AUSTIN STACKS NOTES OF 29/10/2018 FOR TRALEE TODAY.
BOBBY MILLER: One of the great names of the Rock passed away peacefully on Wednesday last (24th Oct) at the age of 86. As a footballer Bobby Miller first made his name with his schools teams in the mid forties. He was just 15 years old when he played Minor Football with his beloved Stacks in 1947. The following year he was on the Kerry MF team and won three Munster Final medals in 1948, 1949 and 1950. He crowned a wonderful career at Minor level when winning an All Ireland title also in 1950 along with fellow Rockies Kevin Barry, Pa Fitzgerald and Paddy O’Donnell.
After that he played for 10 consecutive seasons (1950-1959) with the Rock Senior Footballers and came close to winning a Co. Championship title in 1952.
When he retired from footballer he kept his close connection with the Rock, residing there all his life and also running a very successful business in Upper Rock St. for many years.
Bobby was predeceased by his wife Mary and son John. We extend sincere sympathy to Maura, Robert, Ann, Aileen and Cathy and to all his extended family and friends.
SYMPATHY: Sincere sympathy is also offered to the families of the following who died recently – Kevin McGreevy, Mounthawk and formerly Workingham (UK); Nicky Fitzgerald, Clahane, Ballyard and Fitzgerald’s Garage, Manor West; Rita Griffin (nee Brosnan), Quill St.; and Diane Falvey, Bray (Co. Wicklow) and formerly Rock Street.
BAG PACK: Austin Stacks Ladies Club Fundraising bag pack takes place in Garvey’s Supervalu this Friday & Saturday Nov 2nd & 3rd. Urging everyone in the club to please support their ladies club. Remember the Ladies club do not receive any funding and the costs associated with purchasing footballs to covering referee fees must be raised by the players themselves.
A NIGHT OF MEMORIES: The Night of Showband Memories organized and compered by Francie Breen which took place in the Clubhouse on Bank Holiday Sunday Night (28th Oct) was a resounding success. Thanks again to Francie and to everyone else who helped run the event and of course to all those Showband aficionados who showed that they are getting better with every similar outing.
CO. BOARD: The Co Board is organising a programme aimed at preparing members to get involved with Senior Club sides in coaching and/or management. They will be running 4-5 workshops during this month of November covering wide range of aspects – session and season planning; basic strength and conditioning; games-based coaching; video analysis; team tactics and more – providing people with requisite experience and knowledge to feel confident enough to get involved with senior teams. Provisionally the following dates are fixed; Monday nights – Nov 5th, 12th, 19th, 26th. Venues and times to be confirmed. If interested please text Éamonn O Reilly at 0879677034.
HURLING: Ballyheigue 4-10; Austin Stacks 0-6.
Played under lights in Caherslee on last Friday evening (26th Oct) this first Intermediate Plate Final was won by Ballyheigue after a very good first half by the North Kerry boys at the end of which they led by 3-7 to 0-2. Daniel Teahan with our first point in the 3rd minute and one from Colm Ó Giollagáin after 20 minutes were our first half scorers.
We had a better second half, adding four more points to 1-3 for the opposition but it wasn’t to be our night on this occasion. Our second half scorers were Colm again with two more and one each from Peter O’Regan and Gearóid McCann.
While Ballyheigue put up a very good performance it didn’t help our cause that we were missing some players from our brilliant victory the previous week, most noteably our two chief scorers Paul Daly and Ronan Gilsenan who were sidelined through injury.
Team: Danny McGuire, Tadhg Meehan (Capt), David Walsh, Jonathan Downey, Eoghan McKivergan, Rory Forbes, Kieran McCaughley, Andrew Morrissey, Gearóid McCann (0-1), Colm Ó Giollagáin (0-3 – one free), Daniel Teahan (0-1), Thomas Meehan, Peter O’Regan (0-1), Terry Desmond.
Sub used: Daniel McCarthy (42m).
So a reasonably good season came to an end with the winning of the South Kerry JH Championship (just over a week ago) being the highlight of the year.
The night in Caherslee ended however with some nostalgia as one of the great servants of Stacks Hurling in any era announced his retirement after 23 brilliant seasons at the helm. Peter O’Regan was just 16 years old when he made his Senior debut in the Dr. Crokes old pitch in Deerpark on Saturday, 16th November 1996 in the South Kerry SH Championship Final. We defeated Kilgarvan by 2-9 to 0-11 in that Final with Peter lining out at right wing back and playing for the full hour. For the record the following was our line-out that day: Tadhg O’Halloran, John Paddy O’Sullivan, Pat Dowling, Mike Tangney, PETER O’REGAN, Brendan Long, Joseph O’Connor (0-1), Pádraig Teahan (0-1), John Lyons, Darren Crotty, Joe Rogers (0-3), Michael Callinan, Seán Holden, Kevin McNamara, Brian Neenan (1-4).
Sub used: Jonathan O’Regan (28m) (1-0).
A few others were also mentioned as having retirement thoughts last Saturday night but a plea by team Manager, Michael O’Leary, supported by his two colleagues Ger Scollard and John Connolly, to come back better and stronger next season was greeted with enthusiasm.
SENIOR FOOTBALL: The Town Championship Final between ourselves and Kerins O’Rahillys has been fixed for next Saturday evening (3rd Nov) in Austin Stack Park. Throw in at 7pm.
CLUBHOUSE: As always the Clubhouse is available for all types of Parties and Functions. Enquiries about Club Bookings should be made by contacting Harry Hynes at 087 2467286.
CARDS: The 45 Card Sessions continue in the Clubhouse on every Monday and Thursday nights, commencing at 9.30pm each night.
LOTTO: Last week’s (22nd Oct) Jackpot, worth €9,450, was not won. The numbers drawn were 1, 6, 8, 22. The €20 winners were: Joe Naughton, Donal Ryan and Jim O’Donovan, all c/o The Club; Peter O’Regan, c/o The Hurlers; and John Hannafin, c/o Rock Street Post Office..
Tickets are on regular sale at the Rock Street Post Office and at the Stacks Clubhouse, as well as from our other regular sellers.
