A special day for Clooney-Quin GAA

THIS Sunday will be a red-letter day for Clooney-Quin GAA Club as the club’s second pitch will be officially before Clare and Galway play in a senior hurling challenge.
With the opening games in the championship for both counties just a few weeks away, they are both expected to have strong sides on duty. John Conlon, Nicky O’Connell and Darach Honan (Clare), Ger Farragher, Damian Hayes and Joe Canning (Galway) are all expected to line out.
Proceedings will get under way at 6.15pm when the club will unveil plaques to honour four deceased members who, in different ways, made a significant contribution to the GAA at local, provincial and national levels. Those being honoured are Amby Power, captain of Clare’s All-Ireland winning team in 1914; Mick Hennessy, former Clare secretary and a well-known referee; Brendan Vaughan, former Clare and Munster chairman and Seamus Reddan, long-time club official.
Work on the development of the new pitch commenced in 2005 shortly after Des Lynch became chairman of the club.
“I remember being here on Saturday mornings and seeing between 80 and 90 children here and there was no room for them. We had to do something to correct that and we identified that a second pitch was required. We bought the land from two farmers who owned the property adjacent to our other pitch, which was there since the ’50s,” explained Des.
“A development committee was set up under Malachy Murray ably assisted by John Culligan, Pat Conroy and Brian O’Neill. We then had to fundraise and it was set out that we would ask each house in the parish for €1,000 and this was very well subscribed to. It was a once-off donation and that brought in most of what it cost to buy the land. The development was funded by the National Lottery,” the former chairman explained.
The pitch was the priority together with the building of a surrounding wall. That’s where the voluntary effort came in. I remember being here on a Saturday morning and there were 22 blocklayers present along with people to attend to them. Where there was no wall in the morning, there was a wall all around the field in the evening. I didn’t expect that the response would be so strong. It was tremendous,” according to Des.
The contract to develop the pitch was won by Michael Boland from West Clare. He laid the new pitch, while the committee continued to fundraise for the project. They were tough times but the local community came to our aid. A lot of people picked stones and put the finishing touches to the project. The stand was added last year.
The numbers attending local national schools have increased. “Trying to set up a roster here in 2005 was impossible. The availability of the second field has alleviated all of that. We don’t have to rent fields like we used to,” said Des.
On Sunday, Micheál King from Tulla will have The Carrahan Flag on display also. This banner is regarded as one of the oldest GAA trophies in existence, dating back to the Cusack Era, when Tulla won it in 1888.
The admission fee includes an A4 full-colour souvenir programme, which is packed with interesting articles.
The club has put in place a comprehensive traffic-management plan to allow patrons ease of access to and departure from the match. Free car-parking will be provided adjacent to the complex.
The blessing of the new pitch will take place at 6.40pm and will be performed by Fr Micheál McInerney, the only surviving member of the 1943 championship-winning team and he will be assisted by Fr Michael Collins. The official opening ceremony will be performed by Robert Frost, vice-chairman of the Munster Council.
The Tulla Pipe Band, who played at the opening of the club’s first pitch in 1953, will lead the teams in the pre-match parade.