Local Notes: Society award, drugs talk, soccer and GAA news
Portlaw Musical Society celebrates Shane Flynn's 'Best Male Comic' award at this years Waterford News & Star Green Room awards.
The members of Portlaw Musical Society were toasting one of their own recently with Shane Flynn's award for 'Best Male Comic' in this year's Waterford News & Star Green Room awards. It was a little bit of history too as it was the society's first award.
An awareness talk, 'Let's Talk About Drugs', will take place on Friday, March 14, at 7pm. The talk is being organised by Portlaw GAA Juvenile Committee but will be open to everyone in the community. A spokesperson for the organisers commented: "We are hosting an important drug awareness talk for children and adults, focusing on educating everyone – from young people to parents – about the dangers of drug use and how to make healthy, informed choices."
"It's a great opportunity to learn and understand the impact drugs can have on our lives and community," she said. "Everyone is welcome, please spread the word."
What an amazing start to our WellKids season recently in the alley. The energy was high, and the smiles were endless as the kids worked on their skills and most importantly had lots of fun. Huge thanks to our coaches for making it such an enjoyable experience. We can’t wait to see what the rest of the year holds. Special mention this week goes to our three WellKids trainers of the week: Eliza Willen Bowers, Teddy Mackey and Jack Mitchell.
Munster Cup Quarter-Final Result: Pike Rovers 2 - 0 Portlaw. Our brilliant run in the Munster Cup ended when we travelled to Limerick to take on Pike Rovers. There wasn’t much between the teams in the first half with defences on top and chances at a premium. Pike had more of the ball in the second half and took the lead on 70 mins when a Pike midfielder picked up a clearance and hit an unstoppable shot from outside the box. We tried to push on but we just couldn’t manufacture the chance to get us back into the game. Pike were awarded a dubious penalty in injury time to send them through to the semi final. Disappointment for our young squad but huge experience gained during our cup run. Thanks to the huge support who travelled up from Portlaw for the game. We now turn our focus back to the Premier league with Waterford Crystal at home on Sunday, March 16. We wish Pike Rovers the best for the semi final and also thank them for their hospitality after the game.
Portlaw United FC played our first game recently in the newly formed U16B league. Our girls took on a strong Piltown team and after some serious pressure playing down the hill, on 21 minutes, took the lead through Chloe Rochford. Our superstar keeper Summer Walsh came out and made a fantastic and brave interception to deny Piltown the equaliser. On the next play after great interplay between Sarah K and Chloe R the next pass found Layla O'Regan who hit a screamer from 30 yards into the top corner. Plenty of pressure from Piltown but Portlaw managed to keep it 2-0 with Summer making a few more saves and clearances to take us to half time. Piltown got back into it inside 10 minutes with a clear offside goal, but the referee left it standing and with another five minutes they were level. Our girls kept making chances but the next goal wouldn't come for us and with six minutes to go Piltown got their third and winning goal to claim victory. All through the game Freya Mitchell was keeping things together at the back and Captain for the day, Aoife White, and Holly Flynn were forming a brilliant centre half partnership and Hannah Duggan was very busy at left fullback. Aoibhean Doherty and Zoe Flynn were awesome in centre of midfield and Kayleigh Duggan was getting in some tough tackling while Sarah Kelly and Layla O'Regan were playing plenty of ball up front to Chloe Rochford. We introduced Muireann O'Reilly who brought a new running attack play to us while Lily Forde loved her new midfield role. Special mention to our goalie Summer Walsh who showed bravery and skill all day yesterday and to all our supporters who travelled to the game yesterday. We were down five players yesterday due to different reasons but let's keep working and the results will come, as we are very proud of these ladies.
Portlaw GAA aims to apply for GAA Healthy Club status in November, 2025, and the aim of this is to bring new initiatives to the local community and surrounding areas that includes everyone, not just those involved in GAA. Amongst other plans, we will have a new walking track open around our pitch this Autumn, which will allow us to participate in the Ireland Lights Up walking initiative in the winter. A great initiative from our club enhancing our community.
