North Tipperary Businessman Declan Kelly Joins David Beckham and Gary Neville to purchase Salford City FC.
As part of the acquisition deal, Mr Kelly, (founder of advisory business,‘Consello’ which has offices in Ireland), will co-chair the northern English club with leading UK financier Baron Mervyn Davies(former banker and Labour government Minister until May 2010). Both the latter, together with Mr Beckham and Mr Neville, are understood to have assembled several leading investors, before acquiring the club, following negotiations over a number of months.
The ‘Consello’ company is an Advisory and Investing Platform. The company claims to provides counsel to the most senior business leaders in the world on a wide range of corporate issues that impact their businesses. Their Investment business, Consello Capital, identifies high-potential mid-market companies and invests capital and expertise to transform their growth.
Declan Kelly.
Mr Neville and Mr Beckham had previously owned the club in partnership with others, with the club receiving, four promotions in just five years and narrowly missing out on this year’s League 2 play-off’s, last weekend.
The acquisition has been uniquely structured, through a members club made up of nine shareholders including Dream Sports Group(India’s leading sports technology company), Colin Ryan (Founder, Clipper Street Capital), Frank Ryan(Global Co-Chair, Global Co-CEO, and Americas Chair, DLA Piper), Nick Woodhouse(Executive Vice Chairman, Authentic Brands Group), and Shravin Mittal(Founder of ‘Unbound’).
Commenting on the overall acquisition, Mr Kelly has stated that this new ownership structure will bring the right mix to take Salford FC, to the next level, with the group comprising some of the best in the world at what they do; thus hopefully driving the club forward.
Mr Kelly, we understand will also be responsible for building out the club’s commercial operations within the UK and around the world, while drawing on the expertise of the broader investor group, made up of individuals with backgrounds in sports, entertainment, banking, law and technology.
Sky Football pundit; former Manchester United Captain and Salford City Co-Owner, Mr Gary Neville, is also Chairperson of ‘Consello Sports’ in the UK and a business partner of Mr Kelly.
Mr David Beckham, who celebrated his 50th birthday on May 2nd last, was a onetime native of Salford City, Greater Manchester, England.
The financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed, but it is believed that the collective group have raised over $15m to boost Salford’s sporting and infrastructural ambitions, with each member expected to hold between a 5% to10% stake, in all totalling 80%, while the remaining 20% remains earmarked for other possible additional partners.
The new ownership group will take responsibility for the operations of the Club’s activities with immediate effect.
Except for the encouraging words of Father Butler, nobody spoke in the dressing room, which now was reeking with liniment. Mick Duggan sat on a form, like the others, pensive and cradling his hurley in his arms. Father Butler was roaring away with words of advice, more to kill the tension in the air, than with much hope of his wise words being listened to. “Lyndon, stay glued to that corner-forward like he was your Siamese twin. None of ye are young any more, don’t let them get ye for speed for Heaven’s sake”. Mick Duggan grinned affectionately at the old Parish Priest and thought that if the County Final today could be won by words, he was the man to do it. Though deep in his heart he knew that the chances of the “Old Men of the Watery Mall”, as the local weekly had dubbed them, winning this final were about as remote as the hope of meeting Fionn Mac Cumhaill on the top of Sliabh na mBan.
Of course, this was not to say that ‘The Mall’ were going to lay down their hurleys and give an open net to their opponents ‘Borris’. Old men they might be, all on the wrong side of thirty, but the spirit of Knocknagow was wild in them still.
Mick Duggan was thirty nine years old; the real old man of the Mall team, who by some miracle or due to the lack of decent opposition had reached the Tipperary County Hurling Final. Mick had played club hurling since the days of the rural school games and had even spent a stint with the ‘Grocers’ in Dublin, winning a Dublin County Championship medal.
But it was the Tipperary County Championship medal that had always eluded him and his team-mates and so today was probably his last chance for glory. Time was when Mick had been the terror of many a good defence. When he had been fast, young and courageous, almost to the point of recklessness; but there was a bit of a drag in his feet now. Still there was more to hurling than fast trotters, he mused. It was a matter of family pride to win today for Duggan; as it once had been for his father and his father before him. Which is why Duggan put that extra effort into training for this game, even to the extent of downing a half dozen raw eggs every day, before and after his work in the local factory.
