Champions Dinner.  

Our Pierce Purcell winning team of 2019 were in Carton House last Friday as the GUI held a Champions Dinner in honour of all the successful club/school shield and cup winners and the National and International and Team Champions. With 320 guests at this annual Black Tie Banquet and Greg Allen(RTÉ) hosting,each successful winner was introduced to the assembled audience with a special citation read by Greg outlining their special achievement. Special mention was given to John O’Keeffe on being part of two successful Pierce Purcell panels(2006 & 2019) as well as the commitment shown by Michael Thompson and Eoin Coughlan as they were also preparing for Newtown’s senior hurling championship match on the Saturday. Unfortunately both missed the final but had being present for practice and the semi-final win on Friday. In his citation Greg relived the final nail biting moments of Charleville’s win over Castlebar when our team turned a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 win in the final two matches(both final matches going the full 18 holes with the winning match finishing on the 19th).It was also highlighted how Charleville have overcome the financial problems of the last few years to now being once again in a strong position and membership growing. Earlier in the day 12 of the team played the Montgomery Course with Stephen Twomey/Ger Mullane on 46pts winning the ‘friendly four ball’ with John O’Keeffe/Donal Deady in second position on 42pts. Present on the night were John O’Keeffe,John Collins,Danny Deady,Donal Deady,Trevor Barry,Eamonn Leahy,Ciarán Herlihy,Paddy O’Kelly,Stephen Twomey,Ger Mullane,Eoin Boyle,Ollie Kenneally and Geoff Watson. Unfortunately Michael Thompson,Eoin Coughlan and Denis McCoy were unable to attend. Thoughts now turn to this years teams and plans are already in place to build on the success of 2019.