< Previous© May 2017 The Meath Coaster40Community Supported AgricultureSonairte is developing a CSA scheme and will host a talk on Wednesday 17th May at 7.30pm, this will explain the scheme which is a partnership between the farmer and consumer and aims to ad-dress increasing concerns about the lack of transparency, sustainability and resil-ience in our food system. CSA is a way that consumers can re-take control and ownership of our food system, giving consumers direct connection to the farm and the production of their own food.Duncan Stewart Eco Eye in SonairteWatt Footprint the new eco-shop in Sonairte was officially opened by well-known Eco Eye TV pre-senter and environmen-talist Duncan Stewart on 2nd April, when he shared his vast knowledge and gave a passionate and in-formative talk on global warming and its effect on climate change, emphasizing the importance of decisions we make regard-ing housing, water, energy, fossil fuels, transport, agriculture, land use, waste and recycling and how all can have negative impacts on the lives of today’s children in the future.Paul O’Reilly (photo above right) owner of Watt footprint gave a very powerful talk about why “our houses are killing us”. How everyday household cleaning and beauty products can impact negatively on the in-door air quality of our homes and adversely affect our health. Im-provements in tech-nology means we can now monitor and measure the air quality in our homes and help us become more aware of these issues. Watt Footprint will be holding a series of home detox workshops in Sonairte commence on 11th May for more details contact www.wattfootprint.comNational Biodiversity Week in Sonairte National Biodiversity Week will take place from 20 -28 May 2017 and Sonairte will be holding 2 events; a guided Dawn Chorus event and “Let’s go on a bug hunt” for children; check our website and Facebook for more info.Sustainable Energy Community (SEC) programme. SEAI have details about grants and mentoring supports available for com-munity groups to develop sustainable energy systems for the benefit of the whole community on how to become energy efficient using renewable ener-gy and develop decentralized energy sup-plies. Details of the SEC scheme can be obtained from john@futurefit.ieSonairte Children’s Summer CampsWe are putting together an exciting pro-gramme for children’s summer camps for the month of July; including 3 sepa-rate week long camps; Sonairte Garden Camp, Art Camp and Irish Summer Camp. Please look at our Sonairte Facebook page and www.sonairte.ie for more info. §© May 2017 The Meath Coaster41Road clear of rubbish. Julianstown Tidy Towns cleared litter up as far as Sonairte while doing their Spring Clean on April 8th. Our group went out on six different occasions in April and worked as far as the bird hide at Sonairte. Still this road is hardly ever litter free. Laytown Tidy TownsAdult Education Information morning 16 May The Adult Education Guidance and In-formation Service of LMETB (Louth and Meath Education and Training Board) will hold their monthly drop-in morning in the Alpha Centre, old Coláiste na hInse, Bettystown on Tuesday morning 16 May, 9.30am to 12.30pm. Why not call in if you are thinking of a return to educate or wish to upskill and want to know what is available for the adult learner. Feel free to drop in on Tuesday 16 May or telephone ahead to make an appoint-ment for an alternative date. We are also available to speak to adult groups in any community setting. Please contact Steph-anie or Ann, Monday to Friday on 041 98 42030, email laegis@lmetb.ie. On Saturday 22nd April Laytown Tidy Towns hosted their National Spring Clean. We joined forces on the day with the newly formed Beach Management Committee who co-ordinated a beach clean up. There were start points at the playground in Laytown, the beach en-trance at Bettystown and the entrance at Mornington where volunteers could col-lect gloves, litter pickers and bags. There was a great turn out at each point. The beach was cleaned all the way from Mornington to Laytown, the dunes were cleared, and the main road from Laytown Train Station all the way to Bettystown was cleared of litter. There was tea, cof-fee and sandwiches for all the volunteers afterwards. Well done to all involved. During April we focussed on trying to clean the main Laytown-Julianstown We have to say how disheartening it is to find that rubbish is thrown out of cars within hours of our clean up. TAKE