After a fantastic launch night on Friday last May 20th the countdown is now well and truly on to the tournament proper this coming Saturday, June 4th.
You will find further information on the tournament, the match schedule as well as details on the fun games for kids and the family festival below; but first a few comments on the launch night - there was a great crowd at the club to welcome team representatives and our Master of Ceremonies Anthony Daly who did a super job interviewing the team captains, leading a panel discussion and entertaining the audience with some great anecdotal stories from his career.
Thanks to Sean Brilly who shared some great photos from the launch night which you can view in our online album - click here.
Now we can look forward to the tournament itself.
Clane GAA are delighted to announce the hosting of the 2nd annual John Reidy Memorial Hurling Tournament, sponsored by the ‘Playing Fields’ music festival (www.theplayingfields.ie) which will take place at the club grounds in Conneff Park on Saturday, June 4th, 2022.
After a hugely successful inaugural tournament last year, it promises to be yet another festival of hurling with a host of quality teams lined up to attend including
- Clane GAA, Kildare (Hosts)
- Tooreen GAA, Mayo
- Blackrock National Hurling Club, Cork
- Moycullen GAA, Galway
- Burgess GAA, Tipperary
- Inniscarra GAA, Cork
- Buffers Alley, Wexford
- Navan O'Mahoney's, Meath
There will be more than 20 inter county hurlers on show representing their clubs with multiple All Ireland Final referee Fergal Horgan from Tipperary and Sean Cleere from Kilkenny officiating the tournament.
Family Fun Day - All Welcome
Without the Covid restrictions from 2021, this year promises to be even bigger and better. Entry is free and we hope to see a big crowd from both the local community and afar in attendance to make this a real family fun festival event. There will be lots of activities including long puck, beat the county goalkeeper penalty contest, wall ball competitions, coaching classes and more. In addition to our bar and clubhouse, we will have a family BBQ, a pop-up shop from Kilkenny based sportswear and equipment manufacturer Cleere Sports (https://cleeresports.com), a marching band and lots more to cater for attendees. Later that evening after the prize giving there will be live music from local musicians.
Games and fun for kids from 15:15 to 16:40. Starting at 15:20 on the Main pitch for mini matches, penalty shoot out and long puck. 15:50 Back to the wall - target shooting and ice cream 16:30- All kids marching behind band before the final. 17.30 - Family BBQ after the final and presentations.
Tournament Format & Schedule
As for the tournament format, the 8 teams will be divided into 2 groups of 4; each team will play 4 games inc. 3 group matches of 30 mins each (2 x 15mins). There will then be 4 finals with the top team in each group playing in the John Reidy Cup Final, 2nd placed teams will play in the shield final and so on. The finals will be 40-minute matches (2 x 20 mins).
**Updated Fixtures schedule
Bookmark this page for all the latest updates and follow the hash tag #JohnReidyHurling on your favourite social media channels.
Tournament Programme
Check out this eBook online version of our Tournament Programme - click here.
Further Information
John Reidy who sadly passed away on August 16th, 2019 was a man who gave so much to Clane and Kildare hurling. His death sent shock-waves through the entire Kildare hurling community and further afield. Last year our club hosted the inaugural John Reidy Memorial Hurling Tournament to honour John and we look forward to hosting this years tournament.
We encourage you to read this tribute to John Reidy which appeared in the Nenagh Guardian - "Tribute to popular Gael, who never lost his passion for his native area" - Click Here
