GDA Paudie O’ Brien speaks about his work so far in 2020

This week Cork GAA took some time to chat with GDA Paudie O Brien about his work so far in 2020 

Paudie O Brien GDA : Cork City Northside  

The year 2020 is not working out as anyone really planned for but since January can you give us an overview of the work you have been involved in. 

Development Squads: Prior to the current crisis I have been working with Cork City Hurling squads at u14 and u15 and with the u14 Football squad. At u14 we have 2 squads in both codes with over 150 players having attended trial games and training sessions. This is of huge benefit to these young lads and their clubs as it helps to improve the playing standards throughout the city and surrounding areas. My role with the u15 Hurlers is an Administrative and advisory one. These lads are training under the guidance of Clive O’ Donovan and his team with Paudie Murray overseeing the whole county. 

Post Primary: As part of the GAA Future Leader programme I ran TY Coaching courses in SMGS Blarney and CBC. This involved over 125 students all receiving Coaching in Fundamental Movement, GO Games Referee, Hurling and Football. These students put the knowledge they learnt to use by coaching young children from their local primary school and organising a Blitz for these schools in both hurling and football 

Primary Schools: Local club school coaches are doing great work in their local schools in the Northside region. Since January I have been working with these coaches on a weekly basis to up skill them on new ideas, methods and increase the use of games-based coaching which will help them in their role.  

Club Development: In my role as a GDA I have put a lot of work into improving the structures and coaching standards within the clubs in my region. I have done this by organising Coaching Workshops within these clubs and by making sure that my clubs are reaching the Club Benchmarking standards set by Cork GAA.  

Online Activity: Since March 13th, a lot of my work has been through Social Media. I am responsible for the weekly Rebel Og Coaching Skills test videos which to date have received over 15,000 views.  

I along with fellow GDA James McCarthy and Carbery GPO Paudie Crowley ran an Easter Camp for children aged 9-12 years of age. This provide 40 mins of activities in Hurling and Football for 4 days over Easter. We had over 11000 views of this camp.  

I also gave a Webinar on the Difficulties of working with teenage players. 

I am currently working with Sciath Na Scol Chorcai putting together an online skills test for primary students throughout Cork  

Death of former Clare & Munster Chairman Noel Walsh

Noel Walsh (1935-2020)

It is with regret that we have learned of the death of former Munster Council and Clare County Board Chairman Noel Walsh.

Noel hailed from Miltown-Malbay. As a player, Noel won two Clare Senior Football Championship medals with the St. Josephs Miltown-Malbay Club and served as Club Secretary and Chairman. Noel represented Clare at Minor and Junior Football level.

He was the Clare County Board delegate to Munster Council for 8 years and was also Chairman of Clare Bórd na bPáirc. Noel was a Senior Football Selector for 20 years including when Clare won the Munster Championship in 1992 and served 3 terms as Manager of the Clare Senior Football team.

Noel became Vice-Chairman of the Munster Council in 1992. In 1995, he succeeded Tom Boland as Munster Chairman and completed his term of office in March 1998.

He served as Chairman of the Coaching and Games Development Committee and also Chairman of the Provincial Football Development Committee. He was a member of the Management Committee and Central Council for 3 years, and was Chairman of the Amateur Status Committee.

Noel was appointed Chairman of the National Football Development Committee by then President Joe McDonagh, and was also a member of the Disciplinary Rules Workgroup, the Railway Cup Workgroup and Féile Peil na nÓg Workgroup.

Reacting to this sad news, Munster Council Chairman Liam Lenihan said –

“Noel made a major contribution to the GAA. During his term as Munster Council Chairman, it was his great honour to present the Munster Hurling Cup to Clare Captain Anthony Daly in 1995 after a 62 year gap, just three years after serving as a Clare Selector when they won the Munster Senior Football title. He was a very genuine supporter and one of the people who made the GAA what it is, a Community based Worldwide Organisation that gives people a sense of pride in their own place. His example is being followed today by those helping vulnerable people in their own Communities. On behalf of the Munster Council, we extend our deepest sympathies to Noel’s family and friends. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.”

Clare County Board Chairman Joe Cooney said –

“It is with deep sadness that Clare GAA have heard of the passing of Noel Walsh. To say that Noel gave service to his Club, County, Province and Country would be putting it mildly. He was a leading light in the county of Clare for over five decades. His beloved St Josephs Miltown Malbay were always in his thoughts and this also was vividly correct for his love of his County. Playing and then managing Clare for a number of seasons ended with the most glorious of days in 1992 when his boardroom battles for a Munster open draw ended with Clare taking Munster honours. He served his County at Provincial and National level with much success. Noel’s innovative thoughts allied to a strong determination that the sport and equality for all was always to the fore led him to be one of the most respected administrators in the Association. Finally, on my behalf as Clare GAA Chairperson and behalf of the GAA people of Clare, may I extend my deepest sympathies to his wife Ursula, son Carl, daughters Lisa and Noelle, grandchildren, close relatives, friends and GAA colleagues everywhere.”

Cork County Board pass on our condolences to his family and to Clare GAA on his sad loss

Using Microsoft Teams for GAA Meetings

The COVID-19 pandemic is obviously having a major impact on the way different GAA units work and communicate. So, the GAA’s Officer Development Committee is eager to make common jobs easier by providing a series of educational webinars in the coming weeks. These will complement online meetings that are already happening between certain departments and county officer groups.
Yesterday evening (22nd April), a live broadcast was held on using Microsoft Teams for online meetings and seminars. It was delivered by the highly experienced Noel Tierney and Gerard Bradley from the GAA’s IT Committee.

