What a successful year for Tourmakeady GAA
Thank you, boys! What a year!
Glancing back on the last two annual reports (different secretaries) of Tourmakeady GAA club, both of them stated : "Come on boys, there's very little between you and big time football". How right they were!
In April Tourmakeady won the Horan Cup at Clogher. One week later Colaiste Muire won the Connacht Under - 17 and just two weeks on the Colaiste team won the Under - 19 Connacht Colleges Cup. The roller coaster was rolling.
Tourmakeady boys Brendan Prendergast, Tom Naughton and Damien Heneghan won Connacht League medals with Mayo. Colaiste Muire boys Niall Munroe and Brian Naughton were selected on the Mayo Under - 16 team. Brian being captain when they won the 1998 Connacht title.
Not finished yet! Michael James Meeneghan was man of the match for Connacht in the Compromise Rules series and played for Mayo minors in May '98.
Tourmakeady GAA had their first ever Cailín Gaelach in Sinead Ní Mháille in Donegal on the June holiday weekend.
The Tourmakeady ladies, not letting the men have all their own way, had seven girls wearing the green and red at various stages. Kathleen Ann Heneghan, captained the Mayo minors who won the 1998 Connacht title, narrowly losing out in the All-Ireland Final.
Back to the boys and the junior championship was buzzing. The club topped the table in West Mayo, defeating Ballintubber in the West semi-final, then it was off to meet Westport in Westport. They make hard work of it but it was a matter of giving value for money! Tourmakeady won their first West title in 19 years and the last and only time Tourmakeady won the West they went on to win the county title - that was in 1979. Moy Davitts waited in the East but the Tourmakeady boys moved them aside with five points to spare. Now for the big showdown with Crossmolina. Pulses were racing, blood pressure was high and tearful eyes were to be seen when referee Peter Geraghty blew the final whistle on a scoreline of: Tourmakeady 1-9, Crossmolina 0-11. History was repeated and secretaries were preparing a different script for the 1998 A.G.M. Both teams, strangely enough, made it to a Div. 3 play-off final on the following Sunday, again a battle to the final whistle but Crossmolina were victorious on this occasion by a one point margin -- 0-8 to 0-7.
Now the race is on for Connacht junior honours. Claregalway may be a worry but, win or lose, it has been a wonderful year. Great credit to the panel of 27 players who trained in rain, hail and storm.
What a difference a few months make. On the road to Clogher in April ... no proper manager, searching throughout the county, eleven or twelve, maybe fourteen players training ...things looking grim. Then local past heroes Tommie Heneghan and Pat Naughton were approached and gave a short-term commitment that was to bring achievements beyond all expectations. We have to thank Pat and Tommie who have looked after Tourmakeady minor league and championship, under-20 and under-21 teams as well as keeping an interest in the Mayo over-40's. Three or four evenings on the road from Achill to Shrule, from Belmullet to Ballaghaderreen. But we need more supporters to help out.
All in all, a memorable year for the black and white of Tourmakeady.