Pictured here at the official opening of Rockwell Rovers walkway & all weather pitch on Saturday December 18 at Pairc na nGael, New Inn are the development committee with the President of the GAA.
L to R: Adrian O'Dwyer, Mary Newman, Uactaran Larry McCarthy and Andy Hennessy.
Pictured here at the official opening of Rockwell Rovers walkway & all weather pitch on Saturday December 18 at Pairc na nGael, New Inn are the Management team with the President of the GAA.
Stephen Quirke.
Pictured here at the official opening of Rockwell Rovers walkway & all weather pitch on Saturday December 18 at Pairc na nGael, New Inn are some members from Camogie club, Ladies Football, Juvenile and Senior club with the President of the GAA.
Back L to R: John Hally, Sandra English, Colm Heaney, Uachtaran Larry McCarthy, Annette Carroll and Elaine Cummins.
Pictured here at the official opening of Rockwell Rovers walkway & all weather pitch on Saturday December 18 at Pairc na nGael, New Inn are
Chairman: John Hally, Club President :Jimmy Looby, Uachtaran: Larry McCarty and former chairman: Walter O'Donnell.
Pictured here GAA President Larry McCarthy unveiling the plaque for the official opening of Rockwell Rovers walkway & all weather pitch on Saturday December 18 at Pairc na nGael, New Inn
GAA PRESIDENT OFFICALLY OPENS WALKWAY & ALL-WEATHER PITCH ON SATURDAY DECEMBER 18.New Inn village was a kaleidoscope of colours with Christmas lights decorating the village
creating a virtual winter wonderland. The club was adorned with blue & white flags to greet
the President of the Gaa when he came to visit the club to perform the opening of the all-
weather pitch and walkway. It was a beautiful dry blustery day, fantastic weather for a
December day. Conor English was MC on the day and started proceedings by introducing
John Hally, chairman of the club. John welcomed Uachtaran Larry McCarthy, County
Chairman, Joe Kennedy, West Chairman, Tommy Hayes, local County Councillors, Rev Fr.
Mattie McGrath and a fine attendance to New Inn and Rockwell Rovers field, Pairc na nGael.
John provided an overview of club activities over the past few years on and off the pitch.
Since Covid has come to disrupt our lives, the club has been busy and proactive with the
addition of a gymnasium, astro-turf goalmouths, all-weather pitch and walkway. On the
playing side, the club has won the County intermediate football crown last year and followed
up by winning the Tom Cusack Cup this year thereby consolidating their senior status.
Development Committee Chairman Andy Hennessy then addressed the crowd. Andy started
by saying this development was a massive community effort from the people of New Inn &
Knockgraffon and surrounding areas with every house in the parish supporting this
development. Over in the last three years, over €90,000 has been raised through various
fundraisers. The GAA is the heartbeat of the community, and the Astro Turf is a place where
young and old can train & play games all year around, and the walkway will be an area where
the more senior members of our community can meet and exercise in a safe environment.
Thanks to all involved, Mothers & Others, Ladies Football, Camogie, Juvenile and Senior
club who supported the development all the way.
The first sod on the new development was turned on the January 7, 2021, with lot of support
from local contractors, farmers and club members who gave freely of their time with tractors,
dumpers, and machines for the initial preparation of the site. The project was split into four
different contracts so in effect the development committee were the main contractors. This
allowed 90% of the material purchased to be sourced locally, and with all subcontractors
based less than 10 miles from site, this resulted in 95% of the €250,000 spent going back into
the local economy. Thanks to Liam Maher Plant Hire, Premier Pitches / Cummins Fencing,
Eoin Shine, Electrical Contractor, and the Barron Family who made it all possible. Thanks to
South Tipperary Development Company for their Leader grant with special thanks to Mary
Kinane & Mary Barry for their help with all the paperwork etc, without their support the
walkway would not have gone ahead. Thanks to Tipperary County Council for their grant and
to our local representatives for their support. Thanks to Cahir Credit Union, Tipperary
County Board, Munster Council and Croke Park for all their help and advice. Thanks also to
the Senior Executive Committee of Rockwell Rovers with Chairman John Hally, Secretary
Sandra English, and Treasurer Conor English for their help & support. The Club owes a deep
debt of gratitude to the field committee led by John Cooney and Jimmy Looby for all their
work on the field and new development and to the Development Committee of Andy
Hennessy, Mary Newman, Gerry Heenan, Adrian O’Dwyer and Damian O’Dwyer who put in
trojan work over the last four years in making this development a reality. The Very Rev
Mathew McGrath blessed the walkway and Astroturf before the President did the honours.
County Chairman, Joe Kennedy then spoke glowingly about the development and the impact
clubs such as Rockwell Rovers are having on rural communities right across the country.
The MC then introduced the Gaa President as “a man from Cork who moved to New York,
played for Sligo and married a Dublin woman! This was a day of firsts as Rockwell Rovers
is the first Tipperary Club Larry has visited and the first club where he has presented footballmedals to players. Larry spoke of his pride in being involved with a rural club such as
Rockwell which has an emphasis on “Local” and he was really impressed by the fact that that
the manager of the senior team is former player, Stephen Quirke who was aided and abetted
by local men Tommy Flynn, Dermot O’Brien and Gerry Ryan.
A medal presentation was then made to the Senior players. Players received their County
Intermediate medals, Tom Cusack medals and the jersey they wore when they won the
county title. They are a credit to their families, club & parish, and the President wished them
the best of luck in the coming year. Trophies were presented to manager Stephen Quirke and
his management team. Finally, a” token of our appreciation” was given by Club President
Jimmy Looby to an Uachtaran. While all this was going on clubman Declan Flanagan was
busy taking pics, well done to Declan! A big thank to everyone who came out on the day for
their support and looking forward to continued support for future developments.