IT HOME! BIN IT!! §© May 2017 The Meath Coaster42Cilles Athletic ClubMy goodness, saying goodbye to April already! Lovely long eve-nings to run in, not quite ready to get the short sleeves out yet but the weather is definitely showing signs of improvement. Hope everybody had a wonderful Easter break. Our little Cilles had a few days off over the break but as you’re about to read the rest of the club was at full throttle.April RoundupColmcilles GAA club hosted the Meath Coast 5 & 10k family fun run/walk. A lovely route to en-courage everyone to get out and get moving, it’s sure to become an annual favourite. Our juve-niles were in action at the Meath Secondary schools Track & Field Championships late March, representing their schools. Impressive running all round, Holly Brennan took 1st in the 800m and came in a very impressive 2nd in the 1500m, considering she only had a couple of min-utes to recover between races. James Smith 1st 800m, in the 1500m - Aaron Smith 2nd , Gavin Doyle 3rd, Kenneth Doyle 4th, Dar-ragh Collins 6th, Paddy French 7th, the race pretty much dominated by Cilles runners! Sean Clarke competed in the 100m for a respectable 6th, well done everybody.The Cooley legends Half marathon took place early April, following in the foot-steps of Cuchulainn were Alan Mulligan, Ciara Lennihan and Karen White, Ciara was the 3rd lady home, massive congrat-ulations . The Great Ireland run was on the same weekend , we were represented by Mairead Murphy and Darragh Collins, who placed 7th in the 15-18 age category. The weekend of the 22nd was a busy one. Olivia Bennett and Risa Champion took part in the Duleek Cystic Fibrosis 10k, a lovely run and a very worthy cause, well done ladies. Declan and Amanda took on the Connemara International Half mara-thon, a hilly run and they’ve tired legs but it sounded fab. To round it all off Tim Donnelly, Brona Cromwell and Caroline Conway took on the Virgin media night run. They all posted impressive times in what I hear was a crowded but fun course.Cilles Summer LeagueThe Meath track and field league saw some Cilles runners make their first foray into the world of 1500m running, lured on by the fact they were securing points for their team in the Meath track and field, and Cilles Leagues. Cilles are currently 2nd place in grade B for the Meath league. We’re running our own club league this summer, with all members allotted to a team. Over the summer there are many local races and members can earn points for their team by competing in these, nice bit of friendly rivalry.Boyne 10KWhen the Coaster goes to print, nearly 30 Cilles AC athletes will be taking part in the Boyne 10k. Keep an eye on the Fa-cebook page for pics of all the fabulous Cilles runners. We’ll give you a full run down on all the action in the June Coaster.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 §© May 2017 The Meath Coaster43Star of the Sea A.C. Club News.Our club was founded in 1972 by a marathon runner, Dave Reynolds. His most illustrious race was in 1971 when he came third in the Berchem Marathon in Antwerp, clocking 2hr 23 m. So although our club is well known for its cross coun-try and track and field achievements, and in more recent times road running, you could say that long distance running is where our roots are; a hotly disputed topic at many a committee meeting! In the spirit of our founder I would like to give mention to several of my club mates over the next months, who have found the challenge of ultra-distance running and mountain running to be their chosen paths. John O’Neill is an ardent mountain and ultra-runner. The longest race he has com-pleted is the 135km Swiss Iron trail. The race began late on a Friday night and went through to Sunday morning with over 7000m of elevation. His training consist-ed of running five to six days a week with lots of 4am starts on Sunday mornings, when he would head down to Wicklow for six hour runs and then drive back home. John said going through a second night without sleep tends to bring on hallucina-tions. The biggest challenge he finds in races over this distance is ensuring your head is in the right place.He completed a 50k race recently along the Wicklow way. His main target is to run the Wicklow Way from start to finish, 127km, scheduled for the end of July. In other club news, we are very proud of all our juveniles and teens who competed for Star of the Sea on 22nd March in Cush-instown. Our next big outing as a club is