On Saturday August 19th, the Club came together in the Lounge to honour the success of a number of it's underage teams across all four codes.  The special guest in attendance to present the medals was Roscommon County Footballing star Enda Smith.  Six teams in total were presented with the Under 13 Hurling team receiving medals for their success in two competitions.  The evening was MC'd by Chairperson of the Football sector Ollie McGuinness.  Ollie welcomed Enda Smith to the Club thanking him for giving up his time to join with us on the evening.  He also welcomed all the coaches, parents and families and invited them to join coaches and club officers for a cup of tea at the end of the presentations.  He spoke about the success of all the teams being presented and commended them and their management for their commitment throughout the year.  Ollie stated how it was so positive to see so many people in attendance at the presentations.  He went onto say that Roscommon Gaels is a large club with over 32 teams between the four codes.  The work that goes in by members of the Executive, Sub Groups Coaching and Mentoring is tremendous and he asked the adults in the room to consider getting involved in the club whether it be with a team or club management - there is always room for new volunteers.

Following the presentations, Enda Smith took some questions from the audience and passed on some valuable information and advice to our young players along with some of his own personal experiences as an underage footballer.  He praised all the underage stars of Roscommon Gaels and encouraged them to keep training and working hard, and the rewards will come.  
  
The following teams were presented on the evening:

1. Under 16 Camogie Champions 2022
2. Under 16 Ladies Football Div 1 Championship winners 2022
3. Under 15 Footballers Div 1 Championship winners 2022
4. Under 15 Footballers Div 4 Championship winners 2022
5. Under 13 Hurlers Tain Og Winners & League Winners 2022
6. Under 12 Hurlers League Winners 2022

Managements of all teams were present on the evening and each manager spoke about their teams journey through the year and told a few stories.  Following the presentation of medals to all the teams, the award for "Most Improved Player of of the Year" was awarded.

Congratulations to the following players who received the award for "Most Improved Player of the Year".

1. Under 16 Camogie:  Lile McCaffrey
2. Under 16 Ladies Football:  Jane King
3. Under 16 Ladies Football Feile 2021:  Ciara Killeen
4. Under 15 Football:  Jack Finn
5. Under 13 Football:  Conor Keaveney
6. Under 12 Hurling:  Sean Nugent
7. Under 13 Hurling:  Michael O'Brien
8. Under 15 Hurling:  Aaron Bracken

Barry Molloy, the captain of the Roscommon team who won the 1951 All-Ireland Minor Football title, performed the unveiling of a plaque to commemorate St. Coman’s GAA Park in Roscommon Town at a ceremony which took place last Saturday.
 
St. Coman’s, known to generations of Roscommon people as ‘The Lough’, was described as Roscommon GAA’s ‘spiritual home’ and ‘field of dreams’. It was Roscommon’s home ground from 1936 to 1968 and staged matches right up until 2017. Among the many famous matches it hosted were the 1936 All-Ireland senior football semi-final, numerous Connacht senior and minor finals, and the 1965 All-Ireland junior hurling final.
 
The plaque and a display board which chronicles the major milestones in the history of ‘The Lough’ since it was first used in 1889 are located on a wall beside the former entrance to the famous pitch. The plaque was created by well-known local sculptor, Mark Feeley, and the unveiling ceremony was the culmination of two and a half years of painstaking work by the Roscommon Gaels club’s history committee, spearheaded by club PRO Orla Fleming and Marie Gillooly.
 
In unveiling the plaque, Mr Molloy, who is one of joint honorary presidents of Roscommon Gaels GAA Club, paid tribute to all who played in St. Coman’s Park over the years. He paid special tribute to all the people who had worked on maintaining the ground and recalled how the hiring of ‘sleepers’ from the local railway station in order to create a stand for big matches.  Mr Molloy referenced a picture on the display board which shows a commentary booth being built for the legendary Micheál O’Hehir.  Mr Molloy also recalled the many events, other than GAA matches, were held in St. Coman’s, including the Roscommon Agricultural Show.  He then unveiled the plaque on which the inscription, which is in Irish and English, reads: 
 
“This plaque marks the site of St. Coman’s GAA grounds, ‘The Lough’, which was officially opened on 14th June, 1936. It was home to Roscommon County GAA and Roscommon Gaels GAA Club for many years. It honours those who passed through its gates, in particular, the players, volunteers, and fans of many generations who proudly dedicated their time and skills, to the establishment, promotion and preservation of our national games which play such an important role in our sporting and cultural traditions and heritage.”
 
