A message from club Chairman, Ted McEnery, on a successful season from our Gers Nua team this year. They upset the odds to reach the Semi-Finals of the Championship, after stunning (and nail-biting) victories over both St Sylvester's and St Brendan's.
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Our recent semi-final defeat to a very strong Castleknock team in the Junior Championship brought the curtain down on what was an eventful and very rewarding year for the Nua team. Even though the odds were stacked against us going into that game given the comprehensive defeat earlier in the championship to the same opposition and as some of our stronger players were unavailable to us for the semi-final, the Gers lost nothing in defeat and played with great spirit right to the end.
It was that great spirit saw us snatch victory from the jaws of defeat in our two previous games when a loss would have ended the season. In both of these games the team put in a trojan effort to firstly stay in the game when it appeared to be moving away from us and ultimately, when chances did fall our way, we grabbed them. Those two games in particular will live long in the memory of all attached to the club. Who will ever forget the drama against St Sylvester's in Malahide (last 16 knockout game) when at two points down up stepped Sean Hussey with a last kick of the game free…and he nailed a goal, despite circa 8 Malahide men on the goal line. Who will ever forget the scenes at final whistle….remember the photos circulating afterwards. Unforgettable!
And the quarter final that followed, again away but this time against St Brendan's of Grangegorman. It was expected that we would go behind in the first half (against the wind) but the plan was to tire Brendans out (bear in mind that both Brendans, like Sylvesters' play in a higher grade than the Nua) and to cut the gap in the second half. In the last few minutes it was looking ominous with Nua trailing by four points and then, once again the collective will of this group took hold and in a blistering few minutes a goal from Conor Keane and a point from Sean Hussey drew us level…..so it had to be extra time!
And in an energy-sapping additional 20mins on top of a colossal effort in regulation time….there was but one score and it was the Gers Nua who prevailed again….against any logical set of odds.
In reviewing the year, what is surprising is that the club did not see this gallant campaign coming: we struggled in the league when we were short numbers due to injuries and took a few heavy defeats that certainly dented hopes of a decent championship run. Come the championship, we did get a few lads back from injury (Conor Keane and Shane 'Hammer' Hogan). Darragh McEnery was again available and Conor (C), Jack, Killian and Ben came on board and we now had enough of a panel to allow team management sleep easy on the nights before games. From a steady state group of perhaps 12-15, the Nua group grew on the back of their unique spirit of togetherness to a steady state of 22+(we used 26 different players this year!).
The club owes a huge depth of gratitude to the Nua team and we look forward to working with you in 2022 when we will have many more enjoyable days. And for those who are considering returning to football or who know somebody who is keen to get involved, just contact myself personally and I know for sure that the welcome will be warm, sincere and good bloomin' fun!
Finally, I know the team and the club want to say a huge thanks to Shay.
Ted McEnery, Chair
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If you would like to play football or hurling with the Gers, simply drop us a message.
