Cullion Camogie Club announce sponsorship by Buckley’s SuperValu, Mullingar
Cullion Camogie Club hosted a function on Friday evening to announce sponsorship by Buckley’s SuperValu, Mullingar, and to celebrate their U10s’ win in the Linda Maxwell Memorial Plate Trophy.
The Buckley’s sponsorship is a three-year deal aimed at keeping young girls in sport. “We are delighted to sponsor the young girls in Cullion Camogie Club. Sport is particularly important in adolescents’ lives. We see this especially with our own grandchildren,” said Jimmy and Ann Buckley.
Eoin Kennedy, operations manager with the Buckley group, added that Buckley’s SuperValu and Centra are at the heart of their communities. “We believe investing in sport clubs like Cullion creates solid foundations as well as future opportunities for local girls.”
Lisa Buckley highlighted the history Buckley’s have of supporting young people in sport, since their business began in 1949. “Buckley’s are thrilled to again be able to step in with financial support. We know this investment will mean Cullion Camogie Club can nurture the considerable number of girls that have taken up the camán in recent years.
“We have two daughters ourselves and think it’s really important to be part of a team and to keep fit – girls are great and they deserve every opportunity boys get, so we’re absolutely delighted to be able to sponsor them.”
Also present on the evening was Karen Goldrick, chair of Westmeath Camogie, and a member of Ringtown GAA, who organised the Linda Maxwell Memorial Plate Trophy.
Karen said: “I’m delighted to be here to celebrate such a occasion here at Cullion Camogie Club. It’s great to see so many young girls involved in camogie. We’ve found that in the last couple of years, there has been a huge increase in numbers playing, and it’s nights like this that encourage girls to come back and keep playing.”
Cullion Camogie Club have a successful history at all age groups; in 2019 their adult team won the junior county final, and went on to win the Leinster Junior B Championship.
The senior team, who had the jerseys presented to them by Buckley’s SuperValu, take pride in giving back their time and knowledge to the junior members of the club, encouraging and supporting them in skills and team development, and giving them role models to look up to.
Cullion in turn presented replica jerseys to the Buckley family for their children in recognition of the intention behind Buckley’s investment in the club – keeping young children in sport.
Since the pandemic restrictions eased, Cullion Camogie Club have catered for more than 30 players at U10. The injection of youth is welcome and the coaching volunteers at that age level are making the camogie experience as enjoyable as possible for the girls, on and off the field.
Cullion Camogie Club recognise the positive effects of retaining girls in sport, as highlighted in studies by the Camogie Association and Sports Ireland in recent years.
Des Cawley, chair, Cullion Camogie, said at the event on Friday: “We’re delighted to welcome Karen [Goldrick] and thank her for her support. The work that has been done here at underage over the last five or six years has led us now to have two teams at U10 and U8, so our numbers are growing and we’re delighted with that.
“At senior level, we’re coming back with our numbers. The girls have worked hard to maintain senior status, which was hard fought but well achieved, and from our development squads at U14 and U16 we have players on the county panel, and that’s feeding back in – and I have to mention Fiona Keating, Darian Corcoran and Megan Ennis, club members on the county senior panel, who are the guiding lights for the underage players.”