At the conclusion of the year it is, once again, time for us to look back at the last 12 months and celebrate our successes, progression while learning and looking at where we go next as a Club.
 
With every year that passes, we must ask the question “what’s next?” We have over 600 Members and we provide football for girls and boys at every age group. These ever-increasing numbers, and the dedication and resulting development we see year-on-year in our players, and coaches, are something we should all be incredibly proud of. But we cannot stand still and to achieve more we must all consider what more we can do. I’d therefore like to take this opportunity to ask every person connected with our Club to think about how they might be able to do a little more to help. So many are already given so much, so many have room to offer a little more – 30 minutes each week practicing on your own, asking colleagues to purchase lotto tickets, gathering equipment at the end of a session, even just registering to become a Member – it doesn’t have to be grand gestures, or hours spent in committee rooms, but if we all done a small bit extra, it would create huge impact. 

Our newly formed GAA ⭐️All Star Programme enables all boys & girls, who might not be able to take part in typical team games, the opportunity to experience the fun of our Games in a safe & inclusive environment. Our12 coaches – assisted by five young volunteers - support our All Star’s as they develop movement and ball skills, exercise, and of course, fun and enjoyment. Our coaches have experience of working with young children and children with additional needs with three of them also having completed the Level 1 Autism in Sport course. As with all our Underage Coaches, they all have completed the ICGG course as well as safeguarding training. 
After months of preparation and training the first session was held on Saturday the 4th of May. Sessions continued weekly throughout the summer months, concluding with our Presentation Afternoon on Saturday 4th October. 

The highlights of the first year of the All Star Programme are undoubtedly the opportunity to play on Croke Park – only a few days after Armagh’s incredible All Ireland Win – and having First Minister, Michelle O’Neill visit us earlier in the year. 

On behalf of the Committee, I’d like to acknowledge all the work and planning done to put this Programme together. It is an excellent initiative, set up and ran extremely well, and as well as being very well received by the families of everyone who is a part of it, it has also brought another level of vibrancy, fun and enjoyment to the Club.

2024 has been another good year across our youth teams with continuous improvement clear for all to see. Numbers continue to increase, particularly within girls’ football, and the amount of hard work being put in by or players and their coaches is more and more evident in the level of performance of all our teams. This is hugely encouraging for the future of our Club as we push to have all our teams compete at the highest possible level and, ultimately, produced the best calibre of senior footballer we can.

Fielding at all age groups from U6 through to Minor in both boys’ and girls’ football with numbers in all teams ranging from 15 through to 25 per panel is a sign of the level of commitment everyone involved in our underage football has. It was great therefore to see that commitment result in some silverware this year with the girls U15 team winning the Feile Shield at the start of the year followed by the boys U16 team winning the Division 3 League - great achievements for both teams.
The boys Minor Team came agonisingly close to winning the Division 3 Championship, only narrowly losing out, to a combined team, in the Final after a replay. While this was of course a disappointment for the lads and their coaches, the Club is still very proud of their achievements in getting to the final and more than holding their own. We hope this experience will stand to all of them as them look towards the 2025 season as Minors or even push on into the Reserves and Senior squads.
We were incredibly proud to have Eimear McGeown represent the Club as part of the Armagh Ladies Minor panel, and we have confidence that Eimear and many of her colleagues from across all our underage teams will continue this trend and we get to see them wearing the county jersey again in the coming years. Several of our underage players have also represented the Club with distinction when player for their schools in top level College Football, again demonstrating the level of talent in our Club.

Going forward, significant plans are in place and, indeed, already being delivered, to continue the development of our underage structures, ensuring we are giving our young players and teams the best chance to be successful. A Winter Training Programme has been introduced this year, alongside the second year of the Weekly Running Club, keeping our players active in the off season. We also have an exciting and much needed Atheltic Development Programme, for all our underage players from 12 years old up, in the final stages of preparation ahead of starting in early 2025. 
Our Underage season was brought to a resounding close in October with our Youth Presentation Night which was the first time we had all our Underage players, along with underage Camogs from St. Enda’s, all recognised at the one event. This was brilliant night of celebration – if a little hectic given the numbers – and something we will aim to build on as it was great for everyone to see that, as Tones people, we are all part of something much bigger. 
I would like to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to everyone who helped with our underage football in any way in the last year and, specifically, to all our underage players and coaches. Your time and effort might sometimes feel like it’s taken for granted but I can assure you that that is never the case. I’d also like to acknowledge each of our underage team sponsors for their continued and vital support in providing games for the young people in our area.

Our Senior Ladies team made significant strides this year, with 2024 proving to be highly rewarding. As noted above, the underage structures we have in place continue to strengthen the Senior panel, creating a competitive and dynamic environment.
The league campaign saw our Senior Ladies secure an impressive second-place finish, reflecting the hard work and dedication of the players which give a great platform for our Championship campaign with a noticeable wave of excitement and enthusiasm ramping up with each notable success. Victories over Whitecross and second-division Tir Na Og advanced the team to the Championship Semi-Final for the second year in a row, narrowly falling to the long-established and impressive Clann Eireann team.
 