He could hear the familiar rumble of the crowd outside in the stands now and surmised that their opposing team had run out onto the pitch, which conjecture was reinforced by the loud roar that followed from one section of the crowd; a section of the crowd that could see only one result for their fast and skilful young team, latter which comprised many under 21 players from the County Squad.
The Mall players rose as one to their feet, jumping up and down on their toes to lessen the tension. Then they filed out of the dressing room, and as they did so the bold Father Butler liberally sprinkled their jerseys with Holy Water.
“Whom the Gods love, die young”, Duggan shouted mischievously to Father Butler, who in turn retorted with a very unholy exclamation and a hard glare. “Holy water is it, Father ah, now let’s just beat them fair and square, eh?”
The Mall lads were on the field now and after a limbering up period, they lined up behind the pipe band and soon were marching around the field to the strains of “Wrap The Green Flag Round Me, Boys”. The march around was followed by the tossing of the coin to determine choice of ends. The Mall won the toss and elected for wind advantage in the first half. The referee tossed in the ball and the game was on.
Duggan immediately rubbed shoulders with a deadly earnest young man of nineteen years, who had captained the county minor team the previous year. The kid is out to make an impression thought Duggan, but he will have to earn it, by God. He gritted his teeth. Mick noted that the youngster’s eager eyes were following every move he made. “Be the hokey, the garsun is giving me plenty of attention”, thought Duggan, flattered, but thinking that such attention to Duggan could prove costly in the end.
The first half of the game was, predictably enough, a tension-filled battle of wills with both sides giving little away, and the play had developed almost into a midfield battle with the young opposition lads running themselves into the ground, to no avail. At half-time opponents ‘Borris’, although having played against a very strong wind, were level with the old men of ‘The Mall’. Still, the crowd waited for ‘Borris’ to get the wind advantage and a brace of goals to put an end to this foot-shying around and let them home. The crowd, that many-headed monster, waited for the old men to fall to pieces and indeed, the bookies would not give out much for ‘The Mall’ now.
After the interval, during which ‘Borris’ black and amber flags waved triumphantly in anticipation; the teams took to the field again, both steeled to deliver the final punch for the sake of both little villages. Duggan again lined up shoulder to shoulder with the young ‘Borris’ corner-back, who so far had contained Mick’s every effort at goal, though Duggan had made a couple of good openings, whether the young fellow had noticed it or not.
After ten minutes of the second half and with no side having scored, the Borris lads were under strident vocal pressure from their supporters to deliver the goods. “Hit the ball! It’s legal!” screamed an irate and score-hungry fan to one ‘Borris’ forward. This led to some anxious, wayward play among the Borris boys who, despite their best efforts, could not raise a flag – green or white, after fifteen minutes. This led to them, in frustration, throwing away free after free, which the Mall centre-forward was converting into points. Then a desperate burst with a solo run up the field by the ‘Borris’ goalie, saw him blast the leather into the Mall net and the sides were level again and the crowd were now bracing themselves for a grandstand finish, a battle royale.
The young Borris boys were growing in confidence but also getting more and more careless. Egged on by a crowd of supporters, who were now not beyond cheering the efforts of the Mall team. Mick knew it was only a matter of time. He smiled as he heard the backs in his immediate vicinity swear and roar at one another to play the ball on the ground and hit first time. Too late for that now, Mick grinned. They had lost umpteen scores as a direct result of not doing that earlier. After that titanic battle of the first half, both sets of mid-fielders were now visibly very tired, and as both sides sensed this, the game was now, in its closing stages, developing into a tennis game, between both sets of opposing backs, with the ball going from one defence to the other.
More and more the young men of ‘Borris’ were losing their cool, as time ticked away to the end of the game which by now had both sets of supporters roaring themselves hoarse. The young ‘Borris’ boys continued to give away free after free. ‘The Mall’ old men tired, bruised, but battling for every ball now sensed that victory was a real possibility and Mick Duggan waited for the ball to come his way. The ball that would see the county championship trophy going to the Watery Mall, for the first time.
