< PreviousDecember 2017 The Meath Coaster40and her lovely mare Suzie on jumping so well, and Niamh Murphy and Hope who have been jumping clear after just com-ing back into riding after Hope’s holidays. The Turkey League continues on Friday nights at 6pm until the 15th of December. The North Eastern Region Riding Club’s Ball is taking place soon in the D-Hotel Drogheda, and some of our members have been shortlisted for regional awards. Best of luck to Niamh Mullen, Marie Moore, Mairead Dolan and Lindsey ilona Brady who are all nominated in various catego-ries. Our members will be donning their finery for what is always a brilliant social night for the club. The Castlehill RC AGM and Awards Night will be taking place in the Lime Kiln, Julianstown on Thursday 14th December at 7:30pm. If you are interested in joining the club for 2018, why not pop along to the bar afterwards, about 9pm, to meet some of our members and pick up a membership form. For more information, please “like” our page on FB or contact Lindsey on 087 2285109. §Sarah Cassidy and her lovely horse Wood-land Badger were competing recently in the Northern Ireland Festival Working Hunter Qualifier at Castlehill EC. Sarah and Badger placed 5th in an extremely competitive 80cm class, and have earned their qualifying place for Cavan next year. Olivia Nolan and her horse Abi were also competing, and placed 2nd in the 70cm class. They were also clear in the 80cm class but were very unlucky to be out of the placings. Well done girls!Lisa O’Brien and her horse Giddy were competing recently at the Dressage Ireland show in Marlton Stud. Lisa won her Nov-ice class, and competing for her first time at Elementary level, she took home an amaz-ing 2nd place. Well done Lisa on your bril-liant achievements, it’s wonderful to see this partnership go from strength to strength. Some of our members have also been try-ing to win their Christmas dinner at the an-nual (and legendary) SJ Turkey League at Castlehill EC. Well done to Marie Moore Sarah Cassidy and Woodland BadgerLisa O’Brien and Cruaghs Giddy UpCastle Hill Riding Club Well done to the members of Castle-hill RC that have braved the recent changeable weather to get out and com-pete with their horses. December 2017 The Meath Coaster41Cilles Athletic ClubDouble Leinster title win for HollyOn October 28th, Holly Brennan claimed the girls U16 Leinster cross country title. Two weeks later, running out of age, she repeated the feat and won the girls un-der 17 Leinster title. A well deserved hon-our for a young lady who along with be-ing talented, puts in so much effort. Holly is a credit to herself and family. Her club, coaches and all who know her are very proud of her and her amazing achievement.November rundownOur senior runners Tim, Brona, Susan, Caroline, Graham, Ciara, Deirdre, Alan and Ian took to the streets of Dublin for the Dublin marathon, so much dedication and hard work goes into training to take part in a marathon, it’s a fantastic achieve-ment, well done all. The first day of the Meath cross country league was held on the 5th of November, valuable points were earned for the club across the board by a bunch of enthusiastic young athletes.Kenny Boyle did an uphill marathon on the 12th of November at the Tollymore Trial Marathon in a smashing time of 4:06. Our talented under 17 lads Gavin, James and Ciaran were part of the Meath team that claimed gold at day 3 of the Leinster cross country championships. Well done boys, your hard work and dedication is paying off. A big well done to club juvenile Aidan Clarke who took home gold, whilst rep-resenting his school Realt na Mara at the 30th annual Drogheda and District schools cross country championships.The Anangassin 10k took place on the 18th of Nov, Aishling, Derek, Regan, Eloise and Bridget all did themselves proud run-ning in fantastic times. Cilles AC had it’s largest number of athletes to date, out on the 19th at the Meath relay cross country races. A fabulous day of running and team spirit was on show from all our run-ners. Our u16 girls Holly, Meg, Siofra and Caoimhe took home gold and the boys u16 James, Aaron, Kai and Liam took sil-ver. We had a very special visitor on the 20th, Michelle Finn, Irish international ath-lete and Olympian came to present James Smith, Darragh Collins and Ciaran Smith with their silver medals earned for their excellent performances in the U18 and u16 from Day 2 of the Leinster Champi-onships in Navan.Full race reports can be found on our Fa-cebook page Cilles Athletic Club, along with a plethora of photos. There’s still so much to look forward to before the end of the year, as the Coaster goes to print Cilles AC is preparing to take part in the National cross country championships and our much anticipated Santa run will have taken place on Bettystown beach. A big thank you to all our club members, their families, our coaches and to Dermot at the Coaster for his continued support. So all that’s left is to wish you all a very merry Christmas and a Happy new year.Bigi linn ag rith §December 2017 The Meath Coaster42With all the leagues finished and the last of the friendlies winding up we are all ready to take a well-earned break from the pitch, but before we do, we still have our end of Season Award Ceremony and Christmas Parties to look forward to. This year we will be holding both our Children’s Party and our Adults Party in Reddans of Bettystown. Tickets for the evening are available from any of our committee members or through our Face-book Page, if either of our last two Social Events are anything to go by this prom-ises to be a really great night out so we are looking forward to seeing you all there.Thank you to Everyone who supported us in the recent FAI National Draw, this draw gives clubs like ours a fantastic op-portunity to raise much needed funds as €8.50 from each ticket sold goes directly back to the club, that’s why it is so impor-tant that we have the support from all our members in initiatives such as this. We sold all our tickets and we even still had people looking for tickets after they had sold so next year we promise to bring you more. The winner of our Club Draw was HARRY BRANT, Harry won two Premium Ireland Match Tickets, his ticket was sold to him by under 10’s Coach Mark Birney. Details of the National Draw re-sults can be found on our Facebook Following our Disco, in our new venue in East Meath Boxing Club we were finally able to purchase our very own PA system and DJ equipment, this is a great asset to the club and will provide us with enter-Laytown United F.C.December 2017 The Meath Coaster43tainment at our events for many years to come, so a big THANK YOU to all the boys and girls in the community who came along on the night. Also, a big thank you must go to Owen Graham who very kindly gave up his time to DJ for both Discos and to Dave Rich-mond and Damien O’Connell for keeping the kiddies entertained throughout.Once again we would like to say THANK YOU to everyone who has supported us throughout the year from Players, Parents, Volunteers, Businesses, Committee and Coach-es we really appreciate all of your participation because without it our club would not be able to function. Wishing you all a Safe and Happy Christmas and New Year from all at Laytown United FC. §Drogheda Chess ClubThe 2017/18 secondary and prima-ry schools chess leagues organised by Drogheda Chess Club are under-way. There are 6 schools in the second-ary schools league including Drogheda Grammar School and Colaiste na hInse. Meanwhile, Gaelscoil an Bhradain Feasa is the local representative in the primary schools League. Matches will be played between November and March. Meanwhile in club competition, Sean Cummins who learned his chess skills in the Drogheda schools chess league, se-cured his first piece of silverware since joining the club two years ago when he defeated Alan Dee in the Noeleen Thom-son Cup Final. Sean, who is now study-ing Science at Maynooth remained calm throughout and did just enough to win a closely fought game.The club meet every Tuesday evening at 8.15pm in Reddans Bar, Bettystown. New members are welcome. For further up-to-date information please visit the club web-site at https://droghedachess-club.wordpress.comDecember 2017 The Meath Coaster44Laytown & Bettystown Golf Club- Presentation EveningHere are some photos of a major presentation evening we had at Laytown & Bettystown Golf Club. Among the awards handed out were Golfer of the Year; Club Championship winner; Winter League Winners and Hamper WinnersOn the left is the Winner of the Laytown & Bettystown Golf Club Winter League (Class 1) John McGinn is presented with his prize by Mark Doran of sponsors Jack Doran Motors and Captain Denis Taylor.The Pat O'Brien Trophy is presented to club championship winner, David Foy, by Ann & Alan O'Brien and Captain Denis Taylor.Laytown & Bettystown Golf Club Golfer of the Year for 2017, Michael Conlon, is presented with his award by sponsor, Frank Flynn of Robt. B. Daly & Son Ltd. and Captain Denis TaylorOliver O’Sullivan of Homestore, Bettystown (sponsor) presents Stephen Kelly, winner of the Laytown & Bettystown Golf Club Monthly Medal for July with his prize. Also pictured is club Captain, Denis Taylor.December 2017 The Meath Coaster45DONACARNEY CELTIC F.C.Congratulations to Brianna Martin from our U14 Divas who successfully secured herself a place in the U14 MGL Academy. Brianna wasted no time seizing the new opportunity following the Divas move to the MGL’s Premier League this season. Well done Brianna and good luck. Pumas - SFAI CupThe Pumas continued their unbe-lievable SFAI Cup run this month with an impressive 5-0 win over Parkvilla in Navan. The Pumas have now successfully played their way through 4 rounds of the SFAI Cup with this latest win booking them a place in both the North Leinster Regional Semi-Fi-nal and the last 32 of the SFAI All-Ireland Cup. Well done PumasU14 MGL AcademyBook your free place today! 086 1048557SponsorshipDCFC would like to say thank you to Duggan Steel and Pet-Bliss Drogheda who recently sponsored new Kits for our U10 Colts (left) and U10 Lions (right).Thanks for the support.Donacarney Celtic F.C.December 2017 The Meath Coaster46Coaching Corner, from Dave Gaffrey, Director of FootballPlenty of work has continued in Min-nistown during November despite the swift end to league games. Our EMU Academy has grown tremendously in re-cent months with lots of hard work from the Nippers, their coaches along with the commitment and support from all the par-ents. It really is great to see such enthusi-asm down there every Saturday morning, numbers are growing weekly, and the fu-ture looks bright.Preparation has now begun for our new U8’s squads for next season. Both coach-es and players are identified, and all are itching to get going. In fact, the new sea-son is top of our agenda presently with our 10’s 11’s and 12’s all streaming this month. Our 2007 age group holds massive potential, we have had 40+ players play-ing blitzes over the last four weeks, and some smashing games have taken place, everyone involved has embraced the pro-cess with gusto. The 2005 squads have been working extremely hard too with the help of guest coaches in the shape of Georgie Poynton, Martin Curley & Paul Doolin. Many thanks to everyone