Effin GAA Club Officials & Committee Members Making A Presentation To Irene Hegarty Marymount Hospice Photo John Mortell
On Monday, 23rd July, Milford Hospice and Marymount Hospice were presented with cheques for €3,000 each as a result of the Effin Supporting Cancer Care Weekend, hosted on the June bank holiday weekend by Effin GAA. Hurling and camogie players from clubs in South Limerick and North Cork came together to play our national game in the glorious sunshine in a blitz. It was what the GAA is all about, community spirit, love of the game and pride of the parish, and to see colours of the different clubs chilling out in the sun, watching other games and waiting for their turn to play. The players and volunteers gave freely of their time to put on an exhibition of hurling and camogie to help raise funds for both Milford and Marymount Hospices.
The weekend of events started on Friday night with the Brainiest Effin Pub competition which was retained by the Idle Hour. The first 9-a-side game kicked off on Sunday at 11am between Effin and Garryspillane with the Bouncers winning after 14 minutes of play (7 minutes a side). All the games were fast and furious with plenty of scores throughout.
Ballyagran and Milford competed in the camogie final, with Milford winning and being presented with the Tommy Quaid Memorial Cup by Tommy’s widow Breda and his son Nickie. Karen Kelly, on behalf of Crown Furniture, presented them with a cheque for €600 which they very kindly donated back to the fundraising weekend. The hurling semi-final was played between Kilmallock and Charleville, and Garryspillane and Ballyhea competed in the other semi-final.
Charleville and Ballyhea won their respective semi-finals, so the final was to be an all-Cork affair. Ballyhea won the Cavanagh Cup and a cheque for €1,000, presented by Martin Condon. Ballyhea also generously donated the first prize of €1000 back to the weekend’s fund-raising.
Donal Kelly, in his speech during the presentation, said: “Effin GAA wanted to do something to help the both Milford and Marymount Hospices who have cared for a lot of people and families dealing with cancer, and especially to remember their past member Anne Kennedy who passed away last year and was very involved with the club.”
The blitz on Sunday was a great hit with the teams from Charleville, Kilmallock, Dromin Athlacca, Ballyhea, Garryspillane, Effin, Milford, Ballyagran, Granagh-Ballingarry. When asked if they would return if the club ran it again next year, they said they would love to! They enjoyed the format of 9-a-side and 7 minutes a side, and to have the chance to play and relax with clubs they wouldn’t normally get the opportunity to meet.
The 3-Ball Hurling Scramble saw some retired hurlers making a comeback in the long puck between the Idle Hour and Davey’s Pub Cross, but they failed to beat the young guns of Nickie Quaid, Tom Carroll and Ciaran Barrett.
The committee would like to thank the follow-ing sponsors; Cavanagh’s, Crown Furniture, JJ’s Brewery Kilmallock, Lees Centr,a Charleville, Dick’s SuperValu, Charleville, Ryan’s SuperValu, Kilmallock, Kerry Agri Stores, The Farm Gate, Charleville, Tobernea Engineering, Gourmet-to-Go, The Idle Hour, Davy’s Pub, Forget-me-Not Florist. Thanks also to the dedicated organising committee and volunteers who came together to organise this very successful weekend. Thanks to all supporters who came along and put their hands in their pockets to the raise funds to support cancer care provided by both Milford and Marymount Hospices.