The following topics were discussed

The benefits of using Teams
How to access Teams
Logging in for the first time
Scheduling online meetings
How to join a meeting
How to share a screen and documents
Other useful tips and tricks

Please find attached the slides and user guide for Microsoft Teams.

Teams Presentation

User Guide – MS Teams

Click here to watch the webinar again.

Click here if you wish to give feedback on this webinar.

***

A summary of answers to questions that arose is below:

Q. Can I host a meeting via the Teams App on my mobile phone?

A. You can set-up a meeting and host it, but you typically won’t have all the features available through the desktop on your PC.

Q. Can Clubs use Teams to organise meetings with their Club Officers?

A. Yes.  Club Chairpersons, Secretaries, Treasurers and PROs are all entitled to an official GAA e-mail account.  The Microsoft Teams package is available as part of the GAA’s arrangement with Microsoft for Clubs.

Q. I am an Officer, but don’t have an official GAA e-mail account.  How can I get one?

Ask one of the other Officers on your Executive to contact the same service using their official GAA e-mail account.

Contact details are:

E: mail.support@gaa.ie

T: +353 1 8843258

Q. What is the maximum number of attendees on a Teams call?

250

Q. Can Teams be used for voting?

It isn’t recommended.  At the recent Special Congress, delegates voted after the meeting using Microsoft Forms.  It is more confidential.  Click here to access the user guide on using Forms.

Q. Is audio conferencing available as part of the GAA’s arrangement with Microsoft?

A. No, not be default.  The audio-conferencing add-on can be purchased for an additional cost, which is approximately €1.61 per “Organiser”, e.g. a County Secretary.

***

If you have further questions, you are encouraged to direct these to your County IT Officer itofficer.cork@gaa.ie .  These officers part of an IT Officer Forum which relays queries and feedback to Tomás Meehan (GAA Chief Information Officer) and the IT Committee for consideration.  They will have much more technical knowledge on your queries.

Westlife Concerts

WESTLIFE CONFIRM RESCHEDULED DATES FOR PÁIRC UÍ CHAOIMH CORK CONCERTS

ALL TICKETS VALID FOR RESCHEDULED DATES

22nd April 2020

Following the Irish Government’s announcement to extend restrictions until 31st August 2020 for mass gatherings, Westlife have confirmed rescheduled dates for their two summer shows at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh, Cork.

Their concert on Friday 28th August 2020 is now rescheduled to Friday 27th August 2021 and their date on Saturday 29th August 2020 is now rescheduled to Saturday 28th August 2021.

No ticket exchange required. All tickets are valid for these new dates, subject to licence.

“Those who have been on the Westlife journey with us know how important performing is to us, but also know that safety must come first and foremost in delivering a successful tour. This is the course we need to take to ensure the protection of our fans, our crew and everyone around us but also to ease pressure on those working tirelessly to fight this virus” stated Westlife.

 

For more details please see www.westlife.com & www.mcd.ie

Cork Senior Hurling team supports Marymount

Cork Senior Hurler, Robbie O’ Flynn, has come up with a novel way of raising funds for Marymount Hospice.

He is gathering team members and GAA managers to undertake a solo run challenge over 48 hours on 25th and 26th April for Marymount hospice, which depends heavily on public donations.

Up to 50 Cork players and managers are expected to do a solo relay run in their gardens to raise funds over 48 hours next weekend. The solo runs will be videoed and streamed live via an Instagram page which Robbie set up for the event @Corkhurling.Marymount

He has also made a Facebook Page to support the initiative.

Robbie O’ Flynn said: “With a lot of Marymount’s fundraising events cancelled due to Covid-19, I thought it would be great if we could do something collectively to support them.

“Initially, I was thinking of donating or raffling jerseys but then thought that a solo run would be something that we could all get involved in to support this worthy cause. It would also be within social distancing guidelines in that we will all do the run in our own gardens or within a 2km radius of where we live. I asked some of the lads and they thought it was a great idea. Management have been really supportive too.”

The event aims to raise €50K for Marymount Hospice. Anyone who donates to the fund will be entered into a prize raffle for Cork team jerseys.

The 22-year-old player from Glounthaune in Cork, who has recently completed a Masters in Management and Marketing at UCC, said “ the run will begin at 6am on Saturday the 25th of April, followed on the hour and around the clock by each participant. “

The fundraising campaign has been launched via a Go Fund Me page and donations are already coming through.

“It’s good to be able to play a part in supporting such a worthy cause”, said Robbie.

“Covid-19 restrictions are affecting Marymount’s scheduled fundraising activities so this is a great opportunity to use our time, energy and skills to make a difference to people’s lives.”

Patrick Horgan, captain of the Cork senior hurling team, said: “We are all so delighted to be involved in such an event to support Marymount Hospice and the great work they do. Everybody in Cork has a close connection to Marymount in one way or another and show great strength and generosity any time an event like this one is run.

“The way Cork people especially come together to support something like Marymount, makes us all proud to be from Cork.”

Speaking about the event Cork Senior Hurling Manager Kieran Kingston said “Marymount Hospice is so important to the people of Cork, and the we are delighted to be able to be involved in a fundraiser like this, for such a great cause like Marymount Hospice”

Donations can be made via https://www.gofundme.com/f/corkhurlersformarymount/donate or by contacting Marymount Hospice’s fundraising team at 021 4501201 or email fundraising@marymount.ie