Well done also to Éva Kelly, Aoife Murray and Grace Sweeney who competed for Leinster in the Irish Interprovincial Championships in Lisburn yesterday (Fintan Meagher was also selected, but was unable to compete).

Current roster

       Poolsit Duties

Also, the provisional calendar for the season has been published.

The club had a good representation at the two major end-of-season  national galas held in July – first the Irish Age Groups covering up to under 15 age group for boys, and under 14 for girls. The club was represented by Izzie Banks, Diarmait Bradley O’Connor, Cian Cunningham, Megan Duffy, Santiago Parga, Eileen Scanlon and Scott Ringland. We then had the Irish Youths (girls under 15, 16, boys 17-18) and Open Championships. Our representation was Eva Banks, Michael Carroll, Cian Cunningham, Lucy Gaynor, Éva Kelly, Fintan Meagher, Aoife Murray, Catalina Parga and Grace Sweeney. Both galas were very competitive, with the Open Championships attended by clubs and regional squads from South Africa, Egypt, France and Scotland.

We had some excellent results, particularly in the freestyle events. In the Open girls 400m event, Grace Sweeney took gold, with Éva Kelly barely missing out on silver (Aoife Murray took fifth in the same final).

In the 100m Free in the Men’s 17-18 Age Group, Fintan Meagher had a terrific time of 53.42 lowering yet again his club Junior record, but was pipped for the gold medal.

In the 400m IM Open final, Aoife Murray came from a long way behind over the last 50m to take bronze (and almost snatched silver). 

Participants were Eva Banks, Kate Coleman-Lenehan, Rosanna Cooney, Niamh Duggan, Lucy Gaynor, Eva Kelly, Aoife Murray, Ciara Murray, Grace Sweeney, Cian Cunningham and Fintan Meagher.

Special congratulations to Aoife Murray who took a silver medal in the 1,500 metres Freestyle. Other noteworthy performances came from Fintan Meagher, Éva Kelly and Grace Sweeney.

The Championships received great coverage in the US swimming websites. This includes videos of all finals (A and B) with US commentaries - Glen-bay-lin features prominently. See www.swimmingworld.tv/2010-irish-nationals

Photos from all recent galas (including the big end-of-season galas) have now been published. The Summer newsletter is also available, as is the September pool-sitting roster.

There is some tidying up to be done, including setting up a new calendar for the year. We will try to get this done over the next couple of weeks.

The Summer letter setting out all registration and fees details etc has been posted to all members. The will be a separate mailing in a few weeks time with the Summer newsletter.

Pride of place however goes to the senior girls relay team:

 - Kate Coleman Lenehan

 - Rosanna Cooney

 - Niamh Duggan

 - Grace Sweeney

who broke the long-standing Irish Senior Freestyle 4 * 50m long-course record in an incredible time of 1:52.5. They also narrowly missed out on the Medley record (by some 0.4 seconds).

Well done to the relay girls for this fantastic achievement for the club, to all members of the squad for a very successful gala weekend and to coach Linda who of course played a major part.

We will publish the full results of the gala on the website over the next few weeks.

Medal winners were:

Alicia Pierce (u14) - Gold 200m IM, 200m Free, 100m Breast, 100m Free

Ciaran McCarthy (u14) - Silver 200m free, Bronze 100m Fly

Cian Cunningham (u13) - Gold 200m Free, Bronze 100m Free, Bronze 100m back

Sophie Vaughan (u13) - Gold 100m breast

Lorcan O'Byrne (u14) - Gold 100m back, Silver 200m IM, Bronze 100m Breast

Boys 13-14 Medley relay (Cian Cunningham, Christopher Hill, Ciaran McCarthy, Lorcan O'Byrne) - Gold

Girls 13-14 Freestyle Relay (Daria Frolova, Alicia Pierce, Roisin Power, Sophie Vaughan) - Silver

Congratulations to all swimmers and well done to coaches Paula and Oisin.

A real highlight for the club was Grace Sweeney's performance in going sub one minute for the 100m Freestyle long course. We believe this is the first time it has been achieved by a female club swimmer.

