Brother Charles arrival at hotel
St Patrick's High School Downpatrick, over the decades of
its history and besides its educational focus, has had a deep involvement
and influence on the Gaelic fields of Down. In fact, on virtually every
occasion that the red and black conquered the senior All-Ireland title,
there has been a presence of Red High footballers on the team and squads,
from Colm McAlarney in 1968 to no fewer than 10 players on the 1994
champions’ squad. A strong Red High on the Gaelic football field seems to
be mirrored by a strong county push for honours in the years ahead. It was
with this thought and the fact that 'A' competition success has eluded the
Red High since the 1980s, that a casual conversation on the fact that this
year was 30 years since the schools All-Ireland B win, plus 25 years since
one of the A competition Rannafast Cup wins, that the whole Club.RedHigh
concept was initiated and several months of hard work later, by the
committee formed to bring this to life, the initiative was launched at the
Gala May Ball at the Slieve Donard Hotel.
Jarlath Burns - Guest Speaker
Saturday 5th May saw a gathering of faces and names at the
Slieve Donard from an historic past on the Gaelic games fields of Ulster.
Also present were past-pupils from the 1950's through to recent years to
reminisce on the past glories, plus buy in to maximising the future
success of the Red High, thereby enhancing county and supporting clubs in
the process. Most local clubs were represented on Saturday night and it
proved to be a very enjoyable evening for all, where parochial rivalries
were set aside at least for a few hours, in order to maximise the
potential of our youth players, and where school, club and county football
became the topic in vogue.
Castlewellan GAC folk & Br Christopher
Group of 8 - Casement & McGraths
MC - Ruaidhri Quinn
230 guests enjoyed enjoyed a great night of entertainment & nostalgia and
listened intently as Ruadhri Quinn from the organising committee launched
Club.Redhigh and explained the reasons for the initiative and plans for
the future. Guest Speaker Jarlath Burns (Armagh) spoke of how RedHigh
players always seemed to come up in direct opposition to him at school,
club and county level and alongside some very amusing anecdotes from his
distinguished playing days, called for support for this worthwhile cause.
Presentations were made to Jarlath's wife Suzanne and Br Charles (for his
contribution to Hurling within the school) and after, comedian Big-O kept
the laughs rolling. The gathered past-pupils and partners then danced the
night away to the Manhattan showband and talked long into the night to
close a very successful and enjoyable launch night.
Org Committee & Br Charles
As the success of the gala ball becomes consigned to
history, now starts the core work of the initiative with quality coaching
being planned for delivery to the school players from September onwards.
With the support of the local clubs and the growing numbers of members of
Club.RedHigh, this will become an annual event and in years to come, as
the school competes & succeeds at the highest level of schools
competitions the members will be able to take quiet satisfaction on their
own contribution to that success and remember that May 5th 2007 at the
Slieve Donard was the launch pad for a glorious RedHigh future.
Club.RedHigh can be contacted through email (club.redhigh@btinternet.com)
to register support and to answer any questions you may have.
Pres to De
La Salle & Br Charles
RGU D'patrick & Br Christopher
