George Vincent Byrne

We are sad to announce the recent death of George Vincent Byrne. Neale Webb, John Findlater, and Cedric Christie, have shared their memories of George with his family,

Neale has said that George was a long standing and popular member of TRR.  He was a member of the team of 1952/53 that won the Irish Senior Cup – see attached – and Club Captain in 1971/72.  He was also the organiser of the tour every year at Easter to the Folkestone Hockey Festival by the Buccaneers – a touring team made up of members of TRR and Trinity 1st XI’s – right up to the 1990’s.  Most notably he was a most amusing after dinner speaker at the former Annual Men’s Dinner for many years plus playing the club songs on the piano. 

John mentioned that  “When I last met George he gave me two team photographs. The 1st team of TRR 1952/3 which did clean sweep of winning Irish Senior Cup, Leinster league and Mills Cup. The second photo was of TRR 2nds captained by George which won Railway Cup, Watt Cup, The Middle league and the Johnson Cup.”

Peafowl Chicks

Members might have recently noticed the fenced enclosure in our back car park area, and we are now delighted to announce the safe arrival of four peafowl chicks. Due to recent works being carried out in their normal nesting area in Marlay park, one of the park peahens decided that TRR would be a better place for her to lay her four eggs.

What followed was a joint effort between staff in Marlay Park and TRR to keep mother and eggs safe until hatched, and we are thrilled to now report the success of this cooperation within the local community.

Mother and babies are now safely back in the care of staff in Marlay Park, where they will be restricted until the chicks are strong enough to fly.  Our hope is that all four will do well, and perhaps they will return to their birthplace and fly in to visit in the future. We are proud to play our part in protecting biodiversity in the area. 

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Tractor Repairs

Our tractor was found to be unsafe to use without having the cab section replaced. Organising the necessary repairs involved loading the tractor onto a large truck and driving it to county Laois where it has to remain for two weeks before being loaded and returned to us. This is a bigger operation than it sounds, and we would have been unable to do this without the support of Shane Kearns of CrossCut tree care specialists, who has been very generous in using his own truck and equipment to personally transport the tractor to the repair centre and to collect it when it is ready. This has saved TRR a significant amount, and we are very grateful for his kindness. 

Sponsorship Updates

Our ongoing main club sponsor, Brewin Dolphin, is now RBC Brewin Dolphin https://www.brewin.ie/, and their new signage has now been erected in the club. Robert Tilson and Peter McConnell, who are both longstanding members of TRR HC, will be happy to help with any investment management queries. 

We are happy to welcome a new club partner sponsor, Wilson’s Hospital School http://www.wilsonshospitalschool.ie/ . Further details can be found on the school website, or in their advertisement below. Our contact with the school is Jenny McCormack, who will be remembered from her days of playing hockey in Dublin, and we are very grateful  to be the club of choice that benefits from Wilson’s Hospital support.  You will notice their new pitch boards in the club. 

AIB have also recently renewed their club sponsorship agreement, many thanks to Cathal O’Connor, Jonathan Carney, and Tanya Twomey in AIB for their ongoing support.

Gus Nichols has also kindly renewed sponsorship, the new Fanagans Funeral Directors pitch boards are in place. Thanks Gus for your continued loyalty to TRR. 

The support of our sponsors is a vital part of our club, and if you can be a sponsor, or know of a new sponsorship opportunity, please email Bernie at club.manager@threerockrovershc.com and she will put you in touch with the relevant person. 

Sponsorship Opportunities

Hockey in Ireland has a significant and growing footprint – with industry experts ONSIDE estimating 1 in 10 adults having some interest in the sport – and c.100k+ adults are interested in becoming more involved in Hockey today.

TRRHC is uniquely placed with its own facilities and diverse membership categories to support local and national businesses in increasing their brand awareness through sponsorship packages. Sponsorship from local and national companies goes a long way to support the club’s development and progress, and we hugely value the support we have received from our main sponsor Tilman Brewin Dolphin, along with all our many pitch side advertisers.

If you know of a company that wishes to increase its visibility and support local sport through sponsorship, we have packages available to explore with you. Please get in touch with us directly and we can discuss options with you

President’s 2023/2024 Season Welcome

Welcome back to all for the start of an exciting new season!

The Officers, committees and Club Manager have been working hard all summer to try to put everything in place so we can all enjoy our hockey – they are deserving of our sincere thanks.

