The club extends our deepest sympathy to the friends and family of Tony O’Kane of Carncose a lifelong St. Martin’s GAC member, who has sadly passed away. Funeral times notice.
May he rest in peace.
National Club Draw 2020
This year’s National Club Draw boasts a lot of high value prizes and the tickets are only £10.
The proceeds all go towards the club to help with running costs and maintenance and is one of our best fund raisers each year.
If you haven’t got tickets yet there are some left over and you can contact Paddy Kidd on 07792127940.
Deadline is this Thursday 13th Feb.
Membership
It’s that time of year again, and the club is buzzing with our new extension and refurbishment nearing completion. Of course this all comes at a cost and your membership subscription goes towards the cost of running our club including GAA affiliation fees, player insurance, upkeep of the clubhouse and pitches, playing kit, training equipment, transport, coaching, physio costs, etc.
We hope that the new Community Services Hub will provide the backdrop for wider social engagement beyond our sporting activities for parents, ex-players, and those who want to maintain an active and healthy lifestyle. Our newly awarded Healthy Club status should set out our intentions to be an organisation that everyone can be proud of.
If you currently subscribe to one of our Friends of Desertmartin schemes your membership will carry over. We must stress however that we need you to fill out and sign a registration form each year so that we can keep our records up to date.
This is the preferred method of payment and you can sign up for direct debit online right here with just your account number and sort code.
Stay tuned for dates for registration nights which will be coming up shortly.
Rosary for Helena
To assist with the safe return of Helena and for the strength and support of her family and friends, there will be a public recitation of the Rosary tonight (Tues 26th Nov) at 7pm in Saint Patrick’s Church Keenaught. Please come along and join in this most powerful prayer.
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Youth Presentation Special Guests
This year’s youth presentation will take place in the newly refurbished clubrooms on 29th Nov from 6:30pm.
This year’s guests are great role models for our youth. At just 20 years old Conor McCloskey and Cormac Murphy have McCrory Cup, Ulster County Minor and County Senior Championship medals a piece.
This will be the first event in the newly refurbished hall and we are looking forward to seeing you all there.
Upcoming Events Nov/Dec 2019
With the football all wrapped up for the year, things have been a little quiet with the hall out of use and the ongoing renovations and new build underway. There are some events going on before the end of the year though and hall will be back in operation in December.
Check here on Facebook for more details and to reserve your place at the Annual Dinner
We hope as many people as possible are able to make it to these events. We really want to build a sense of community as we step into the future with a vision of a healthier, happier Desertmartin.
WE ARE COMMUNITY
Walkway Lighting Becomes Operational
It is great to announce that the walkway lights are up and operational from 2nd August 2019. The lights will come on at dusk and automatically go out at 11pm.
We are really excited about the potential to provide a local safe walking/running environment for the community in the darker months.
If anyone has any ideas for starting and walking or running group in partnership with the club give us a shout, not necessarily a club member. We are actively looking to develop the facilities and the variety of activities available for the whole community.
We would like to thank Mid Ulster District Council for funding under the Village Area Plan, and Brookfield Renewable for their financial backing under their Social Initiative scheme. This is a great step forward that can improve the opportunity for the community to get active all year round.
Pat Kidd, Chairman St Martin’s GAC
LET THERE BE LIGHT
The club really wants to push forward with developing the facilities and making them as useful as possible for as much of the community as possible.
We hope to see plenty of people out walking and running in the coming months.
U14 Girls A Championship Shield Final
Desertmartin 7 – 9 : 1 – 3 Steelstown
The U14 Girls rounded off a marvellous season by winning the A Championship Shield today at Owenbeg with a resounding victory over Steelstown. Played in glorious sunshine the St Martin’s girls were worthy winners as they overpowered the city girls from start to finish.
In the vast open spaces of Owenbeg Desertmartin were in firm control in all areas of the pitch. With Kate McCann and Cara Donnelly having a monopoly of possession between the two 45s it was a case of feed the forwards and they’ll do the rest. This they did with Maria McGovern and Ashlinn McElhennon accounting for all their first half scores to lead at halftime 7 – 3 to 0 – 2. The game as a contest was over by half time. In the second period the Desertmartin management used all their subs but the pattern of the game continued with St Martin’s in the driving seat. The Saffrons added a further 0 – 6 to their halftime score while Steelstown replied with 1 – 1.
Despite being outclassed Steelstown remained competitive with their No. 9 being their standout player. She got her just rewards with a well-taken goal in the later stages of the game. Although it was the forwards who caught the eye Desertmartin were secure in defence with really good performances from Tori Donnelly, Leigh McGovern and Ava Bradley. As captain Cara Donnnelly received the trophy it concluded a wonderful season which saw Desertmartin’s U14 Girls compete on the national stage with a sterling journey in the U14 Feile which ended in an All Ireland semi-final placing last weekend.
The club are very grateful to the girls and the management team of Paul Scullion, Paul Donnelly and James Frain for giving the GAA community of our parish a marvellous season of football.
Desertmartin: E Barker; C O’Kane; T Donnelly; H Scullion; L McGovern; A Bradley; C Donnelly; K McCann; A Henry; A McElhennon; K Devlin; M McGovern and L Murray
Smoke Free Club
St Martin’s GAC, Desertmartin inspired to go smoke-free.
With the backing of the Club Executive the Healthy Club team in St Martin’s GAC we have secured smoke free signage through a partnership between the GAA and the Public Health Agency.
The club launched the initiative on the 26th April by adopting the GAA’s Tobacco free policy and unveiling the smoke free signs which are erected across the club grounds.
People in attendance were delighted to see the club set a positive example in the community and increase the awareness about the dangers of smoking for the younger members.
Paddy Kidd the main coordinator from The Healthy Club team said “I attend many matches where people think it is ok to just light up and send smoke blowing into you face. I think we as a club need to do something to prevent this from happening as not only are adults affected as there are also children and young people in the stands. We are hoping that this will discourage people from smoking especially our younger members.”
“We feel this is a great initiative as it helps to protect our members and visitors from the dangers of passive smoking. It also sends a clear message to everyone especially our younger members that the club wish to promote healthy initiatives and therefore discourage anything that contradicts that ethos”
Through the GAA’s Healthy Club project approximately 50% of participating clubs have gone completely smoke free. Check out
Check out http://www.gaa.ie/my-gaa/community-and-health/ for more information on the GAA’s smoke free initiative and the Healthy Club Project.
Anyone who is interested in getting some support around quitting can visit http://www.want2stop.info/.
Sponsor a Player Round 5
This is where you can sponsor a player with direct debit payment online. The more sponsors the better to help with all the stuff needed to make this trip a success. Just click on one of the buttons and fill out the online form.
If you want to use PayPal instead click below. Remember to add player name on the form where it says “Write a note (optional)” With this option you can choose your donation amount.
There are other fund raisers going on at the minute too and you can keep and eye out for them too at http://www.desertmartingac.com/feile-2019-fundraisers/.
Ciarri O’Kane
Catherine Law
Ava Bradley
Aoife Frain
Annie McCann
Alexandra Valloso
