This year's annual Parents' Council Gala Day went off without a hitch yet again. The weather was great, there was lots to eat and drink, the children had great fun, and best of all we had no thunder and lightning like last year's Anniversary!

The Skeheenarinky/Ballyporeen football team won the Ned Fox Perpertual Trophy presented by Ned's daughter Helen to the captain of the team, Ned's grandson Óisin Brennan.

On Wednesday, the 24th of this month Liam McGrath, a remedial teacher in Skeheenarinky N.S. retired from teaching, and a presentation was made by the Parents' Council and Board of Management to him. Photos of the event can be found in the Photo Gallery.

The guestbook has been removed from the site due to the unfortunate misuse of it. "Spam", is and has always been a problem on this site for some strange, unknown reason. For anyone who doesn't know, "spam" is the posting of content on sites which has nothing to do with the actual content on the site itself, usually done just to annoy or cause difficulties to people like me, the administrators.

The Blog also suffers a lot from spam, but fortunately there is an anti-spam measure in place which has blocked 380 comments so far.

Some of you may also have noticed that the option to register on the Photo Gallery has also been removed because of the same reason. So, if anybody has photos they wish to have uploaded to the site, please send me an email and I will guide you through the process of doing it.

At this time, there are 31 IP addresses blocked from Skeheenarinky.com completely. Hopefully it won't rise too much in the future, but if it has to - it will.

This notice also acts as an apology from me, for not keeping a better eye on the Guestbook, and because of that I have been forced to remove it.

Last November Eddie Maher was awarded a Sean Gael award, by GAA President Nicky Brennan. This is an award given out by the county board in recognition of people who have given great service to the GAA during their lifetime.

Eddie was born and reared near Thurles, and moved to Skeheenarinky in the early 60s. Straight away, Eddie got involved with the local club and gave tremendous service as both a player and an administrator.

He played with the club from the 60s and was still lining out with the Junior Bs in the 90s. The highlight of his distinguished career with the club was when the club won its first Junior B South Title in 1981. Eddie was the goalie on that memorable day. History was made during the 1987 hurling season, when Eddie lined out alongside his three sons, John, Thomas, and Eamonn, in the Junior A South Final. Eddie was also a referee at this time. Eddie served as secretary of the club for over 30 years, and he has also held the chairmanship and PRO positions at various times.

Eddie's great love is for the parish juveniles, he still trains the Under 8s, and visits the national school to impart his great knowledge of the game to the youth. Eddie Maher commends great respect, not only in Skeheenarinky, but throughout gaeldom in Tipperary, and this award was richly deserved. 

We salute you Eddie, and thank you for all the hard work over the years.

Taken from the Skeheenarinky GAA Club newsletter.

The Annual Parents' Council Gala Weekend is on this year from June 18th to 21st. The events of the weekend are as follows:

Thursday 18th          

45 card game in Jackson's Pub starting at 8:30 pm sharp. The cost is €20 per person.

Friday 19th               

Table quiz in Jackson's Pub. The cost is €40 for a table of 4. Starts at 9 pm.

Prizes:  1st: €120; 2nd: €80; 3rd: €40.

Saturday 20th           

Open air band in Jackson's with the very popular band, Deja Vu. €10 entrance fee.

Sunday 21st              

Gala day in the School. It will be starting at 2 pm with children's sports and Under 8 and 10 matches. Bingo, wheel of fortune, kiddy's corner, bouncy castle, and more.Music in Jackson's Pub from 6 pm to 8 pm.

Tickets will also be sold over the weekend for a draw. 1st prize: €200; 2nd prize €100; 3rd & 4th prizes: €50 each.