Grace put a sequence of freestyle performances together that put her just outside the medals in all of the events (50m, 100m, 200, 400m, 800m) against very stiff competition. Her 200m Freestyle time of 2:08.4 put her just 0.5 seconds outside the 2012 squad qualifying time.

Similarly, Rosanna Cooney had some fantastic back crawl times - her 2:23.8 time in the 200m event  final was just 0.3 seconds outside the 2012 squad time.    

Congratulations to the two girls relay teams. The 4*100m team (Rosanna Cooney, Niamh Duggan, Jane McLoughlin, Grace Sweeney) came 3rd, and the 4*200m team (Rosanna Cooney, Niamh Duggan, Ciara Murray, Grace Sweeney) came fifth, just 2 seconds outside a medal position.

Congratulations to all club swimmers who competed with great heart and achieved many PBs.      

Please look at the roster carefully as there are changes to the schedule over the bank holiday and to allow for galas etc. Please also ensure that you sign the pool-sitting diary, to record your attendance. If you re unable to find the diary, please let us know.                                                                                                                                             

Linda was very pleased with the times achieved and there were several surprise PB's over the weekend.

Tuesday 6:00pm to 7:00pm - Minnows, Dolphins and Torpedoes (no evening swim for Seniors and Piranhas)

Wednesday 5:45pm to 8:00pm - Seniors and Piranhas

The Piranhas morning swim on Wednesday is likely to change to Tuesdays - Linda will advise on this.

Apologies for the short notice and any inconvenience caused.

Congratulations to our Club Champions who were as follows:

Junior Girls (under 14):

Orla Duggan (Backstroke)

Eva Kelly (Front Crawl)

Aoife Murray (Breaststroke, Butterfly, IM)

Junior Boys (under14):

Michael Carroll (Back Crawl)

Kevin Manning (Breaststroke, Butterfly, IM)

Gavin Murray (Front Crawl)

Senior Girls (14 and over)

Kate Coleman Lenehan (Breaststroke)

Meabh MacConville (Butterfly)

Jane McLoughlin (IM)

Grace Sweeney (Backstroke, Front Crawl)

Senior Boys (14 and over)

Dan Cochrane (Butterfly, IM)

Dan Manning (Front Crawl)

David McGrath (Back Crawl)

Connor Robinson (Breaststroke)

Full results can be viewed here                                             GSC_Club_gala_2007_ results

Coaching changes - replacing Aoife as Minnows squad coaches are Eilish Smyth and Oisin Bradley O'Connor - both longstanding club swimmers who have recently retired from competitive swimming. The decision to take on two coaches at this level reflects the emphasis we want to place on younger swimmers coming into the club.

Training Schedule - see updated timetable. This reflects additional pool time for the Senior squad.

KGSC Affiliation fee - to ensure compliance with Kilmacud Glenalbyn Sports Club (KGSC) and swimming club rules, the swimming club has undertaken to collect the KGSC basic pool affiliation fee per swimmer going forward. This must be included with your monthly standing order form - see below. See letter for details or contact any committee member.

Standing order forms - standing order forms must be submitted to Ger Duggan, 44 Hollybank Avenue, Ranelagh, Dublin 6, by Friday 24 August. Swimmers will not be permitted to train until a financial commitment has been made to the club.

Pool-sitting - please complete pool-sitting contact form and return to Ger Duggan by Friday 24 August. 

Registration forms - all to be completed and returned to Ger Duggan by 24 August.

Pride of place goes to Niamh Duggan who won all of the Under 15 mid- and long-distance Freestyle events (200m 400m, 800m), all by comfortable margins.

Also very well done to Jane McLoughlin who achieved a Team Leinster qualifying time and to Eva Banks and Aisling O'Brien who qualified for the Leinster Squad.

Rosanna Cooney

Niamh Duggan

Jane McLoughlin

Grace Sweeney

All of these records have now been updated on the Swim Ireland website (see "girls records"). Swim Ireland records                                                                     

Rosanna Cooney (back crawl)

Kate Coleman Lenehan (breaststroke)

Grace Sweeney (butterfly)

Niamh Duggan (freestyle)

The time achieved was 4:40.15 - well done again to the girls and to Stephen (and spare a thought for Meabh MacConville and Jane McLoughlin who narrowly missed out on places on the teams).