the Boyne 10k on 30th April organised by our good friends, Drogheda and District A.C. This is the first race in our club Sum-mer League. We have two runners, Ste-phen Redmond and John O’Byrne taking on the Belfast marathon on May 1st and we wish them the best of luck.Our ultra-runners and everyone else will be taking on the challenge of our fifth an-nual 5k road race on May 30th. We wel-come runners, joggers, walkers to what has always been a fun evening. We will be pulling out all the stops to make our fifth annual Road Race a very special oc-casion. Online Registration will be on my run results. There will also be registration on the night. For further information, see Star of the Sea ac 5k road race Facebook page. We want to cut costs to make entry as economical as possible for everyone so we are offering a group rate of €12 per runner for a group of 10 or more runners registering. Individual registration is €15. There will be race t shirts for the first 200 to register online. We will have juvenile races on the track at St Patricks G.A.A. Club before the main race at 8pm. There are great prizes in all categories and our after race spread is legendary! For further information please contact club secretary Michelle McKiernan, michel-lemckiernan@eircomnet. 0861722749.Race director is Karen McKiernan, kariz-matherapymail.com Phone; 087 639 28771John O’Neill.© May 2017 The Meath Coaster44Laytown & Bettystown GolfMcKinstry Top Scorer at Laytown & Bettystown Senior Scratch Cup(Sponsor: Scott Kirkpatrick PGA Professional)Many of the top amateurs from North and South, including past and cur-rent Irish Internationals, interpro’s and several amateur championship title hold-ers competed on the links at Laytown & Bettystown in the club’s Senior Scratch Cup on Sunday March 26th. Also included in the elite field were members of the Irish Development squad under the direction of national coach, Neil Manchip. The players were delighted to participate in this event as it was ideal preparation for the challenge of the upcoming West of Ireland Championship in early April. The light coastal breeze and fast greens en-sured that the East Meath links provided a stern test for our top young players and this was further reflected in the winning score of 2 under par over two rounds.Ryan Mc Kinstry from Cairndhu (73 67) won by two shots from Barry Ander-son (The Royal Dublin), In 3rd place was Caolan Rafferty (Greenore) just ahead of Jake Whelan (Newlands). McKinstry, a semi-finalist in the South of Ireland Championship in 2013, finished 9 shots better than his brother, Neil, who finished with a score of 149.John Ross Galbraith (Whitehead) former Irish Close and North of Ireland Winner was fifth on 143 while Colm Campbell Jr (Warrenpoint) was the best of the chasing pack finished with a 144 which was good enough for 6th place.This year’s very successful Scratch Cup provided some of our local talent the op-portunity to compete against the very best current Irish amateur golfers.Selected local scores:Cian Geraghty (L&B)144 Robert Cannon (Balbriggan)144 Eoghan Collins (L&B)144Gerard Dunne (Co Louth)145 Thomas Mulligan (L&B) 145John D McGinn (L&B) 146Evan Farrell (Ardee) 149 §Winner Ryan McKinstry (Cairndhu) - being presented with his prize by PGA Professional, Scott Kirkpatrick and club captain, Denis Taylor.Eoghan Collins (L&B)Aaron Stack (L&B)Cian Geraghty (L&B)© May 2017 The Meath Coaster45Alison Keegan and Henry were strutting their stuff at the Cheval Dressage league too, where they placed 2nd overall! Well done girls!!The NI Working Hunter festival was also held in Cavan EC recently, where Sarah Cassidy and her horse Badger took home a red rosette by winning the Cob class. Paul Murray and his horse Henry placed 5th in the performance Draught class, and Ruth Callan and Shyboy were 6th in the home-bred cob class. Tracey McKeown and her horse Chocolate were 5th in their showing class too. Congratulations to all our mem-bers that competed, there were some amaz-ing displays of riding over the course of the weekend.Well done to everyone who competed so brilliantly recently. For further info, please “like” our page on FB or contact Lindsey on 087-2285109. §Gary Monahan and his horse Olaf performed extremely well at the National Hunter Trial Championships held at Annaharvey farm recently. They placed 2nd in an extremely competitive intermediate class, and the club are delighted for his success. Well done to Caitriona Kavanagh, Ruth