The return of the season suffered a stuttering restart as the cold weather played havoc with the ladies games. The 1sts were the first to fall as the 11am start proved too early for the dugout side on the front pitch. The 2s game had been called off earlier in the week and despite the lunchtime start the 4s game in Bray was also called off. The 3s were the only team that managed to play their game even though the conditions remained frosty. They unfortunately fell to a narrow 1-0 loss though.

On the mens side the 1s and 2s were the only teams to have games. The 2s drew 1-1 with YMCA in a late afternoon game that was also threatened by frost towards the end. Freddie Morris grabbed the goal that ensured the draw. Earlier on in the day the 1s were left frustrated as their four point league lead dropped to just 2 points. Despite leading 4-1 with goals from Mitch, Jonny, Huub and Harry, Railway came back to draw 4-4 in the last second of the game.

On the junior girls side the u8s , u10s and u12 all played mini games with Avoca. The 8s and 10s won all their games while the 12s had mixed results but a majority of wins. Well done everyone!

This week all senior teams should be back in action. The ladies 3rds will hope the pitch stays clear for their 11am home game against. Bray. The mens 1sts have Fingal at home at 1.30pm in the league before facing Rathgar away on Sunday at 1pm in the Mills Cup semi-final. The mens 3rds are also at home at 3.15 on the back pitch before the ladies 1s finish off Saturday with a 5pm start at home to Loreto. Trinitys mens first will play on the front pitch 3.15 slot in between our mens and ladies firsts.

On the away side of things the ladies 2s play away to Loreto at 1.15 while the 4s make the short trip to Corinthians at 12pm. The mens 4s take on UCD at 4pm and 5s pay visit to Avoca at 5pm. The ladies 3s also have a Wednesday night cup game at 8pm against Our Ladies. The mens 3rds and 4ths also have double weekends with the 3s playing at 1.15 on Sunday in the inter-cup 1/4 final and the 4s away to Clontarf

On the boys side the u14s will play in the indoor Tommy O’Sullivan Cup on Sunday. They’ve been drawn in a group with Monkstown, Wicklow, Clontarf and Navan. They play all their games between 2 and 5pm.

To all the club members of Three Rock Hockey Club,

I just want to thank you for the clubs support in providing us with a pitch on the 27th of December to run our annual charity Christmas football match. Without your help we would not be able to maximise the amount donated to our charities. Despite the gale winds and bitter cold rain we had a fantastic result from it, raising 750 euro.

This has been donated to a trust for Ethan Byrne and to the Laura Lynn hospice. Ethan is a three year old who is battling with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. This donation will help Ethan and his family in their fight against this disease and for directly caring for Ethan.
The Laura Lynn hospice is currently Irelands only hospice for terminally ill children and provides support to these children and their families.

Your support is greatly appreciated.

I would like to wish all members of the club every success and a Happy New Year

Kind regards

Graham Kearns

And we’re back!! Hopefully everyone is well rested but not too well fed after Christmas and are rearing to go for the 2nd half of the season!

The junior girls were first back last Sunday as they braved the elements to return to training.

All ladies teams will be back in league action this week although some of the mens sides get another weeks grace.

The ladies 1sts start off first with a home game at 11am against Alex. The 3rds are also at home and face Botanic at 1pm. The 2s take an afternoon trip to Clontarf for a 3.45pm game while the 4ths make their way down the m50 for a 1pm start against Bray. All teams will be hoping to carry on their winning ways from the last weekend before Christmas!

On the mens side the 1sts face Railway away at 1pm where they will hope to keep hold of their current league lead. The 2nds are also back this week and will play YMCA away at 4.30pm.

Best of luck to all!

Some of our members have had shorter breaks than others with international duty taking up some time over December and the New Year.

Huge congratulations to Jody Hosking on his first senior caps for South Africa in December. Jody returned home for an international camp before being selected for the test series against Argentina where he made his debut which will hopefully be the first few of many.

Congrats also to Stephen West on his call up to the senior mens squad for their upcoming Spanish training camp. Westy has been kept busy with national camps over the festive period and will travel with the squad between the 10th and 16th of January during which time the team will face 3 games against Spain. Former Rover and current UCD man Ross Canning is also part of the squad and has been named in the u21 panel for selection for this summers Europeans. Best of luck to both!

Its nomination time for the annual Irish Hockey Awards and we want to ensure we have some of our valuable members on the shortlist this year.

Last year we were shortlisted in 2 categories and theres no reason this cant happen again. We have plenty of choice in the areas of senior players, u18s, volunteers, coaches and more so please don’t be shy about pushing ourselves forward!

Nominations can be done online by following the link on the page below. The closing date for nominations is the 10th of January. The awards will be much less formal this year but nonetheless are a great way of recognizing clubs and their members.

News

As most people within the club finish up this weekend for 2013 we would like to take this opportunity to wish all our members, friends, families staff and supporters a very merry and peaceful Christmas.

Thank you all so much for continuing your support of the club and of all the events that are run in it. Sports clubs simply don’t exist without continued help and the valuable time of so many. The family ethos of the club has shone through so many times in 2013 including our successful hosting of the IHL finals, the return of the SuperCup, the increased numbers of juniors, and above all the huge effort that was made in Dream Auction.

We hope that you continue to enjoy your association with Three Rock Rovers, however big or small it may be, into 2014 and beyond.

Have a wonderful Christmas and New Year. We look forward to seeing everyone back in HQ in January where hopefully 2014 will bring even more success both on and off the pitch! We have lots to look forward to including ladies 1s and 3s cup 1/4 finals, mens Mills cup semi finals, the IHL, the hosting of Patricks Days finals and the club dinner on the 29th of March!

