Buckley Financial Awards 2011

Goleen wins ‘Club of the Year' Award

      There was great rejoicing among the Goleen contingent at the gala GAA banquet in the Maritime Hotel on Saturday night last when the Buckley Financial West Cork GAA club of the Year Award was announced. On a wonderful night of celebration for West Cork GAA a number of awards were presented, sponsored by Buckley Financial Services, and one of these was the Club of the Year Award. In conjunction with the SW Junior Board, Buckley Financial had introduced a points system for all SW clubs during the season, climaxed by a written submission from the clubs. A panel of judges then reduced the list of potential winners to six, all of whom were well represented at the presentation banquet. Those six included Castlehaven, Clann na nGael, Goleen, O'Donovan Rossa, Randal Óg and St. Oliver Plunketts.

      There was a great sense of excitement as MC, Paudie Palmer, opened the envelope and announced the winner's name, Goleen GAA Club. The Goleen members erupted into a frenzy of cheering and it was some time before chairman, Connie O'Driscoll, was able to proceed to the stage to accept the award on behalf of his club. The award was universally acclaimed as all clubs were aware of the huge effort it takes for the most remote club in the division merely to exist in these days of recession, unemployment and emigration.

       In his acceptance speech Mr. O'Driscoll's delight and surprise at winning the award was more than evident. Starting his speech as Gaeilge, he said his small club was humbled to be among the elite of Carbery GAA people at the function and were genuinely thrilled to be considered for the Club of the Year award. To win it was beyond their wildest dreams. In recent years the club had studied and learned from the big clubs and the successful clubs in the division and intended to keep learning. They had set a number of schemes in place, especially the Care for Players scheme and they were delighted that on the playing pitches they had bridged a 52 year gap by winning the SW junior B football championship in 2011. The club was proud to be part of the great Carbery division, of Cork and of the GAA. Describing the GAA as "one big family", he predicted that it would be the GAA who would kick-start economic revival in rural Ireland. Having thanked everybody in the club responsible for winning the award, especially the players, he had special words of praise for Tim Buckley of Buckley Financial who had initiated the award scheme. "West Cork needs more innovative thinkers like Tim Buckley, Ireland needs more Tim Buckleys," he stated.

        There was also great delight for the Bandon club. Each month Buckley Financial presents a Team of the Month Award and on Saturday night one of those winners was announced as Team of the Year. Among the monthly recipients were Carbery senior football team, O'Donovan Rossa U.21 football team, Kilbrittain U.21 football and hurling teams, St. Oliver Plunketts' junior A hurling team, Caheragh ladies junior football team, Bandon junior football team, Dohenys U.21 hurling team, Goleen junior B football team, Carbery Rangers senior football team and Bandon intermediate hurling team.   The award for 2011 was a joint one, with the two Bandon teams, composed mostly of the same players, being named as winners for 2011.

       Accepting the award on behalf of the Bandon club was intermediate captain, Eoin O'Donovan, who thanked all those involved on the two teams and said it was amazing to see how much talent could be found in the Carbery division, looking at all the monthly award winners. It was great to see clubs, who were great rivals on the pitch, coming together at the gala banquet to celebrate the past year and he thanked Buckley Financial for initiating the award schemes. He, too, was delighted to see a club like Goleen winning the Club of the Year award.

       The recipient of the Distinguished Service Award was president of the Castlehaven Club, Ned Cleary. Mr Cleary was accompanied by many members of his family, both Clearys and Cahalanes, and by many members of the Castlehaven Club. In his acceptance speech, Mr. Cleary said he looked on the award as a tribute to the Castlehaven club to which he had devoted his life. He recalled training the junior team which brought the first county title to Castlehaven in 1976 and described it as a marvellous win because Clonakilty were the only senior team in Carbery in those years and the junior clubs were as strong as the senior today. He paid special tribute to the only player from that team who has since died, John Richard O'Donovan. Mr. Cleary also thanked Buckley Financial for the award schemes and thanked his extended family for all their support.

       Winning the Hall of Fame Award for 2011 was former Argideen Ranger and Cork hurler, Mark Foley. Winner of a number of All-Ireland medals at various levels with Cork, of college medals with Farranferris and UCC and of SW and county medals with Argideen, his greatest moment came in 1990 when he scored a magnificent 2-7 against Tipperary in the Munster final. Admitting to having a little less hair than in his prime, Mr. Foley entertained the large crowd with a number of stories from his playing days and paid special tribute to the various coaches he had encountered during his career, including Seán O'Riordan and Canon Michael O'Brien. He paid tribute, too, to Timoleague's Peter Fleming, who had encountered such tragedy in his family life recently.

      Mr. Foley also admitted that he hadn't retired from the Cork team but had been dropped when he found it impossible to mark a young fellow named Brian Corcoran in training. He praised the commitment of modern players and congratulated Graham Canty on winning an extremely difficult All-Ireland title last season. Being a member of the only Carbery team to win the county senior hurling title, in 1994, he pointed out that Carbery was still producing some very talented players and wished them all the best in the future. Even though most outsiders contribute the recent revival in Bantry hurling to Mark Foley, he was quick to point out that the real driving forces behind the revival are the O'Leary's of Whiddy.