Just a few things to remember – if you have not done so yet please pay your club subscriptions and the IHU €10 – the latter is essential for every player otherwise you will not be included in their insurance scheme.

And through the generosity of a club member, we shall be able to open the bar from 1-5pm every Saturday until Christmas and the Short Corner café will also be serving great food. Your support of both of these actually helps the club’s finances, so come up after your game and please invite the opposition to join you. There are good 00 beer choices for the drivers amongst you!

Lots more to announce later, but for now – let the games begin!

Roger P. West, TRR President

2023/2024 Subscriptions

The subs are an invaluable source of income for the club, they help to pay coaches, maintain the clubhouse, keep the lights on, both on and off the pitch, and supply the equipment you, the members use.

You can pay your Senior Subs below

Rovers Representing

Over the summer just gone we had numerous Rovers Representing with all age grades, provincial and international. You can see a run down of all our Rovers, both home and abroad, who have represented this summer! Everyone at Rovers is delighted for them as always and can’t wait to see what happens over the coming 23/24 season!

Summer 2023

Irish Senior Men’s – Ben Walker, Ben Johnson, Conor Empey, Luke Madeley, Jaime Carr, Mark Samuel, Ali Empey

Ireland won the EuroHockey Championship II title on home soil, in Abbotstown, and the above Rovers were all apart of the wider summer squad and/or the squad who won the European title!

Irish Under 16s

Boys –  Sam Rothwell

Girls –  Hannah Duffy, Eva Doyle

Irish Under 18s

Boys –  Alex Lynch, Ben Pasley, Josh Gill

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Hockey ID – Matthew Burke, Joe Whelan, Head Coach Scott Mulligan

Ireland secured a Championship II bronze medal at the The 2023 EuroHockey ID Championships in Mönchengladbach and our very own Rover Matthew was the captain! Congratulations to him and Joe on their exploits and to super coach Scott, who has been invovled with the Rovers and Irish ID programs for a while now.

Irish Master’s World Cup success

Roger West, Stuart Switzer and Carl Colllings played in the Masters o65’s World Cup in Tokyo, with Stuart having the honour of captaining the squad. . We had wins against Malaysia, USA, South Africa and Japan but lost to Australia in the group games. This got us through to the final where we played Australia again. Although we played well the Australians were too strong and we lost 4-1. It was a great experience to play in a World Cup in the Olympic stadium with the icing on the cake coming home with a silver medal. It was also a great opportunity to see something of Tokyo and other areas of Japan and to experience first hand the renowned Japanese friendliness, courtesy and hospitality.

Paris 2024
Congratulations to our super star umpire Ali Keogh on her selection for the 2024 Olympics as one of the umpires for the Paris Olympics! Everyone at Rovers is delighted for and this is well deserved after years of hard work!

Leinster 23/24 squads

U16 boys

Simon Montgomery

Jason Robinson

U18 boys

James Coffey

Harry Glennon 

Hugo Faulkner

Oscar Pasley

Peter Montgomery

Philip Cole

Sam Rothwell

Zach Silverman

U16 Girls

Eva Doyle

Juliette Duffy

Success for Arul

Congratulations to Arul Selvaraj, husband of our caretaker Solo, who has been named the male coach of the year at a recent award ceremony in Malaysia.

Following on from bringing the Malaysian men’s hockey team to success in winning the Azlan Shah cup for the first time and finishing up runners-up at the Asia cup last year.

This award recognises the dedication and commitment to hockey that Arul has continued to demonstrate in any role. We wish Arul further success with the team.

Tag rugby world cup

Congratulations to Aoife McCarthy and John Pearson, TRR Ladies 1s player and former Ladies 1s coach respectively, who represented Ireland at the Tag Rugby World Cup in Limerick last month!

Senior Fixtures

September 16^th – 17^th

L2 v Genesis, Division 4, St Raphaelas @11:15

M1 v Corinthians, EYHL, Grange Road @13:00

L1 v YMCA, Division 1, Wesley College @14:00

Sunday

M1 v Railway Union, Railway Cup, Grange Road @14:00

TRRHC Annual General Meeting

Three Rock Rovers Annual General Meeting took place last week, May 15th 2023 in the Clubhouse. Thank you to all our members who took part in the meeting and were a part of Rover Roar off the pitch ahead of a busy 2023/2024 season at HQ.

