SHELMALIERS LAUNCHED their all-new development lotto and 1910 All-Ireland hurling centenary celebrations in Hotel Curracloe on Wednesday night last, with special guests Tony Dempsey and Co. Secretary Margaret Doyle.

Club Chairman, Seamus O'Leary, welcomed everyone to the launch, the special guests together with Mick Lanigan, Chairman of St. Ibar'sShelmalier camogie club; Brenda Fox, Chairperson of Shelmalier ladies' football; Fr. Fitzpatrick, Chairman of Screen National School Board of Management; and Aidan O'Leary, Chairman of Shelmalier Coiste na nÓg.

He praised the skills of local artist Andrew Kenny, Castlebridge, for designing the unique 1910 logo that will be used for the year-long celebrations. A special committee has been formed to run the 1910 activities, made up of Mick Redmond, Aileen Cloake, Paul Tobin, David Murphy, Seamus O'Leary and Angela Griffith. He said there were two booklets full of information on both launches and thanked Paul Tobin for the 1910 information booklet.

Margaret Doyle congratulated Shelmaliers on their forthcoming ventures and said it was a special year for the club and indeed for Wexford. She added that she had a special interest in 1910 as she had a greatuncle on the panel of the victorious team.

She said that now the next generation was carrying on the legacy with this great new development, and she appealed for as much support as possible for the new development lotto despite the bad economic climate, as communities needed local clubs, like the G.A.A., as a great leveller. She wished the club success for both ventures.

Tony Dempsey thanked Shelmaliers for the invitation and said it was a significant honour to be associated with the club, especially for this year celebrating the 1910 victory. He said that it was an occasion of remembering the past and planning for the future.

He said that the new Shelmalier development lotto would ensure that the magnificent work ongoing at Hollymount would continue into the future and would be of enormous benefit to the entire parish. He encouraged everybody in the parish to support the new lotto when it begins on February 15, 2010.

He also said there is a great difference between our cultures and others; you can play soccer and rugby for example anywhere in the world, but hurling and Gaelic football is uniquely Irish.

He said it was a very different time in 1910; there was a record 10,000 people at the final and a record gate of £300. With the team having lost in 1891, 1892 and 1901, it was much harder to come back on foot of these defeats.

He quoted Fr. Kavanagh that day as saying to the men of Castlebridge: 'go out and do it well'. Tony mentioned two of our hurling greats, Jack Harding and Seamus Hearne, and said they were the link from the past to the present. These are the men who have given Shelmaliers their identity as a club and, in 100 more years' time, clubmen will be still using the facilities we are developing now.

New development lotto Chairman, Larry Banville, thanked everyone for coming and said that the venture will be supported by the parish for the parish and that all monies raised and won would be going back into the parish. He appealed to all the people living in the parish to support the continued development at Hollymount.

He ran a dummy run of how the lotto would run, with the proceeds going on this occasion to the Haiti appeal. Amidst much fun, the two winners were Annie Kavanagh and Kenny Hearne, both winning a Shelmaliers lotto ticket for the year.

A great sum of ¤590 was raised from the floor and this was presented to Fr. Fitzpatrick to pass on to the Haiti appeal.

Thanks to Hotel Curracloe and staff and to Lar Kenny for the music. A great night was had by all.