Big day for Whitechurch GAA club

THIS Sunday will be a very special day for the thriving Whitechurch GAA club when the official unveiling of their new dressing rooms and other ground improvements within the Whitechurch-Waterloo Community complex will take place.

Cork County Board chair Tracey Kennedy will do the honours for the thriving club and, according to club secretary, Pat Sheehan, it will be the culmination of a lot of hard work by a lot of people to bring the project to its fruition.

To mark the opening, two games will take place featuring a Seán Óg Ó hAilpín selection which will contain members of the Cork All-Ireland winning 1999 team and a Whitechurch selection.

That will start at 5pm and will be followed by an attractive U21 challenge game between Cork and Kilkenny at 7pm with the Cork chairperson doing the unveiling ceremony at 6.30pm.

The club donated €80,000 towards the cost of the new dressing rooms within the complex and the club’s main pitch has now been fenced off with a concrete walkway around it.

“It’s a very big day for our club,” Sheehan told the Echo.

“We have spent a considerable amount of money in upgrading our facilities and we have a 25-year lease on the new dressing rooms.

“We have had some great success in recent times with our junior hurlers and that has energised everybody in the club.

“We believe that the monies that we have spent will be well worth it and it will help us to cement our place in the community here.

“We are also unveiling a stone to our former chairman, Michael Downey who put in an amount of work out here for us during his time, he was a huge driving force in our club.’’

Sheehan, whose nephew, Donal Burke will be lining out for Dublin in the Leinster SHC against Kilkenny on Sunday, believes that the club is now a very strong unit of the community.

“It is because of the work of a lot of people. We are a small club but we are proud of our achievements and next Sunday is another milestone for us.

“All we ask for now is a fine evening to put the seal on what will be a special occasion for us all.’’