After a busy night of discussions and conversations about the future and present of the club we are happy to announce the following changes to our Council and Committee Officer roles for the 2023/2024 season:

Club President: Roger West takes over from Kara Browning

Ladies Club Captain: Stephanie Lyon taks over from Sinead Holden

Men’s Club Captain: Doug Murray stays in the role for a 2nd season

Club Secretary: Colin Harper takes over from Lke McSharry

We would like to thank all our departing council and committee members for their time and effort in their roles. All their work, over the seasons, has helped the club in many ways that are not seen by many however they affect many people’s time and exprience with the club.

Hockey Ireland U15 National Festival

Congratulations to Harry, Jason, Jonah, Juliette, Laura, Louis, Phillip & Simon who were a part of respective Under 15 Leinster teams across the weekend just gone in the national festival that took place in Grange Road over Saturday and Sunday!

7th Heaven

Congratulations to Ali Empey and Mark Samuel who won their first caps for the Irish Senior Men’s team in their recent series against Spain! Everyone at Three Rock would like to congratulate the twon lads on their well earned recognition!

Alongside the two debutants we had a further 5, current and past, Rovers in the squad! They were Jaime Carr, Darragh Walsh, Ben Johnson, Conor Empey & Ben Walker!

We are delighted for all our Rovers who represent provinicially, nationally or abroad. No matter where they are, they are always a member of Rovers Roar. A shout out to Waterford hockey club who started Ben Johnson on the path to where he is now, we are just enjoying the benefits up close at HQ and else where!

Well done to all the lads on their hard work over the seasons to get to this point, we can’t wait to see what is to come fro them during the coming 23/24 season!

End of Season BBQ

Thank you to all our members who turned out for the end of season BBQ and night, it was a great way to end the 22/23 season and lots of fun ws had on the night! Thank you to Steph Lyons and the social committee who organsied and successfully pulled off the night!

Summer Camps at TRRHC

We sthill have limited spaces in our Summer camps, starting on June 19th, and if you would like to book your child/ren in for a week of fun book your spot here.

For more infor contact camps@threerokrovershc.com before too late!

I.D. Hockey

As part of their champions summer events, a group from St Michael’s House will be enjoying a taste of hockey session in TRR in June. TRR HC are happy to provide facilities for this event, and two of our coaches, Niall Denham and Caoimhe McNulty, have also very kindly donated their time to coach the group. Niall and Caoimhe are also heavily involved in our popular TRR Summer Camp programme

End of Season BBQ

This Friday is the traditional end of season Captain’s challenge at Grange Road from 7pm. Teams will be mixed and social is the aim of the game on the night! The clubhouse and bar will be open on the night and there will be a pitch side BBQ as well on the night!

We look forward to seeing everyone at the club on Friday from 7pm, whether you play in the matches or not please do come along! The link to sign up was sent around over the past week or so, however, please contact Peter Hinds or Stephanie Lyon if you would like to participate, numbers are needed as food has to be ordered.

Annual General Meeting

The Annual General Meeting of Three Rock Rovers Hockey will be held in the Clubhouse on the 15th of May from 7.30pm. The Agenda and official invite will be sent out to all members by Luke over the coming days so please keep an eye out. If you have any questions or queries please contact the Club.

We would like to see as mamny members as possible on the night, please help the club ahead of the 2023/24 season and be a part of Rovers Roar off the pitch!

End of Season due

On Friday April 28th we will be hosting our annual end of season Captain’s Challenge at Grange Road. This is always a great night for all involved!

On the night teams will be created from those who turn up. Teams will be mixed, Ladies, Men’s & Juniors (Over 16s), with the onus on the social aspect of hockey in mini matches!

There will be a a BBQ and the clubhouse will be open on the night! How to sign up for the night, to help manage numbers, will be advertised soon so keep your eyes peeled!

Leinster Finals

This weekend we are hosting the Leinster Finals across both Saturday and Sunday at HQ! Theere will be multiple teams and finals across both days. We are looking forward to hosting the Leinster Hockey fraternity at HQ. Grange Road will be very busy all weekend so if anyone has time to volunteer at the Club, the bar, carparking, etc. even for just an hour please contact the Club, all help will be appreciated!

Fixtures & Results

Junior Results March 24 – 26

6th class Brown team won the Under 12C league, beating Gorey 3-2 in the final in Enniscorthy.

2nd year A team won the Under 14 A league

1st years narrowly defeated in the u14 c league

Friday night blitz (16s, 14s, minors and inters)

We also hosted Instonians on Sunday for an end of season Blitz. 

