Author: admin

Stand with Ukraine

Dear members of the European Hockey family,

The EHF offers its full support to Ukraine and the Ukrainian hockey family.

As part of this support, we have opened this FUNDRAISING PAGE for CLUBS and INDIVIDUALS. We urgently ask our hockey family to provide support. Read the Ukrainian Hockey President’s words
below and you will see how important it is that they get your support. Please donate (by clicking on the link above) – even the smallest amount will help. All funds will be used for current and future needs.

Serhiy Dontsov, President of the Ukrainian Hockey Federation, said: “The war caused by Russian
aggression brought great disasters, destruction, and countless victims to the Ukrainian people. Many
citizens of Ukraine were left without a roof over their heads as a result of the barbaric bombardments of
our peaceful cities. Many Ukrainian people left their homes, fleeing the horrors of war and became
forced refugees. The consequences of this war will be felt in Ukraine for a long time to come. We are
grateful to everyone who aids our country. Only in unity can we survive and endure in this difficult time. I
am grateful to the European Hockey Federation for the initiative to create a platform to help the hockey
family of Ukraine. All your donations will help the restoration and development of hockey in Ukraine.”

Regards,
Angus Kirkland
Director Genera

Avoca HC Past Members Dinner – 26th May

Avoca HC – providing our community with the best of hockey since 1895.

Welcome to Avoca HC’s Past Players dinner 2022

At: Volpe Nera, Newpark Road – run by award winning chef Barry Sun.

When: Thursday 26th May  @ 7pm sharp

Followed by: Digestif at a closed event in the Avoca HC Club Room

Total cost: €70 pp. Pay deposit for tickets here.

Please R.S.V.P. as soon as possible as availability is limited.

Odd Sock Challenge

On Sunday at our Season Finale in St Andrews, we are holding an Odd Sock Challenge in support of Downs Syndrome Centre and we are encouraging everyone to take part.

Feel free to bring along some spare change/notes and drop them into the buckets on Sunday to support them.

Facts about Down Syndrome
Downs Syndrome is an extra copy of the Chromosome 21.
62% of adults know someone with Down Syndrome.
12% of people have a family member with Down Syndrome.
Every year roughly 150 kids are born with Down Syndrome in Ireland (roughly 1 in 444 births).
There are roughly 7,000 people in Ireland with Down Syndrome.

The Down Syndrome Centre
Providing services since 2014.
Based in the Sandyford Business Park.
Supporting 440 families.
Provide services like OT, Speech and Language.

Avoca Member Family Survey: Boys Hockey

Avoca HC is delighted to announce the return of our Free Hockey for Boys. (Fridays 6th, 13th, 20th May) To kick it off this year we need help from all Avoca families. We simply ask that all member families complete this short simple survey with the boys in your family home. You are not being asked to sign up but to simply help us get feedback and gauge the interest of the boys.

Feel free to share with any family that you think might be interested. Avoca HC: Free Hockey for Boys

Your club needs you!

Fund-raising requirement for Avoca Hockey Club.

Dear members,

We’re writing to you today to highlight the need for funding around the resurfacing of our pitch as we move forward in our relationship with Newpark Comprehensive. The Newpark Pitch was last updated nearly 20 years ago now and is in urgent need of a resurface, it had been scheduled to be resurfaced in the last two years but of course COVID had an impact with this plan. The club has carried out several maintenance jobs in the meantime to keep the pitch playable recently ordering an extensive cleaning job over the Christmas period just gone. You can see quite clearly how much debris has been collected in the surface from the photos below.

Avoca in conjunction with Newpark Comprehensive have succeeded in securing generous sports capital grants and we now need to work together to raise the funding not covered by grants.

The club is asking you the members for your support in this resurfacing effort and has several avenues for you to help –

  • Regular or one-off donations: No amount is too small! The club can offer tax credits in return for personal donations toward the resurfacing of the pitch.
  • Hoarding Sponsorship:  You may have observed the removing of our Newpark Pitch advertisement boards (known as hoardings) over the last couple of months as we look for new hoarding sponsors. The club would love to speak to any business owners or members whose companies would consider sponsoring a hoarding.
  • Jersey Sponsorship: The club has numerous teams across multiple age levels, and we would welcome partnership opportunities with you or your company.

