Big Football Celebration Night - Friday 28th Nov 2008!!

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Big Football Celebration Night - Friday 28th Nov 2008!!

2008 has been a great year for football in Kilmacud Crokes and it’s not over yet! Dublin and All Ireland Féile successes were followed by Dublin SFC honours and, now, a place in the Leinster Club Final on 7th December. Our second Senior team reached the Dublin Intermediate championship final where they were unluckily pipped in injury time. All of our other adult teams either have already won honours (check in News Archives); are chasing promotion, or are consolidating their League positions. Right down through the Juvenile, Coiste and Nursery sections there is an exceptional volunteer commitment and the corresponding results are there for all to see.

Can success be taken for granted? No! Was the club always .........

....in such ahealthy position? Certainly not! Was there leadership and hard work involved? You bet!

It behoves us all to step back every once in a while, from our busy lives, and reflect on what has been achieved and why and continue to draw positive lessons to be applied in facing the undoubted challenges ahead. This is exactly what’s happening on Friday night next (28th)in Glenalbyn when a large crowd will assemble to celebrate our past successes and to honour a man who has been a key constant and source of inspiration through most of the past 3 decades. His name ….. Pauric McMenamin.

Having joined Crokes in 1980 and served on the committee from 1982, Pauric took over as Chairman of the Football Section in 1990, replacing Myles Clancy (who proposed him). For the next 17 years Pauric surrounded himself with many willing allies and presided over the evolution of Kilmacud Crokes football from a relatively young club with modest ambition in the early 1990s to being one of the premier clubs in Ireland today. He stepped down from the Chair some 12 months ago (see story) to enjoy a well-deserved break.

Pauric is synonymous with the novel and much‑loved annual ‘Mactech Cup’ for all club players over 15yrs old; the Kilmacud Sevens; Cheltenham Race Night; pre-Christmas golf event and so many other undertakings. He is renowned throughout the club for his boundless enthusiasm, organisational skills, energy, fund-raising ability, innovation, passion for the GAA and sport in general, knowledge of every player in the club and their families …… Oh! and for his eye‑catching sartorial eleganceJ The pictorial collage above is merely indicative of Pauric’s club life over the past few years.

This week’s event has been in the calendar for months and is sure to be one of the really memorable social nights in Glenalbyn. The club's success story (see Roll of Honour page) is deserving of a more detailed account on this site in due course. No doubt all present on Friday will hear of the many ups and downs from the man himself, in his own inimitable style.

We know Pauric has much more to offer to Kilmacud and we look forward to whatever form that contribution might take (incl golf fund-raiser next week!). For now let’s hope all those attending the sell-out function have a truly memorable night .... don't count on being home by midnight!!

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