When planning began for the Donaghmore Ashbourne GAA Centenary celebrations it quickly became apparent that the responsibility of capturing the history of 100 years of members, friends, and supporters of the club as well as 100 years of past and present memories, was massive undertaking. To honour that history the only solution was to give every current playing member an opportunity to take to the pitch and play our games in the green and white colours, just as our ancestors have done since 1923. From this realisation the Centenary Players Weekend was born.

Friday 23rd June 2023

The weekend kicked off on Friday 23rd June and the opening event was an adult football match between Donaghmore Ashbourne and Curraha. The choice of opposition was deliberate and very apt as the first officially recorded match featuring Donaghmore was played on the 1st September 1923 against Curraha.

Prior to the match a special guard of honour was formed by the Donaghmore Ashbourne 2012 dual boys’ team. They represented the past, the present and the centenary celebration event with Fionn Gaughan wearing an old style Donaghmore jersey, Adam Wilkie wearing the current Donaghmore Ashbourne jersey and Bobby Currie wearing the specially commissioned Centenary jersey.

The referee for the match was Jason Buckley, whose son and daughter are dual members of Donaghmore Ashbourne GAA. All other officials on the night were club volunteers.

The special guest for the evening was Evan Dowdall. Evan is a former member of the 2012 dual team and now supports his brother Noah and his team from the sidelines. He enjoys Special Olympics and is an avid footballer and swimmer. He received a loud welcome on to the pitch and after high fiving his teammates he waved to the crowd. The energy and joy he brought to proceedings was infectious.

The national anthem was sung by Roisin O’Connor. Rosin has very strong ties to the Curraha club with both sides of her family tree (the Keoghs and the O’Connors) being famous names within the Curraha community, however Roisin is a fully fledged Donaghmore Ashbourne girl and is a current playing member with our ladies football team.

Our special guest, Evan, then had the honour of receiving the match ball from referee Jason Buckley and throwing the ball in to begin the match. A good, competitive match was played out between the teams with Donaghmore Ashbourne coming out as winners, reversing the result from the 1923 match.

Following the match, a reception was held for both players and supporters. At the reception Jonathon Carr (Centenary Committee Chairperson) welcomed everyone, thanked Curraha for fielding a team and presented both captains with a plaque to commemorate the event. Joe Synnott (Donaghmore Ashbourne GAA Club Chairperson) also spoke and expressed his delight at opening the weekends event with a match against our near neighbours. He thanked them for their time and wished them well in the coming club championships.

Saturday 24th June 2023

The action on Saturday kicked off at 9am with the Street League Finals on Pitch 1. There was great excitement in the air as the children were paraded around the pitch, led by Seamus O’Rourke (Dublin Fire Brigade), who played the bag pipes. The enthusiastic parents and grandparents looked on with pride as the teams lined up behind their team flags. The National Anthem was then sung by Deirdre Gaughan. Following this the coaches got all teams into position and the club referees got the games underway.

A wonderful morning of GAA games was thoroughly enjoyed by all the children and credit must go to the Go Games Committee, led by Pat Daly, for organising another successful Street League Finals Day. It was fitting that these finals played a large part of the weekends celebrations as many of the children taking part were children of current and former players. As the games came to an end each child was presented with a Street League medal and a goody bag, which was kindly sponsored by Centra (Garden City).

Following the Street Leagues Finals, a selection of adult players, representing each code, formed a guard of honour for the u8 dual boys’ and girls’ teams as they entered the pitch. The primary aim of the Players Weekend was to allow each team in the club to represent themselves by playing a short game. All age groups were afforded 40 minutes of playing time (20 minutes hurling/ camogie and 20 minutes football). The weather played its part in proceedings with the sun making its presence felt, both club pitches were busy throughout the day.

As each team completed their games they received a goody bag, containing a drink, crisps, sweets, and fruit. They also received a copy of the Centenary Souvenir Players Weekend programme. Hopefully, in years to come they will look back and remember the weekend fondly and recall their own stories.

At 3pm a short break in the on-pitch action was taken and all attendees were invited on to pitch 1 to form the figure of ‘100’. An aerial photo was then taken, by drone, and we hope to display this photo in the club in future.

