GREAT NIGHT HAD BY ALL AT KILLEEVAN GFC CENTENARY BALL

By Kevin Carney

Sadly none of the original founders of the club were there but the current custodians of all that is good about Killeevan Sarsfields still raised the roof last Friday night at their Centenary Ball.

It was the night Guardhill encamped in the Kilmore. Seldom before have so many gaels left so few behind them in Killeevan.

The hotel in Cavan was en fete last Friday. Killeevan Sarsfields had come to town en masse for its Centenary Ball. Had it been a wedding, there could scarcely have been more smiley faces under the one roof.

Centenary night celebrations can be tricky affairs. Too much Cavan Cola maybe; too little gravy; not enough dicky bows or way-over-the-top speeches. A lot can go wrong.

So credit then to all the good burghers who put the club’s night of all nights together last Friday night. All the boxes were ticked; all the high notes hit and, in the best tradition of Irish get-togethers, ‘a great time was had by all’.

From home and abroad, they travelled to the Kilmore Hotel; the young, the old, the pretty and the just plain folk. When the club began its Centenary Ball celebrations last spring, the usual head-scratching was the order of the day. But when Clones Credit Union’s Board of Directors said it was itching to come on board, it was a great lift. Then when Xtratherm Ltd – through the good offices of former Killeevan chairman Gerry McGuigan – came on board, the train really began to fire out some steam.

Slowly but surely, the plans began to take shape. A black tie event, it was to be. The best of meals would be served up plus light entertainment (comedians Brendan Finan/Patrick McArdle) and an auction and more besides.

The whole thing had all the makings of being even better than the club’s Gala Ball of 2007. And, as things panned out, it was!

Last Friday night’s hooley kicked off at 7pm with a Hot Punch reception. Jazz music in the foyer of the …