Spa GAA has been awarded €89,132 in funding by Kerry County Council under the Community Climate Action Programme scheme to enhance energy efficiency at its sporting campus.

The grant will fund a variety of green initiatives, including enhanced solar energy generation, battery storage systems, and the replacement of the main pitch floodlighting with energy-efficient LED lighting. The funding will also support additional renewable energy, biodiversity, and climate action projects across the grounds.

The announcement comes just ahead of the club’s busiest weekend of the year, when it hosts the annual Killarney Club 7s tournament.

Earlier this year, the club completed insulation retrofit works on its multi-purpose sports hall and clubhouse. The upgrades were designed to improve thermal comfort for visitors while lowering the club’s overall energy consumption and localized greenhouse gas emissions.

“How we build, heat, and run our sports complexes can play a big part in national climate action targets, and good energy management is a big priority for us at Spa GAA,” Club Chairman Tadgh Hickey said.

St Brendan’s Four in a row All Ireland Secondary School Senior Pitch and Putt winners Brian McCarthy, Ronan Bennett and Nathan Cronin, College Principal Sean Coffey and their team manager Jason Arthur.  Photo by Michelle Cooper Galvin

St Brendan’s historic four-in-a-row All-Ireland pitch and putt title

St Brendan’s College made history by becoming the first school to win four All Ireland Schools’ Pitch and Putt tournaments in a row.

The three-stroke winning margin is the fourth lowest in the tournament’s history, and the lowest since the ‘Sem’ triumphed by a single shot at Hillview three years ago. The team’s score spread of 18 strokes is the highest by any winning side in the history of the competition.

This victory marks a seventh podium finish in eight stagings for St Brendan’s, an all-time record. The school stands as the most consistent in the event’s history with four wins, two seconds, and two thirds. This puts them four podium finishes clear of Davis College Mallow, Coláiste an Chraoibhín Fermoy, and St Francis College Rochestown.

St Francis College, Rochestown took third place, becoming the fifth winning school inhistory to also claim a third-place finish, a feat St Brendan’s has achieved twice. Rochestown has now filled all three podium positions at the event, adding this third place to their 2018 win and runners-up performances in 2019 and 2023. St Brendan’s and Coláiste an Chraobhín, Fermoy are the only other schools to boast at least one win, one second, and one third.

Individually, Brian McCarthy and Nathan Cronin now hold two winners’ medals, matching the tally of fellow St Brendan’s players Cillian Courtney, Fintan Martin, and Robert Harnett. McCarthy also became the first player to break 100 at the event since Cian O’Callaghan accomplished the feat three years ago at Hillview.