Community Notes Jun 19th

Road Bowling

Bowling is back and all are welcome to follow or to take part. Insurance and Affiliation for 2021 is reduced for the year and the cost is €5.00 for boys and girls of all ages to U16 and for U18/ Adult is €10.00. For Junior and Novice bowlers it's €20.00 and this covers all bowling roads and tournaments. South West Novice C and D Scores will be starting locally in the coming weeks. The Timoleague club is also holding both Novice and Under age Tournaments for all underage bowlers of all ages.

Timoleague Fundraiser 

After a very enjoyable fundraiser for worthy local causes last year, Clock up the Kilometres makes a return for 2021 this weekend (June 18th - 20th). It has been a difficult year in terms of fundraising and this year's event will see all proceeds split between Argideen Rangers GAA club and the two local churches, Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Church of the Ascension. All three of these groups have encountered significant costs but have not been able to raise proceeds normally, due to the public health restrictions over the last 15 months.
Argideen Rangers GAA would appreciate support from members of the club, community and wider areas over the next few days. You can take part by walking, running, cycling, swimming or even sailing any distance over the weekend. Record your distance in kilometres, take a picture and send it on with the names of the participants via WhatsApp to Patrick Burke on (086) 156 3683. There will be prizes for the top three families who clock up the most kilometres over the weekend. Keep an eye on the various social media pages over the weekend (Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram) Donations can be made at the www.gofundme.com page by searching "Clock Up The Kilometres".

Timoleague Railway

Some weeks ago, reference was made by GAA writer Tom Lyons to the GAA match day specials that brought supporters to matches that had a railway link to the venue with particular emphasis on West-Cork. In the early years of the association these match day specials brought great crowds, supporters and players to Timoleague to support their local teams. If a game involving Bandon or Clonakilty was held at Timoleague -the venue was high up above the village at Ardmore in a field that is still referred to locally as The Football Field. It was kindly put at the disposal of the St. Molaga GAA club by Robert A Travers JP. The field is now in the ownership of Donal Harte of Gurranes, who is a former chairman of the Argideen Rangers club and whose five sons played prominent roles in various Argideen football and hurling teams. How the wheel turns?

The Timoleague club was founded in 1892 and the club organised The Timoleague-St. Molaga Gaelic Football Tournament. It was open to all teams in the county and there was a competition for first and second teams. It aroused great interest. It got under way in late August of ‘92 with Timoleague and Ardfield having the honour of playing the opening game. This was to be followed by a clash between Bandon and Bealad but the western team failed to show which wasn’t an unusual occurrence at that time. The following account in the Southern Star gives a good account of the rail travel arrangements for the day.

“Never since the construction of the Timoleague line (1890) did such a heavily human freighted train travel over the line. The train leaving Bandon was something worth looking at; every window contained smiling faces, nay, even the guards van was invaded. At Ballinascarthy these numbers were augmented and when the tram steamedintoTimoleague, the people on the platform were evidently astonished at the crowd of excursionists”.

When Timoleague were playing at Clonakilty, players and supporters would often take the train to Ballinascarthy and then catch a connecting train to Clonakilty. If Bandon was the venue, they took the Ballinascarthy train and travelled on to Bandon. Rival players and supporters travelling on the same train didn’t often make for a pleasant journey as arguments in relation to incidents on the field of play sometimes became heated especially among those who may have had some strong liquid refreshments after and possibly before the game. Many of the participants in these over- heated altercations ended up in court and there are some highly amusing cases published in The Southern Star and Skibbereen Eagle arising from these said incidents. Defendants with Timoleague addresses, both players and supporters didn’t appear to be shrinking violets when one goes back on past editions of the two local Skibbereen papers. Enough said!