It is always a proud occasion for any club when one of it’s players are selected to play with the County team so for Cloyne it was multiplied by three when we had a number of our members play for various Cork hurling teams last weekend.  

Dylan Cahill and Christopher Smith lined out with the Cork U16 hurling team last weekend when they played in the annual U16 All Ireland Championship, held in Tipperary. Both players are now at the end of their juvenile careers and next year face into their first year as adult players so we look forward to seeing how they progress over the coming years.

Declan Dineen, whom this year made his Senior hurling debut at just nearly 17 years of age, played with the Cork U17 hurling team who took part in the Eugene Carey Memorial Tournament held in Mallow last weekend. Teams from Clare, Limerick, Dublin, Waterford, Kilkenny and Cork took part with Cork, for the third yaer in a row, defeating Limerick in the final.

The club wishes to congratulate all three players on their fine achievements to date.

With our hurlers out of all competitions, the focus in the club now turns to the big ball. Both our Junior A and B teams have been back in training for the last few weeks with championship looming quickly on the horizon.

First up is the treble chasing Junior A footballers when they put their title on the line against Carrignavar next Friday evening at 6.30pm in Lisgoold. Unbeaten in nearly two and a half years, the team will be doing all in its power to reach their third successive East Cork Final. Everyone in the club wishes them well in their endeavours.

Our Junior B team are also preparing for their upcoming championship. Under the watchful eye of coach Donal ‘Duck’  O’Shea, the team have trained twice in the past week and on Sunday morning next, they travel to Carrigtwohill to take on the locals in a league match. The ball will be thrown in at 11.30am.

From the highest of the highs at winning our Senior Championship match on Saturday evening in Pairc Ui Chaoimh to the lowest of the lows on this black Monday for our club. It is with great sadness that we announce the deaths of our PRO Derry(Jeremiah) Falvey and former Cloyne great, Tommy Canavan.

Derry was on the sideline last Saturday evening, gripped with excitement and tension as he followed the ebb and flow of our battle with Blackrock, keeping his mental notes, later that evening to call upon them as he prepared his match report for the paper and the website, reporting in his own inimitable style and calling it as he saw it. The joy in his heart behind the stand as we gathered in the dressing room to celebrate our win was etched all over his face as his smile gleamed out from behind his trademark, snowy white beard. Little did we realise it would be the last time we would see it. Such was his efficiency that as we left the public houses to head for our homes in the early hours of Sunday morning, we noticed Derry had already taken out the old poster advertising the Blackrock game with the new one giving details of our next championship match. Those of us that saw it immediately had a spring in our step, Derry’s poster reminding us of our upcoming contest with our old friends in Newtown. “Typical Derry” we said, “efficient, optimistic and always looking ahead”. You know by a person’s tone of voice when you get one of those phone calls that something is seriously wrong. To be told that Derry had died in the early hours of Monday morning was a massive shock and deeply upsetting. He will be missed terribly by his family but all of us that got to know him well over the last few years will miss him greatly also. Our club has lost one of its most interesting characters.

We knew Tommy Canavan was in trouble. The news from the hospital was not good and it was only a matter of time. The doctors told his family he had an hour to live, yet he fought for another couple of days. The doctors said they didn’t realise he was as strong as what he was. If they had known Tommy Canavan the hurler, they would have known how strong he was. On Monday morning, he could fight no more and passed away in the presence of his wife Ann and his family. Tommy Canavan served the Gaelic Athletic Association in a myriad of ways. He played for our club with great distinction for many years, he played intercounty hurling with the Cork minors and the Cork U21s. When he hung up his boots, he became a referee of note and took his responsibilities as a ref very serious, always ensuring he was fit for the job by keeping himself in great shape and as often as possible, having his own umpires at nearly all the matches he refereed. He was a selector with various Imokilly underage teams for years and eventually became Chairman of the East Cork Juvenile Board. Such was his foresight, he was the brainchild behind the inauguration of the East Cork Senior Championship or Abernethy Cup as it later became known. Under his stewardship, the championship became a huge success with the finals drawing thousands of people to the Midleton GAA field every April, thus generating tens of thousands of pounds for the East Cork Juvenile Board which he ensured was spent on preparing the various Imokilly underage teams and seeing that the players were properly looked after. He was truly ahead of his time and is surely gone before time.

To Derry and Tommy’s family, the Cloyne GAA family extends its deepest sympathies. In the coming weeks we will post a more detailed account of both men but for now, we will rally around both families and give them all the support we can.

We wish Tomás, our junior ‘A’ manager and club stalwart, a speedy recovery in hospital from a recent illness.

Tomás O'Brien discusses the prospects

It was so unfortunate that he was unable to attend at the Killeagh match to witness his team’s ‘glorious defeat’ at Copper Alley.

Cloyne will take to the field in both Junior A & Junior B championship this coming week. The Junior B’s face Midleton in Ballinacurra at 7.30pm on Wednesday night, after two super wins in the last week & a few players coming out of retirement… hopefully they can put off a good result on.

The Junior A’s, after losing to Bride Rovers last Saturday night, take on killeagh in the 2nd round of championship. We wish both teams all the best.!

Ross Mac breaks out of defense..

Yet another disappointing three-point defeat puts us into the final qualifier against Blackrock in late July. On Saturday evening last in Castlemartyr, a late challenge by our team through a Paudie O’Sullivan free, was not enough to overtake a six-point lead by Killeagh.

Click here to read the match report

We wish our senior hurlers and management the very best of luck for Friday night’s encounter in Round 2 of the County Championship with Killeagh at Castlemartyr. This promises to be a keenly contested encounter with the men in Green and, no doubt, Cloyne’s supporters will turn out in force to support the team.

Ar aghaidh leis an gcluiche!

Congratulations to our two representatives on the Cork senior hurling side which won the Munster semi-final game against Limerick – Dónal Óg Cusack and Paudie O’Sullivan. Goalie Dónal Óg brought off a wonderful save, while Paudie scored an equally wonderful goal in injury time.

Once more, we face an very important game against old rivals, Killeagh, at the Castlemartyr venue on Friday, June 25th in a county senior hurling qualifier with the throw-in down for 7.30 p.m. This is our third year in succession to contest the qualifier and has to be a cause for concern. As well, Killeagh have defeated us in the last two encounters; the Abernethy Cup final in 2009, and the Senior League meeting earlier this season. Hopefully, we can put together a better showing than we did at Midleton on June 7th when we failed against Bishopstown after extra-time. We wish players, managers, club officials, and alicadoes the best of luck on the evening.