Warm wishes
The executive committee

Siobhan, Findo, Mandy, Barbara, Peter, Simon, Rob, Wendy and Ali

Finances
The financial year ends in February. Accounts to December will be available to us in Januarys meeting. Plans for 2014/2015 budget will commence in Feb. Subs collection is still being undertaken, with most people part in part at least. Rob Johnson is to remain on council as financial officer and so will be liaising with the new captains regarding next seasons budget. There have been some unidentified lodgements coming through the accounts so ways of minimising this were discussed

Social
The club dinner has been set for the 29th of March 2014 so keep the date free! Venue is still TBC

The 7th of December went well with over 20 supporters enjoying lunch during the day and then 25 enjoying dinner hosted by Rob that evening. The Junior parties will take place this week.

We are in the process of planning for an u16 trip abroad and and u12/u14 day trip within Ireland. Details will be announced on both once confirmed

We have been in touch with a company in the UK regarding helping us host Mayfest this year. It is likely to run in the first weekend of May.

Hockey matters
Mens kit is expected in the 1st week of January. There will be a sponsors day during one of the home IHL fixtures for those who kindly helped fund their kit. We will hopefully also host another supporters lunch that day also

We have been unable to find a suitable date for the coaching of the caches. We especially wish to target the ladies side of the club at this moment in time. If we cannot find a date for this year planning will commence at the end of season over how to do this regularly next year

Council update to committee
The pitch replacement group will meet again in January to finalise the tender documents before they are sent out. The testing on the shock pad is currently taking place. Efforts are being made to clean the pitch in early January

AOB
The committee will begin to consider the new members it requires once the AGM occurs in mid-April. The meeting in March will relate mainly to finalising dinner details while Aprils one will be given to helping bring our new captains on board/planning for the season ahead

The juniors action keeps going for another week as we host their Christmas parties on Friday night and Saturday morning.

Friday kicks off at 7pm until 10pm for the 14s and 16s, while Saturday will see all of the 8s, 10s and 12s together between 10am and 12pm.

Rachel will be on hand both days to supply sausages or crepes while the helpers will be running a variety of games for everyone. There may be a special visit on Sunday by a man with a red coat if people are good so watch out!

Super Saturday can be the only word to describe the 7th of December in the club, with in fact the same being said for Sunday too! Out of 11 senior games Rovers teams were triumphant in 9 of them!

The ladies 2nds got their first win of the season in a tight game v Navan, coming out on top of a 1-0 win. The lead came from a short corner in the first half which was one of only a handful of attacks the girls had. They took their chance well though and held on to take the full 3 points. Becky put her body on the line numerous times, while Meabh Butler was outstanding in defense. They play their final game before Christmas on Saturday away to Our Ladies at 1.30pm.

The ladies 1s got a massive 3 points over close rivals to bring themselves right back into the playoff race of Div 2. After suffering a number of setbacks over the last few weeks this was a crucial game to ensure they stayed in the hunt. Despite being under pressure for most of the game they walked away with a 1-0 win after Sadie smashed in a top strike during a break. They then followed this up with a comfortable 3-0 win over Trinity 2s on Sunday in the Jacqui Potter Leinster senior cup. Aoife, Aisling Hogan and Isabelle all got on the scoresheet to ensure a place in the ¼ finals of the competition. Their opposition is as yet unknown. The girls are now done with matches until January.

The 3rds also had a great 3-0 win over Clontarf in their cup game on Saturday. They face Pembroke at home at 4pm on Saturday in their last game before the holidays. The 4ths, who didn’t have a game last week, also play Pembroke but away at 11am

On the mens side the 2nds fell to a 0-6 loss away to Avoca on Saturday afternoon, while the 5ths also lost 4-1 to James Gate. They both have games this weekend too with 2nd at home to table toppers Kilkenny at 3pm, and the 5ths are away to YM at 12.30 in the minor cup.

The 4ths appear to like the number 7 as they put away yet another 7 goals making it 14 in 2 weeks! They won out 7-1 over North Kildare. Match report by Rob in their team section.

The 1sts got a huge win over Pembroke in the top of the table clash on Saturday. Mitch and Blakers scored twice in a reasonably comfortable 4-1 win which puts the guys 7 points clear at the top for this week anyway. They followed it up with a 3-2 win over Glenanne on Sunday in the Mills Cup to ensure they finish the first half of the season unbeaten in all competitions. Harry Morris and Blakers were on the scoresheet to put them in a semi final against either Rathgar or YMCA in the New Year.

The mens 3rds also had a successful double weekend to finish off their 2013 as they beat Rathgar 3-2 on Saturday before coming out 3-1 winners in their cup game on Sunday.

In between all this winning and the many goals over 20 of our pavilion members and supporters enjoyed a 3 course lunch by Rachel on Saturday afternoon, with our most established member Doris Findlater making a special appearance. Declan Budd was on hand to present to the club 2 new trees, while our President said a few words of thanks to all who had so kindly supported the successful Dream Auction. Following all the games that evening there were complimentary mince pies and mulled wine for those who needed to warm up!

This year our junior Christmas parties will be held on the 13th and 14th of December

On Friday the 14s and 16s girls and boys teams will join together in the clubhouse between 7 and 10pm

On Saturday the 8s, 10s and 12s will have a joint session between 10am and 12pm where a special guest in a red suit may make an appearance if everyone is good!

There will be games, sweets and hopefully plenty of fun on each day!

* For senior members if you are able to give some time towards this event on either day please contact Siobhan at ladies.captain@threerockrovershc.com with what time suits. We potentially have up to 180 children at a time so we need plenty of helpers!! It is expected that ladies and mens 1sts help out so if you have a preference to days let us know