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Senior Fixtures

M5 v Skerries – 20:15 – Division 5 – Grange Road – Friday 31st of March

M1 v Lisnagarvey – 15:00 – EYHL – Comber Road – Saturday 1st of April

M3 v Mullingar – 12:00 – Division 2 – Wilson’s Hospital – Saturday 1st of April

Irish Under 16s

Massie Congratultions to Three Rock Juniors Eva Doyle and Hannah Duffy on their selection for the Irish Under 16 Girls Squad after a series of assessment over the season to date.

It is a massive recognition of their hard work and effort to have been selected in what is always a tough process to get to the final sqaud. All at Rovers wish them and Ireland all the best ahead a busy international season!

Junior Results

Girls results 

Minor girls won v Dublin North 2:0 

First year A 4-3 win against YMCA

Boys

6th class Browns lost 3-2 to Abbeyleix. They have made the league final on the 26th March where they meet Gorey.

The 6th Class blue team are also in the final, again on the 26th, against Railway. Venues to be confirmed.

1st year boys won 6-1 against Weston on Friday and 3-1 against Avoca on Sunday.

2nd Year boys won 3-0 v’s Corinthians

U16 Boys won 4-2 v’s Monkstown to make the final of the U16 Benny Atkinson Cup

Congratulations to all our Junior team!

Saint Patrick’s Days

As mentioned above the Under 16 Boys are in the Benny Atkinson Cup Final on March 17th! We will be hosting the finals at Grange Road and we will have a menu of food, treats and drinks availablein the Clubhouse and from Cian and his team in the Short Corner Cafe! You can see the menu below.

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If you can get up and support Cian and the Club both on and off the pitch please do! If you can give any time on the day contact Bernie at club.manager@threerockrovershc.com, the more the merrier!

Saturday March 11th

You can see this weekend’s fitures below for the Senior sides. It is a double weekend for the Men’s 1s and Ladies 2s.

Ladies 2s v UCD – Grange Road – 11:00 – Back pitch – Div 5

Men’s 1s v Monkstown 1s – Rathdown School – 12:15 – Away – EYHL

Ladies 1s v Naas – Newbridge college – 13:00 – Away – Div 1

Men’s 2s v YMCA 2s Grange Road Ratharnham – 13:00 – Back – Div 1B

Men’s 3s v Rathgar 2s Grange Road Ratharnham – 15:00 – Front – Div 2

Men’s 4s v Pembroke 4s Grange Road Ratharnham – 11:00 – Front – Div 3

Men’s 5s v YMCA 4s Grange Road Ratharnham – 13:00 – Front – Div 5

Sunday March 12th

Ladies 2 v Navan – Mercy Navan – 10:00 – Mercy Navan – Away – Div 5

Men’s 1s v Cookstown – Cookstown – 13:00 – Away – EYHL

Juniors Results February 24th – 26th

Girls results
1st year 2 lost 5-1 v Avoca.
1st year won 3-2 vs bray
Minor girls lost 2-0to Railway
Inter1s v Avoca 1-1.
Inter 2 2-0 win against Naas

Boys
U12 Blue team vs Pembroke 1st, 8-3 win
U16 boys won v’s Avoca 3-1
U16 boys lost v Pembroke 0-2

Senior Fixtures March 4th

Below are the fixtures for the Senior teams on Saturday, March 4th, with the Ladies 3s in Semi-Final action against UCD in the Divisiion 7/8 Cup in Belfield. All supporters are encouraged to give the Ladies all the support they can!

The rest of the teams are in league action both home and away. There is plenty on ahead of the Dinner at 7.30pm so get out and be a part of Rovers Roar this Saturday if you can!

L2 v Genesis – St. Raphaela’s – 12:15

L1 v Glenanne – Grange Road – 13:00

M1 v Banbridge – Grange Road – 15:00

M2 v Clontarf – Mount Temple – 16:00

M3 v Enniscorthy – CWCWE Enniscorthy – 12:30

M5 v Portrane – Donabate – 16:00

L3 v UCD – Belfield – 16:20

Club Dinner

We are looking forward to welcoming everyone to Old Wesley on Saturday, MArch 4th, for the annual club dinner. We can’t wait to celebrate all things Rovers with all our members, families, sponsors and supporters!

Club Dinner

The annual club Dinner is just around the corner and tickets are selling fast! Join us in Old Wesley Rugby Club on March 4th from 7.30pm on what is always a brilliant of celebrations.

