Ballinasloe Town AFC - Former Players Continue To Shine

(L-R) Ellen Egan, Club Treasurer, Wayne Braithwaite, Club Secretary, Pamela Keighrey Purcell (Portiuncula Hospital), Joeb Kelly, Club Chairperson,

Ballinasloe Town AFC (BTAFC) has been very active over recent weeks with the recent success of the 70 Mile for 70 Years Challenge raising €7,452.34 for St. Teresa’s Children Ward leaving the club with a balance of €17,598.82.

A €600 donation was also made to Brothers of Charity after a tremendous effort by Patrick Staunton. With the return of training for both senior teams and underage and competition returning in early June, a positive start is hoped for quarter three of 2021 with all guidelines being adhered to.
 
Chairperson Joby Kelly states: “We were absolutely thrilled to support the Children’s Ward in our home Town and also to see at first hand the great Community spirit that our Club event has promoted”.

The Committee have decided to run this Community Challenge on an annual basis and the Committee will select a different local organisation or charity to benefit each year from 30% of the overall profits.
 
The Committee also paid tribute to local Tidy Towns activist Eric Naughten for the outstanding work he is doing in recycling bottles and cans and in general clean-ups of the local area. Joby and Club Secretary Wayne Braithwaite recently made a presentation to Eric for his voluntary time and effort and as an acknowledgement have planted an appreciation tree (Magnolia) for Eric at the Curragh Grounds.
 
Development Co-Ordinator Johnny Walsh (who is also Treasurer of Tidy Towns) ,stated: “Eric has been an inspiration to the Ballinasloe General Public for his outstanding Tidy Towns work and the practical way he is addressing local clean-ups and recycling.”

Oisin Duffy

Heather Payne

Former BTAFC player Oisín Duffy made his first-team start of the Season for Athlone Town in April and has retained his place on the starting line up since. The club is extremely proud of Oisín. His dad Mark, has been a prominent and active Ballinasloe Town Committee member for several years and has been very involved in the managerial team for the senior squad for the past few seasons.
 
Former Player Heather Payne is now very much an established player with the Irish Senior Ladies International Soccer Team. In the recent International vs Belgium Heather was selected as the Carlsberg 'Player of the Game'.
 
Club members were extremely busy collecting scrap metal from households throughout the community as well as scrap metal items that would have been dumped throughout the local area. This is doubling up as the Club’s fundraising venture and contribution to cleaning up the local area also  does our bit for the environment. After the community scrap collection drive, a general litter collection clean up in the general vicinity of the club grounds was done.
BTAFC is delighted to be back with our underage training sessions  and Anyone interested should contact any committee member for details or check out their facebook page below: