< PreviousFebruary 2017 The Meath Coaster ©40Loreto Secondary, BalbrigganEast Meath students have been busy recently in Loreto Secondary School, Balbriggan. They are involved in a range of school activities. Take the Young Scientists exhibition in the RDS. Anna Sowray and Savannah Rose Mc Auley along with Kelsey Wilson entered a very interesting project which examined the short term side effects of the HPV vaccine, a very topical subject indeed. The school won in the interme-diate category and came second in the senior category of the Biological and Eco-logical Field. Their science teacher from Kenstown, Dr.Niamh Mc Nally also won teacher of excellence in her field.In the world of arts and performance Lau-ren Murphy and Mia Walsh produced magnificent outfits for the heats of the Junk Kouture competition which were ex-hibited in an exciting school performance which ran over two nights.A huge thank you to the many East Meath members of the schools parent’s associa-tion who gave of their time and energy to a wonderful evening in the school entitled “Food for Thought” It was a super night with the mingling of brilliant minds, all sharing a passion for science and good food. Huge thanks to the panel led by Prof. Donal O’Shea. Thanks also to all the local retailers such as Callaghan’s butchers and The Brown Hound who generously sup-plied prizes for the raffle. Congratulations to the U.16 Gaelic Foot-ball team who this week booked their place in the Leinster final by beating Lo-reto Navan in the Semi-final. The girls put in a great team performance to beat a very strong Navan side by a score line of 2-10 to 1-6. There are many Colmcille’s girls on this team. Well done girls.A huge congratulations to the students Young Scientists Anna Sowray, Savannah Rose Mc Auley and Kelsey Wilson.Lauren Murphy, Ruby Pereira and Mairead Ni ChlerieghFebruary 2017 The Meath Coaster ©41who participated in the North Leinster Cross Country Competition in Santry to-day. Our intermediate team came first in Under 16 Gaelic Football teamMia WalshLauren Murphythe competition. The team included Ruby Pereira, Lauren Murphy and Mairead Ni Chleirigh. §February 2017 The Meath Coaster ©42Cilles Athletic ClubWell it’s been wonderful to see the number of people out and about over the last couple of weeks, running, walking, strolling - it’s all good, getting in some exercise. Keep it up Bettystown/Laytown - you’re lookin good! Of course we’d love everyone to get involved with running, if you’d like to take part, get in contact with us via www.cillesac.ie or message us through our Facebook page Cilles Athletic Club.Juvenile AthleticsFabulous numbers out training in our juve-nile groups, Coláiste na hIinse is at capacity for the under 9 groups and a huge number attend up at Seafield for 9 years olds and above. There’s a wonderful atmosphere at both training groups, everybody honing their skills and fitness in a supportive and friendly atmosphere, It’s a credit to both the athletes and their coaches.Cilles earned themselves a respectable second place in grade B in the Meath Cross Country League, congratulations to everyone who put in such effort over the whole series of races. Our juveniles were in action at the International Cross Country in Antrim, mid Jan. A huge field to contend with and some valuable expe-rience gained for our up and coming ath-letes. The gang have also been braving some frosty mornings at Oldbridge for the Saturday morning Park run ,some amaz-ing times being achieved. Senior AthleticsWe’ve initiated a return to fitness program, which is running a few weeks now. It’s not too late to join in, it involves a 1k jog, some drills and exercise and a 1k return jog. Those attending are loving it! Come on Tuesdays & Thursdays, 7.30pm meet-ing in the back carpark Tescos Bettystown.AGMOur AGM will take place Friday, Feb-ruary 10th, 7pm in Reddans Bettystown. Please make every effort to attend, feed-back, new ideas and your support make this club what it is.Bettystown B-5 race 2017A date for the Calender - Tuesday July 18th 8pm is the date for the third B-5. It’s a fast flat five mile in Bettystown and it has been an absolute blast for the past 2 years. Registration will open 12 weeks before the race, there’ll be plenty of updates be-tween now and then, watch The Coaster, Facebook and webpage for full details of entry. Bigi linn ag rith § February 2017 The Meath Coaster ©43Boyne RFC U10'sBoyne under 10's can be very proud of their performance as Seapoint re-cently. Despite the early start, they were quickly into their stride winning 2 of their 3 matches and scoring plenty of tries in the process. Showing good awareness of space and strong running yielded numer-ous tries for the visitors. A terrific effort all round with honors on the day going to Boyne overall. Excellent use of space and passing ensuring high scoring games from both sides. A relentless effort in defense ultimately paying dividends for the travelling side. A special mention has to be given to the visible improvement in tackling and pass-ing by each and every player. For further information on mini's, youths, senior and girls rugby visit www.boynerfc.ie §Neville Knott - Home Show 2017With the tiniest stretch in the evenings Spring is definitely on the way and Home Improvements, on many minds. Drogheda Credit Union Ltd are inviting all Home Owners, Home Improvers, members and non members to attend their “Home Show 2017”, in the Westcourt Hotel on the 1st of March where they are launching their new Home Improvement Loan. Hosted by Neville Knott, TV presenter of Door-step Challenge, Roomers & Showhouse, come meet the experts in all things Home Improvement. Pick up tips and insights on anything from planning permission to paving, décor to decking. Launching their new Home improvement loan of up to €100,000 at a great rate of 5.9% (6.08% apr) what better way to get tips and advice then coming along on the 1st of March for the event. With many local exhibitors on hand to showcase their products and services and Drogheda Credit Union Loan available to chat on how to fund your project this is a one stop shop for all things Home Improvement. As part of the launch Drogheda Credit Union are also giving one lucky attendee on the night a mas-sive €8000 Home Improvement Prize to include a range of home improvement products and services……amazing prize for anyone looking to start a project on their house. Date for your diary: 1st March Time: 5.30pm – 9pm; Meet with Drogheda Credit Union & Exhibitors6.45pm – 8pm; On The Couch Expert Panel Discussion hosted by Neville KnottVenue: Westcourt Hotel, West Street, Drogheda, February 2017 The Meath Coaster ©44Team of the MonthFor February our feature team are our under 10’s, again as a club we treat this group as a whole instead of two sepa-rate teams they are extremely lucky in that their two fantastic coaches Andy and Mark work very closely together in all as-pects, and with Martin and Paul in assist-ing roles these players are well and truly in safe hands. After the short season has finally wrapped for the winter Laytown’s under 10’s can look back on some fantastic progress made. Our 2 under 10’s have trained to-gether since under 8’s and this year has definitely seen them grow not just as foot-ballers but solid individuals and great team players. Increasing the level of coaching standards at the club has always been a priority which has most certainly paid off for these teams as individual and targeted training sessions has helped to bring some players along much faster than would be expected elsewhere. Year on year we’ve been lucky enough to increase our num-bers and we’ve snagged some great new-comers this season, coaches Andy, Martin, Mark and Paul have done an outstanding job and look forward to the season ahead.Andy Lennon (under 10’s coach).Duck Race With our club trip to Wales fast approach-ing we are running several events in order to raise funds to go towards the children’s fares our next event is coming up on 26th February at Laytown Bridge and every-body is welcome there will be some fan-tastic prizes on the day and it promises to be great fun for all the family §February 2017 The Meath Coaster ©45DONACARNEY CELTIC F.C. New DugoutsConstruction was underway this month in Castlemartin for 6 new Dugouts for our three pitches. Thanks to everyone who came down to help lay the foundations on the day and a big thank you to all of our members for their continued support at our fundraising events. It is your fundrais-ing efforts that allow us to continual-ly develop the Club and grow it for the future. The new Dugouts will be a fantastic addition to our grounds in Castlemartin! We have had a busy period recently with our charity fundraising efforts. Our Charity Football Match and Santa Splash & Dash raised €980 for A Smile For Ryan. While our Golf Classic raffle in association with Moran’s Pub raised a sum of €600 for the East Meath Hospice. Mark and Jaince presented Kate Calvey with a cheque at our Santa Visit in Mornas in support of the excellent local services they provide. In addition our Hot-Chocolate sales at our Santa visit raised €300 for St Vincent de PaulNew DefibrillatorDCFC would like to say a big thank you to Councilor Sharon Tolan for supplying the Club with a new defib unit for our Club House in Castlemartin. The unit is a vital piece of kit for any sports club of our size and it is a fantastic addition to the Club. It’s one piece of kit that we are delighted to have, but hope to never use! Charity FundraisingFebruary 2017 The Meath Coaster ©46On the PitchWe hope all our teams are well rested and ready for some pre-season training, in or-der to prepare for summer soccer at the beginning of March. Our Coaching Com-mittee used the break to organise some training for our coaches with our now very popular Coaching Seminars. Our key phrase of “It’s all about the kids” took a back seat as our coaches took centre stage. Our annual New Year Coaching Semi-nars were held in brilliant sunshine at our grounds in Ministown, over 2 Saturdays in the middle of January. It’s become an annual event now to shake off the Christ-mas excess when we bring together our coaches and invite guest coaches along to cover particular topics to help our coaches develop our players.This year we were delighted to welcome Barry Ferguson, our FAI Development Officer for Meath, who put on a fantastic session with our Under 9’s on dribbling. By the time Barry was finished, there were cries of Messi and Ronaldo ringing out around the ground.Buoyed on by tea, hot soup and coffee in the Red Card Café, the coaches finished off the session with Barry hosting a ques-tion and answers session to cover off any outstanding items. Back on the training pitch Luke Reilly aided and abetted by Robert Quinn put on a second superb session of the morn-ing, which was a session specifically for our young goalkeepers. Luke is currently playing for our U17 team and is pursu-ing his coaching badges. Often an area forgotten about, our goalkeepers are a key focus area for the club. Every Friday night from 8pm to 9pm, our goalkeepers coaching sessions are held in Ministown with our coaching team all currently pur-suing their coaching badges as part of the FAI Development Plan.Our secnd Saturday saw the return of one of our old friends, Derek Murray, who put on an excellent session on creating space with our U11’s. Again, we had a great morning and the players had a tremendous session and enjoyed it immensely.A big thanks to the coaches who put on the sessions, and also to the coaches who attended on 2 sunny but cold mornings. Over the next month, our development plan for all of our coaches will be rolled out to ensure both player and coach devel-opment plans are in place for the new year. We recognise the need for our coaches to February 2017 The Meath Coaster ©47progress, and work closely with the FAI to continuously develop.Summer SoccerThis season sees the switch to summer football for all our teams completing in the NDSL, which will mean our coaches will have to worry more about sunburn rather than frostbite! The season will run from mid-March to November, with a summer break for exams and holidays in-cluded. This will obviously affect squads as players will have holiday plans dur-ing the season. More information will be available in the coming weeks.AcademyOur juniors Academy will be back from the 1st Monday in March, 607pm in Minis-town, and will run until the summer with some holiday breaks. §February 2017 The Meath Coaster ©48clear over the Advanced Primary course with her horse Bouncer. These girls are new members to the riding club, and per-formed extremely well at their first riding club show. Well done! Castle Hill Riding Club 2017 is off to a busy start for the mem-bers of Castlehill RC. The club recently hosted a New Members and Renewal night in the City North Hotel, and were delighted at the turnout of both new and returning members. The club committee went above and beyond the call of duty, and dressed in the attire needed to compete in the dif-ferent disciplines. It was a very informa-tive evening, with special thanks going to Mairead Dolan for sharing her competition tips and knowledge with us. Caitriona Kavanagh and BouncerKevin McGuinness with Gary, Marie and StacyMarie Moore and SusieCastlehill RC has also started a series of Showjumping clinics with HSI level 2 coach Kevin McGuinness. Huge thanks go to Kevin for his invaluable instruc-tion, as over the course of a number of weeks, he will be developing the partner-ship of horse and rider over fences. There was huge interest in these sessions from our club members, who no doubt, will be putting their experience to good use dur-ing the NER Winter SJ League. The league kicked off on Sunday the 22nd of January at Broadmeadows EC, and was very well attended by competitors from all over the North East Region. Huge congratulations go to Marie Moore, who rode her lovely mare Susie clear over the Primary course. Her yard-mate Caitriona Kavanagh also did extremely well, going Also riding in the Primary class was Ani-ta McNamara Doyle and her horse Ruby. They were unlucky to have a few faults, but performed very well. In the Advanced Primary class, Paul Murray and his horse Henry rode their first riding club course at 80cm and also had a great round. Olivia Nolan and Abi were unlucky to have one fence down, but rode excellently. The red rosette for the AP class was brought home by Castlehill member Grainne Cronin and her horse Newgrange Danny Boy. These two are off to a blistering start for 2017, and we are all delighted for their success! In the Intermediate class, Aaron McGrane and his ex-racehorse Andiamos performed brilliantly, even riding fences 4 - 10 with no stirrups! Gary Monahan and his lovely horse Olaf rode in the same class, but were unlucky with a few faults. Well done to all our members for their re-cent success, and we’re looking forward to the next leg of the league in Killossery Lodge Stud on the 5th of February.For more info, please “like” our Facebook page, or contact Lindsey on 087 2285109.February 2017 The Meath Coaster ©49Stamullen Football ClubStamullen FC does Strictly Come Danc-ing news. We held our launch night on Satur-day the 14th January in Whytes of Stamullen. Our 32 dancers were coupled up. It was such a successful launch night that all tickets for Stamullen FC does Strictly come dancing on Saturday 12th February are Sold Out! We would like to thank our Event Sponsor City North hotel, our dancer sponsors and programme sponsors and of course our amazing dancers. A special mention has to go to Grainne, Marie, Adele and Antoi-nette of our fundraising committee with-out whom this brilliant event wouldn’t be happening. Thank you all. under 16 girls are back playing in the leagues after the Christmas break and so far the weather has been kind and matches are going ahead each weekend. The academy is back training after Christ-mas break, great to see our little guys and girls back in full swing every Tuesday. Club Contact Details: -Email - stamullenfc@gmail.com Facebook - www.facebook.com/stamullenfcClub Secretary - Marcus Kelly – 0851477825Website – www.stamullenfc.com Here are our amazing 16 Couples, best of luck guys!!! Our new under 10 girl’s team, managed by Sean and NicolaClub news –Stamullen FC are delighted to introduce their new under 10’s girls Team. The girls have been training hard and enjoying their first matches as a new side. The team is trained by Sean and assisted by Nicola, who are doing a great job with the girls. We will update you on the team’s progress in the coming months.The under 11 girls, under 13 girls and The under 16 girls braving the brief cold snap one night at training! Now that’s dedication.Next >