for the continued support, Dave #TheGafferTalksCoaches Charity Match, Friday 9th De-cember KO 8pm : Minnistown AWPThis year’s annual Coaches Charity Match is on Friday 9th December at Min-nistown with a 8pm KO. This event is growing year on year. We are delighted to announce the coaches have chosen to support the Gary Kelly Cancer Support Centre. The Support Centre is situated in Georges Street, Drogheda, Co. Louth. It is a support centre for people living with cancer, their families and those who care for them. The centre offers holistic and complementary therapies, education and psychological support which is nowadays regarded as part of standard support for people with cancer. The centre is open to people on the island of Ireland. All therapies and supports are free of charge. Please come along and show your sup-port for Inter Milan v Lazio again, and all the coaches from the club are involved in East Meath UnitedDecember 2017 The Meath Coaster47some capacity. The football on show may not be quite at the same level as Serie A, but we can guarantee similar jerseys along with lots of deep heat, heavy breathing, red faces, the occasional late challenge, many stray passes and lots of missed ef-forts though in the main laughs and cama-raderie. #GreatCoachingTeam End of Year Awards,Saturday 10th December Bettystown & Laytown Golf Club, 14:00 -17:00For many of the volunteers involved this is the best day of the year in East Meath United. A day where we all come together to reflect and cel-ebrate. There is so much to be proud of this year and none more so than the ef-fort and teamwork displayed from all our teams week-in, week-out during training and then showcasing their tal-ent every Saturday and Sunday. We have moved this year’s event to the Laytown and Bettystown Golf club on Sat-urday 9th between 14:00 -17:00. Images will be available on our Media pages of Facebook, Twitter & Instagram, over to you Gar McDonnell, Official Club Pho-tographer & PRO Media Team member. #CatchASmileEast Meath in The Community, Foot-ball for All Programme, Coming SoonEvery aspect of our club is growing and next year will see us launch our Football for All programme in conjunction with the FAI. Like the FAI, East Meath United aims to deliver football op-portunities to children who may not ordinari-ly get a chance to play the ‘beautiful game’ #EMUFootball4All As an ever-evolving community-based club, we would love your input and help. Volunteers are want-ed and always wel-comed. If you have 30 mins per week to lend a hand, please do get in touch. Email at info@eastmeathu-nited.ie we would love to hear from you. #EastMeathUnited-Family §December 2017 The Meath Coaster48Stamullen Football ClubClub news -Under 8’s round upNic and Kieron’s under 8’s Here we are at the end of our first league season, which turned out to be a mara-thon one due to the NDLS’s transition from winter to summer league, having achieved our primary target of developing all the players involved while playing the sport we all love, football.This team grew from about 9 players ini-tially to 15 along the way, played in sever-al different groups (blue/green, whatever) and managed to consistently improve and provide so much pride and joy to its loyal supporters playing with gusto and a fan-tastic team spirit. As coaches, we ensured every player had equal playing opportuni-ties, experience different positions on reg-ular basis, and most importantly enjoyed Ger and Mick’s under 8’sNic and Kieron’s under 8’s December 2017 The Meath Coaster49being on a football pitch whether for training or matches. We are so proud of every one of the players and can’t wait to start a new season to continue developing our huge potential, for both the short and medium term. We also wanted to thank all the parents for the fantastic support on and off the pitch, and constant encourage-mentsGer and Micks under 8’s.We are one of the Stamullen Fc U8 teams.Managed by Ger Duff and Mick O Con-nor.Our team is made of Cian, Christian, Zach, Patrick, Dean, Finn, David, Wil-liam, Izzy, Nathan Carr, John-Paul, Harry, Jamie and Nathan Blake.We play in the NDSL(Black) League.This season we had an amazing season. We were only beaten once and scored over 400 league goals.These goals were from teamwork and great team spirit from every single player. We train very hard it pays off on the pitch. We pride ourselves in FairPlay.We have made many friends in other clubs through our season.We would never shy away from playing anybody. We have also played teams older than us and gained their respect from our good football. We are not just a team, we are a group of best friends and just love playing football together.AGMWe held our Club AGM on Monday 14th November. Thanks to all who came, Committee members were re-elected and we are delighted to welcome Ali Brennan and Ger Duff onto the committee. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank Joe Higgins for all his hard work and dedication to the club and the committee these past few years, we will miss you at our monthly meet-ings!Tesco Community Fund.Grainne from the fundraising commit-tee happily receiving the Tesco commu-nity fund cheque from Lisa from Tesco. Thanks to all who helped collect blue to-kens for the Club. Finally we would like to take this oppor-tunity to thank all the parents, families, the players, coaches, helpers, committee, fundraising committee, seniors, over 35’s and everyone else who has helped make 2017 an amazing year for the Club Contact Details: -Email - stamullenfc@gmail.com Facebook - www.facebook.com/stamullenfcClub Secretary - Marcus Kelly – 0851477825Website – www.stamullenfc.com §Next >