< Previous© June 2020 The Meath Coaster 40 Creative Art Competition E veryone is creative...just, so many of us haven’t discovered how yet - because we say: “I’m not good enough” or “I don’t know how to draw” or “ME? creative? hardly!”...yet, every one of us is creative and we have a creative voice that should be heard, a creative perspective that should be seen. In fact, how many of us, in this forced time of slowing down have allowed our- selves to daydream again, to doodle, to try new things? Well, here’s another chance! The Art Materials Company have launched their first ever Art Competi- tion in celebration of Creativity! And, we encourage everyone to think about our theme: ‘Freedom in a Time of Constraint’, to look at it from different angles and cre- ate something in your own unique way. Constraint doesn't have to be limited to this particular time we’re going through, it can be constraint in any form you’ve felt it, now or in the past. And, the free- dom can be whatever you’ve learned in, through, because of your constraint. So, show us your unique perspective, the unique freedom you found and be crea- tive about it! You can use any medium... such as: calligraphy, chalk, charcoal, clay, colláge, crayon, decoupage, embossing, etching, fabric, ink, mosaic, paint, pencil, sand, leaves, wool...as long as you can photograph it and state its size. Digital art work and photography are also accepted. There are seven categores which include ALL ages from 5 to 105--so encourage your friends and family to get involved. We know it's lovely outside and now we © June 2020 The Meath Coaster 41 can meet up with more people and travel that bit more so consider entering our cat- egory: Collaboration of Relatives! Any two relatives can create a piece together! (see artmaterials.ie for more details) For every entry uploaded to the competi- tion at www.artmaterials.ie by June 9 th at midnight the Art Materials Company will donate €1 to one of our charities: Jack and Jill Foundation or Alone.ie both of whom support caring for our loved ones in their own homes. After public voting, four local judges will announce first, second and third place winners in each of the seven categories on June 30 th . Check our Instagram and Face- book pages for updates. Also upon entry, you will receive a 20% voucher to be used at the art materials company website. It is valid for a year. Remember, there is only ONE of you, there will only ever be ONE of you and you have a unique perspective worth shar- ing with others! §© June 2020 The Meath Coaster 42 Club news W e hope you are all keeping safe and healthy and looking forward to get- ting back training hopefully in the not too distant future, in the meantime keep safe, keep social distancing and washing your hands and of course practicing your foot- ball. See you all soon. U8girls Our girls had a very productive season with 7 new players and 2 coaches Barry Coyne and Derek Ó'Byrne joining.Our Blitzes would see 11 teams participate this season which is brilliant for grass- roots level.Highlight for the girls was the Glow- Football put on by the club through the FAI. U11 girls Season 2019/20 was the Under 11 girls first season as a new team. The girls went from strength to strength with every match throughout the season. There were plenty of magnificent team performances and spectators witnessed the near misses, the constant improvement plus a few nail biting finishes along the way. It definite- U17 girls C2 General Stamullen F.C.© June 2020 The Meath Coaster 43 ly was a season enjoyed by the players, coaches and their families, we hope. U11 girls U8 girls © June 2020 The Meath Coaster 44 We look forward to returning to training and a new season soon. U12 girls This season the girls put in so much effort unfortunately with the Covid restrictions the league have finished for this season. Our girls were doing so well in the league and cup competitions. We were top of the league and looking like we could of tak- ing the champions spot in our first season of competitive football.All season the girls have been remarkable playing press- ing football from the back putting our op- positions under pressure in all games. Quality passing and attacking have seen fantastic goals been scored in this short season.our defence has been outstanding with a strong back line and goal keeper that any premiership team would be proud of. Everyone of the girls have put in a fan- tastic amount of time in training and on the field of play this season. We were sure we would of been celebrat- ing come the end of the season with sil- verware but due to the current situation we had to conclude the season do to gov- ernment restrictions. This team will con- tinue to provide the club with strength in coming seasons and they a credit to them-© June 2020 The Meath Coaster 45 selves and their management team. We look forward to the new season. The coaches Marcus and Sean would like to wish the girls a safe return to football and thank each girl for their commitment over the past season. U13 girls Our u13 girls team had a fantastic season this year.It was a new start for them as we got a lot of new players and a new coach in paul who joined the club to work along- side laura.It turned out to be a brilliant season for the girls as they played 8 games and won all of them putting in some ter- rific displays and were on course to put- ting in a real challenge to possibly win the league.But it was not meant to be due the unfortunate arrival of covid-19 which led to the season being cut short.However it should not takeaway the fantastic achieve- ments of this very special group of girls and hopefully next season they