Callan, and Ol-ivia Nolan who also competed but were un-lucky to be out of the placings. The Dressage IRL Winter Finals were held recently at Cavan EC, and there were some stellar tests ridden by our club members. Tracey McKeown and her lovely horse Chocolate placed 2nd overall in the prelimi-nary class. She was followed close behind by Mairead Dolan and her horse Prince, who came 4th, and this pair also took home 4th place in the novice class too! Well done girls!The Leinster region of Dressage Irl also held their winter league final in Killossery Lodge stud recently. Lindsey ilona Brady and her horse Trigger won the preliminary class and placed 6th in the long arena, and Lisa O’Brien and Giddy placed 2nd overall in the Novice league. Castle Hill Riding Club Congratulations yet again to the mem-bers of Castlehill RC that have been out competing, and have excelled them-selves with their performances this month. There has been some amazing results across a range of disciplines. Mairead Dolan and PrinceGary Monahan and OlafLindsey ilona Brady and Trigger© May 2017 The Meath Coaster46Stamullen Football ClubClub news We are delighted that the summer leagues have started and all the Stamullen FC teams are delighted to be back playing Saturdays and Sundays. All teams have gotten off to a great start and we are looking forward to the season ahead. We are loving the bright evenings and being able to train outside again, even if the weather hasn’t warmed up just yet. Girls AcademyThe club has recently started our Girls Academy for junior and senior infants with great success.Our ambition is to get girls involved in the sport from an early age and keep them in-terested and having great fun while they do it. With over 20 girls taking part, they are keeping our coaches Ali, Alan and Marie on their toes and the coaches have told us that they have some great little players in the making. Well done to all the girls involved, you’re doing great!Seniors news Our seniors had a great debut sea-son in the AUL that was marred by a num-ber of injuries early in the campaign, at one point 9 of the squad were out, three of those being long term.Team manager, Peter Byrne, said he was “delighted with the commitment and ef-fort of the team who have consistently shown, including a current 9 game win-ning streak in the league. With a few new faces, more success is guaranteed for next season. We have already got our hands on one big signing - Coach Davy Byrne who is fully committing himself to the Stamullen cause for 2017/18”. Peter also stated “It has been a real club feeling and thanks to the schoolboy coaches and parents who regularly stop and ask how we are doing as a team. We missed out on silverware (although league still math-ematically possible) but are very proud to represent Stamullen FC.”Any players interested for the upcoming season please contact us on:Manager: Peter Byrne – 083 1963434 Club Captain: Ivor Kelly – 087 2385941Over 35’s newsStamullen FC’s Pensioners are going internationalThe Clubs Over 35’s will be competing in the Irish Bayrisch Cup in Gormanston College on Saturday 6th of May. The lads will be competing against Frank-fort FC, Schalke Rovers FC and 2 German teams, FC Weiden-Ost and FC Nesselwang who are both flying in specially for the Tourna-ment. The first match is due to kick off in front of the College Sports Hall at 10am and the “Champions” should be crowned by 1:30pm. All games will be a duration of 12 minutes, which will ensure plenty of action on show, whilst also giving the lads plenty of breaks. The Auld timers would love to see you all there, with your support, banners and vuvuzalas to share in this Internation-al Football Blitz. You wont get this sort of free entertainment anywhere else!Club Contact Details: -Email - stamullenfc@gmail.com Facebook - www.facebook.com/stamullenfcClub Secretary - Marcus Kelly – 0851477825Website – www.stamullenfc.com © May 2017 The Meath Coaster47Boyne Rugby FCBoyne RFC Under 10's photographed recently at the 2017 Athy Rugby Camp-Out which seen 80 Squads of young players drawn from all 4 Provinces of Ire-land and some from the U.K. participating in Rugby Blitzes, Fun Team-Building Ac-tivities and an Overnight Camp-Out. The whole purpose of the Event was to give the children in attendance a memo-rable and enjoyable experience. In this regard it was an outstanding success. In addition to the 1,000 players, a further 400 children and 500 Adults in attended the