Here at Three Rock, family is one of our core values that we strive to remember when making decisions and planning for our clubs future.

It was wonderful then to see a little bit of club history made last Sunday as club captain Mandy and her daughter Orna Bools both won their games to reach their respective teams Cup finals!

Orna, playing on the Minor B squad, helped her team (coached by mens 1sts player Alan White) beat Avoca 3-0. Later in the day, Mandys team, the ladies 3rds, overcame Naas 2-0 in the division 9/10 cup!

The minor finals will be played on March 29th and currently, the div 9/10 is scheduled for March 28th although this it to be confirmed. A big weekend in the Bools household so!

Well done to both and to all their team mates and coaches! Hopefully this will be the first of many times that we get to celebrate such an event!

Hello All,
It’s hard to believe that the hockey playing season is almost over. The new pitch still looks great, even with a light covering of snow. I have watched plenty of matches this season and enjoyed most of them. I must admit, there were times when I was very grateful to support from the comfort of the warm clubhouse rather than the sidelines. It has been a good season. Win, lose or draw, hockey is a great sport although “lose” can challenge the spirit sometimes!
It is lovely to see several generations of past, current and possible future players enjoying the clubhouse on match days. During these winter months, sunshine and warmth outdoors seem a distant memory. Time is galloping on however and before we know it we will be hosting the LHA and IHA finals, plus the European Trophy matches. It’s a great honour for our club to be chosen as a suitable venue for these events. It also means a lot of hard work and I am sure that many members will volunteer to help with the success of the ventures. On a more relaxed note (hockey-wise) the Vet’s festival at the end of “Manic May” will be a fitting end to this season.
Enjoy your own remaining hockey matches and also the full programme of competitive finals being hosted In Grange Road.
Regards,
Ailis

Ladies 4ths fundraiser
As part of our club fundraising drive, our Ladies 4th team are running a Bring a book/DVD take a book/DVD on Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th March, see below details. It’s a great way of de-stocking those books you’ve read and won’t keep and replacing them with something new for a fraction of the cost!

· SATURDAY 7 MARCH & SUNDAY 8 MARCH

· FROM 9.30 TO 12.30

· BRING 5, TAKE 5, PAY €5

· BRING 10, TAKE 10 PAY €10

Club dinner
Don’t forget to book your tickets to the annual Club Dinner, which this year is also a fundraiser. Some great prizes are already being offered as part of the raffle on the night! Tickets are €60 with friends, partners and guests all welcome.
The night kicks off at 8pm in the Grange Golf club on March 21st. Contact Grace or Mandy for tickets!

Easter camps
Following the success of the February mid-term camp, we are delighted to announce that the Celtic Sports Academy will run another camp over the Easter break.Run i the 2nd week of Easter, if you register and pay by March 16th you get €10 off and the 4 days for just €80!
Here are some of the comments on the first camp!
My daughters best hockey academy EVER!!!
– I couldn’t believe that my son got out of bed so early in the holiday
– My daughter really enjoyed the two days…really looking forward the Easter one too.
– have been trying to get…to tell me how you could improve the camp and he has come up with…..nothing!!
– ..best part…focusing on a certain skill per day and having them in groups according to their level.
– …had a ball today
– the email updates in the evening are great for a parent to know that they are getting good value for money.
– I had only booked my 2girls in mon -wed but they begged me to do the rest of the week they were loving it so much
– A tired but happy small boy in our house this evening. Thanks to all involved.
– the updates and pictures on Facebook are brilliant, keep them coming.

Stillorgan rugby club
Some of you may have seen that we have some new neighbours/tennants in HQ! The grass pitch, which often lays idle, will now play host to all of the home games of up and coming rugby club Stillorgan RFC. We are delighted to offer our facilities to them as customers, and hope that they are made to feel welcome in the cafe and bar over the weekends!

The Annual Club dinner takes place on the 21st of March in Grange Golf Club.

This year, the hosting of the Europeans, together with the €12000 fundraising target of the committee, means that this years event will also run as a fundraiser for the club. As part of this, ticket prices have increased to €60 per person in order to help raise some much needed funds at an important time for the club. In conjunction a raffle will be held on the night. Any prizes that members may have to donate to this would be very welcome, please contact secretary@threerockrovershc.com with any prizes.

Tickets can be put aside or bought from Grace O’Malley (0871324273) or Mandy Bools (0876458047, ladies.captain@threerockrovershc.com). Dinner kicks off at 8pm, before music from the Amigos will entertain us til late. Similar to last year, some awards for players of the year will also be handed out on the night.

Stript Snacks is the official snack provider of our ladies 1sts this season. The tasty treats, packed full of protein are a big hit with the girls, especially our South African girls Steph and Anita before they went home.

Given the girls sit top of Division 3, the snacks do indeed seem to ‘fuel adventure’, and the company are delighted to offer Three Rock members a 10% discount under the promo of 3Rock.

Head to www. striptsnacks.com for more information on the tasty products.