The club has established a fund-raising subcommittee to help with the club’s impending funding requirements and would welcome the time and help of any members with fund raising experience.

If you can help Avoca Hockey Club with any of the above, please reach out the club’s development officer Leo Sex at: Leopoldsex@gmail.com or PH: 0871130938

Avoca HC EGM Registration Deadline

The deadline for registering for our EGM is on Friday 7th January with the EGM being held on Monday 10th January at 7.45pm.

The Board of Avoca Hockey Club CLG made a decision at a Board meeting held on 22nd November 2021 to call an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) of the Company (Club) on 10th January 2022 at 7.45 pm. The EGM will be held by zoom. Please email the Club Secretary to register to attend. Registration will close on 7th January at midnight. All members are entitled to attend but only those with voting rights may vote.

The EGM is being held to ask members to vote to replace the current operative Memorandum & Articles of Association (M&A’s) of the Club (Exhibit A) with a proposed M&A’s (Exhibit B). 75% of voting members present must approve this change for it to come into effect. The background to this proposed change and a summary of the changes proposed and their effect is set out in the attached briefing note (Exhibit C).

Should the members vote to adopt the proposed M&A’s then the members will be asked at the EGM to elect two Foundation Directors and to elect a Club Chairperson. Any adult member may be elected to these roles. The names of nominees for Foundation Directors and Chairperson that have been received by the Club Secretary by midnight on 7th January will be circulated to prior to EGM. Nominees must be proposed and seconded by Club members eligible to vote and in attendance at the EGM for their names to put to Club members for election.

Following the Annual General Meeting the Club sought advice on the voting of rights of current members under the operative M&A’s. The Club’s Solicitors, Mason Hays Curran, advise that Full, Student (over 18), Vet, Life, Social and Non-Playing members are eligible to vote if they have paid their subscription as set by the Board inc if its zero as in the case of Life members.

Avoca HC Update – Club President

Here’s a summary:

GK training with – thanks to Brian, SoftCo & Ayeisha 

COVID support funding secured – support Sports Ireland and HI

Family Fun day – super success – more to come

Congratulations to Boys and Girls U16 & U18 Leinster representatives – best of luck re Irish trials

Great participation and results across all teams in the club – special call out for Women’s U18’s 

St Andrew’s pitches being used with great feedback

Hockey Ireland EGM – aligned to our vote in support of HI

Our DOH – moving to a new role outside Avoca, more details in the new year

Coming up…

Pitch cleaning – before return in January

Equipment grant update – start to be delivered in January – benefits across all sites

Avoca EGM – planned for early January – opportunity to set us up for more future success

Finally – on behalf of your committee and board, love to wish you all Happy and Safe festive break and see you all in the new year.

Junior Jacqui Potter Cup

The U16 A girls put in a brilliant performance vs Railway to come away with a 2-1 win in the Junior Jacqui Potter Cup last night!

Avoca went 1-0 up in the 3rd quarter when Isobel Field smashed home on her backhand from the team’s first and only penalty corner of the match. In quarter 4, they added a 2nd goal from a blistering counter attack, finished off by Amelia Nolan. With 5 minutes to go, Railway got one back to make it 2-1 and force an exciting final few minutes. Avoca held out for the win though and put themselves through to the quarter finals!

The remaining matches are completed tomorrow and we keenly look forward to the draw for the next round.

Team of the Week R9

Midweek action for our W1s as they travelled to Mount Temple to take on Clontarf and their excellent form and run of three wins was brought to a sudden halt as their opponents pinched a narrow 1-0 win. Having conceded early on in 1st quarter, our W1s stepped it up after that and piled on the pressure for the next 3 quarters but struggled to get the final finishing touch. Avoca certainly had their chances as the side dominated play for the majority of the game and even had an effort off the post. As time ticked on and the short corner count soared; it seemed it was not to be Avoca’s day and finished off as a very frustrating 1-0 loss.

A fantastic 3-0 win for our W4s against Corinthian now gives them breathing space at the top of Division 7 as they have now opened up a 4-point gap; Lauren Doyle Shaw, Suzanne Cullen and Orlaith Duffy were all on target.