The chairman of Roscommon Gaels, Philip Mullen, welcomed all those in attendance and spoke of the major role ‘The Lough’ had played in the history of Roscommon Gaels and Roscommon Town.  Historian and local history tour guide, Marie Gillooly, provided a context of the role of Gaelic Games in Irish life even before the foundation of the GAA in 1884. She said the Lough was first used in 1889 and a hurling match between Roscommon and Castlebar took place there in 1902. In 1926 a group of locals acquired a section of the Lough grounds from the Land Commission for games. This ultimately led to the opening of the ground ten years later.  Ms Gillooly outlined many of the landmark matches which had helped to copperfasten the status of St. Coman’s as one of Connacht’s leading GAA grounds for over 30 years. She also spoke of other major events held in the ground, including cycling, athletics, street leagues and ice-skating during the winter. In 1954 a crowd of over 20,000 came to ‘The Lough’ to attend a rally by ‘The Rosary Priest’, Fr Peyton.
 
Six players were chosen to represent all the great hurlers and footballers who had played in ‘The Lough’: legendary Leitrim footballer, Packy McGarty, who gave one of the great individual displays in a Connacht final in the Lough in 1958; Mick Hoare, captain of the 1965 All-Ireland-winning junior hurling team; Owensie Hoare, the first player to win All-Ireland senior football medals outfield and in goal; Jimmy Murray, captain of the 1943 and 1944 All-Ireland-winning Roscommon senior football teams; Gerry O’Malley, one of Roscommon's greatest-ever dual players who won his only All-Ireland medal in 'The Lough' in 1965, and Barry Molloy, captain of the 1951 All-Ireland-winning minor football team. Each of the deceased players was represented by members of their families. Citations were read detailing the illustrious career of each player.

The attendance also included the chairperson of Roscommon county board, Brian Carroll; past chairpersons of Roscommon Gaels; joint honorary president of Roscommon Gaels, Seamus Comiskey, and historian Tony Conboy. The Master of Ceremonies was Noel Fallon.

The Hyde Centre has not seen an event like this in over 20 years.  Over 400 people attended the White Collar Boxing event, hosted by Roscommon Gaels GAA Club as a fundraising venture and it did not disappoint. 

The atmosphere in the room was electric with 18 Boxers, which included 4 visiting fighters from local clubs in the area,  9 fights and a novelty sumo wrestling match the programme for the evening.  The Club's organising committee along with Cathal O'Grady White Collar Boxing Ireland and his associate Dave Conlon, and the 18 fighters have worked hard training both locally and in venues in Dublin and Galway over the past 8 weeks organising, training and fundraising and all roads lead to May 20th, last Saturday night where every fighter displayed great courage to get into the ring with their opponent.  It was also fitting that a major event was taking place on the same night in the Three Area with Katie Taylor and Chantelle Cameron which was included in the night's entertainment in the Club's Lounge for the crowd to view. 

​The matchups for the evening, to which the fighters were unaware of until 48 hours previous, were as follows:  Dara Hughes v Gustavo Rodrigues,  Kilbride visitor Brian Merriman v St. Dominics guest Daire Keenan, Daire Gilleran v Michael Farrell, Peter Gillooly v Orin Walsh, a second Kilbride visitor Brian Tully v Cathal Dineen.  The ladies were represented by Emily Comiskey taking on another volunteer visitor, Tulsk native, Hazel Maguire.  During the interval, we had a novelty match which brought great entertainment to the crowd with Tommy Mulry taking on Francie Hoare.  The second part of the evening then had fights between, Senan Lambe v Ciaran Purcell, Daniel O'Doherty v James Fetherstone and the final match up of the night was John McManus v Mark Purcell.  Well done to all the competitors involved.  

At the interval, Chairperson, Philip Mullen and Cahal Mahon from the organising committee addressed the audience thanking everyone for supporting the event and acknowledged and thanked the main sponsor of the event Sean Doyle Windows Roscommon, and all the local businesses who contributed towards the event.
Huge thanks must go all the boxers involved in the event for giving up their time and who all raised large amounts of funds for the club and especially to the visiting boxers, Brian Tully, Brian Merriman, Hazel Maguire and Daire Keenan. 

The Organising Committe:  L to R:  Laura Dempsey, Declan Walsh, Finbar O'Reilly, Francis Hoare, Orla Fleming & Cahal Mahon.  

Who will face who in the Ring on May 20th?  See Below....

Introducing our group of volunteer boxers who have trained over the past 8 weeks with White Collar Boxing Ireland.  Trainers Cathal O'Grady and Dave Conlon have worked weekly both in Dublin and locally with team.  Thank you to Cathal Dineen for kindly offering his facilities to the group at Fullbody Workhouse Roscommon to prepare for the event A temporary boxing was installed in the Gym for the training.  Thanks also to Loughlynn Boxing Club for permitting the group to train in the final days leading up to the event at their club.