New award honours Seamus O’Brien, who will be the 2014 winners of Annual awards

The final nominations for this year’s Waterford GAA Awards which are to be sponsored by the Local Bar in Dungarvan will be made known by the weekend.

The nominations for the Club of the Year were announced on Monday evening last at the launch of the awards and already there is some debate going on as to who is included and more importantly who is not included.

The clubs revealed as those in contention for Club of the Year are County Senior Football Champions – The Nire, County Senior Hurling Champions – Ballygunner, Western and County Intermediate Hurling Champions – Cappoquin/Affane and Western Junior Football Champions – Old Parish.

Trying to second guest the final deliberations of the committee in charge of the awards which consists of Brendan Tobin, Gerry Whelan, Richard Tobin, John Sheehan, Pat Casey, Michael Wadding, John Jackson, John Murphy and Sean Breathnach is not an easy task, and no doubt before the final winners in each category are announced there will be a lot more debate.

For what it is worth, and just to add to the debate as some will say I like to do, I have decided to pick out who I would pick as the winner of each category. I must say I do not know who is nominated for any of the other awards, and if I get things correct it will be by fluke more than anything else. I must say that all of my nominations are going to go down well with many.

Adult Hurler of the Year; Austin Gleeson (Mount Sion). The Mount Sion Club man is just a year out of playing minor but in 2014 showed that he has a bright future ahead of him in adult competitions.

Austin is one of these players that generate a lot of debate amongst hurling supporters. A lot of these debates just like another Mount Sion man that graced the game for a long number of years – Ken McGrath is as to whether he is best suited as an attacker or a defender.

In 2013 he was a key member of the Waterford minor team that won a first All-Ireland at this grade for Waterford since 1948. In these games he played at centre back and shun there. It is a belief of mine that if he was not positioned where he was Waterford may not have won the final and maybe not have qualified for it.

Mount Sion over the past few years at senior level tended to start him in attack and when Derek McGrath called him up to the Waterford Senior Panel and played him in a number of games he too favoured him as an attacker.

However towards the end of the year, the Mount Sion selectors switched him to the half back line and he steadied a ship there that was starting to sway. Playing at centre back Mount Sion reached the county final and with some luck and maybe a little more fire power on the day in attack the Monastery Men could have won the game.

In what was a hugely disappointing year for Waterford in senior hurling, the young Mount Sion man always gave lets be honest many disgruntled Waterford fans, a glimmer of hope.

Adult Footballer of the Year: Mark Ferncombe (Ballinacourty). The county senior football championship was not set alight by many this past year. Too many games were drab affairs, and often the outcomes of games could be foretold well in advance. The only thing that had to be confirmed was the winning margins in games.

There was however some good performers along the way. One of these was Ballinacourty’s Mark Ferncombe.

He has been one of the best players in the county around with some time now and is a player that should be admired by all young budding footballers as he is a player that can kick the ball comfortably with both his right and left leg.

In this years championship he hit 5-19 for his side of which 2-7 came in one game.

He is a player that clearly knows where the posts are and if he finds that others are in a better position to him he is able to pick them out with a telling pass.

Mark was not part of the Waterford senior football set up in 2014, but with aspirations of getting out of division four this year hopefully Waterford will be able to call on as many of its best footballers as is possible, including Mark. If Waterford can call on as many of its best footballers then its stay outside of the bottom division could be longer than when promotion was achieved.

Young Hurler of the Year; Patrick Curran (Dungarvan). Some years back when involved in Bord na nÓg I saw Dungarvan playing I remember seeing this small lad playing in attack for them and thinking to myself, wow this lad is going to be special. I had seen some good players down the years, some of whom fulfilled the potential they showed at a young age, but this lad was possibly the best of the lot. He quickly won a first county medal (under 12) and over the next two years two more medals followed.

Up along through the age groups he impressed and more and more honours followed.

Since he broke into the Dungarvan senior team, making his championship debut last year as a second half substitute against Roanmore he has developed further as a player.

He played a major part in helping his side win the County Minor Championship this year, he played a similar roll in helping the Old Boro win the under 21 western championship and would be expected to play a part in their upcoming county final against Ballygunner. He helped his side reach the semi finals of the senior championship and played a major roll with the minor inter county team this year.

Young Footballer of the Year; Conor Gleeson (The Nire). The young Nire Club Man has received rave reviews this year and rightly so.

In the senior county final some weeks back he kicked five points all from play and in the quarter finals of the Munster Club Championship he was again impressive against Limerick champions Ballylanders, kicking a goal in the first half of that game.

A duel minor star this year, he is regarded by many as one of the best minors in Munster this year.

After his performance against Stradbally in the county final he had many suggesting that he should be part of the Waterford senior set up in 2015, which if he was he would not be out of place.

Club of the Year: Modeligo GAA Club. Some say I love to give the chefs pot a good stir and that I am doing again here.

To be honest I can’t work out what they were not included in the final shake up for the official award. Last year Ballysaggart were not included in the final three or four clubs and after doing so they went on to win a Munster Final. I know Modeligo have a step or two to take before they repeat what Ballysaggart achieved, but if they were to and there is nothing to suggest why they won’t, further questions will be asked as to why they were not in the final round of voting.

Like many other small rural clubs they have only a small pick to choose from. Coached by former Ballyduff Upper and Waterford hurler Pa Kearney he has got the best out of them and they are playing a very attractive brand of hurling.

