See below the Secretaries report reviewing 2009 in detail.

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Bórd na nÓg 2010

Chairman: Colm Meagher

Vice Chairman: John Buggy

Secretary: Michael Holland

Treasurer: Billy Moran

Minor Manager: Tommy Brennan

U-16 Manager: Eamon Brennan

U-14 Manager: Tommy Buggy

Under 12 Manager: Richard Connolly

Under 10 Manager: Eamon Holland

Under 8 Manager: Eamon Doyle

Under 6 Manager: Martin Rowe

Committee : Richard Connolly, David Buggy, Eamon Holland, Martin Holohan, Marty Delaney, Eamon Brennan, Martin O'Dwyer, Christy Brennan, Maeve Connolly, Marty Connolly, Dinny Brennan, Brendan Downey, Eamon Doyle, Noel Callinan, Paul Rice, Sean McMahon, Davy Buggy, Ronan Ryan, Seamus Coogan, Seamie Walsh, Frank McDermott

Secretary Report 2009 - John Buggy, Runaí

Chairman of the Club Michael Owens, Chairman of Bord na Nog and members of Erin’s Own G.A.A Club, it is a privilege to present to you tonight my 3rd Annual Secretaries report for Erin’s Own Bord Na Nog for 2009.  In this report I will attempt to highlight the great work that is being undertaken in the name of Erin’s Own GAA Club, the success we have achieved during the year as well as acknowledging the great volunteers that our club possesses at the present time. As this is also my last report of my three year term it is my intention to highlight some items that require attention and changes that I feel are necessary to bring us up another level and improve our current structures. Being prepared to respond to change and improvement is vital if we are to retain our upward curve that I feel is there at present and this reflects on how our juveniles perform and represent our club going forward. Notwithstanding this when one looks back at how quickly these three years have gone since the inception of Bord na Nog in the club it really has been a roller coaster ride and indeed some of the best of times that we as a club have celebrated. It is still a great time to be from Erin’s Own and all involved in this fine club at all levels should be very proud indeed.  I think we can improve going forward by enforcing the structures and plan that is now in place but it will not happen over night and will take enormous work and effort to achieve this, with every person without exception pulling in the right way.

I delivered my second secretaries report of Bord Na NoG this time last year and one of the key points of that presentation was that success for our club should not be measured by the amount of trophies we win each year whilst we do always try to win when our teams go on the field but by the friendships, character building and the very important social aspect we offer to our community as the main sporting organisation of the area. Erin’s Own has carried out its duties with at all these important issues and improving the development of our young players. Whilst we have not been as successful in the local Championships as last year we still proved to be mighty competitive at all levels. At the very young ages of under 8, 9 and 10 we won a number of tournaments even though game time for all these young children is the most important thing, We were runners up in the under 16 County league Final, the under 14 AI Final, and our primary school team suffered the heartbreak of losing their schools final for the second year in a row.  I will give a more detailed report on these items later in the report. The bord Na Nog committee have had eight meetings this year with a number of joint meetings with the main club committee which at the invitation of Michael Owens proved to be beneficial for both committees.  I would like to thank Martin Carroll our Chairman as he concludes his three years at the helm, all our public relations people for constantly exposing our club and teams at every opportunity in a positive manner, Maurice Shortall for the Kilkenny People, Richard Connolly our club P.R.O and Eamonn Holland for all the text communications and who also looks after our Club Website which is presently getting an excellent upgrading and should be up and live in the next two weeks.

On the playing fields it proved to be a very busy, enjoyable, rewarding, proud, heart stopping and also disappointing at times.  It had all the emotions one can get when you are close to a match situation as all here do be from time to time. The discipline shown by all our players throughout the year was of the highest order and I am glad to report that in the three years of our existence we have not had one discipline issue to deal with in the club or at County Board level, as it should be I might add. What was most satisfying was the manner in which our teams performed and represented the Club whether winning or losing matches. I do feel as a club we have come along way in the recent past, no more blaming someone else, excuses etc. Those days I believe are gone. Erin’s Own can now compete with the best at their level at all age groups.

