senior footballers David McBrien and Paul Towey and Current Leitrim Senior manager and former footballer of the year, Andy Moran.

Dates: April 10th-14th
Times: 10:15-1:30 daily.
Who is it for: Catering for all children aged between 4 years old all the way up to to 13 year old.

You can sign up by clicking here.

Minors leave Dublin with a victory and a day to remember

Ballaghaderreen Minor team took to the capital on Saturday Morning to take on Clanna Gael Fontenoy in a challenge game. The game which threw in at 1PM was hugely competitive from start to finish with Ballagh playing some eye catching, high paced football. Ballagh prevailed as winners in the end. After the game Clanna Gael catered for the lads while they displayed the Ireland Vs Italy game on huge screens in their clubhouse. The team then travelled to Croke Park for the double header of Dub vs Tipp (Hurling) and Dub Vs Clare (football). 

On behalf of the team they would like to thank Clan na Gael for their brilliant hospitality and extend an invitation to them at any time. We’d especially like to thank Dermot Flanagan and his son Jack who played a huge part in the day taking place. We’d like to thank all those who sponsored food etc for the day. You know who you are! And lastly thank the players ,coaches and supporters for representing the club so well on their travels. 

Dermot delivers hugely informative presentation!

Last Monday evening ex club player and former two time all star Dermot Flanagan gave an outstanding presentation on “Coaching the Coaches”. The talk was based on research that both Dermot and his son Jack have conducted on the importance of language in the coaching of Juveniles, aged 12 – 17. The talk gave ideas on modern coaching methods, with emphases on how to communicate and interact with players during coaching sessions. Dermot helped coach our U17 team last year, while Jack was part of the Ballaghaderreen U17 team that won the Flanagan Cup in August 2022. Jack conducted this research as part of the Dermot Earley Leadership Programme while in transition year.

 We would like to thank everyone who attended the event and Joanne and Alice for providing refreshments. 

John O' cannot stop winning things

Congratulations to Ballaghaderreen GAA clubman John O’Mahony on receiving the Hall of Fame Award at the 2022 Western People Mayo Sports Stars Award on Friday night. 

Local Primary Schools Head for the Dome

This coming Thursday the Local Primary Schools, St Attractas NS, Brusna NS, St Aidens Monastraden, St Colmans Dernabrook and members of the EROC centre will take to the Dome to take part in Ballaghaderreen GAA Clubs “Local Primary Integration and Inclusion Blitz”. The fun and games kicks off at 12PM and will be a day to remember for all involved. We’d like to wish everyone the best of luck and enjoy the day. 

GRG Shop link now open

🏐Ballaghaderren G.A.A Order link🏐

📆 Link opens 22nd February - 28th February

👕 Fitting: Wednesday 22nd 5-6:30pm GRG store.

🧤All orders will be processed once the link has closed. Delivery in 5-7 weeks.

📭 - Delivery:
Click & Collect: from our store in Ballaghaderreen
Home Delivery: Has an additional charge and is delivered to your home.

https://www.grg-sports.com/ballaghaderreen-gaa

Quick Fire Questions with our Senior and Minor Players

Week 2: Callum Coleman (Minor Footballer)
Name:Callum coleman 
Knickname: Coley or Loon Óg
Age:16
Position: Corner forward 

Dream Date: I’d bring Kim Kardashian to Durkin’s. P Sharkey’s dinners would be sure to guarantee me a second date!
Favourite GAA ground in Mayo: Unlike Tank last week I’ll stay faithful to my own club it’s Ballagh pitch for me. It’s great kicking points on home turf, but I suppose that’s something tank has never done.
Biggest Achievement playing for Ballaghaderreen: Winning an u16 East Mayo A title on our 6th attempt on beating Kiltimagh.
Best Memory in a Ballagh shirt?Beating the shamrocks in last year’s championship!!
Dream 5 aside club team: My dream 5 a side team would be 5 Dylan “Gooch” Toweys. Who’d stop us? 
Biggest influence on your career: My two managers Pato and David McHugh. 
If you could transfer any player to your club who would you transfer within Mayo? Tommy Conroy. To be honest he’s a lot like myself quick, good shooter and handsome! 
Piece of advice to all underage footballers in Ballaghaderreen: I am an underage player myself but as Dermot Flanagan would say “practice”.