By 7pm all Go Games and juvenile dual boys teams had been represented on the pitches to play their part in the centenary celebrations. The cooperation from all mentors and their teams was remarkable, showing the GAA at its best, with no delays or dramas. 12 different age groups, equating to approximately 500 children, had taken part in the activities.

Later in the evening the focus switched to off pitch activities as the bar hosted an evening of traditional music and Irish dancing. Dancers on the night, from the Niall Holly Academy, were Niall Holly, Owen Luebbers, Caoimhe Holly, Meghan McCarthy and club superstars Oisin Madden (U13 Dual Star) & Caoimhe Durkan (U9 Dual Star).

The traditional music was provided by an array of musicians from Dublin, Dundalk, Tipperary, and Kerry. We were delighted to have our own club represented among the musicians too, with thanks to Conor Meehan (U13 Dual Star), Aisling Meehan, Joanne O’Connor, Fran Meehan, Antoin MacGabhann, Peter Farrell, Hugh Grogan and Catherine Mc Evoy. It was a wonderful display of Irish culture. Elsewhere on the weekend credit must also go to the Siopa staff who were flat to the mat all weekend. Sweets and treats were available for all with slushies being a particular favourite of the kids, thanks to the fabulous weather. The club bar was open for business throughout and enjoyed a constant flow of business. AB Catering provided hot meals on both days.

Sunday 25th June 2023

The final day of the Centenary Players Weekend began with a parade of the u12 dual girls’ team on to the pitch. They were the first team to play their games on the day and also the first to enjoy the beautiful weather we were gifted with for the whole weekend.

Once again supporters of the teams playing filled the stand and enjoyed the games and the commentary and there were even a few songs. On the Sunday morning the teams on show were the u12, u13, u14, u15 and the u17 dual girls. All were delighted to be part of this historic occasion for the club but more importantly they were having fun playing with their friends and enjoying the goody bags with them afterwards.

The underage teams then gave way for the adult teams in the club to showcase their skills. First up were the Gaelic 4 Mothers & Others versus the GAA for Dads & Lads.

These are two of the newest teams in our club and while they take their games as serious as any other team, they have also brought great fun for all involved. Gerry Giblin and Janet Durkan provided sideline commentary for supporters during this game.

The Adult Camogie and Ladies Gaelic Football teams also gave great displays of skill during their allotted slots.

Our Adult Hurling team were unable to join us on the day as they contested the Div 3 Hurling A League Final against Kildalkey. Whilst the match took place in Trim all at the club were tuned in for updates. Unfortunately, we came out on the wrong side of a 3-13 to 3-10 scoreline. The hurlers were disappointed but reaching a final is always a sign of progress.

The final match of the day was provided by the Adult Footballers, Donaghmore Ashbourne Green v Donaghmore Ashbourne White. The u13 dual girls formed a guard of honour for the teams, cheering them onto the pitch as they got caught up in the excitement that surrounded the final match of a fantastic weekend.

The referee for this match was Conor Garvey and his officials, running the line, were Niall O’Sullivan and Katie Carragher, both up and coming club referees themselves. His umpires, all experienced club mentors, were Brendan McLoughlin, Stephen Watters, Caoimhin O’Toole and Colm Menton.

The National Anthem was sung by Tommy Mulvey. It was a lovely moment for Tommy, a long-standing member of our club, as he was joined by his grandchildren after the anthem who were rightly proud of their superstar grandad.

Our weekend was now complete. The club was vibrant in the Green and White club colours all weekend, aided in no small part by the fantastic weather.

In 1923 a small group of men fielded one football team, in 2023 a large crowd of volunteers helped to field over 50 teams, from u4 to adult age groups in hurling, football, camogie and ladies football. We have come on such a journey in those 100 years.

A massive thank you to all who helped on the day, during the lead up to the weekend and behind the scenes during the event. Our thanks also to Dunnes Stores, Tesco Ashbourne, Centra Ashbourne and Claire Flynn PT who provided the goody bags for all the players over the weekend – their generosity is greatly appreciated.

Thanks also to our club volunteers, too many to name but they covered everything from car parking, pitch and ground maintenance, first aid, photography, the Siopa, stewarding, mentoring and refereeing.