Tipperary GAA Scene
By Jonathan Cullen PRO
Vice-Chairperson Election
Following a meeting of the executive committee last week, Tipperary GAA wish to confirm the following arrangements for the rearranged election to the position of vice-chairperson.
The election will take place on Tuesday, January 23rd, 2024, in the Dome, FBD Semple Stadium, where delegates who are eligible to vote will be asked to attend between 6.30pm & 7.45pm.
The voting process will be overseen by Tipperary GAA CEO Murtagh Brennan with the assistance of, members of Tipperary County Council, Tipperary County Executive and Divisional Board Secretaries.
Following the vote, a County Committee meeting will take place where the result of the ballot will be announced. Full details will be circulated to each club in due course.
JP MCMANUS DONATES €1 MILLION TO TIPPERARY GAA
Tipperary GAA would like to acknowledge and thank JP McManus, his wife Noreen, & their children for their incredible generosity on the news that they are donating €1m to Tipperary GAA for distribution to clubs across the Gaelic Games family in the county.
Tipperary GAA can confirm receipt of the €1m donation and would like to place on record our sincere gratitude to JP McManus and his family for this fantastic gesture of support. All financial distributions to the clubs in Tipperary will be completed by January 31st, 2024.
Tipperary Football Committee
Following on from the recent Annual General Meeting of the Tipperary Football Committee, the following are the officers and management committee for 2024: Chairperson – Fearghal McDonnell (JK Brackens); Vice Chairperson – Jonathan Cullen (Loughmore/Castleiney); Secretary – Alan Moloney (Ardfinnan); Treasurer – Eleanor Lahart (Killenaule); PRO – Stephen Gleeson (Upperchurch/Drombane). Committee – Conor O’Dwyer (Upperchurch/Drombane), Tommie Campbell (Moyle Rovers), Tom Macken (Ballyporeen), Pat Healy (Loughmore/Castleiney), Kevin Barron (Rockwell Rovers), Joe O’Sullivan (Moycarkey/Borris), Sean Mullins (Aherlow).
FBD Insurance County Championships
There was one game played in the County U21 ‘B’ Hurling Championship last weekend as Silvermines enjoyed a comprehensive 4-19 to 0-12 win over Galtee Rovers and as a result qualified for the final.
This weekend will see two semi-finals in the County U21 ‘A’ Hurling Championship, as well as the second semi-final in the U21 ‘B’ Hurling Championship. All three games will be played on Saturday.
In the ‘B’ semi-final, neighbours Gortnahoe/Glengoole and Killenaule will meet in Golden at 1.30pm. Then in the ‘A’ semi-finals, Roscrea play Clonoulty/Rossmore in Templederry and Drom & Inch play Carrick Swan in Bansha with both games throwing in at 1.30pm. Extra time and finish on the day rules apply in all the above games. Tickets can now be purchased via the ticket section on the Tipperary GAA website.
Munster GAA Awards
The annual Munster GAA Awards were held in the Muckross Park Hotel, Killarney last Saturday night, and Tipperary was very well represented as Moyle Rovers and Tipperary legend Declan Browne was inducted into the Hall of Fame for Football.
While coming relatively early in his life, this award is nothing less than Declan deserves as he has given so much of his life to date to the GAA both as a player, coach, and administrator. The large attendance from his club Moyle Rovers reflected just how highly he is thought of in his own local community and indeed throughout Tipperary and Munster.
Tipperary also picked up the Munster Camogie Player of the Year as Thurles Sarsfields Karen Kennedy was recognised for her outstanding displays for both club and county during 2023. Karen was a key player for the Tipperary team as they won the Munster Final in 2023, winning for the first time in eleven years. Tipperary subsequently qualified for the All-Ireland Semi-Final before losing out to Waterford. Karen was joint-captain in 2023 and was recently named as 2024 captain.
Karen was honoured for her consistent performances in 2023 with her second All-Star recently having been previously honoured in 2020.
Health & Wellbeing
Congratulations to the Tipperary Healthy Clubs who received their awards at the recently held Irish Life GAA Healthy Club Munster Recognition Event on December 5th in the Mallow GAA Complex.
39 Munster clubs were accredited on the evening receiving their awards from Munster Council Chairperson Ger Ryan and Munster Health & Wellbeing Chairperson Bernie Reims.
Ger Ryan commended the clubs for the support and work they give to their communities, and he spoke about how proud the GAA is of Healthy Clubs / GAA for All and he appealed to all clubs to become involved in the Initiative.