will all be back together better and stronger.Well done to each of the girls it really was a fantastic team effort,and so many special moments and memories were made.No doubt they will all be back together soon better and stronger than ever. Under 14 girls Building on our success from the previ- U13 girls © June 2020 The Meath Coaster 46 ous season where we came 3 rd in the league, the under 14 girls made a strong start to the 2019/20 season. We also welcomed some new play- ers and also some old friends back to the team. We won every match up to Christmas and then went into the Christmas break with a draw. In January we were out of the blocks beating the league leaders putting us firmly in contention for the league title. Unfortunately, the Covid situa- tion stopped us along with the other teams but we finished the season being the only unbeaten team in the league and right in contention for the title. However, we can console ourselves with the knowledge that the play- ers played out of their skins for the short season and the wonderful col- lection of supporters made every match a pleasure to be at. Well done to the girls, Caoimhe, Ruby, Laura, Katie, Aiobh, Carlota, Emma, Kee- lin, Ellie, Mischa, Rachel, Aaliyah, Kelly, Sophia, Hannah. Any girls born 2006 who would be interested in joining the friendli- est team in girls football can phone coach- es Ali on 087 612 5466 or Joe on 087 231 1255. U17 girls The U17 Girls had a strong finishing place last season and this season (2019/2020) we moved up another age group and felt we could be in for quite a challenge. However, we trained through the summer and were in a strong starting position in September. And so we got off to a terrific start by convincingly winning our early matches (in total only losing 2 out of 8 played)! We had the pleasure of welcom- ing back an old team member and also a brand new member and further strength- ened our squad of 16 talented players. We also were in preparation for our first trip to the UK where we visited and trained with Norwich City FC's Nest. We had a couple of great training sessions and played one of their girls teams on our final day. The trip was finished off by seeing the premier league teams Norwich City play Manchester United. We returned home on a high and were keen to keep building on the success we'd already secured. We continued playing our weekly League U13 girls © June 2020 The Meath Coaster 47 U14 girls matches right up to early March and also were having success in the McKeon Cup which we reached the semi-final of only to be beaten by a very strong Ashbourne FC side. In March of this year our strong season was abruptly halted by Covid-19 and unfortunately all training and matches were suspended. However, there is no doubt Stamullen FC U17 girls were up there to possibly secure another league title and were a joint first with Ashbourne FC, last season's League winners. So, all in all a very successful season and as always tremendous fun, support, sportsmanship and dedication shown by our formidable young women; Genevieve, Leah, Elena, Darby, Kenzie, Siofra, Alisha, Katie, Nicole, Ella, Han- nah, Kelly, Molly, Aine. Alanna and Alan- nah. Well done girls, we're very proud of you all and look forward to restarting training as soon as we get the go ahead! Alan & Marie Club Contact Details: Email - stamullenfc@gmail.com Facebook - www.facebook.com/stamullenfc Club Secretary Marcus Kelly – 0851477825 Website – www.stamullenfc.com §© June 2020 The Meath Coaster 48 Cilles Athletic Club www.cillesac.ie www.facebook.com/CillesAC A h lovely June, a great month to be out and about, doing a bit of running. A month that also turns runners into vam- pires, seeking out shade, ducking from shadow to shadow in the hope of cooling down a little. There’s also those lovely evening runs, still warm but not hot enough to give your face all the charm of a sweaty tomato! It’s wonderful to be out and I joke about the heat but it’s important to be well hy- drated before you head out, bring some water and always slather on plenty of sun- cream. Athletics back on track to reopen Athletics Ireland gave us some good news in the last couple of weeks, restricted training for athletics has begun, unfortu- nately for clubs like us without grounds or a clubhouse, the wait to resume train- ing goes on. We’re hopeful that the next round of ‘restriction easing’ will give us the scope to get the club back to some semblance of normality. In the background the Club Committee are meeting and going through the paper- work that will allow us to have procedures in place to reopen quickly and safely. © June 2020 The Meath Coaster 49 Next update on the clubs status will be out after the 8 th of June. Darkness into Light So many wonderful fundraising initiatives have had to find new ways of generating income for their charities this year due to the cancellation of group gatherings. One such event the “Darkness into light” walk/ run supporting Pieta House, a charity close to many of our hearts, was a casualty. It has been a firm favourite of Cilles AC and all peoples in the locale, many were look- ing forward to it’s first outing in our area this year. Our friends in Colmcilles GAA came up with a brilliant challenge 250k for €250 and nominated our club to join in. There’s great crossover between the two clubs and many of our juveniles took part with the GAA and raised a huge amount of money, fair play to you all and your families. Our adults rose to the challenge and ran 311k to raise €600, well done gang! More donated directly to the cause and headed out on the 9 th of May to catch the dawn, a very special sight. Well done everyone.Next >