DOON G.A.A. Under Age Affairs 1999
The highlight of the Doon underage year was winning the Feile na nGael for the first time since 1977. The club represented Limerick at the National Feile na nGael in Wexford. Our hosts were Oulart the Ballagh, (home of the 1996 Wexford All Ireland Captain Martin Storey).
The U14 team retained the East title but were defeated by Na Piarsaigh in the County semi-final. We werre also defeated by Na Piarsaigh in the final of the All County League. However we did defeat Na Piarsaigh in the semi-final of the Feile na nGael. The U8 team played in the Broadford tournament. The Ull team were beaten in the county final of the ground hurling competition. The U12 team retained the East title for the sixth successive year defeating Murroe Boher. While the U13 team retained the East final beating South Liberties.
The U15 an East competition was retained with Doon defeating Ahane.
Our U16 team reached the Co. semifinal but was defeated by the eventual
champions Na Piarsaigh.
T
The minor
team
had a great year
winning both the City-East final and
county final beating Ballybrown on
both occasions. The team captain
Shane Ryan and the mentors Patsy
Ryan, Tommy Ryan and Eddie Kiely
deserve enormous credit considering
the
limited number of players
available.
A number of our juvenile players had the distinction of wearing the county jersey - Roger Ryan, Ciaran Ryan and Michael Fitzgerald represented Limerick at the Tony Forristal tournament. These players also had the honour of playing shinty against Northern Scotland.
At U15 level, Thomas McLoughlin and Cian Fahey represented Limerick while at U16 Seamus Barry and Shane Slattery represented the county. At minor level Michael McKenna wore the green jersey.
A number of our primary school players starred in the Primary Game series. Doon achieved a unique distinction in providing George Allis who captained the Limerick Primary football team and Michael Fitzgerald who was captain of the hurling team. Brendan Byrne and Denis Moloney also played on the hurling team. Two of our players played in the mini-sevens hurling games in Croke park while John Bourke from Oola played in the football mini-sevens in Croke Park..
Incidently this is the third consecutive year that Doon has made a clean sweep of all East underage competitions, much praise must go to the dedicated band of mentors, Br. Dormer, Donal Anderson, Aidan Fitzgerald and Tom McCormack. Bro Danny Fitzgerald also provided valuable help in the preparation of the underage teams.
The future looks good but we would appeal to the many ex-players in the locality to return to the fold and offer our underage players the benefit of their considerable experience.
DOON G.A.A. SENIOR CLUB NOTES 1999
This year our expectations at senior level were quiet modest as a result of the absence due to injury and emigration of a number of our established players. At the A.G.M. Gerdie McGrath, Declan Ryan and John Walsh were appointed to manage the team and in spite of the defections they set about their job with enthusiasm. Gerry O'Donoghue was appointed trainer. The management introduced several new players during the County League and these players performed creditably. This resulted in an improvement in morale for the county championship. In the championship we were grouped with Kileedy, Kilmallock and Pallasgreen. In round one we defeated Pallasgreen. In the second game we defeated Kileedy. These two wins guaranteed us a place in the quarter finals. In our third group match we were narrowly defeated by eventual county finalists Kilmallock. In the quarter final we were drawn against county champions Ahane and after performing well we were unluckily defeated. Ahane went on to retain their county crown which shows how close we are to a breakthrough. Tremendous credit is due to the management who brought the best out of a very inexperienced team. As a result of the promotion of a large number of players to the senior team, our junior teams were left weakened considerably. Derek Ryan represented the Limerick intermediate team and David Stapleton represented the Limerick Junior Football. At U21 Doon was represented by Don Anderson.
The U21 team were felt to have an excellent chance of success. However despite a comfortable win over Murroe Boher in the East final the injury enforced absences of Don Anderson and Eamonn Stapleton ruined our chances of county success. We were beaten in the county semifinal by Adare.
COUNTY TITLE FOR DOON
Our minor team won a keenly contested Division One County championship. They defeated arch rivals Ballybrown in the final under the management of Patsy Ryan and his selectors - Tommy Ryan and Eddie Joe Kiely.
This was a great achievement considering there were only sixteen players at the first match.