Niamh Duggan

Rosanna Cooney

Kate Coleman Lenehan

Grace Sweeney

The time achieved was 4:08.76 - as Juniors, all of the girls have yet to reach their 17th birthday (in fact Niamh and Rosanna are still just 14).

Many congratulations to the girls, and especially to coach Stephen - you have done the club proud. 

Aer_Lingus

Cormorant Donaghmede 

ESB Sportsco

National Aquatic Centre

Tallaght Community School and Sports Centre

Trojan Swimming Club

These will be published on a separate webpage in the near future.

The committee has not had a continuous record of times achieved over the years so if anybody feels we have missed a record-breaking time, please contact a committee member.

Many thanks to Kathy McDonnell who pulled this information together. This included a trip to New Ross - the only source of old gala results available in the country, as far as we could establish.

It is great to see many of our current members with club records, notwithstanding the many fine swimmers who have swum with Glenalbyn over the years. Well done to all.

Work has commenced on the long course records - watch this space.

Congratulations to the Championship winners as follows (full results to be posted shortly):

Junior Girls:

Rosanna Cooney - Backstroke

Niamh Duggan - Freestyle

Meabh MacConville - Butterfly

Jane McLoughlin - IM

Aoife Murray - Breaststroke

Junior Boys:

Barry Fitzgerald - Backstroke, Breaststroke

Fintan Meagher - Freestyle, Butterfly, IM

Senior Girls:

Kate Coleman Lenehan - Breaststroke, IM

Helen Fletcher - Butterfly

Lisa McDonnell - Backstroke

Grace Sweeney - Freestyle

Senior Boys:

Dan Cochrane - Freestyle, Backstroke

Dan Manning - Butterfly

Richie Murray - IM

Connor Robinson - Breaststroke

Full results will be posted shortly

The following nominations have been received for committee positions:

President:            Lynn O'Connor

Secretary:            Mairin Benson

Treasurer:            Ger Duggan

Committee Members (six positions):       Louise Carton, Briony Cochrane, Kieron McGovern, Sue McLoughlin, Catherine Meagher

Notices of motions or nominations for officers should be submitted to Mairin Benson, Club Secretary (or any committee member) by 6 November. 

Well, it was worth it - we made a massive €2,500. Thanks again to all.

There are some minor changes to the timetable.

We will hold a registration evening on Tuesday, 5 September, and would ask that all members/parents attend with completed registration forms, standing order forms, pool-sitting forms etc - see Summer letter from Committee or contact any Committee member. In this regard, can we remind you that membership of Kilmacud Glenalbyn Sports Club (KGSC) is compulsory either through family membership or junior membership, and would ask that you ensure this is in order prior to the registration evening.

You will be aware we are increasingly using e-mail as the primary means of communication with members - if you are not on our e-mail list or have recently changed e-mail, we would be grateful if you could provide updates contact details to gerry_duggan@aon.ie.

In spite of this, the club had its most successful Irish Age Groups ever with lots of PB's, finalists and as many as seventeen medals.

Pride of place went to the under 14 girls relay team who won the 200m Freestyle relay event against a particularly competitive field. Pushed hard by Kilkenny and Trojan in the final, the girls went below the elusive two minute barrier - a great achievement in a long course event. The winning team, in swimming order, was Meabh MacConville, Jane McLoughlin, Niamh Duggan and Rosanna Cooney - and spare a thought for Ciara Duffy who was pipped by the narrowest of margins for a place on the team.

Medal winners were:

Rosanna Cooney also confirmed her place in the Irish 2012 squad for next season with a terrific 100m Backstroke time of 1:09.24.

Very well done to all competitors, and especially to coaches Stephen and Linda for having the swimmers in such good shape.

Rosanna Cooney - under 14 100m backstroke

Niamh Duggan - under 14 200m Freestyle (with a fantastic 2:13)

Fintan Meagher - under 14 100m Breaststroke

Philip Meagher - under 18 100m Breaststroke, 100m Freestyle, 100m Butterfly

Richie Murray - under 17 400m IM

Also congratulations to Ciara Duffy, Dan Cochrane, Philip Meagher and Connor Robinson who all achieved Leinster Squad qualifying times.

