Chairman's Address 

 

Welcoming 

 

Brian Cody 

 

to 

 

Tralee Parnells Annual Awards 2014

 

 

 

 

There are GAA giants. In our beautiful county we have just lived through the year of Jamseo Donoghue. Jamseo is playing in the era of the Gooch Cooper. In turn the Gooch inherited the mantle from Maurice Fitzgerald. The lineage goes back and back and back.

 

Tonight as a club we feel and know that we are both privileged and very lucky to have amongst us a true GAA giant Brian Cody. When these Parnells youngsters are well past their playing days the name of Brian Cody will still be spoken about and instantly recognised. Brian Cody’s name will fit snugly alongside our own Mick O Dwyer and together the pair of them will be perched well above all the rest. On behalf of Tralee Parnells I want to say directly to you Brian Cody that not only are we privileged and lucky but also deeply thankful in fact feel a gratitude for your generosity and your support with your presence here tonight for our 2014 annual awards night. Go raibh mile mile buicheas duit.

 

It is also only right and proper to acknowledge and thank our Kerryman in Kilkenny Tadhg Og Crowley. Now that he is back in the place of his birth we can call Tadhg Og as opposed to the Dr Tadhg Crowley medic to the Kilkenny hurling team. This night could not have happened without the combined efforts of Tadhg Og and his cousin and Parnell mentor Mike McGrath. Later Mike will make a presentation to Tadhg.

 

I also want to welcome some important Kerry Hurling people Ger McCarthy, DJ Leahy and Tom O Connell. If I have left anybody it is unintentional and my apologies.

 

I want to speak directly to you young Parnells players and your families. What I want to say is enjoy this night. Shortly when you leave your seats and walk up to receive your well-earned and deserved trophy, medal or certificate you will be receiving it from a living legend, a Laochra Gaeil. Savour and cherish and fully live this great moment in your still very young life. In the years to come le cunamh De you can remember it. In your mind’s eye you can return to this great moment and with a sparkle in your seeing eye you can tell your children and in time their children about your great moment with the GAA giant Brian Cody.

 

Tralee Parnells is both very young and very old. We had hoped to have our President Eileen Cotter up here with us tonight however she is unable to do so as she is recovering in hospital after a fall. We pass on her best wishes for a speedy recovery. Close to 100 years ago, Eileen’s father and his friends played hurling and in fact won county championships with the Tralee Parnells. It is worth saying that this was in the era when Kerry had been All Ireland hurling Champions a few short years earlier. But something bad happened that nobody seems too sure exactly what it was, but the Tralee Parnells died and the hurling stopped. The uncertainty and silence around this suggest it was the civil war. Hurling became as if it was a foreign game.

 

This was a huge loss. It is worthwhile thinking about why this was a loss. It’s a loss not only because it is a game of great speed and skill. It is also a loss because it is part of our heritage and our culture. As youngster growing up in Ireland you are entitled to hold a hurley in your hand, to strike the sliotar and feel the clash of the Ash.

 

As a GAA community only 3 short years ago us grown-ups gathered. It was a gathering of hurling people some of whom including myself who have never played a game of hurling. The reformed Tralee Parnells has taken on the challenge to resurrect and revive this ancient and beautiful game that had almost died. It is truly a good thing that because of this gathering you have held a hurley, struck the sliotar and felt the clash of the ash.

 

We live in a changing and increasingly globalised world. It is very likely that similar to 100 years ago when our club President Eileen Cotters father left Ireland and hurled in New York so too your life journey could also take you to faraway places. But where ever you go and wherever you find yourself it is good to know where you came from and also to know who you are deep within yourself. This is what we call a sense of identity. The hold of your hurley, the strike of your sliotar and the clash of the ash is now part of your growing sense of identity.

 

Throughout the world, far beyond our shores new GAA clubs are springing up. These GAA clubs abroad are gathering places for our emigrants whose identity drives them to remember and express our unique and rich culture and heritage. When the Kerry lads rise up and catch the ball over their head other notice say that’s what the Kerry lads do.

 

But what happens when you take out your hurley and strike the small ball with speed accuracy and distance to your team mate who with an eagles claw catch plucks it out of the sky. This sight halts people in their tracks and grabs the attention. The eyes of onlookers widen and they feel the thrill and excitement of hurling. As hurlers you can expect admiration and respect when others look at you.

 

Our hope and goal is unlike the original Parnells 100 years ago that this time we will not only survive but that we will also thrive. I want you young Parnell’s players to ask to your parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts, friends and neighbours not to let the Parnells die a second time. It is too important and too valuable to let it go.

 

We are realistic about how we live in the home of football and long may Kerry continue to be the home of football. Almost all of you also play football along with many other sports and we wish you well with that. But it is good that you have had the chance to hurl and it is important that we the grown-ups give you the opportunity to keep hurling if that is what you wish to do.

 

For Parnells Camogie and hurling to be passed onto the next generation we need other grown-ups to put their shoulder to the wheel. Parnells is an open club and we invite you to join in and help out. No job is too small – assisting the little ones to tie their helmets, lining them up for the drills, holding the hurling poles, doing coaching and assisting with a team, prompting dormant hurling people to get involved, spreading the word about the Parnells, putting your hand into your pocket as you have generously done tonight and contributing to the €20,000 that is needed this year to run the club. On that note it would be remiss of me not to thank our core sponsor Rory Kerins of ProPlan who has been with us from day one. Rory certainly does not seek out this attention but we have one thing to say to him – Rory keep the money coming. Also thanks to the contributors who have requested to remain anonymous.

 

You can witness our club in action when we restart the first Fri of March 2015. Next year we anticipate and if the truth be told are a little intimidated approaching upwards of 300 young hurlers in our club. This year we have an additional two teams from last year. It will be yet another milestone day when out first Camogie u14 team and our first minor hurling team take to the field. In time we look forward to you who are receiving your awards tonight, joining together becoming our adult team, togging off in our own club house, playing in our own club grounds and adding to the original Parnells county championship wins of 1917 and 1919. Most importantly us grown-ups look forward to sitting back, knowing our stint is done but confident for the future seeing some of you young Parnells taking over our roles up here.

 

Go Raibh mile maith agat.

 

Dermot Reen

Chairman Tralee Parnells

12th Dec 2014