Gallery: Brian Cody 'blown away by the Setanta spirit' at annual awards night

Setanta Hurling Club turned out in style on Saturday last to celebrate their club dinner dance and awards presentation. 

The club came together for the first time since 2019 to celebrate the occasion at the Villa Rose Hotel and mark three years of awards and success both on and off the pitch.  This year’s guest of honour and speaker was Kilkenny hurling legend and 11-time All-Ireland winning manager, Brian Cody. 

The evening was compered by club chairman Simon McMenamin alongside club Secretary Cora Harvey. After dinner Brian Cody took to the floor and gave an inspiring and motivational speech in which he shared, from experience, the key to success in any club is spirit.  Cody emphasised he is “blown away by the Setanta spirit - what you have here is something special”.

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Impressed by Setanta as a club Cody proclaimed: “You are such a progressive club in every single thing you are doing”, remarking how positive yet rare it is to be in the presence of so many young people within a club and praising the strong ethos of volunteering within Setanta.

The club Chairman presented Brian with a number 11 Setanta jersey, a nod to his 11 All-Ireland wins as manager of Kilkenny while the club secretary presented his wife Elsie with Michael Sugrue’s book – Hidden Donegal.

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Three sets of medals were handed out by Brian Cody to over 25 players on the night.  The medals denoting Setanta’s victories in 2022 in the Donegal League, Donegal Senior Hurling Championship, Donegal Junior Hurling Championship and Ulster Junior Club Championship as well as the individual player of the year and club awards as follows:

2020
Young Player of the Year – Josh Cronolly McGee
Senior Player of the Year – Danny Cullen

2021
Young Player of the Year – Ruairi Campbell
Senior Player of the Year – Mark Callaghan

2022
Under 17 Player of the Year - Fionn Farren
Under 21 Player of the Year - Dean Harvey
Junior Player of the Year - Ryan Callaghan
Young Player of the Year - Steven McBride
Senior Player of the Year – Declan Coulter

The late Austin McGovern was posthumously granted The Hall of fame Award which was accepted by his wife Patricia.  A stalwart of the club Austin was remembered for his immense contribution to the club on every level.

A number of club members were acknowledged for their hard work, dedication and commitment to the club including Club person of the Year which was awarded to Anita Coyle and appreciations which went to - Aoife Campbell, Cora Harvey, Simon McMenamin and Ciaran O’Neill for their work throughout the year in the areas of promotion and development. It is an exciting time with Setanta as developments on the new clubhouse and training pitches are nearing completion. 

 The club thanked their main sponsors Paddy and Shelley McMenamin of the Hatter Coffee Co. for their continued support as well as the Villa Rose Hotel and Joanne Cronolly from Stellar Photography.