March 5th, 2021

A Chairde,

Below is this week’s update along with an overview of Handball in Kildare. Seachtain na Gaeilge takes place this month and to mark the occasion we’ve included a recipe for brown bread (arán dunn).

  • Kildare GAA will be hosting a Virtual St Patrick’s Day Parade on 17th March – Families are asked to design your own Float in your Club colours and send in your pics/videos to kildare@gaa.ie by 16th March. Prizes on offer for the winning entry.
  • Bord na nÓg are currently seeking amalgamation requests from Clubs. Closing date for submission is next Friday 12th March.
  • The Kildare Minor & U20 Hurlers are embarking on a virtual run fundraiser on Saturday 27th March – full details will be revealed on our website and social media pages in the coming days.
  • GAA Congress took place on Saturday last and saw new President Larry McCarthy sworn into office. 38 motions were on the Clár and all were approved. John Joe Carroll & Ned Quinn were also elected Representatives of Congress at the meeting.
  • Be Ready to Play Programme Coaching and Sport Science initiative aimed at supporting players and coaches during their return to training post Covid and in the build up to playing games again was launched on Tuesday. You can now registration via https://learning.gaa.ie/bereadytoplay
  • The first of three Club Safety Checks will take place this month – Clubs this year will be asked to perform a safety check on all structures within your Club Grounds. Development Officer Petria Dobbins will be in touch shortly with documentation.
  • World Book Day was celebrated yesterday – The GAA Museum in Croke Park recently launched a Book Club where a GAA book a month will be up for discussion. To become a member, sign-up on www.crokepark.ie/bookclub – The first pick is one that’s close to the heart of the GAA – ‘The Bloodied Field’ by Sunday Times journalist Michael Foley.
  • Irish Life Health have developed a pocket wellbeing calendar for the month of March which focuses primarily on, preventative health and financial wellbeing. The calendar includes lot of links to different resources and webinars that may be of interest to your Healthy Clubs and Communities, click here to access the calendar: WorkLife-March-Wellbeing-Schedule_Health.pdf (irishlifehealth.ie)
  • Operation Transformation, in collaboration with DCU School of Health and Human Performance, have developed the Minimum Fitness Tests to demonstrate the minimum fitness standard for your age group. These tests are designed to show you where you sit within the minimum standards of physical fitness and give you a target to aim for within your age bracket and gender. You can find details of this attached to this email and also via the following link: Operation Transformation 2021 » Operation Transformation Minimum Fitness Test (rte.ie)
  • HSE Stress Control Online is an evidence-based programme that teaches practical skills to deal with stress. It will help you to recognise the signs of stress such as how stress affects our bodies and our thoughts and help to develop skills to overcome panicky feelings and how to get a good night’s sleep. The course runs for three weeks starting on the 8th of March (timetable attached) and you can find further details at the following link: stresscontrol.ie

Kildare GAA Handball

Unfortunately, as a predominantly indoor sport, handball has been very badly hit by COVID with all competitive action ceasing in March 2020 and when competitive action began again in the summer, for 60 * 30, it was restricted to only Minor and Senior (Open) singles grades. As a result Kildare Handballers have seen little to no competitive action since the initial lockdown a year ago.

The County Handball Board comprises of:
There are presently four active Handball Clubs in the County:
    • Leixlip GAA
    • Maynooth GAA
    • Ballymore GAA
    • Moone Handball Club
Kildare Handball were saddened to learn of the death of Pat Hipwell, former Secretary of Kildare Handball Board and Moone Handball Club. Pat was well known for his active role in keeping handball alive in the Moone club and throughout Kildare. We wish to extend our sincere sympathy to his family at this difficult time.

Seachtain na Gaeilge – Recipe for brown bread (arán dunn)

Comhábhair:
  • 12 unsa plúr donn (12 oz wheaten meal)
  • 2 unsa plúr lom (2 oz Pl. flour)
  • 2 unsa min choirce (2 oz porridge oats)
  • 2 taespunóg chothrom sóid bacála (2 level tsp. baking soda)
  • Pinse salainn (pinch of salt)
  • 18 unsa leachtach de bhláhtach (18 fl oz buttermilk)
  • Braon beag Ola (small drop of oil)
Trealamh:
  • Dhá mhias
  • Spunóg Mhór
  • Taespunóg
  • Cruiscín
  • Soitheach Stáin 2lb
Modh Oibre:
  • Téigh an oigheann go dtí 170 degrees Celsius.
  • Cuir an ábhar tirim go léir isteach I mias amháin, measc agus dean poll sa lár.
  • Gread na hoibheacha agus ola le chéile agus cuir isteach leis ábhair tirim.
  • Cuir isteach an bláthach braon ar bhraon go mbeidh an meascán measurtha fluich. Tig é mheascadh le do lámh nó le spunóg mhór.
  • Cuir braon beag ola no ime thart ar an tsoitheach stain taobh istigh agus cuir isteach an meascáin.
  • Craith rud beag min choirce ar a bhárr mas mian leat.
  • Cuie isteach san oighean ar feadh trí cheathrú uaire.
  • Tabhair amach agus tiompaigh an builbhín aráin os cionu sa tsoitheach stáin ar feadh ceathrú uaire eile.
  • Tabhar amach, cuir sciúr fríd agus ma thagann sé amach glan tá an t-arán réidh.
Le meas
Dave Cahill
Kildare GAA PRO