They beat a very fancied Colligan side to win the Western Junior Hurling final some weeks back and then went on to beat Bunmahon rather easily in the county final.

They have also won the Western Junior Football League and the Western Hurling leagues.

Special Merit Award: - Trish Jackman, Lismore Camogie Club and Waterford Camogie County Board. I am sure some will say that here I am again giving the pot a good stir but I am deadly serious.

Camogie is a game that has come on leaps and bounds in recent years within the county, thanks in no small part to the work of a small number of dedicated hard workers. In other counties camogie receives a greater deal of promotion to what it does in Waterford, what with playing of games before important hurling games etc. Hopefully this is something that we will see in Waterford not before too long.

The past year was a great one for Camogie in Waterford. Lismore won the All-Ireland Intermediate Championship for the first time beating Ballyhale Shamrocks in Clonmel after the sides drew at Croke Park. They went on to win a fourth county senior championship in five years and only last weekend won a fourth Munster Title in five years.

On the inter county front Waterford had another great year. The Counties under 14 team won the ‘B’ section of the All-Ireland Blitz in Dublin for the third year in a row. The under 16 team when a step further than they did in 2013 winning the ‘B’ All-Ireland with the minor team also winning the ‘B’ Championship.

At Adult level, the league did not go Waterford’s way as they were without the Lismore players on the panel, but they put up a good performance against Tipperary in the Munster Senior Championship and for the third year in a row reached the All-Ireland Intermediate semi final.

Trish Jackman has become the queen of the long puck competition held each August bank holiday weekend. This year the Gailltir Club sharp shooter won her fifth successive national title.

And to round off a great year for camogie in Waterford, Gailltir retained the Division two National Feile competition they won in 2013 on their travels to the North and De La Salle the same weekend won a division three title at the same competition.

In what was a great year for Camogie in the county, it would be only right to recognise the game and those that work for its promotion.

Jack Furlong Award – for outstanding service to the GAA in Waterford – Eddie O’Shea. This award presented each year to someone who often works hard for the promotion of the GAA often very much in the back ground with little or no fuss.

Over the years there have been some very worthy winners of the award. Last years winner was Ann Ryan who worked hard with the Waterford Supporters Club in Dublin for many years and who also worked hard locally in a number of different ways down the years.

In recent years those that have worked at underage levels for many years have been the recipient of this award including the late Jimmy McCarthy of the Melleray/Glen Rovers Club and who served as Treasurer of West Waterford Bord na nÓg for many years. Another who won the award for his work in Bord na nÓg is Jack Laffan of the Portlaw Club and who like Jimmy worked with Bord na nÓg as Treasurer of Bord na nÓg in the east and also at county levels. Both proved to be popular winners of the award.

Eddie would be another worthy winner of the award. For a number of years he served as secretary of Western and County Board na nÓg, serving as PRO of the Western Division for a short spell before taking over as Chairman for a number of years and then moving on to be chairman of county Bord na Óg.

While involved in Bord na nÓg he also was responsible for appointing referee’s to games in the West of the County and at the same time was also a referee himself for a long number of years.

He was also for a number of years involved with some of Affane’s younger teams and in more recent years he reverted back to being a committee member of Western Bord na nÓg and was also appointed equipment officer of the county board.

Eddie has was the team secretary for the county minor football team and also served as manager for two years.

Seamus O’Brien Award: This is a new award in 2014 and the trophy was presented to the County Board recently by Brendan O’Brien (BOB) in honour of a man who was one of the greatest administrators that the GAA has ever known.

Seamus got involved in administration at Club Level with Abbeyside in the early 1950’s and quickly became a respected official not just within his own club but also by officials in other clubs.

He was appointed as Secretary of the Western Board in the early 1960’s and in the mid 1970’s he was elected as the counties Central Council official, a position he held until he had to step down from the position in 2009 because of the introduction of the new sometimes controversial five year rule.

Following the death of Pat Fanning, Seamus was elected as President of the GAA in Waterford, an honorary position he held till his death in 2013.

Along the way Seamus held a number of other positions and was often the first source of contact for many who needed something clarified as Seamus’ knowledge of the rules and procedures was regarded as unquestionable by all.

Seamus also worked with Bord na nÓg and was often a valuable friend to any new officer who Seamus would take under his wing and gently help them in their position, whatever it may be. Seamus also was a correspondent with the Dungarvan Leader for over 50 years and for many his column each week was the first part of the paper to be read.

The award presented by Seamus’ family is a lasting memory to what was a true and knowledgeable gentleman.

The award will be presented to someone that is or was involved in administration within the GAA in Waterford. There are many that will have to be considered each year and I am sure that whoever gets it will be a worthy winner.

So who should the first winner be?

Often the best administrator’s are those that go about their job in an effective way and being fair with all they have to deal with. The best administrators are also those that are involved with the least prominent committee’s.

A worthy first winner of the award (in my eyes anyway) would be Breda Cleary. For many years Breda was a member of the Western and County Cumann na mBunscoil committee’s. For a decade and a half I was dealing with Breda and must say that I always found her a pleasure to deal with. Finals would often be fixed for a certain date, venue or time, and something unforeseen would crop up, or finals would clash with under 12 or 14 finals due to be played on the same day. But it could be solved easily enough with a quick phone call to Breda who would help in any way she could.

Breda also was very active in the Primary Games for a long number of years as a co-ordinator, working alongside the different teachers that were in charge of each team.