Very well done to coaches Stephen, Linda and Paula.

Also thanks to all parents who helped out as team managers or timekeepers over the weekend.

Welcome to Louise Carton, mother of Eilis (Torpedoes), who has agreed to be co-opted to replace Mary.

Many thanks to all who helped ensure it ran smoothly, in particular Kieron McGovern, Caroline Duffy, Betty Benson, Judith Lloyd and all of the teachers who put great work in with the swimmers to ensure they were well prepared for the day.

Thanks also to the parents who volunteered for time-keeping and other duties.                                                                                                      results

The top prize was won by the coaches team (well, mostly) of Stephen McBride, Paula McGowan, Aoife McPhilips and Lorna Barker - but it was very close all the way. They just pipped the Robinson/Maguire team. In joint third place, one further point behind, were the best of the senior squad teams (Graham Campbell, Kate Coleman Lenehan, Philip Meagher and Mark Meighan) and one of the O'Brien family teams - including Piranha swimmer Niamh - very well done.

Apart from being a great social night, we raised approximately €1,700 for club funds. Thanks to everybody for the great support.

Philip Meagher - 100m IM (2nd), 100m breaststroke (3rd)

Rosanna Cooney - 200m backstroke (3rd)

Women's 800m Freestyle relay - Ailbhe Benson, Kate Coleman Lenehan, Meabh MacConville, Grace Sweeney (3rd)

Men's 800m Freestyle relay -  Daniel Cochrane, Philip Meagher, Richie Murray, James Phelan (3rd)

In the Junior girls Freestyle relay final, Niamh Duggan, Meabh MacConville and Ciara Murray took silver medals, representing Muckross Park.   

Well done, Stephen and the squad. Many thanks to team managers, Máirín Benson and Declan McGrath. 

Schools represented included Colaiste Iosagan, Muckross Park, Mount Anville, St Raphaela's, Gonzaga and Blackrock College.

The qualification times for Irish Age Groups Division 1 and Division 2 are now posted on the club notice board. Please note there are some significant differences from previous years.

Congratulations to the following Club Championship plaque winners:

Junior Girls:

Meabh MacConville (IM, Butterfly), Rosanna Cooney (Backstroke), Niamh Duggan (Freestyle), Chloe Meehan (Breaststroke)

Junior Boys:

Aidan Maguire (IM, Freestyle, Butterfly), Fintan Meagher (Breaststroke), Kevin Smyth (Backstroke)

Senior Girls:

Kate Coleman-Lenehan (IM, Backstroke, Butterfly), Eilish Smyth (Breaststroke), Grace Sweeney (Freestyle)

Senior Boys:

Philip Meagher (IM, Breaststroke), Donal Crowe (Freestyle), David McGrath (Backstroke), Mark McDonnell (Butterfly)

Well done to Stephen McBride who pipped Owen Campbell (home for the Christmas break from Loughborough College, where he is a member of the prestigious Loughborough swim squad) in the special invitation 33m Fly race  - but that start definitely looked dodgy!

I'm afraid we're not able to name all 17 members of the winning relay team in the special mixed race, but it was quite a spectacle!

The full results are available here        GSC Club Gala 2005 Results

Many thanks to everybody who made the afternoon so successful, including our compere, Declan McGrath, the coaches who had the swimmers so well prepared and kept the events running smoothly, and the parents who encouraged all of the swimmers, and who carried out timekeeping and other duties.

A very special thanks to Edwin and Ruth Davison who took all of the pictures. These can be seen in the poster on the noticeboard (and will be posted on the website shortly).

There are still a number of the laminated 2006 club calendars available in the club shop for €5.

We raised a total of €1,787 - the highest amount we have ever raised for this event. Many thanks to all of the members and parents who supplied a terrific array of prizes, and to the swimmers who sold tickets and obtained prizes from local businesses (in particular, Orla McGrath, who sold Euro400 worth of prizes). A special thanks to Betty Benson who organised the event with her usual enthusiasm. 

Linda's coaches report on the year is reproduced here  Coaches report AGM 2005