Ballinamore Sean O Heslin’s GAA Club Notes 09/01/2018
Club AGM – The Ballinamore Seán Ó hEislin 2017 AGM took place on Saturday the 30th December in the Club Rooms. close on 30 people attended which was slightly down on the numbers that attended last year.
The majority of the current Executive Committee were re-elected to their existing roles with the exception of our Uachtaráin Tommy Moran who stepped down to a role as Leas Uachtaráin, Tommy was replaced by Seán O’Sulliabhain. The club also welcomed a new member to the executive with Janet McManus joining the Coiste Ronan O’Rourke stepped down from his role as Claraitheoir with this role filled by Shane Harte.
Secretary, Patsy Connaughton, produced a detailed report on the Club’s activities and achievements in 2017. This was followed by a report by our Cisteoir John D’Arcy on the club’s current financial position. Micky Quinn then gave his Chairman’s address where he outlined the successes and challenges that we’d faced as a club throughout 2017 paying special mention to the hard work of all the management, selectors and players of all the teams and also to the organising committee of our recent ‘Strictly’ event for their hard work
We’d like to thank all outgoing members for their hard work and dedication to Sean O’Heslins and wish the 2018 Executive Committee all the best for the coming year.
Strictly Come dancing DVD Night – Folks a Great opportunity to relive an amazing night of Ceol agus Craic. If you missed the live event or just want to relive the magic make sure you get yourself to @Priors on Saturday the 13th of January it promises to be another epic night.
Leitrim Supporters Club Launch – This years launch takes place on Thursday the 18th at 1930 in the Celtic Suite in Croke Park, this years event is one not to be missed with former Ballinamore and Leitrim legend Columba Cryan being recognised for his historic railway cup win which took place in 1958, 60 years ago this year, Columba will be recognised along with two other Leitrim legends Paddy McGarty and Cathal Flynn. Another draw on the night will be Marty Morrisey who’s currently taking part in Strictly come dancing, Marty will be interviewed by former Leitrim star Colin Regan, hopefully a few of you will travel from Ballinamore for this great night and you will be able to cheer on Columba and pass on a few tips on dancing to Marty.
Comhbhrón – Everyone at Ballinamore Seán O’Heslins would like to pass on our deepest sympathy to the Tubman family and all their friends on the sudden passing of Eamonn Snr, former Leitrim County Board Vice Chairman
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dilís
Referee Positions – The County Board would like to recruit new referees in 2018.If this is something that is of interest to you this is a great opportunity to get involved with full training provided. Anyone interested in trying it out please contact Chairman Michael Quinn.
Scór na nÓg – A massive well done to County Scor na nóg winners Danny Smyth, James Óg Maguire, Dillon Beirne, Tom Prior, the lads will be representing us next in the all-Ireland in Sligo, dates to be confirmed. also, a big well done to our younger competitors who put in an excellent performance on the night and just missed out. The team consisted of Bernard Sweeney, Brian Sweeney, Eoin Connaghton, and Eoin Hamill, we’re sure they will be back in contention next year.
Improve your Irish – Irish conversation classes, or Ciorcal Comhrá, will start again in Ballinamore Library on Tuesday, 9 January 2018 at 8.00pm. There are separate groups for relative beginners, for those who have some Irish and for those who are fluent. These classes are a great opportunity to practice the Irish you know and to improve it. Also, Leaving Cert or transitional year students will find it useful for practice for their Irish orals. Classes are free and will run for 10 weeks to mid-March. Seo seans chun an Ghaeilge a labhairt. Beidh fáilte romhat. More information from Sean Ó Súilleabháin 087 6821566
The Club and Social Media – Over the last number of years our club has begun to embrace the positive aspects of social media as a portal for interacting with friends and followers.
We were one of the first clubs in the county to set up a Facebook page and over the last 12 months, we have seen exceptional growth in the number of people that interact with us using Facebook.
It is hard to imagine how Facebook can help a club be more successful on the pitch and of course, Facebook “likes” do not win Championships! but it is certainly no stretch of the imagination to see that Facebook has had a positive impact on our interaction with our community across the world and has assisted the club in raising its profile in a positive way.
A recent example of the power of social media was number of interactions we had during our promotion of Strictly Come Dancing and our ability to Sell this to potential sponsors where we linked to their pages and were able to give them exposure in part return for the goodwill and Sponsorship we received
If we take a look at some numbers, this will hopefully go some way to explaining the size of the exposure we are getting
- 1739 Likes – These are people from all corners of the world that have followed our page and see our posts – This number has increased by 700 followers in the last 12 months
- 47,775 Total Reach – This is the number of people that viewed, interacted or liked our posts – Not over the last year – But in November
- 4629 Page Views – Again this was in November
- Likes and Interactions – 36,451 people interacted with our posts during the month of November
- Videos 13,276 people viewed our videos during the month of November
You might ask who are our followers? Well 52% of our Followers are Female with 48% male and 27% of those are between 25 and 44 years of age.
We can tell you that most people that like our page are in Dublin, 476 to be exact with 344 in Ballinamore and well, we even have 8 followers in Aughnasheelin just slightly ahead of the six we have in Perth.
If we look closely at where our followers reside it’s probably an indication of the numbers of people over the years who have left our town either for good or the short term and how they use Facebook to remain a part of our club and community.
For instance, we have friends in 27 countries around the world! 123 in the UK, 58 in the USA, 16 in Australia, 5 in Spain and 4 in Canada and even one in Colombia
Many people may still ask what’s the point of social media in a GAA club in Leitrim, but what I can tell you is that over the last 12 months we have used it to share the good times and the not so good times, from Wins, Losses, Births and Deaths its helped bring our community that’s now spread around the world closer.
We have streamed games live and had people watching our victory parades from all around the world, we have used it to share our match updates, pictures and videos and even to sell club merchandise. Based on the interaction and the feedback we are getting it’s something we will continue to do in the future and hopefully we will try and embrace the use of Social Media further in 2018 and get the opportunity to stream a senior County Final Live.
Membership – Folks, membership of Ballinamore Seán Ó hEislin’s is now open for 2018. The prices are; family members €80 (Family Constitutes a maximum of two adults and any number of children under the age of 18); adult single €40; under 18 €20. Please contact Walter Sharpley on 0861236207 to make payment
Comhghairdeas – Congratulations and best wishes to Jimmy Holahan on his retirement, everyone at the club would like to pass on their deepest thanks to Jimmy for all his hard work with our underage players over the years, Jimmy was loved by all the kids and they will miss him immensely at this year’s Cul Camp
Club Lotto Monday 08/01/2018
Numbers Drawn No’s: 7 0 4 3 2 5 6 1.
Ní raibh aon bhuaiteoir den Lotto ar Dé Luan seo caite. Duaiseanna do dhaoine a bhí i láthair ar an oíche:
House Draw €40: Sean O Suilleabhain
Kindly sponsored: Mary Harte
€40 each – Bernadette Dolan, High St. Christopher McNiffe, Church St. Gerry Farry, Lahard. Alan Prior, Galway
Next weeks Lotto Draw: Commercial Hotel with a Jackpot of €3,400.
