Medal presentation night held

We recently held a medal presentation night to celebrate our juvenile teams who had won medals in 2020/2021, which unfortunately could not be celebrated at the time. We wanted to recognise the achievements of the girls and coaches, as it takes a huge amount of training and hard work to get to a county final and even more so, to win one, so it was very important to us that we mark their accomplishments.

We were delighted to have the U14 All-Ireland and Munster cups with us on the night and it was great to get a chance to celebrate the achievement of Clodagh Collins, Sarah Barry and Barry Collins on being part of the successful Waterford U14 team this season.

We began the night with a very special message from the one and only Rachael Blackmore, who kindly gave her time to send the girls some words of encouragement.

Clodagh Walsh acted as MC on the night and did a great job of keeping the show on the road, so a big thank you to her for that!

Our chairperson, Seamus Daly gave a short but sweet speech, and this was followed by Waterford LGFA Chairman, John Frewen who shared some wise words with the girls about sticking with football and looking after each other.

Waterford Rose Helen Geary was one of our special guests on the night, and she shared some memories of her own time with her club, as well as some lovely advice about friendship.

Thanks to Helen for being with us on the night and also to Rosie Landers, former Waterford Senior player and current O’Connor Cup winner with UL who presented our U15s and U16s with their medals.

U12S

Firstly, we presented our U12 county champions from 2020 with their medals and had some lovely words about each girl from coach Barry Collins.

Then it was onto our U12 county runners-up from 2021, where Helena Kearney eloquently described the highs and lows of the season. Blathnaid Landy was awarded the Most Improved Player for the season, while Katie Kenny was voted Players’ Player of the Year.

U14S

We then honoured our U14s from 2021. Even though they did not win a county title, the girls put in huge time and effort into training and matches throughout the season and deserved to be recognised for that alone. Clodagh Hayes was chosen as the Most Improved Player from this group, and Mia Geary was the players’ choice.

U15 & U16

We then moved on to present our U15 and U16 2021 county champions with their medals. Clodagh Collins was awarded the U15 final Player of the Match, while Nora Ahern was chosen as the Most Improved Player and Sibhe Collins was awarded the Players’ Player of the Year. Ailish O’Donovan was the deserving U16 Player of the Final with Katie Kenneally receiving Most Improved Player and Zoe Van de Ven was a worthy Players’ Player of the Year.

We then recognised our members who had represented us on county teams over the 2020/2021 period - Zoe Van de Ven, Kate Ahern, Molly Kenneally, Clodagh Collins and Sarah Barry.

Finally, we awarded several players that were involved in standout ‘Sporting Moments’ of the year, as chosen by the coaches. Well done to Sinead Branagh, Niamh Ryan and Maeve Kearney.

We also recognised all the coaches for their contribution to the club, presenting them with framed pictures of their winning teams. Thanks to Barry, Helena, Clodagh, Sarah and Steve. We couldn’t have done any of it without ye!

We rounded out the evening by presenting Helen Geary with a bouquet of flowers to recognise her achievements and wished her well in the Rose of Tralee competition.

We then headed into the hall for some well deserved hot food for the kids, and some tea and chats for the parents. There was even some ice cream for dessert!

A massive thank you to everyone involved in organising the night and to all who helped out on the night with sandwiches, baking, washing up, etc. It really does take a village!

And on that note, it’s almost time to start planning our 2022 medal presentation!