An Ríocht News
Home Bingo Winners £200 Margaret Rooney and Helen Rooney, this week’s Bingo on sale now.
An Ríocht presented £557 to Life and Time, following a collection at our recent Club Mass. These funds will be put to good use in caring for patients and families in the greater Mourne areas. PHOTO Life & Time Nurses Mary Crawford, Joanne Phillips & Claire Murphy gratefully received a cheque on behalf of the charity from An Riocht representatives Anne McArdle, Felix Higgins and Gavin Finnegan.
On Saturday past An Ríocht were represented at the Camogie Association 120 Gala Ball in Belfast. Its worth recalling some of the early highlights of camogie in the club especially for younger members. An Riocht was formed in 1982 from the St. Colmans team which had won the Ulster Senior Club title in 1980 & 1981 PHOTO, losing successive All Ireland semi-finals to Buffers Alley (Wexford) and Killeagh (Cork). In our first year the Down Senior League & Championship and Feis Sevens were won and the final of the Kilmacud All Ireland sevens reached but a third Ulster Title eluded us. In 1983 all Titles were retained and in 1984 the Senior League was won again and the Championship Final reached. In 1985 the emphasis switched to underage development. By 1986 the juvenile revival was underway with the u12 League & Championship won. In 1987 we were runners up in Feile and retained all the Titles won the previous year. In 1988 we were runners up in the Minor League & Championship. In 1989 we won ten Titles including Club of the Year, indeed we were winners or runners up in every competition we had taken part in. Intermediate League success was taken as a sign that girls were progressing up the age groups. The highlight of 1989 was reaching the All Ireland Feile Final in Offaly. In 1990 the Minors completed a treble of League, Championship and Feis Sevens. However the next Camogie success did not come until 1994 when the Intermediate Final was won. Then after a barren spell, in 2000 the Millenium Cup was won. This signalled a rejuvenation in camogie in the club and better organisation and dedicated work with our young players has been rewarded with a large number of girls going on to represent the County at all underage levels since 2000. In 2005 five girls won All Ireland medals with Down Minors. In 2006 many of these players helped the Juniors to their Championship Final which was narrowly lost. In 2007 An Riocht lost the Junior Final for the second year in a row eventually winning the Junior title in 2008 and Intermediate in 2011. Many players played with Down over this period – Marie Trainor, Joanna Sloan, Lisa Hughes, Laura Brennan all winning All Ireland Minor medals, before in 2009 Niamh Mulhern, Lisa Hughes and Laura Brennan won National League medals with Down.
On Friday 29th November at 7pm it’s the second annual Houston McVeigh Memorial Table Quiz at Dunavil, hoping for another bumper turnout in memory of our Uimhir a hAon Quiz Master. It all starts at 7pm.
Then on Saturday 28th December there is the An Ríocht Volunteer Appreciation Evening, an opportunity for the club to say thank you to all our volunteers.
