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St Brigids Short-Listed Among Final Four For ETIHAD Hurling Club of The Year - Fri, 21 Aug 2009

TG4's camera's will be rolling down the club next Monday as they feature the club in the Etihad (http://www.etihadgaa.ie/) Best Club Under the Sun Competition. The club has reached the last four along with Lucan Sarsfields, Rathnure of Wexford & Drumm of Tipperary. Its a great opportunity for the club to showcase our club to Ireland. The winning club will receive a trip of a life time for 25 Hurlers to Dubai to be trained under the watchful eye of Nicky English.

It is extremely important everyone backs our campaign to win this competition. It will be an on-line (http://www.etihadgaa.ie/) voting poll with one vote allocated per email. Voting opens this weekend and closes September 9th. Time to spread the word.

Our Entry:

77 years ago in 1932, St Brigids G.A.A. Club was founded with the aim of being more than a vibrant GAA club but also to become a pillar of the community in the then small villages of Blanchardstown & Castleknock. To say that these founding members achieved their aim is an understatement. St Brigids has grown to become one of the major centres of sporting and community activity in the Dublin 15 area. Just as the visionaries of 77 years ago had a dream, the present generation also has its ambitions for the future and in 2007; a giant step was taken forward with the opening of our all-weather facility, the first of its kind in Europe.

The next two phases were the upgrade of the clubhouse facilities and a new hurling wall which are near completion. Fielding over 70 teams, these facilities will prove invaluable enabling coaching all year round as well as providing all the local schools with a premium surface for training and matches. This has been achieved by some savage fundraising drives. We have already spent over E2.5m on the upgrade of our facilities. Our club lotto is an excellent fundraising tool with our dedicated lotto team doing a brilliant job. From its humble beginnings in 1932, the club has grown to be one of the largest in the country.

We won our first County Football Championship in 2003 as well as contesting the Senior Hurling Final which was a great boost to the community. We provide county players for all codes (Handball, Football, Camogie, Hurling, Ladies Football) right up to Senior Inter County; e.g. Alan Nolan (Dublin Senior Hurlers). Many families are integral parts of the club, without them all, the club could not function. We are especially proud of our record in the community, aiding fundraising for the Alan Kearns Projects in Zambia as well as the local Hospice Project. Our inter county players are only too happy to help coach club teams as well as attending fundraising drives in the local community. Full integration with the local schools is an important part of our ethos.

Our GPO John Ryan visits the local schools on a weekly basis and also organises coaching workshops for mentors as we strive to improve collectively and individually. We are also to have Handball Legend Eoin Kennedy in our club. He coaches the kids every Wednesday evening which is great for hand eye coordination in hurling. The club also has an award winning website http://www.stbrigidsgaa.com which was crowned Leinster website of the Year for 2008. We also published a historic book in 2004 detailing the history of our club.

The club is not without its challenges but that?s what the GAA is about. The GAA works in cycles. No club can stay at the top forever and hard work plus determination will ensure our club is successful in the future.

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