A summer of focused training plans came to fruition for 20 of our athletes who competed in the National Marathon Championships in Belfast recently. There were some fantastic performances with lots of PB’s on the day. Congratulations to all and well done to the big group of supporters who travelled North to cheer you on. A special mention for Richard Foy who followed up Belfast by running the Manchester Marathon only 7 days later. Well done also to all who completed the London and Dublin Virtual Marathons during October. Our Juveniles have been enjoying Cross Country action and our Fit4Life group have made great progress.

And this is exactly what seems to be happening in Lusk! In the past few months more and more children are joining the Lusk United ranks with additional U8 boys teams emerging and a 3rd U12 team also being formed and competing . A true testament to all the hard work being carried out by coaches, instilling the love of the game and inspiring others to want to play. Our Ladies Kick Fit team, determined not to be outdone, have competed and enjoyed a tournament in Malahide as well as in their first competitive match in Swords. The ladies did themselves and the club proud! As Lusk United thrives we continue to become an integral part of the community. Our ladies Kick Fit team hosted a tea evening and a coffee morning raising almost €700 euro for St Francis’ Hospice, while our underage players collected trick or treat bags to donate to Fr Peter McVerry Trust. It is hoped these bags helped some children have a Happy Halloween. Our pictures show our players enjoying themselves and our thanks to Paul Maguire for the photos.

On 2nd October the St. Colmcilles G4M&O ladies hosted a Gaelic Football Blitz, in aid of St Francis Hospice. There were 4 teams Erins Isle (Finglas), St Maurs (Rush), Starlights, (Santry) and us, each player had to pay €10 registration, that along with a raffle, where all the prizes were donated by local companies. Also, 2 beautiful children Indiana and Georgia, brought down their old toys and sold them for the charity. All our referees on the day offered their fee back to the charity and all the girls made this event a great occasion.Along with this last December, during Covid one of our members Neal Howard shaved off his beard. Money raised in total was of €3,005.The hospice is a charity very close to the hearts of all the ladies in the team, two of the girl’s mammies were cared for by the hospice staff and this is our way of giving back.

Former Republic of Ireland international John O’Shea was the special guest at the launch of the sixth year of the Football and Fitness Transition Year Course which is run by Fingal County Council and the Football Association of Ireland.The course, which attracts participants from across Fingal, gives TY students an opportunity to sample full-time football training while also fulfilling their educational requirements and obtaining qualifications in coaching and fitness training.The 2020-21 course was officially launched by Deputy Mayor of Fingal, Cllr Daniel Whooley, FAI President Gerry McAnaney and Fingal County Council’s Chief Executive AnnMarie Farrelly at a special ceremony in Corduff Sports Centre where the course is based. John O’Shea, who won 118 international caps, and is one of Ireland’s most successful footballers ever, took part in a Q&A session during which he imparted plenty of sound advice to the young students who travel every day to Corduff from across the county. Ireland Under-21 assistant coach and former international player O’Shea said: “It was a pleasure to meet all the students and coaches at Corduff and to help them celebrate the launch of the sixth year of the Football and Fitness Transition Year course run by the FAI and Fingal County Council. As I explained to the students, I would have loved to have such an opportunity available to me when I was their age. This is a great programme which offers them a pathway into football and the fitness industry whilst continuing their studies at the same time. There are so many career opportunities now available in sport and I wish them all the very best of luck for the year ahead.” The President of the Football Association of Ireland, Gerry McAnaney said: “The transition year programme at Corduff offers an excellent opportunity for those players on the course to further their football career in tandem with their education. It is an exemplary programme that we would love to expand on across the country. Our thanks to Chief Executive AnnMarie Farrelly and Fingal County Council for their ongoing support for this wonderful programme and my thanks to our FAI staff for their commitment to the development of these young players.”

We at Balbriggan Rugby hosted our first home Youth Leinster League match of the season lin mid October, when our U16’s played Lansdowne OB/DLPSP. It was a tough match, against very good opposition, with Balbriggan holding out for a win. Well done to all the team coaches and mentors.

Recently we held our first night back training since Covid lockdowns and we settled into our new training facility. It was great to see new members join our team and get hands on experience with our medical and trauma scenarios. This training is essential for our members who are back on duty in our community.Exciting news for Swords Division. We have a new training premises for our weekly training.HSE EVE Estuary Centre, Lissenhall Great, Swords, Co Dublin. Our Members weekly training is a very important part of what we do, ensuring our members are up to date on knowledge, skills and abilities. This veune offers us space, facilities and excellent storage. Cadets meet Wednesday evenings from 7pm-9pm.Adults meet Thursday evenings from 8pm-10pm. Thank you to all the staff in the Centre for facilitating us and we are extremely excited about our new venture.While some of our Cadet units have been around for a long time, we are always looking to open new units where there is a group of young people eager to learn First Aid in a fun and relaxing environment. Our Cadet unit in Swords opened its doors in April 2019 and, after enrolling their first group of Cadets, had to close its doors in March 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. As the restrictions start to ease, the volunteers in Swords are ready to reopen their doors and welcome both new and returning Cadets. In their short existence, Swords gave some of our older Divisions a run for their money with their Cadets attending public events to provide pre-hospital emergency care alongside the adult volunteers, taking part in our national competitions, and also being part of the World Record Attempt at Croke Park.

by Swords Tidy Towns

Once again, Swords Tidy Towns in conjunction with Fingal County Council have entered The Rock Garden on the Rathbeale Road into the Green Flag Community Award for 2021.The Rock Garden has worn many masks over the years, it was the local quarry up until 1940’s when it was closed. After its closure it became the local dump, when the dump closed various shanty type constructions were built there, then it was turned into a playground, this fell into disrepair over the years attracting anti-social behaviour. After a successful enquiry to Fingal County Councils Operations Dept by our Chairman Ken Duffy as to the possibility of turning the vacant space into a community park we put a committee together to draft a plan for the new park headed by Matt Cullen. When our draft plan was completed, we presented it to FCC’s Operations Dept. After tossing around a few ideas at this meeting they offered and we agreed that they draft up a plan using some of our ideas. If you have not seen the Rock Garden yet, pay it a visit and view the result, you will be pleasantly surprised.

Our open day recently for girls born 2012/13 was full of fun and football as we set about making two brand new teams to represent Malahide United. In the coming seasons. Thanks to our coaches and to some of our U16s Team who helped out on the day . We hope you enjoyed yourselves and we see you all agan soon. Malahide United Halloween Football Camp now open for registration. Booking is only available through Clubzap! You’ll get it wherever you get your apps and select Malahide United AFC as your club.

The time has nearly come for us to resume indoor training again. It’s been a very tough year for all indoor sports but the time has come to do what we do best. Even through the restrictions we trained safely and following the guidelines we were able to manage for our members to have fun training and for two of our members to make the Irish national team for the European championships in Estonia.In the pictures you can see what we were at.A huge thank you to everyone who supported the club during the tough times we all had to endure,but the end is in sight.

It was a fabulous day for Lusk AC at the Irish Life Health Masters Championships at Morton Stadium on Sunday 5th September. There were medals galore across track and field events with great excitement in the relays. Congratulations to all who participated as well as the club coaches and volunteers. Well done also to Ian Cortina who took on the 58km challenge of the Kerry Way UltraLite finishing in 11 hours 58 minutes. Wishing the very best of luck to all our distance runners who are taking on Marathons in October. First up is the Belfast City Marathon on Sunday 3rd October and then the Virtual Dublin Marathon on the bank holiday weekend. You’ve done the training miles so now enjoy the race.