Na Piarsaigh laying foundations on and off pitch for future success

Na Piarsaigh GAA club has served Cork’s northside since 1943 and now in its 81st year plans are going ahead to keep the club among the Farranree and Fair Hill communities.

Recently Zartis announced they are continuing with their sponsorship as their CEO Padraig Coffey explained how a software development company got involved with the club.

“My first involvement with Na Piarsaigh was playing Street Leagues with the club and I was always looked after well as a child by the club members,” Padraig said.

Recalling those great days Padraig believes the work that he witnessed was always in his mind before setting up his own business.

“The work that is done at Na Piarsaigh and by many other clubs in this city and county is tremendous and I learned a lot about teamwork and in general discipline that is useful for a career in business,” added Coffey.

Padraig took over as CEO of the company in 2017 and four years later they had resources that saw him contact Na Piarsaigh remembering what they had done for him in his years with the club.

“I contacted Na Piarsaigh as I wanted to give something back to this great club and so far, everything is going to plan as I can see the progress they are making.” 

Based in Horgan’s Quay, Zartis have been operational since 2009 and Coffey is pleased to see all grades in the club heading in the right direction.

“Na Piarsaigh is a huge asset to this side of the city as it does a huge amount of work in keeping kids on the right path.

It is also a great club for producing role models as I would have played in the same group as John Gardiner and Setanta Ó hAilpín and in fairness they have pointed the way for many kids in this club.” 

Club chairman Colin O’Sullivan was delighted to welcome Padraig and his team to the club and paid tribute to his loyalty and dedication.

“We have a great partnership with Zartis, and many thanks must go to Padraig for his generosity and more importantly his advice in driving our club forward,” O’Sullivan said.

Reflecting on the year Colin is happy with the strides taken.

“I am very happy as our goal at Senior A level was to get out of the group and after 26 penalties, we were eventually beaten in the quarter-final by Castlelyons,” added Colin.

O’Sullivan took the opportunity to thank the management team and the players.

“I think our coaching staff of Seán Ó hAilpín, John Gardiner, Mark Mullins, Christy Connery and Ronán McGregor put savage work in, but it takes two to tango and the players were also dedicated to the cause." 

Losing to Castlelyons was disappointing but lessons have been learned.

“I think when we look back, we did learn a few things and luckily the lads are back again in the coaching and management team and in fairness we asked them to raise the bar when they took over and thankfully, they certainly improved us as a team.” 

CONVEYOR BELT

Getting the juvenile section back to where it should be is a priority for the club.

“It is no secret that we had an aging community and numbers did fall but we put our hand up and admit we took our eye off the ball, but are now back on track.

“The number in our Hive Academy led by chairman Brian Buckley are really strong as the only way forward for this club is having a strong conveyor belt producing quality players."

Under the chairmanship of O'Sullivan, there is a new approach in the club.

“There are two sides to our club as number one is what’s happening on the field and the second is building a profile within the community with more people coming in our doors.” 

The camogie section is led by Tricia Coleman and again they are striving and welcome kids in the community to get involved.

The final message came from Padraig Coffey.

I think winning attracts players and members in the door as when you have high performance on the pitch it attracts second and third generations to get involved with the club.

“City GAA clubs require this and for me looking at the progress of Na Piarsaigh has been great to see with new structures and processes.

“However this club is a bit more than results as it has a place firmly in the community for the younger people to have healthy lifestyles and enjoy what they are doing.”