Overall, it was another commendable season for the team, who represented the Club with pride and excellence. The squad, quite rightly, looks ahead to 2025 with confidence and renewed enthusiasm. 

Our Senior Men’s team competed in Division 2B of the All County League this year with a record of 7 wins, 3 draws and 4 defeats. This was a very tight division overall and unfortunately, after finishing joint second alongside St. Killian’s Whitecross and Derrynoose, we were then placed into a mini-league where we placed second, behind Whitecross, and therefore third place overall in the Division 2B League.
 
Despite this disappointment, the squad dusted themselves down to top their Intermediate Championship group with three excellent wins before accounting for Annaghmore in the Quarter Finals. Unfortunately, Carrickcruppen in the Semi-Final proved too strong on the day with the eventual 2024 Intermediate Championship Winners running out two point winners.

A major highlight of the 2024 season has been the addition of several more players gaining Reserve and Senior football experience after coming out of the Minor ranks which is testament to the work being done at underage levels. 

I’m delighted to be only the second Wolfe Tones GAC Club Secretary to be able to include in their Annual Report a sentence or two acknowledging and congratulating our County Senior Footballers on winning the All-Ireland. This success, which I know was enjoyed by many within our Club (even a few who might not hail originally from the county 😉) is something that will live long in all our memories and it was great to see the Club and surrounding area turned orange for the summer and, notably, on the Wednesday before the All-Ireland Final when several hundred people gathered at the Club, all in their county colours. Inevitably, this success brought with it the scramble for tickets however, the Committee were delighted to be able to secure tickets for everyone that requested one.
 
Coming off this success it was incredible to have the Sam Maguire Cup, and Team Captain Aidan Forker, available for our Big Breakfast morning at Féile na dTón and our Youth Presentation Night. Seeing the excitement this brings to so many only highlights the opportunity an All-Ireland win presents to our Club. It's so important that we now tap into the success of Armagh’s win and make sure that everyone in our area, who has a newfound interest in our Games in 2024, sees our Club as the outlet for that interest and maybe when the next one comes around, in less that 22 years hopefully, some of our own players might be climbing the steps of the Hogan Stand to lift it. 

Our Evolve Youth Club continues to go from strength-to-strength, signified most recently by the need to cap our enrolment to 90 – a number that was hit within an hour. 

Evolve offers young people from our Club and surrounding community a safe place to socialise and have fun together in a controlled environment. Led very much by the young people themselves, activities are wide-ranging and offer something for everyone irrespective of interests, abilities or experience. In addition to the weekly hang-outs in the Club, Evolve provides regular group trips and a 3-day summer scheme, the capacity of which was maxed in 2024. 

Again, I’d like to acknowledge the dedication, hard-work and effort of everyone who helps to facilitate and grow Evolve - many of whom are involved in our Clubs in other ways also. Special mention also to the young volunteers who, having attended Evolve themselves are now involved as leaders, illustrating the value of having such a scheme in our Club. 

As is the case for any Club, fundraising is a vital component of our annual targets. Operating, let along developing and improving, a Club of our size takes considerable resources and as we all know, in 2024, costs of everything are significantly higher than they were only two to three years ago. This year, at our annual planning meeting held just after the 2023 AGM, the Committee agreed we needed to try and take a more targeted and strategic approach to our fundraising efforts, something which, for the most part, worked reasonably well. 

A very successful Golf Classic event, headed up by Chris McAlinden, took place in May on what was luckily one of the warmest days of the year. This fortune with the weather though only added to what was already an excellent event, enjoyed by xx golfers, at the superb Lurgan Golf Club and followed up with a presentation evening back in our own Social Club. 

Our other major fundraiser in 2024 was Féile na dTón which took place over the August Bank Holiday Weekend, running from Friday to Sunday. While elements of it were undoubtedly successful – the packed marquee on the morning of the Big Breakfast springs to mind – it would be fair to say this event didn’t reach the targets we had hoped for. This being the first year where we as a Club took on a project like this it did offer us an opportunity to learn a lot about how to make it more of a success going forward. 

This year has saw our long-established Club Lotto leap into the 21st century with it now available to purchase online. Having launched in July of this year, we have been delighted to see online lotto sales surpass £200 per week already all without any negative impact on out offline sales. The Club Lotto is a vital regular income for our Club and with this new online option, it is something I would encourage all Members to try and support whether by purchasing and/or selling a couple of entries per week, this is one of those ways we can all make a huge difference through small, individual efforts. 

As was well publicised in late 2023, along with every other Club in Ireland, we were the beneficiaries of a significant donation from the JP McManus Foundation. As a One Club offering both football for both girls and boys, we received approximately £xx and we would like to take this opportunity to thank the JP McManus Foundation for this very generous donation. 

