'One team, one dream': Newcastle West GAA club's football final spot 'means everything'

THERE is huge excitement in Newcastle West this week that the town’s senior footballers can claim a sixth county football title in a decade.

Black-and-white flags were flown high, and children at Courtenay National School were dressed in the unique colours of the local GAA club amid high hopes that the Magpies can recapture a title they last held in 2023.

Newcastle West and rivals Adare have dominated matters when it has come to the Limerick Senior Football Championship in the last 10 years.

READ MORE: Students get behind Mungret St Paul's as they bid to make Limerick football history

But with last year’s winners Adare out of the running following their semi-final defeat to Mungret St Paul's, hopes are high on the banks of the River Arra that the Fr Casey Cup can return to Newcastle West.

“It means everything to get to the county final,” said Annette O’Donnell, the deputy principal at Courtenay National School, and also a cultural officer at Newcastle West GAA Club.

“They are very good to the school. We have their field if we need to do training and matches. We are very proud of these links,” she said.

Indeed, there are deep connections between the national school and the Newcastle West panel.

More than 20 of its members attended Courtenay National School, including inter-county stars Cian Sheehan, Darren O’Doherty, and Emmet Rigter.

Three of the management team also went to the primary school, Brian Fitzgerald , Martin O’Sullivan and Stephen Kelly.

A student at the school will be present with the Newcastle West panel as they go into battle with Mungret at Mick Neville Park in Rathkeale on Sunday, throw-in 3:30pm.

Twelve-year-old sixth class student Rossa Fitzgerald, whose father Brian is one of the managers, will have the key task of being the team’s waterboy, something he is looking forward to!

Sheila Nix, the mother of Newcastle West forward Bryan Nix works as a special needs assistant in the classroom.

And two more stars of Sunday's Newcastle West panel, Michael and Thomas Quilligan have a nephew in the school - 11-year-old Kane Markham.

And last but not least, Brian O’Doherty, a junior infants teacher, who is a member of Newcastle West’s extended panel!