Tipperary GAA club to celebrate 40th anniversary

A social occasion will mark the 40th anniversary of the the foundation of Clonmel Óg GAA club.The social event will be held in the Talbot Hotel, Clonmel. The celebrations will commence at 7.00 p.m.

The 1984 celebrations and commemorations of the historical occasion of the foundation of the GAA, in Hayes's Hotel Thurles 100 years earlier, proved to be the spark and inspiration for the foundation of Clonmel Óg.

That same year, the success of a St. Peter and Paul school football team in the top grade of the primary school's football championship further added to the enthusiasm and interest in setting up the new club.

As Brother Charlie O'Grady, Brother Henry Somers, Brother Dick Gleeson, Michael Hogan, Seamus Stritch, Cathal Ryan, Eileen Sheehan, and Eddie Kearney gathered in the sitting room of the monastery on Kickham Street on an autumn evening in 1984, they could scarcely have foreseen what Clonmel Óg would grow into 40 years later.
With extraordinary foresight and vision, they dared to dream, and this began the mammoth task of starting to build a club, Clonmel Óg, one of the few clubs established in the last 40 years.

All at the meeting on that October night shared the one common belief that as the 20th Century neared its conclusion, the GAA in urban Ireland would have to reorganise, restructure, and reinvent itself to meet the needs of future generations of hurlers and footballers. If it wanted to remain relevant in this regard, Clonmel Óg was years ahead of national policy on the development, growth, and promotion of gaelic games in urban Ireland. The club is built on two core principles: commitment to community and young people.

Clonmel Og prides itself as a strong community-based club where family and community mean everything. A vibrant social centre, running for over 30 years and catering to culture, education, sport, inclusion, health, diversity, disability, mindfulness, and well-being, further proof of these dearly held values. Looking back over 40 years of the club, older members will recall the difficult, turbulent and challenging early days.

Soon, more and more interested parents got involved, and very quickly, land was secured.Committees were put in place, administrators and officers were appointed, players and teams were organised, supported by management groups, selectors, and coaches. Major fundraising initiatives, mainly through the Tipperary GAA, or promoted, and plans were made for an investment in future facilities.

PROJECT
This mammoth project began to grow and prosper, drawing on the passion and enthusiasm of a small handful of men and women who would not entertain or contemplate failure. Day and night, these selfless people worked tirelessly and relentlessly to overcome every obstacle and challenge and remove every impediment in the growth path of the new club. With little money, no facilities or dressing rooms, and hardly any equipment, the early club carried on regardless, overcoming obstacle after obstacle and treating challenges as opportunities.

The building of the new bypass road around this time opened up a tract of land that would eventually become a home for the club, Ned Hall Park, named after one of the most committed, dedicated, enthusiastic workers in the early days.
Today, it is hard to believe that this tract of farmland has been transformed into two grass pitches, a dressing room complex with a kitchen, an astroturf pitch, a hurling wall, a fully equipped gym, a floodlit training pitch, a social centre with a bar and meeting rooms, ample car parking, and a tastefully designed sandstone entrance.

DEVELOPOMENT WORK
Side by side with all the development work of the early years, club teams were hugely successful on the playing pitches of Tipperary and further afield. The club contested two all-Ireland finals of Féile na nGael in Kildare and Galway in 1987 and 1988.

The contested three county football finals in 1986, 1988, and 1990, only to be beaten by invincible Eire Og Nenagh teams of that period.
As the club celebrates a 40th anniversary, all involved deeply appreciate the selfless dedication and commitment of all volunteers, past and present, and the outstanding generosity of the people of Clonmel who have never wavered in their financial support for their efforts.