Congratulations to the Cashman family at Rathbarry Stud.

Congratulations to Mrs Catherine Cashman and the family at Rathbarry Stud. At the recent Cheltenham Festival Bob Olinger and Shishkin were big winners.  Bob Olinger won the Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle with Rachael Blackmore on board as there going to be only one winner when they straightened for the finish. Then Shishkin, ridden by Nico de Boinville was a winner by twelve lengths in the Sporting Life Arkle Challenge Trophy Novices' Chase. Both were sired by Sholokhov from the Glenview Stud which is the National Hunt part of the Rathbarry outfit.

The late Liam Cashman grew the National Hunt side of their business back in 1991 by expanding into Glenview. His sudden passing back in 2010 was a big shock to the family and the entire community.  Despite this the family have shown resilience and continued to have remarkable success as they seem to have the knack of selecting and standing blue chip stallions in their Stud like Sholokhov. Strong Gale set the standard in the modern era as his progeny role of honour reads like a who’s who of jump celebrities. There are many more stallions in their Stud that gave great champions like Denman and War of Attrition to name a few in the recent past. Of course, the Cashman family have been in the business since 1935 but increased in the 1970’s as they had many famous stallions that bred champions on the flat too including Kampala and Barathea.

The late Liam Cashman was a playing member and sponsor of our Club for many years. His son Paul Cashman was a midfield general with us for many years and helped Castlelyons win several championships in all grades including County Junior, Intermediate and played in senior hurling for several years.  Catherine Cashman and the family have continued that support both as benefactors and sponsors.  Consistent hard work gains success and Catherine Cashman, her son Paul his wife Susan, her daughter Niamh and Niamh’s husband Frannie are certainly committed. We wish to congratulate them on their continued success and thank them for their contribution to our club as sponsors and benefactors.

A busy time drafting Development Plan and Virtual Meetings.

The Steering Group will have lots of consultation with the Executive and membership on a draft Masterplan for our development and this will include a financial model of fundraising through Capital and other grants plus local stuff. The overall development will take time, but it is imperative that there is a good strategy and vision of how to get there and this will be part of a brochure. A big part of this work is drafting the development plan into the future for the whole site. There is an agreed proposal to construct a 40M X 70M all-weather training ground.  The location within the site has yet to be finalised.  It is hoped to move on this initiative as early as possible in the various phases of development.  

Benefits of an All-Weather Pitches and Training Grounds

Well, they are not called “All Weather” pitches for nothing. It is tough going managing a frequently used turf pitch after rain.  The grass can go scarce and messy with puddles of water in places especially around the 21-yard line and the square. Then in summertime the surface is often rock hard as heat and sun can turn the grass brown and unsightly. The people managing the pitch have a tough time trying to keep it in order and surfaces too soft or too hard presents an injury risk to players. In contrast the all-weather pitch needs little titivating as there are permanent line markings and artificial grass, repainting, mowing, and aerating the pitch is a task of the past.  So, with increased playability an all-weather pitch is available for bookings most of the time.

Disadvantages with All-Weather Pitch and Training Grounds.

The most obvious disadvantage with an all-weather pitch is the experience. These type pitches come at a huge cost and even the most advanced on the market can’t fully replicate the experience of playing on real turf. Medical experts show concern that bacteria can survive for more than 90 days as blood, sweat, skin cells and other materials remain on synthetic turf. This may cause a hazard. Also, great care must be taken to prevent dog poo or other poo and ensure that the pitch is brushed often, or it may remain on the artificial grass as this does not wash off as easily as in the natural turf. It was alleged that older all-weather pitches made from nylon or nylon/polyethylene blend fibres contained a material that posed a potential public health concern. In fact, there is a continuing debate regarding the safety of playing sports on artificial turf versus natural grass fields but there is little newly published high-quality evidence to favour one over the other.  The artificial pitch is costly and proper construction is vital as ground, drainage, layout fill, shocks and carpet must be done to perfection.  Fencing will be required and lighting.  These requirements make the construction of an all-weather pitch or training ground very costly.

Overall View.

The newer generation all weather pitches are substantially safer than the older versions.  Their design, style, playability, and overall value is winning the hearts and minds of all different sports who want year-round training and games for their players, and they are going for them flat out. Of course, these type pitches and training grounds can be a source of funding when hired to schools, groups, and other sports. They have become extremely popular with the GAA Clubs all over the place, so it is little wonder that Castlelyons are following suit.

Castlelyons GAA Weekly Lotto valuable again as Jackpot now €11,200. 

This draw was held Monday 29.3.21 and the numbers drawn were 19. 27, 28 and 29. There was no winner, and the Jackpot is now a massive €11,200. The Lucky Dip winners were as follows: - Mary Dorgan, Ann Waters, Mary Hartnett, T & S Hickey, Breda Kennedy, Collette Hosford, Mary Barrett and, Kevin Barry. The next draw is Tuesday 6.4.21. Thanks so much for your support and please advise your friends that they can play our Lotto, ONLINE or purchase tickets from the usual outlets.