The W5s had a double weekend and draw with Bray in the cup on Saturday before winning in another shoot-out. It was 1-1 at normal time after Emma Meir had converted a short corner. Then in the shoot-out, Tiggy Hudson Fowler stopped 4 including a stroke while Emma Meir and Molly converted their 1v1s. Paul Cronin said, “Brilliant gritty performance against an evenly matched Bray side.” Ellie O’Brien claimed the Player of the Match accolade for a fine performance. On Sunday, Avoca’s Deadly 5s faced a Kilkenny 2s side that had scored 36 goals and conceded only 1 before meeting Avoca today. A few sore limbs following the previous day’s match, but great team led planning chat beforehand, and everyone knew their jobs. From the off it was clear that KK had a sophisticated attack force but after only 2 minutes a through ball to midfield was quickly fed to Emma Meir who spotted Alison Magee to the right of the goal; clever thinking by Alison led to an assured push past the goalie’s feet. KK were a bit shell shocked at the end of Q1 but came out then to do battle. Avoca’s second goal came from a beautifully lifted ball from Hilary Long to Keelin O’Brien who expertly slotted it home. KK put immense pressure on our back line who created a barrier that was only pierced once in normal play. Alas, 3 KK goals came from short corners to ensure they took home the spoils and continued their charge for the title. Player of the match for pure passion and leadership went to Emma Meir; the team would like to wish Emma all the very best as she now goes into surgery this week and the side will certainly miss her…

Elsewhere, the W3s picked up a very good point against North Kildare with Hilary Long and Ella Lawless both netting to secure a much-needed point and Hilary Lennon fired in a consolation goal for the W2s against the students as UCD remain undefeated and earned a 3-1 win.

W1 0-1 Clontarf
W2 1-3 UCD
W3 2-2 North Kildare
W4 3-0 Corinthian
W5 2-1 Bray Cup
W5 2-4 Kilkenny

The men’s 1s completed a convincing 6-1 win over Trinity in Santy Sports Grounds who prior to the match, were only three points behind the boot boys. Getting off to a good start, Avoca took the lead through an Oran O’Sullivan rebound from a short corner. The defender shortly followed up the goal with an excellent goal line clearance at the other end, to keep the momentum in Avoca’s favour. Two more short corner conversions in Q2 from Ziggy Agnew and Jonathan Elmes meant Avoca were in a comfortable position come half time, assisted by a good save from Ben Mayberry to repel a Trinity short corner of their own. Trinity pulled one back in Q3 but Andrew Ramsay swiftly cancelled out that effort, restoring the 3 goal cushion for Avoca. As the game opened up towards the end, which included Trinity pulling their keeper, Jonathan Codd chipped in with another corner rebound for Avoca, and Jonathan Elmes completed a brace to continue his rich vein of scoring form. All told, an undeniably comprehensive win from Avoca, who continue to top the table two points ahead of Railway, albeit giving up a game in hand.

The mighty 3s picked up another 3 points as Ian Keogh’s men earned a valuable 2-1 win on their travels into county Kilkenny and in doing so keep up with leaders Enniscorthy. The M2s led at Monkstown by a goal from Cian Funge and were holding on to a win only to concede in the final quarter to share a spoil of the points.

Team of the week goes to the Fearsome 4s who notched an incredible victory against Trinity, although having checked their league progress, have suffered similar fate to other teams this season it appears. Conor Robinson bagged himself a hat-trick while Dan Bolger and Mo Ghia scored a brace each. Leo Sex, Niels O’Flanagan and Lucas Davenport were also on target as the side edge to the table summit.

M1 6-1 Trinity
M2 1-1 Monkstown
M3 2-1 Kilkenny
M4 10-0 Trinity

Team of the Week Leaderboard

1 M1 – 2
2 W1 W2 M3 W4 W5 M5 M4 – 1
3 W3 M2 – 0

***League Table Standings***

W1 D1 | W2 D2 | W3 D4 | W4 D7 | W5 D9
M1 D1A | M2 D1B | M3 D3 | M4 D5 | M5 D6