The Clare Champion Clare news, sport, entertainment and local notes
WOLFE Tones held the finals night of its Johnny Cregan Memorial Tournament last week.
The hurling tournament for local national schools was organised to help promote the game with young people in the town, and to commemorate Johnny, who was a well known figure within the club for many years.
After a blitz day on June 15, the finals night took place last Wednesday.
Wolfe Tones Paul Hogan said, “We wanted to get the schools in Shannon engaged in hurling again, and to promote hurling within the town.
“The best way to promote is through the schools and we felt that if we had a Shannon schools championship and get every school in Shannon to enter, it’d be one way of getting exposure of it into every school.
“We’re going to do the same for gaelic football later on, after the Cumann na mBunscoil has taken place, but we just said that with the Clare hurlers going well we’ll tackle the hurling this side of the year and have the football in September.
“Johnny Cregan was a brilliant clubman for us, and he loved his hurling. We wanted to do something to remember him and we thought what better way to do that than to have all the young boys and girls in Shannon playing.”
Paul said there was a huge level of interest from young people in Shannon.
“We couldn’t believe the uptake we got out of it. We had 130 children taking part in the blitz, 15 different teams between five of the schools in Shannon, one school couldn’t partake.
“We had a young Ukrainian guy who was nearly the star of the show on the night, even though he was only hurling two weeks.
“Another lad called Abdul, I think he played cricket before, he was very good as well.”
The teams were mixed between boys and girls, and Paul said that in many cases the most skillful players were girls.
Johnny had four children and all of those and several of his grandchildren were there for the finals night to present cups and medals.
Writing in the programme produced for the finals night, club secretary Amanda Hogan paid tribute to Johnny.
“Johnny originally from Belfast, Co. Antrim, moved to Shannon. He became a very proud Wolfe Tones na Sionna member. He did so much for our club from groundsman to backroom and support to teams.
“Much of his work was behind the scenes which kept the show on the road. Some years back this was rewarded with the prestigious Honorary Life Membership to the club.
“Many players have shared their memories of him handing them their first Wolfe Tones shirt, something they will never forget. Up until very recently Johnny was the kitman to our senior hurlers, a role he filled with great honour for many years.”
“He was with them in the good days and the bad. The sliotar count will never be as good again!
“Johnny was a man for all ages. He made time for everyone he met aged 9 to 90. He always had a little chat and a few words of encouragement. He will always have a special place in the hearts of all Wolfe Tones na Sionna members. The club is a sadder place without Mr Wolfe Tones.
“A gentleman and a friend. Johnny embodied all that is good in the GAA, we in Wolfe Tones were privileged to have had him in our club.”
Owen Ryan
Owen Ryan has been a journalist with the Clare Champion since 2007, having previously worked for a number of other regional titles in Limerick, Galway and Cork.