This gift, along with the funds raised from our other fundraising initiatives allowed us to continue with the day-to-day operations around our Club as well as bring about significant improvements through things like the athletic development programme commencing in early 2025; a pending gym refurbishment; the purchase of new portable goals that are easier and safter to move; the installation of new benches along the perimeter of the back pitch; and a full upgrade of our Club car park – a huge project that was only suggested at the 2023 AGM and has now been delivered almost in full.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who helped to make all these events happen and who supported them in any way. A particular word of thanks must go to the many people and businesses who supported these events through sponsorship and / or donating their time, expertise and resources, with specific mention to NI Car Sales and Total Care Recruitment, main sponsors of our two major fundraising initiatives this year.

At the 2023 AGM, the Committee proposed an increase and re-structuring of our Club Membership to ensure revenue generated through our annual membership subscriptions covered the associated Member and team registration costs charged to the Club by the GAA and LGFA at County, Provincial and Central Council levels. 

Despite these increases, we were delighted to see our Membership numbers hold steady with a small decrease of 50 Members – a significant proportion of which can be attributed to reduction in duplicate Members from the previous year – and the aims of the changes made in 2023 were achieved with all registration costs now covered by the subscriptions we collect. It is worth noting however that, as part of our annual review of Membership & Registration an ‘incremental’ increase was consider due simply to the rising costs of maintaining our Club, the goals we have for our development and strong level of feedback suggesting that we offer exceptional value for money, especially when compared to other sports. 

The outgoing committee have decided however that two consecutive increases are not the best way forward and, instead, are recommending to the incoming Committee that a focus of 2025 be to increase the number of Members. In a similar vein to earlier calls to action in this report, I would therefore encourage everyone to consider becoming a Member of the Club and, for those that are already Members, consider who they might be encourage

With each year that passes comes the inevitability that some of our Members and supporters won’t be with us at the end of the year. It is for this reason that our recent Annual Mass for deceased Members is so important as it acknowledges all those people, particularly those that have passed in the last 12 months, and - we hope – reminds family members and friends that their passing has not resulted in them or their contributions to our Club being forgotten. 

While it’s not usual for specific Members, unfortunately no longer with us, to be mentioned within this report, I’m sure no one will mind my mentioning three Members of our Club who passed within the last 12 months. Firstly, in January, the new year brough with it the sad news that Club Trustee Sean McCorry was laid to rest. Later in the year in June, Sean McCann – the voice of the Athletic Grounds – passed away after bringing great pride to our Club when he was awarded the Gradam Gaeilge GAA President’s Award in 2022. Lastly then, in September, our esteemed Club President and former Chairperson Francis McCorry was laid to rest. Both men were passionate and dedicated Gaels and Tones people and on behalf of all our Club, I would like to acknowledge the contributions they made to our Club and the Association as a whole. 

Beyond our Games, we pride ourselves in striving to be at the centre of our community and in 2024 this was evidence through several significant events. We were again delighted to host the annual St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, organised by our friends in FOSPA, which was another day in our calendar when hundreds of people from dozens of families from the surrounding areas got to come together at our Club and enjoy a full programme of cultural activities catering for all ages. Similarly, we were honoured to host the Conor McGeough Memorial Weekend, the proceeds of which all went to Anam Chara, a charity that supports parents after bereavement.

Through our own activities we were delighted to be able to make donations to several other charities that support many people in our Club and community – through our Golf Classic, Féile na dTón, Armagh Supporters Evening and annual table quiz, we were able to make donations to the Kevin Bell Repatriation Fund, the Little Forget Me Nots Trust, Care for Caolan and the Newry Hospice. 

Through the course of the year Club Coaching Officer Michal Carson and Committee Member James Martin both advised the Committee of their intention to step down from their positions due to changing personal circumstances and the resulting impact on their ability to carry out their role. While the Executive were disappointed with this decision, the honesty and respect shown by Michael and James in coming to it was admiral. On behalf of the Committee, I would like to thank Michael and James for their dedication and hard work while serving on the Committee. This unfortunate circumstance did afford the Committee the opportunity to bring new people on board, and we were delighted that Chris McAlinden agreed to be co-opted onto the Committee as Club Coaching Officer for 2024. 

At the 2023 AGM, a recommendation was made that the Club further strengthen the One Club structures that had been established in recent years. As part of this, Emmet Haughian and Chris McAlinden (as the new Club Coaching Officer) facilitated a number of discussions with Coaches from across the Club. The results of these meetings were:

As a result of this last point, Leanne Sealey and Niamh Smyth were both co-opted onto the Committee as Players Representatives for the Senior Ladies team.
 

To conclude, this has been another busy year but one that gave us plenty of reason to be proud of our Club and be optimistic for what the future holds. I’d like to close by thanking everyone who has contributed to our Club in any way this year and, particularly anyone who has assisted me in my role as Club Secretary in the last 12 months.



Damien Ó Maolchallann
Rúnaí 2024