Up Next Week-Rossa McDermott (Senior Footballer)

Cheesy Joke of the week

“What did the policeman say to his belly? Your under a vest”

Blast from the past

Eugene McGee: Ballaghaderreen border legacy throws up unique provincial final
Eugene McGee - November 19 2012 

Build up to the Connacht Final. Ballagh Vs St Brigid’s 

As far as I know, Sunday will be the first time in history that two clubs from the same county meet in a provincial club football final. This will happen when Mayo champions Ballaghaderreen confront defending provincial kingpins St Brigid's Kiltoom in the Connacht final.

The explanation for this unusual happening is that the parish of Ballaghaderreen is, in fact, located in Roscommon for local government purposes.

The origin of this curious situation dates back to 1888. The town was then officially part of Mayo but, as a result of the influence of an English landlord, who stood to benefit financially, it was 'legally' transferred to county Roscommon.

However, two years earlier Ballaghaderreen GAA club had been formed, and being solid GAA traditionalists already, they decided they were not to going to change their allegiance to that crowd from Roscommon but were going to remain in what they still considered to be the beautiful county of Mayo.

As time passed by, for 124 years in fact, the club has remained staunchly Mayo.

Every now and then there is an outburst of debate about the matter, but thankfully it is usually carried out in a fairly non-confrontational manner.

That is only what I have been told and it may well be that there are more skirmishes or divided opinions on special occasions such as when the two counties meet in a Connacht final, and Roscommon people feel less than happy when they see their county's second largest town covered in red and green.

On these occasions, the fervour of Ballaghaderreen people for the Mayo colours probably exceeds that of any town actually in Mayo.

Over the years there have been odd attempts to, as Roscommon GAA people would claim, rectify this over-a-century-long hijacking of part of their county.

And whenever the Ballaghaderreen club have county players for Mayo, as is the case right now, then the level of debate can be sure to escalate.

In the early 1990s a motion was put to the Connacht Council to change the club into the Roscommon fold. Roscommon and Sligo were in favour but Mayo, Leitrim and Galway were against.

As far as most people are concerned, that is the end of the story, but the strong feelings still persist.

Writing in a recent Connacht final programme, former Mayo and Ballaghaderreen player Sean Kilbride – who later transferred to play with Roscommon, won Connacht medals with that county in 1978/79 and whose sons Senan and Ian will play for St Brigid's against Ballaghaderreen on Sunday – wrote: "For those like myself who grew up in a Roscommon household with a Roscommon sense of identity, they should be allowed to choose, especially since it is in their own county.

"That would be the right thing to do, because there is a resentment in Roscommon that the second biggest town in the county is lost to it in GAA terms, even though the town is administered by Roscommon and in every way is a Roscommon town."

So there is still enough sentiment around the subject to stir debate at least. But either way, a club from the geographical county of Roscommon will be Connacht champions on Sunday and I am sure there will be an excellent sporting attitude all round at the final, so eagerly awaited throughout Connacht and beyond.

Thankfully, that is the GAA way when these geographical peculiarities arise.

There are other examples of border divisions like this in other parts of Ireland but nothing as substantial as the one in Ballaghaderreen.

Allianz Football league results round 4

Division 1:
Kerry 0-12, Armagh 0-11.
Mayo 4-10, Tyrone 0-12.
Donegal 1-9, Galway 1-9.
Monaghan 0-14, Roscommon 0-11.

Division 2:
Dublin 0-16, Clare 1-12.
Meath 1-12, Louth 1-15.
Kildare 0-7, Derry 2-15.
Cork 6-18, Limerick 0-12.

Division 3:
Longford 0-14, Tipperary 1-11.
Offaly 0-14, Cavan 0-21.
Down 1-10, Westmeath 0-11.
Antrim 3-9, Fermanagh 2-13.

Division 4:
Waterford 1-6, Wexford 2-12.
Laois 2-10, Wicklow 2-12.
Leitrim 2-22, Carlow 0-13.
London 0-6, Sligo 1-10.

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