Castlelyons Club have two winners in the Rebel Bounty Draw

The Rebel Bounty draw for the months of January, February and March took place last Thursday evening in Páirc Uí Chaoimh.  The Draws were live on the Irish Examiner Website as there were three months together and 90 prizes including top ones of €20,000 for each month. In fact, two of them came to East cork with Lisa Moore St Catherine’s and Dillon O Connor Erins Own taking €20,000 each.  Special congratulations to our own members Tom Broderick and Sean O Sullivan of Castlelyons who won €250.00 each.  There was great excitement with so many prizes on offer with Cork and Castlelyons star Colm Spillane wearing the green and gold administering the Draw with some other county stars. The next draw is on Thursday 29^th April and the top prize this month is €25,000 with a total of thirty other cash prizes. Again, a sincere thanks to all our members and supporters who have joined and made it a success as it is a great boost to our Club finances and a valuable ticket to the punter.

A new day dawns for Castlelyons Community Council.

The Castlelyons Community Council which incorporates Castlelyons, Coolagown & Britway Development Ltd have produced a nice booklet on what the parish community has to offer and what people can offer in return. There is an appeal for new ideas, new faces, new amenities to keep community groups refreshed and alive.  Our Council can make representations and pursue the interests of the parish to so many external bodies especially the County Council.  These bodies must balance the competing needs and interests of so many both on a county and national basis while our own Council can highlight what is important to Castlelyons.

Reading the booklet, the Council take the lead in many groups in the parish. These groups reflect the local patterns of social interaction and parishioner’s identification with place. The opportunities are endless as the Council can assist with the provision of services, facilities facilitate community activities, organise, and sponsor community events and promote community spirit and inclusiveness. Of course, there is a great tradition of a strong community work in the parish in the past and like some many villages and rural areas in the locality the Parish has done very well.  A typical example is the great work of Coolagown tidy towns and John Feeney of that Group received national recognition in the volunteer of the year 2020 for his great work.

Castlelyons Community Council was somewhat low key in the last few years and did not have an election.  A recent review with the assistance of Avondhu Blackwater Development and others has put it on firm footing again and it is now back in full swing.  There will be no stone left unturned to bring together a new Community Council in the Parish soon and there is an active caretaking group there presently. You can assist by showing an interest and helping with their work. You can give some immediate assistance by buying a ticket for the community draw. Tickets are currently on sale for a six-week Draw which takes place on Monday 3^rd May with 6 weekly prizes of €500, 6 X €200, and 18 X €100. Tickets are priced at €50 for the six draws (one free) and will make a difference.  They are targeting a refurbishment of Fr Ferris Park and other projects with the proceeds of this fundraiser. We can all make the Councils rejuvenation by buying a tick mar deirtear an seanfhocal bailíonn brobh beart.

A possible return to training and games on the way.

At the time of going to press this Tuesday morning we have no government revelations of any return for GAA activities.  However, there is strong speculations that underage and senior inter-county training will return on April 12 as part of a phased easing of restrictions in April.  No doubt about it the going is tough since last December but there are new variants of COVID about and the numbers of daily infections are stubborn although well down sine January and February after terrible numbers hospitalised and high numbers of death daily in recent months.  We wish to extend sincere sympathies to the families of those who lost loved ones due to the pandemic. Now the number of vaccines administered every day is increasing and the cavalry is on the way with a big selection of different type vaccines.  So there is a real opportunity for all to avail of them so this should put us in a safe place.

Our Association did a mighty job in 2020 with top level scenario planning and hopefully we can start this again during April 2021 as get back into exercise, training, and games. At the same time, we must be understanding in the uncertainty of the pandemic makes it so difficult to come up with the right decisions but if any decision is wrong high level of infection could reoccur and the aftermath will be flooded with severe criticism. Just listen to the stuff even on the TV. Government and GAA leaders and those in other sports are playing in the most dangerous of games and we appreciate their great effort. A return to games and training will assist in the mental and physical health of our young people and hopefully this will happen shortly.

Bookapitch System back in Action.

We are using Bookapitch as an online booking system for our pitches and facilities. This system is intended to facilitate booking meeting rooms and facilitates with payments for the various facilities in the newly refurbished Community Centre due to reopen shortly.  This piece of management software was introduced in 2019 and worked well and while there were interruptions in 2020 hopefully its true value will be realised this year. It is on the Website and can be transferred to your smart phone. Operating the system is elementary stuff and this will be further facilitated by a virtual meeting on it soon.

Quote of the Week.

Hope is a waking dream.

Votes of Sympathy

Castlelyons GAA wish to extend sincere sympathy to the Spillane family Coolagown and Fermoy and the Murphy family Youghal on the recent passing of Derry Murphy. Ar dheis Dé go raibh sé

Club Main Sponsor: ZEUS Packaging Group.

Notes by Kieran McGann PRO Castlelyons GAA Club.