The Opening …
Well done to all involved in our Official opening of The Clubhouse Bar on Friday evening. The atmosphere was brilliant and the buzz mighty. Around 10.00 pm Conor Moore completed the formalities by cutting the ceremonial ribbon (green of course) with Debbie our vice-chairperson and Garrett managing the ribbon. The scissors wasn’t great so the cut took a little longer than usual.
The bar was superbly organised with counter staff and floor staff on top of their game thanks to manager Davy Coyne. The club is indebted to the support and advice of Eamonn McGowan over the past two months or so. Eamonn has been most supportive and generous with his expertise and management experience always available to the club from the moment the decision was made to reopen the bar.
Prior to Conor Moore taking the stage, the members were briefly addressed by club chairman, David Nohilly who explained that the night was about much more than the opening of a bar. “It was about building the community dimension of the club and building club spirit. Despite the counter attractions, on the night, the various elements of the Shamrocks family were well represented including parents, adult players, LGF players and several members of the Gaelic for Mothers and Others who dropped in after completing their training session. Included amongst the attending members was the Minister of State with responsibility for Local Government and Planning, Peter Burke T.D. Mick Green, the chairman of Mullingar Shamrocks when the clubhouse was first opened in 1991, was there as was another Clare native County Board chairman, Frank Mescall who honoured the club with his attendance. Frank, of course was a superb manager when Mullingar Shamrocks won the 2000 county title in the never to be forgotten Arctic conditions of that mid-November day. Several of those who enjoyed many a good night in the bar’s previous incarnation were back to relive the good old days. Some of the Castledaly lads who were in Springfield for a challenge against our seniors were welcome guests.
Conor Moore stepped on to the stage in Ger Loughnane mode before adopting his Michael D. O’Higgins persona: “It’s a very special evening and I would like to commemorate the occasion with a poem I wrote during the week because I am quite the Bohemian.” The poem covered the near 70 years of Shamrocks history as might be expected from someone with Michael D’s reputation for scholarship.
As a small man, the President paid special tribute to Shamrocks’ ace corner forward of the 1990s. Michael O’Reilly.
“Ormsby would field it and kick into Mickey,
And no team could handle the Mickey Reilly shimmy.
Respect, Mickey from one little Mickey to another!”
The ‘president’ was well versed in Shamrocks’ history and knew all about our 1990s era of glory: “The 90s you could say were our Golden Years, Five times we got to lift the Paddy Flanagan by the ears.”
No Conor Sketches gig for a Shamrocks occasion would be complete without a Ned Moore sketch and Conor ended with a throw back to the heady days of the 1990s with a reprise of Ned’s famous Whiplash-Ghost Riders in the Sky routine that ended abruptly with a ‘ torn hamstring’ that saw ‘Ned’ grounded.
Ross Corroon took centre stage for the rest of the evening and entertained in brilliant fashion with his guitar and vocal skills impressing all.
It was just one superb night for the Shamrocks club.