Our Teams.  Our very young age groups have had a great year and I am glad to report that this group, From 5 year olds to 10 year olds have constant activity for close on forty five weeks of the past year. As this age group is one that I am most involved in I would like to congratulate all the mentors involved at this level as I know it can be testing at times. Our under 6s played a number of small games during the year and as always the progress these children can make in a very short period of time is excellent. One should always be aware that this is the start of something unique as these are the future players and leaders of our club if treated properly now. What can we say about our under 8 and 9 teams. Our under 8s took part in 23 matches during the year through the advent of friendly buddy blitz tournaments and challenge matches. This group won out four of these blitz’s going undefeated in winning them. Our under 9s played 24 matches and were successful in 21 matches picking up the Erin’s Own Tournament, Kilmacud Crokes Tournament  along the way. These teams in the opinion of a lot of people who watch this age group are developing into something very special by the way they play the game with intensity and swagger for ones so young, and will, we hope over the next number of years deliver on this very early promise. As always however we must remind ourselves that we are on a continuous journey keeping the seat warm for the next generation and we can always improve the situation no matter what. Complacency is not an option. Our under 10s and 11s played twenty one matches during the year winning the Conahy Tournament also. Again a lot of players overlap here from under 9s and 8s and this is another group with potential. The advent of our indoor hurling programme over the last number of years combined with outdoor work and schools hurling has these age group hurling for approximately forty five weeks of the year. This I feel is what lays the foundations for competitive success going forward. During the year a number of our underage coaches developed a coaching manual for our under 6s up to under 9s and our wish for this coaching manual would be that this would be used as a template going forward for all children starting to hurl and for all new coaches to embrace as the main tool in the club for juvenile coaching. There is a copy here if any one wishing to comment on it or add to it as it is an always evolving document. Thanks to Eamonn Holland, Pat Clarke and Andrew Kruff for their help with me on this project.
Our under 12s were as competitive as one could expect but with a serious shortage of children in this age group we are becoming dependant on children as young as eight to be involved to make up the numbers with this group. I strongly feel that it is too much to ask an eight year old to compete at this level and something I would not be in favour of. This may be an age group that will have to move down the divisions going forward as inter club competitions come along.  Our under 14s competed in Roinn A and played in excess of twenty matches during the year. Whilst trophies were not won having being beaten in the A1 League Final, I do believe that this group could, like last years Minor team, who didn’t win silverware up along deliver over the next three to four years. Our Under 16s must be rewarded with the title of the most improved team of the year. They played excellently throughout the year and but for a bit of bad luck in the League Final could have won what would have been a great title for this group. The succumbed to Bennetsbridge in both the league final and the championship.  Our Minors suffered at the hands of Ballyragget in the Minor championship and we were left wondering what if had they overcome that match. But it was not to be and we must knuckle down and plan for the next campaign. There has been a lot of serious work and effort put into all these groups over the last number of years and am glad as secretary that this work continues to be done, as it is my firm belief that we must work enormously hard  now for reward later. Every child can be improved have no doubt and whilst some may not become elitist they may go on to be some of the best club members or executives we ever had so my message would be to encourage all children no matter what.

To all the managers and selectors Eamonn Doyle, Martin Rowe and helpers at under 6, Eamonn Holland, Pat Clarke, Andrew Kruff at under 8 and 9., Ritchie Connolly, Christy Brennan and John Cahalane at under 10 and 11, Martin Holohan, Martin Carroll and John Feehan at under 12, Eamonn Brennan, Marty Delaney, Sean McMahon, Paul Rice and Dinny Brennan at under 14, Tommy Buggy, Eddie Brennan and Patrick Comerford at under 16 and David Buggy, Ronan Ryan and Donal Dunne at minor and to all other  helpers also I say well done and thanks. To all the parents here present I would like to let this meeting know that we have on the whole approximately 150 juvenile players and all without exception are well behaved. In all our years hurling we did not have one juvenile sent off in a competitive match.
We had a number of our juvenile members who represented Kilkenny this year through the squad development panels. Congratulations to all and here’s hoping that over the next five to ten years we will regularly pick up a programme in Croke Park on big match days and see the name of one of our own with the words Erin’s Own under his name, on future Kilkenny Minor Teams. Why not I ask.