Ireland Lights Up returns to GAA clubs in January in partnership with RTE’s Operation Transformation and Get Ireland Walking. Participation in this event is a great way of inviting all the community to become involved with their local club and is a popular way for new clubs to commence becoming involved the Healthy Club Project.
Dates for club Diaries - Critical Incident Training will take place online on February 7th.
Healthy Club Officer Training will take place online on February 22nd.
COUNTERFEIT HELMETS
The CCPC has issued an urgent warning to Hurling & Camogie players to cease use of all ‘Gola’ branded helmets immediately.
Often sold via online marketplaces and social media and generally purchased for style reasons, the helmets do not meet basic PPE standards and will not protect the wearer from injury.
The company Gola does not make helmets and does not licence the Gola brand to any other company to make helmets; however, counterfeit ‘Gola’ branding has been added to batches of sub-standard, retro-styled helmets which do not meet safety requirements.
As the ‘Gola’ brand added to these helmets is counterfeit, it is highly likely that any CE mark on the helmets is also counterfeit. Hurling and Camogie helmets must have a CE mark to show that the helmet meets the required health and safety standards.
The helmets bearing the counterfeit ‘Gola’ brand are also manufactured without faceguards. In order to meet health and safety standards, faceguards must be added at the point of manufacture and not afterwards.
The advice to consumers Buy your helmet from a reputable retailer – not an unreliable online source – and make sure you ask these four safety questions first:
1. Is the helmet fully assembled? A safe helmet should have a faceguard attached at the point of manufacture. You should not need to attach a faceguard.
2. Are there any obvious dangers? Watch out for sharp edges, sharp points, rough surfaces, or protruding screws. Do not wear the helmet if you find any of these dangers.
3. Is there a CE mark on the helmet? If there is no CE mark, don’t buy it.
4. Are the labels and instructions clear and comprehensive? All hurling and camogie helmets should have instructions and information. These, as well as any labelling, should be clear and understandable.
Gaelic Games Coach Pathway Launched
The GAA, the Ladies Gaelic Football Association & An Cumann Camógaíochta have announced details of a new and exciting Gaelic Games Coach Pathway.
For the first time, all three Associations with responsibility for the promotion of Gaelic Football, Hurling, Ladies Football and Camogie will have an aligned pathway and vision for coach development.
All coaches are at the heart of this new Pathway – and there will be a key focus on creating an effective coach development environment.
The Gaelic Games Coach Pathway follows on from the successful launch of the Gaelic Games Player Pathway in 2021.
The Coach Pathway has been created to mirror the Player Pathway, ensuring that coaches are provided with the knowledge, skill, and capacities to develop players within and across phases of the Gaelic Games Player Pathway – “just for me” and “just in time.”
The Pathway is also heavily informed by the cross-Association coach education study conducted in 2020 with over 10,500 coach respondents.
People identified a lack of time and other commitments as barriers to engaging in learning.
They said they wanted shorter, more bite-sized learning opportunities. Consequently, a key feature of the new approach is to provide flexible and modular courses.
By keeping the end goal in mind, and understanding the coaching pathway in its totality, coaches and other stakeholders can provide players with the level of support that they require at any moment along their developmental journey.
The Coach Pathway is grounded in three core elements aligned to the Gaelic Games Player Pathway, namely The Player, The Game, The Environment.
The Coach Pathway will exhibit a Coach ‘Learning Space’ that aims to reflect the variety of coaching needs, and the breadth of learning opportunities that should be provided for coaches.
This ‘Learning Space’ is accessible to all following the completion of the Introduction to Gaelic Games course, with the exception of core modules and specialist modules which have a pre-requisite of participants required to complete Award/Level 1 formal courses.
The Learning Management System (TOBAR), linked to Foireann, will power the delivery of the Coach Pathway.
All three Associations are committed to providing coaches with the right supports at the right time, which will enable them to individually empower themselves to engage with the many challenges they will face along their Coach Pathway journey.
This announcement once again reinforces the commitment and joint approach to Games Development from all three Associations, and builds on previous collaborations such as Go Games, Féile, Club Leadership Development and ‘Be Ready to Play.’
For full details, visit: Gaelic Games Coaching Pathway | Tobar (gaa.ie).
On behalf of the officers and staff of Tipperary GAA I would like to wish you all a very happy and peaceful Christmas and a sporting 2024. I would also like to acknowledge the great support you all show on a regular basis to the GAA in Tipperary, both at local club and county level. Let’s all hope that 2024 brings us all many more great days and happy memories that we can all be a part of.