Donaghmore Ashbourne GAA

On Saturday 1st April 2023, Donaghmore/ Ashbourne GAA continued their 100-year celebrations with an evening of events to commemorate their foundation of the club.

Although the weather did not play ball, that did not dampen spirits as the evening began with the unveiling of a plaque at the entrance to the clubhouse.

Jonathon Carr (Centenary Committee Chairperson) opened the evening by welcoming everyone and thanking them for braving the inclement weather.

Joe Synnott (Donaghmore/Ashbourne GAA Chairperson) then thanked the Centenary Committee for their time and efforts in events arranged so far. He welcomed Fr Michael (Ashbourne Donaghmore PP) and also welcomed John Kavanagh, Mairead Delaney, Jason Plunkett, Brian Kelly, Jim Mullery and Dessie Murtagh (Meath County Board delegates). Further welcome was extended to all past and present members, friends and supporters of Donaghmore/ Ashbourne GAA.

He spoke of the great honour he felt in being club chairperson as his grandfather, Hugh Synnott, was Donaghmore’s (as it was then known) first club secretary and one of the clubs founding members in 1923.

Plaque Unveiling

Two of the current club presidents, Thomas Flanagan and Liam Mulvihill, were then invited to unveil the plaque, which commemorates all members, past and present.

Thomas Flanagan then spoke of his lifelong membership of the club. He outlined how the club had always been progressive and adventurous in its endeavours, from the first clubhouse, in Greenogue, to the wonderful new clubhouse, in Killegland West, we see today. He was delighted to be able to say that five generations on, the Flanagan family are still involved in the club today as McManus, Bartley & Thomas families.

Liam Mulvihill then wished the Donaghmore/ Ashbourne club the very best for the future. While he could not claim the lifelong membership of Thomas before him, he had offered 40 years of membership and was proud to be associated with the club all that time. He encouraged the club to enjoy the celebrations and also to review and learn from the highs and lows of the past 100 years.

Centenary Tree Planting

The evening then moved to the planting of the Centenary Tree. For this purpose, an oak tree was chosen. The oak tree is symbolic of the club structure, young children join the club in our Acorn section and from there develop the skills and ability over the years to hopefully graduate to our adult teams.

The Oak Tree said, I know that you

can break each branch of mine in two,

carry every leaf away,

shake my limbs and make me sway.

But I have roots stretched in the earth,

growing stronger since my birth.

You’ll never touch them, for you see

they are the deepest part of me.

The Oak Tree - Johnny Ray Ryder, Jr

A senior (John Harmon) and junior (Ruby Daly) member of the club were then invited to plant the tree and Fr Michael offered a prayer to bless the tree, the club and its members.

Following this John Harmon spoke on how winning on the pitch is important, but success comes in many forms. He invited all members to visit the club on any Saturday morning to see the Go Games section of the club in full flow. ‘Winning’ is seeing all those children come to play, meet new friends and learn new skills every week. All present applauded John’s kind, relevant and poignant words.

Presentation

After the serving of refreshments in the main bar the evening then moved to the multipurpose room for a presentation on the early history of the club. Frank Reidy was the presenter, and he covered the period from the founding of the club in 1923 to 1968.

Words cannot do justice to the depth of knowledge brought forward by Frank on this subject, recalling information from his research and recollecting interviews from years ago at will. The information was presented in a delightful manner and with much humour. Those present in the capacity audience considered themselves rightly lucky to be present on the evening.

Family names from the founding of the club were called, such as Synnott, Kearns, Smith, Skelly and Flanagan, and were familiar to all present and many are still connected to the club today.

Frank also quoted partial minutes from various county board meetings, from the 1920, 1930s and the 1940s, much to the entertainment and amusement of the room and the current county board reps in attendance.

In those days the make-up of the teams consisted of 15 players, as it does today. One member of the team referred to the Donaghmore team as 'Two Houses’ as the majority of the team came from the Kearns and Smith families.

Frank remembered some of the more famous members of the club from those days, including greats like Ned Durnan, Jim Kearns and Peter McDermott.

The presentation concluded just before the club made the brave and ambitious move from their clubhouse in Greenogue to a new home in the Wotton, when Tom Dreaper agreed to the sale of the land at that location.

The final word on the night was reserved for the current Minister of State at Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media (Sport and Physical Education), Thomas Byrne. The Minister thanked Frank for his fantastically insightful and entertaining talk and he also thanked the club for the invite and wished them well for the future.