At cumann na mbunscoil level we reached the Roinn B Final against Bennetsbridge and were extremely unlucky not to win this very prestigious title at schools level for the second year running. I would like to thank all our teachers in all the schools from primary up to second level who works tirelessly on the promotion of our games. To John Kelly and his staff in the Boys School and Joe Meagher and Martin Fogarty in Firoda for all the hurling leagues within the school, matches away from the schools and the help and encouragement they give our juvenile members.
At secondary level Castlecomer Community School were very unlucky to loose in the All Ireland Semi Final. On behalf of our club I would like to thank all the teachers in the School and wish them every success in the upcoming Leinster Campaign. I do believe that it is imperative that the club should always help the Schools at every opportunity as we are one of the lucky Clubs who have dedicated people teaching in our Schools.

Looking back on the year our juvenile members played close on one hundred and thirty matches which is almost a match every three days. This is excellent to see and would not be achieved without the help and enormous dedication of all our management teams, players and parents who encourage their children to play our games. When we won we showed great skill, determination and modesty and when we lost we accepted it gracefully. It is my strongest belief now that the structures and set up that has been put in place will further deliver more success to our club and that elusive Senior County Championship will be within our grasp in the not to distant future. However at a time when the future economically does not look great for our country my greatest fear is that a lot of these young players may have to go away to different countries to forge a future for themselves but we live in hope.

Finance. On the day to day running of a club such as ours most here present will be aware that it costs in excess of €100,000.00 per year to run the club. To this end I am glad to report that Bord Na Nog members have been to the forefront in participating and continue to generate income to help the club to be run smoothly. While it is never envisaged that the role of Bord Na Nog should be a fundraising committee of the club it just shows the commitment of the members to make sure that they help with fundraising when called on. The members of Bord Na Nog Erins Own are constantly coming up with new ideas on how to raise funds to help the club. We have run two very successful Bag Packs over the last two years which brought in excess of €15,000.00.00 for the club (we have this fundraiser coming up next month again and we will deal with it later. It is a compliment to all the club that all our players are looked after excellently and no team or player wants for anything. This is how it should be I know but in these times it is hard to raise the funding to deliver these services but we must all try a little harder. To all involved in helping in any way with this fundraising a big thank you. But as I said already and a point we should not loose sight of, the main focus of Bord Na Nog is to set up the structures to coach hurling to our young players on an ongoing basis with all coaches using similar skills. I would like here to also thank Joe Comerford of the Academy Hotel in Dublin who sponsored a set of jerseys for our under 14s during the year and also the fantastic hospitality he showed our younger members when we took a bus to the Leinster Final. To all other sponsors I say on your behalf Thank you very much no matter how small the contribution.

I would like to thank Michael Owens, our club Chairman for his help over the year. He is always having to deal with every body else’s problems but he has been more than supportive of Bord Na Nog and also to his fellow executive members Billy Moran and Stephen Dwyer.
I would like to thank all the Bord Na Nog Committee for their attendance at meetings and the ease in which people took on work and carried it through when asked. This has definitely made the executive’s job much easier during the year.

Catering/Hospitality. To our wonderful ladies committee which was regulated after last years AGM under the leadership of Nellie Callinan to whom can I say on my own behalf and your behalf a heartfelt enormous thank you. On every occasion that the call went to her and her team for help they never failed with their plates of food and running of our kitchen and catering facilities. The goodwill and positive feedback over the last three years as secretary that I have got from visiting teams towards this hospitality has been immense. This to me is another example of what makes a club tick and is another cog in the wheel which makes our club better at every opportunity.