       Like all the speakers Mr. Foley had great praise for Tim Buckley and the award scheme and also for his own family, who had always given him such great support.

       Specially honoured at the function were the captains of the junior A and B teams from Carbery who had led their clubs to county titles between 1970 and 2000. These past heroes received a great welcome as they came forward for their presentations. They included Tadhg and Tony Crowley (Argideen Rangers); Don Desmond (on behalf of Teddy Buston), Robert Wilmot and Donncha Burke (Bandon); P. J. Minihane (Bantry); Christy Collins (Castlehaven); John Buttimer (D. Ó Mathúna); Kieran Farr (Dohenys); Tony Sheehan (Gabriel Rangers); Tom Brennan(Kilbrittain); Pat Burke (Kilmacabea); John Dullea (Kilmeen); Christy Daly (Kilbree); Seán Crowley, Seán McCarthy, Thomas Crowley and Eugene Desmond (Newcestown); Pat O'Brien and Finbarr Lynch (Randal Óg); Norma Ellis (on behalf of the late Donal Murphy) (St. Colum's); Declan White (St. Oliver Plunkett's).

        Also addressing the crowd on the night was Mr. Declan Walsh, cathaoirleach of the SW Junior Board, who had a special welcome for the winning captains from "the proud division of Carbery," thanked Buckley Financial for their great contribution to West Cork GAA and said that these award functions highlighted the good side of the GAA in contrast to the images we had seen from Portlaoise.

      Cathaoirleach of the County Board, Mr. Bob Ryan, expressed his pleasure at being invited to the function as he had been very supportive of the scheme since its inauguration five years ago. The monthly awards in particular were a great idea. Mr. Ryan stressed the community side of the GAA and said he was confident that the GAA would fight a good battle against the present recession. Keeping our young people at home was a big challenge and falling numbers were affecting most clubs. He highlighted the proposed development of Páirc Uí Chaoimh as a very positive sign from the GAA in Cork and it would provide badly needed employment for many Cork people.

        CEO of Buckley Financial Services, Mr. Tim Buckley, was delighted with the large crowd and the response from the clubs towards the awards, which were in their fifth year. His company had also sponsored the junior football championships in West Cork in 2011 and were honoured to be associated with such a competitive and historic championship. Mr. Buckley thanked all those associated with the awards, especially the media and photographer, Con Tringle. Thanking his family and staff for all their work, he said that sometimes we were inclined to take the health of the GAA in West Cork for granted but it required hard work from all clubs to keep it so. He appealed for special support for the young hurlers in the division so that Carbery senior hurlers would win the county again soon. A return to Sunday football was also on his wish list as regards the GAA in West Cork as Sundays now seem to be handed over to matches on television. His three special wishes for 2012 were that Carbery senior hurlers would do very well, that some small village would win the SW junior A football championship and that Carbery senior footballers would reach the county final but lose to Dohenys in that final, played somewhere in West Cork. 

       Special guest of honour for the night was sports journalist, Diarmuid O'Flynn, who admitted that it was his first time ever being asked to speak at such a function and that he was a bundle of nerves. In a wide-ranging speech, Mr O'Flynn recalled his days thinning beet for farmers in his native Ballyhea, working on high-rise buildings in New York and having to emigrate with his young family before eventually returning to his native Ballyhea to work as a sports journalist. He also recalled his hurling career with Ballyhea which lasted into his forties and described the great rivalry between clubs in West Cork as a follow-through of the ancient clashes between the various clans in the area. The GAA gives you a sense of local place, he said, and no matter where you go in the world that would always be where you came from. The GAA gives you an anchor and it was encouraging to see how rival clubs could gather together at functions like this.

       As regards the new controversy over paying managers, Mr. O'Flynn still hasn't quite made up his mind on the whole issue but could not understand the reasoning behind paying people in an amateur association. He described paying managers as "a load of old rubbish." The strength of the GAA is in the number of the people involved and "you can't buy what we have in the GAA," stated Mr. O'Flynn, who clearly showed his great passion for the association.

       The banquet also doubled as a fund-raiser for CoAction and on the night over €2,000 was collected from the guests. The weekend break sponsored by the Maritime Hotel was won in a mini-quiz by Derry Minihane, with Caroline Donegan and Kevin ‘Babs' Santry as runners-up.

       The fine meal, the awards ceremony and the various speeches were followed by a night of music, dance and chat as old acquaintances were renewed and many a game replayed. What has undoubtedly become West Cork's premier GAA night each season was again a tremendous success, with Buckley Financial employee, James Curran, responsible for most of the production, including the video presentation and the display of 57 different jerseys from all club, colleges, camogie and ladies football teams in Carbery. The awards have assumed greater  prestige with each passing season and Buckley Financial has promised even bigger and better in 2012. Long may it continue.