The girls are very proud to be associated with the snacks and are very grateful for their support this season

Home luck seemed to prevail for three out of our four ladies teams last weekend as we approach the final few weekends of the league campaigns. The ladies firsts maintained top spot of div 3 with a 2-1 win over Corinthians. The ladies 2nds followed with an identical 2-1 win over Hermes while the ladies 3rd had a big 5-3 win over Mullingar, where Solo grabbed a hat-trick! The ladies 4s lost 3-0 later in the afternoon.

On the mens side, the 2s league hopes were effectively ruled out following a 2-0 loss to Clontarf, despite multiple chances. The mens 1sts were left both relieved and frustrated with a 1-1 draw against Railway. Despite going 1-0 up, Railway came back into the game late, and infant thought they had the game won in the final moments before a corner was awarded in place of a goal. The mens 3rds won 5-2 over Clontarf, with Ross Johnson, Phil Shearer, Ben Epstein, Scott Crombie and Roly Budd all scoring. The mens 5ths had a big 3-0 win over Bray to make promotion even closer as the season closes in!

This weekend sees more important games. The mens 1sts take on UCD away at 1pm, while the 2s have an early 11am home game against Railway. The mens 3rds also play Railway away at 3pm, while the 5ths play away to Pembroke at 5pm.

On the ladies side the 1sts play Our Ladies in a crunch game at 1.30pm away. The 2s have a tough away game to Rathgar at 12.30, while the 3s and 4s both have home games against UCD at 11 and 1 respectively.

Galway hockey pitch appeal
Connacht Hockey has advised that they have started an online petition to save the hockey pitch at Dangan.

Currently there is only one hockey pitch in Galway which is used by all the clubs (Greenfields, NUIG, Galway & Renmore). However, the proposed Blue Route for Galway City ByPass means that the hockey pitch would be ripped up. Signing up to the petition can be done here:

https://www.change.org/p/galway-city-council-nrdo-galwaycoco-ie-prevent-dangan-hockey-pitch-from-being-destroyed-2?utm_campaign=responsive_friend_inviter_chat&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=share_petition&recruiter=231665906

Irish Masters roles
The Ireland O45s are seeking a new manager and coach to take the squad forward to the European cup this year and the World Cup in 2016. Anyone interested should e-mail Michael Harvey or Andy Nye please on the following e-mail. You do not have to be playing or be part of the current Masters set up for these voluntary roles so please ask at your clubs etc for anyone interested.

Andy Nye – nye_andy@hotmail.com
Michael Harvey – theharv3351@sky.com

Internationals
Best of luck to Mitch Darling who heads away with the Irish squad this Friday to San Diego. The panel will play in World League 2, hoping to secure a spot in the next round of the Olympic qualifying competition in June.

The squad played a series of games last week in HQ against France, where Stephen West, Johnny Bruton and Mitch all lined out for a few more caps on home grounds! Our ladies 3rd coach Luke Chadwick also received his first cap during the course of the week.

Club dinner
Don’t forget to save the date for this years Annual Club Dinner! On March 21st at 8pm in Grange Golf club, with prizes and fundraising events on the night! Tickets will be on sale soon

Congrats
Best wishes and congrats to Katherine on the ladies 1sts who recently got engaged! We wish her and her fiancé all the best

Camps
Our first week of the Celtic Sports Academy Camps have been a big success with over 40 kids learning from Niall Denham, Luke Madeley, Rachel Allen and Luke Chadwick. Prizes are being given for best goal celebrations, with plenty of imaginative examples available to watch on their Facebook page! Well done to all involved for starting what we hope will turn out to be a very enjoyable and valuable way for kids to learn hockey!

Three out of our four mens sides met Monkstown last weekend in the league, but unfortunately the Town were the winners on all three occasions. The mens 1sts had a tight game against the league leaders, which they lost 2-1. The mens 3s lost out 2-0 while the 4s lost 5-3. Elsewhere, the mens 2s and 5s both won, beating both Fingal and Wicklow 3-1 respectively.

On the ladies side, the 1s had a 7-0 win over Newbridge. Although the 2s lost to league leaders St.Brendans 1-0 on Saturday, they came back fighting to beat Newbridge on Sunday. The 3s had a decent 1-1 draw away to Pembroke, while the fours had a big lost to Wicklows 1st XI.

No junior games last weekend because of mid-term but back to training as normal this week.

On the senior side, all ladies sides are home this weekend, while the mens 1sts play their last home league fixture. The ladies 1s kick off the action with an 11am start to Corinthians, while the 4s face . The 2s play at 1pm on the front against Hermes, while at the same time the mens 5ths host Bray on the back. At 3pm the ladies 3s take on Mullingar on the back, while the mens 1sts play Railway in a crucial game for a spot in next years IHL. The mens 2s, 3s and 4s are all away. The 2s and 3s play Clontarf at 10.30 and 12, while the 4s are in Railway at 4pm

The club is delighted to announce we will host the Irish Hockey League finals for a 4th year this year.

This years event takes place on April 11th and 12th. We are even more excited to host this years event given that our mens side has progressed to the semi finals stage and will play at home in a schedule thats yet to be announced.

More details regarding the event will be announced in upcoming weeks