We will be celebrating all things Rovers, successes so far in te season, whether it is the Ladies 1s first season back in the big time, the Men’s Indoor staying in the 2nd tier of European Indoor or the Juniors representing with Leinster, at all age grades, for both our Girls and Boys!

There will be plenty to celebrate for all our players, pavillion members, sponsors & supporters! You can be buy your ticket below:

Tickets are 60 euro for adults & 55 euro for students, if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact the club or Sinead and Doug the Ladies and Men’s Captains.

We look forward to seeing everyone there on the night!

Fixtures February 25th 2023

This Saturday’s fixtures seees a full compliment of home fixtures throughout the day! Why not make a day of it and treat yourself to someting delicious on offer at the Short corner cafe, provided by Cian and his team, or get a freshment from the clubhouse bar.

Watch the Men’s 1s match at home before or after your own match or catch the end of it ater supporting the Ladies 1s out in Mount Templ at 2pm!

M5 v Dublin North – Grange Road – 11:00 – Div 5

L2 v Corinthians – St. Columba’s – 11:30 – Div 5/6 Cup SF

M2 v Pembroke – Grange Road – 13:00 – Div 1B

M4 v Kilkenny – Grange Road – 13:00 – Div 3

L1 v Clontarf – Mount Temple – 14:00 – Div 1

L3 v Monkstown – Rathdown school – 14:30 – Div 8

M1 v Annadale – Grange Road – 15:00 – EYHL

M3 v Pembroke – Grange Road – 15:00 – Div 2

Be a part of Rovers Roar this saturday at Grange Road!

Indoor success

Well done to the Junior Girls and Boys Under 16 squads who both came 3rd in the Leinster Hockey Indoor tournament hosted by Boyne Hockey Club last Sunday! It is a great achievement and we look forward to more indoor success from them, as part of the respective Senior sqauds, in years to come!

Massive congratulations to the Men’s Senior Indoor squad who retained theirs and Ireland’s place in the 2nd tier of European Indoor in Mannheim last weekend! After a tough group phase against the likes of Pinoke from Holland, they battled it out in the classification phase to pick up two massive wins and retain their place in the club Trophy on goal difference!

Massive well done to all the players, squads and respective managements!

Annual Club Dinner

The Annual club Dinner is just around the corner. Starting at 7.30pm on the 4th of March in Old Wesley Rugby Club, join us for the best social night of the season!

We will be celebrating the season to date and all things Rovers, representing the club, leinster & Ireland at all age grades and more!

Tickets for the night can be bought here: ANNUAL CLUB DINNER TICKETS

PRICES

€60 for adults

€55 for students

Join us for what will be a wonderful night!

Well done Findo!

Congratulations to Stephen Findlater on being awarded the Graham Wilson award for outstanding hockey journalism by the Hockey Writers Club.  Stephen is known for his fair and balanced reporting, and we are proud to hear that his hard work has been acknowledged and recognised.  

A long-standing TRR playing member, past Club Captain, and ongoing volunteer, Stephen is the son of John Findlater, (past Club President, generous volunteer,  benefactor,  and contributor  to the club).

We hope that the intergenerational Findlater family connection will continue with Oliver and Jessica, Stephen’s children, and we look forward to further hockey reports from Stephen in the future.

You can read the full story here https://www.thehockeypaper.co.uk/articles/2023/02/08/irish-journalist-recognised-for-hockey-coverage

Mens EuroHockey Indoor Trophy

Day 1 for the Men’s Indoor Club Trophy is done and dusted. They palyed two matches against Slavia Prague and Pinoke. Two tough matches against qulaity opponents and they were unfortunately on the wrong end of respetive 5-2 & 7-3 losses.

Their 3rd and final group match is against Luzerner from Switzerland on the 18th of February at 10:15am (CET). The match can be watched here:

https://www.eurohockeytv.org/en-int/playerpage/1570442

Fixtures February 18th – 19th

L1 v Corinthians – 13:15 – St. Columba’s

M2 v UCD – 13:00 – Grange Road, Front pitch

L2 v Clontarf – 15:00 – Grange Road, Front pitch

M3 v YMCA – 15:15 – Wesley College

L3 v Portrane – 15:00 – Grange Road, Back pitch

M4 v Naas – 10:00 – St Mary’s College, Naas

FREE Online E-learning Mental Health and Wellbeing Courses

Below is an intiative being run by the South dublin Count Public Participation Network regarding Mental Health and Wellbeing courses, which can be found here: SDC Public Participation Network

The full website can be found here: https://mymentalhealthrecovery.com/