A Chara,

Agus muid ag druidim le deireadh na bliana, ba mhaith liom Nollaig shona shábháilte a ghuí ar gach duine. Beidh na laethanta amach romhainn ina ndeis iontach do chairde agus do theaghlaigh teacht le chéile, machnamh a dhéanamh ar an mbliain atá caite agus breathnú chun cinn go dtí 2026. Bainigí taitneamh as na laethanta ceiliúrtha romhaibh.

As we approach the end of the year, may I take this opportunity to wish everyone a very happy and safe Christmas. The next few days will certainly be a great few days for friends and family to connect with each other to recap the year gone by and look ahead to 2026. Enjoy the next few days.

As it's the season of celebration, we are starting off this newsletter by congratulating Fiona O’Reilly on winning €3,000 in the December instalment of the Rebels Bounty draw. A great time of year to win big, happy spending Fiona! A huge thank you to every single person who supported our club by purchasing one of these Rebels Bounty tickets in 2025. The Bounty along with our club lotto are our two main fundraisers each year so without people's support here our club simply would not be able to run as well as it does. As the new year rolls up in a few days, Rebels Bounty tickets are already on sale for 2026. Maybe you need a last minute gift for Christmas for someone tomorrow and with all the shops closed, a Rebels Bounty ticket would be a perfect present! Buy now at: https://rebelsbounty.ergogroup.ie/prod/rebelsbounty/join-draw 

Our club AGM’s went very well last month. Our Juvenile GAA, Ladies Football and Camogie sections of our club held their own end of year meetings which discussed each section's progress during the year in detail. In late November, we then hosted our main club AGM in the clubhouse. As usual this AGM was attended by a very large number as the clubhouse reached capacity. On the night our club chairperson Anthony Connolly presented a brilliant visual presentation which covered most aspects of the progress made this year by our club both on and off the playing fields. Anthony praised our team's efforts during the year which was a largely positive year for all. Clear highlights were our Premier Junior Camogie team winning their county title, our Senior Ladies Footballers winning the Division 1 League title as well as reaching their second consecutive senior county championship final, both our adult male first teams reached their respective county semi finals as well as both our male second teams reaching their respective East Cork quarter finals. Club vice chairperson Eoin O’Neill gave a comprehensive update on our club coaching committee's progress during the year and some exciting plans for 2026 were also outlined. Club treasurer John O’Neill gave a comprehensive report on club financial affairs. This report highlighted how important our club fundraisers are with costs rising to run our club each year. John deserves massive credit for the work he does for our club in this area. The work that is needed doesn't even mimic the accounts of a small business, it mimics a medium to large sized one! John does his work so professionally and got huge praise on the night for all that he does. 

There was a very positive tone at the AGM with plenty of healthy discussion taking place on the night. Good discussions took place on a number of topics including finance, the importance of our proud culture as a dual club, Allianz sponsorship of the National Leagues, along with upcoming development plans. It is hoped that a final decision on the next stage of our proposed development will be made in early 2026. Seamus & Michelle O’Driscoll received special praise for the work they do on our pitch booking system year round while Willie Wallace and Cathal McAllister were congratulated on their recent accolades in refereeing County Finals. Finally, it is very important that I mention our club secretary John Murphy who did a lot of work to prepare his secretaries report ahead of the AGM. On top of this John is a driving force in making sure our club moves forwards in every sense. From our club lotto to Rebels Bounty to club development to match days and everything else in between, John is a vital cog in nearly all aspects of the club and deserves great credit for the commitment he gives. 

All in all, after a brief summary above, we had a very successful AGM season and here’s hoping we will have plenty of trophies at the 2026 AGM’s!

Huge congratulations to Sally McAllister, Roisin Phelan, Rachel Leahy and Kaitlin Smith on their selection on the 2025 Club All Star Senior Ladies Football Team of the year. A massive achievement for our four women and their families. Well done all on a well deserved honour. 

Well done and congratulations to both Aoife Healy and Hannah Looney on recently securing contracts to play AFL professionally in Australia in 2026. While we will be sad to see ye depart Aghada, we are excited to see ye thrive in the professional sporting environment on the other side of the world. An opportunity of a lifetime and we wish ye the very best of luck! 

Our club lotto jackpot continues to grow and currently stands at €14,250. Our latest draw took place today, Christmas Eve at 3pm due to our normal lotto slot falling on Christmas Day. Tickets for next week's draw are available in all the usual local outlets along with being available 24/7 online at the following link: https://bit.ly/3bWAiqD . The next club lotto draw is next Thursday, New Years Day! Tune into our Facebook page to watch the draw live. 

Thank you to all our lotto players who play each week. Your support is greatly appreciated. A big thanks also goes to our local outlets who sell our tickets throughout the year. Please support all these local businesses listed below throughout 2026! Finally, thanks to club lotto coordinator Jimmy O’Leary for all his work in ensuring the lotto runs smoothly every Thursday night throughout the year. 

You may have seen that our Premier Intermediate Football and Intermediate A Hurling fixtures have been released. Some cracking games to look forward to in both codes. All dates and venues are now available on the Cork GAA website and will be available on our own website also. Put the fixtures into your diary before you book any holidays!

Our annual Tony Ahern Memorial Long Puck takes place on St. Stephen’s Day. The event throws in at 10:30am in Whitegate village. All are welcome (young and old) in what is a fantastic morning of fun for all the family. The weather forecast looks good so be sure to come down and join us!

Just before everyone heads back to work and school, our long kick competition takes place on Sunday the 4th of January 2026 at 12 Noon in Whitegate village. Don’t worry, we will send another reminder about this event closer to the day just in case anyone forgets over the silly season! 

I hope everyone has a safe, peaceful and happy Christmas. Hopefully Santy arrives on time tonight! I hear he’s on the way so get to bed now!

Feicfimid sibh ag an Puc Fada ar Lá Fhéile Stiofáin!

Nollaig Shona. 

Slán,

Vince