event. Boyne Under 10's and Under 11's gave a fantastic account of themselves through-out the day, well done to everyone who played.Boyne's mini's and youths rugby season is now at an end we we would to thank all players, parents and coaches for their par-ticipation throughout the 2016/17 season. Details of our 2017/18 season can be found on our website www.boynerfc.ie for anyone wanting to get involved in Rugby.Non contact Girls Rugby will run throughout the summer on Wednesday evenings from 6.30 to 7.30 at Sham-rock Lodge on the Ballymakenny Road in Drogheda. This is open to girls of all ages, both members and non members and is free of charge. §E.M.H.A. Driving ServiceEast Meath Hospice Association (E.M.H.A.) provides a voluntary driver service to bring people to Dublin and Drogheda hospitals for chemotherapy and radio-therapy treatments. Ph: 087 210 0036. © May 2017 The Meath Coaster48On the PitchThis month we have a special mention for our U13’s squad! These guys have maintained their NDSL Premier Division status with a strong showing at the end of 2016, with an 8 match unbeaten run! They look on course to prolong that stay, with a great start to their season. We are delighted to have The Republic of Ireland Supporters Club London (www.rissc.org) come on board as sponsors of this team’s drill tops. RISSC London were happy to sponsor these lads in the knowledge that the team contain the next generation of players and supporters. As always, we are very grateful to all of our generous spon-sors! If you are interested in becoming a sponsor, please get in touch! Our PRO and Club Director, Cllr Sha-ron Tolan took the opportunity recently to show Ministers Simon Coveney and Damien English around our fabulous fa-cilities, and to show them how well we spent our last Sports Capital Grant! They were extremely impressed with all we have achieved over the past few years, and enjoyed taking a few penalty shots with the U10 Rockets. Keeper, Daniel Molloy © May 2017 The Meath Coaster49made some cracking saves on the evening! Well done to our U8 Green, U9 Reds, U10 Rockets and U10 Meteors, who all headed along to Hunky Dory Park recent-ly to form a Guard of Honour and play at half time, at the Drogheda v Sligo Rovers match. All of the kids and their families really had a very enjoyable evening, and represented the club excellently! Well done guys, we are all very proud of you! FAI Summer Soccer SchoolWe are delighted to host again this year, the FAI Summer Soccer School for 2 weeks. Dates of the camps held in Minis-town are 17th to 21st July, and 14th to 18th August. Our camps hold the award for being the first camp in the country to sell out for the past 3 years! So don’t be dis-appointed, and don’t delay. Bookings opened 28th March. Book your place now!AcademyAcademy is back up and running every Saturday afternoon. Shinguards and water are a must! Keep an eye on our Facebook page for other news! §So, the day we have been waiting on has finally arrived, we have booked, fund-raised, organised, packed and now we are ready to depart, a 200-strong contingent from Laytown is heading to North Wales for a weekend full of fun and football. As you can imagine a huge amount of organ-ising has gone in to this club wide trip, from the logistical planning to fundraising - so we could try to relieve some of the fi-nancial burden on families, to the ordering and distribution of club wear - to ensure we are all kitted out and easily identifiable on our travels, every single step of the way was well thought out and executed by our amazing team of organisers. We have a total of 7 teams competing in the Wales Challenge Cup spanning the age groups from under 9’s right up to un-der 13’s and each team is well supported by parents and siblings with whole fami-lies traveling in some cases. Although it is a competitive competition we are taking part in the main emphasis from our club’s perspective is on the children having fun playing a game they love, to allow them to gain experience by playing matches in an environment that is completely different to what they would be used to but most importantly for the players to make life-long memories with their team and club mates. We would like to take this op-portunity to thank everybody who made this fantastic trip happen the committee, coaches, the parents who are always so supportive in everything we do, but most importantly the players without which none of this would be possible. §Next >