Our Club Grounds. It is hard to believe that a little less than a decade ago the dream that was Ballycomey was only down on paper and in that time the club have produced facilities that are the benchmark for all others to get to. This has been done and almost paid for in full. Well done to all involved. Whilst we have great facilities here now, I believe that we should now look to keep on improving. Standing still and admiring what we have accomplished in my opinion is going backwards. We must strive to get to the next level. I believe that the club as a whole should look at a facility on our own grounds that would allow us to cater for indoor hurling for all members and other activities such as a weights room, circuit training etc with a ball wall to the gable end. There is now a great opportunity with the pricing of capital expenditure projects so low presently and contractors vigorously pricing work cheaply.  This can be achieved I believe for modest enough money and should be acted on immediately. If the will is there I firmly believe it will turn out to be a great investment in our youth and senior players.
To Sean Smith, I say thank you very much for all your help during the year with having pitches ready, dressing rooms clean and tidy and generally anything else that is needed to be done. Another example of what makes our club tick in the right way.


As I said at the beginning of this report the three years as secretary has been a rollercoaster of a ride for me as secretary. I thoroughly enjoyed being the first ever secretary of Erins Own Bord Na Nog. However there were some disappointments along the way. When I look back over the minutes of all our meetings I regret that there were some problems that should not have been allowed to develop. I for my part apologise if I offended anyone but what I will say in my defence as the representative of Bord na Nog who was often in the firing line that at all times the over riding issue was that we were always trying to improve the welfare of the young players under our responsibility who had no say and thus improving the overall efforts of the club. Blue and white blood runs through the veins of most of the people who give of their time to this club in a range of ways and we all have the common good in mind. The other item that I was disappointed with, was the treatment of our under 14s by the National Feile Committee in June 2008. While there is no need to go back over old ground it does need to be recorded how shambolic our club was treated. In this era where we are constantly trying to encourage young people to play our games it is just not acceptable to me that a team can be ejected from a competition without any explanation. We eventually gave up on it when the highest level in the game couldn’t reverse the situation. However at the time we felt as an executive that we would not take it lying down and I think we made our case very well, if unsuccessful in the end.
Looking back on the positives of the three years there were many, We have revitalised a few old projects that had fallen away and introduced some new ones such as the trips to Croke Park, the screening of the All Irelands in the Club Rooms for our smaller members and our annual Children’s Christmas Party which is proving to be a great PR exercise each year. This year we will be having our Christmas Party on the 12th December. Probably the greatest highlights were obviously winning the County Finals at Minor and Under 16 last year which gave the whole community and not just the Club a boost. Another Highlight for me was our under 8s who travelled to play on the hallowed turf that is Croke Park in June 2008. For all who were there, will we ever forget it?
In conclusion members, Complacency is the great enemy that we must insulate our selves against. We must constantly monitor how we organise our selves. Decisions that need to be taken for the greater good must not be put off and must be taken. We need to measure all that we do as the development of our juveniles into young talented hurling men will one day produce this club with a senior county final. We can achieve this by providing loads of game time and professional coaching to all our juvenile players so as we can map out a pathway for all our players.

Finally as I stand down from my position as secretary I would like to thank everyone involved in the setting up and development of our underage structure over the last number of years from a standing start. We have made tremendous progress and I would encourage anyone who can, to become involved in Bord Na Nog. There is plenty of work to be done and judging by what we saw during the last few years and the structures that we now have in place that even more so now than ever before that the results of these efforts by all will lead to our club progressing to greater things in the future. It beholds us to leave no stone unturned if we can contribute in any way to the development of our young members as we can all enjoy and celebrate their success no matter at what age group. I do hope I have served you all well during the three years and I hope that we can all look forward to the new playing year and the continued improvement and progress we have made in our first three years. Thank you very much.

John Buggy
Runai.