Both sides piled on the precious points, now one side, then the other. Duggan knew that as the game raced to a close, it would be when the experience and bottle would count most.
With thirty seconds remaining and both teams level, a nervous move by a ‘Borris’ boy gave a 50-yard free to The Mall. Mick Duggan steeled himself. Would Lyndon do the necessary? He surely must! Then came the free. It was a long, high ball that sailed in Mick Duggans direction, in towards the left hand-side of the square. Duggan gritted his teeth, slightly jostled the young man, and roared: “Here it comes, young fellow!”. As he had so often done throughout the match, the young man stuck to Mick Duggan like glue, shoulder to shoulder, his eyes on Mick’s hurley as Mick gently swung his stick from side to side, as if preparing to pull on the ball, when it hit the ground. It was while the young fellow was preparing to pull in similar fashion that Mick Duggan leapt with all the strength of his thirty nine years. Leaped like a champion high-jumper he once had been, grabbed the ball and then blasted it to the back of the net, past an advancing goalie.
Almost immediately the whistle blew and the old men of ‘The Mall’ were county champions for the first time in their history. Mick Duggan, exhausted by the mighty, high-fielding leap, wept as he knelt on the pitch, supported by his hurley. The young man, bitterly disappointed, nonetheless advanced towards him and congratulated him. “No wonder they call you the grabber,” he smiled ruefully. Mick grinned and managed to pant out a few words: “Never take your eyes off the ball, son…the oldest rule in the book.”
Annual General Meeting, 2025, Thurles Special Olympics Basketball Club.
Mr Enda Bourke (Chairperson) Reports:-
Thurles Special Olympics Basketball Club held it’s AGM in the Anner Hotel on April 1st. A good attendance received reports from Mr Enda Bourke (Chairperson). Ms Mary Ryan Maher (Secretary). Ms Carmel Sammon (Treasurer), Ms Marian O’Regan (Safeguarding Officer) and Mr Dennis Jordan (Medical Officer).
The athletes were represented as always by Ms Maureen O’Shea, a winner of two silver medals at the Special Olympic World games in Newhaven, Connecticut in 1995.
The Chairperson thanked all those associated with the running of the Club and complimented all the athletes for their dedication to training every week at the Presentation Sports hall, mentioning especially their parents, family members and carers, for their assistance and support over the past year. He also welcomed a number of new Volunteers who have joined the Club at the start of the season last September.
The following were elected to serve at the AGM for the coming year: Chairperson – Mr Enda Bourke; Secretary – Ms Mary Ryan Maher; Assistant Secretary – Ms Catherine Reynolds; Treasurer – Ms Carmel Sammon; Medical Officer – Mr Dennis Jordan; Safeguarding Officer – Ms Marian O’Regan; Athlete Rep Ms Maureen O’Shea; Coaches Mr Enda Bourke and Ms Marian O’Regan; Club Membership Ms Mary Ryan Maher and Ms Carmel Sammon; IT Officer Ms Breda Sammon.
On a bitterly cold St Patrick’s Day, Thurles CBS produced an amazing comeback in the final 20 mins to overcome Presentation College Athenry in the All Ireland Colleges Senior Hurling final to win the Croke Cup and warm the hearts of their followers.
Trailing by 8 points, after Athenry scored a crucial 2nd goal in the 40th minute of the match, the Thurles boys regrouped and diligently set about chipping away at their Galway opponents lead. Remarkably Thurles CBS out scored their opponents by 12 points to 3 in the last twenty minutes.
Thurles CBS started the match very strongly and were dominating all over the field and led by 6 points to 1 point after 14 minutes. This prompted some changes and an early substitution by Athenry who managed to draw level by half time, after an opportunistic free by Aaron Niland, was deflected to the net against the run of play.
Thurles started the 2nd half very positively with an excellent Kieran Rossiter score – the Durlas Og player would end up with 4 points from play and a deserved player of the match accolade. However with Athenry gaining superiority in the middle sector and their forward line led by the rampaging Jason Rabbitte, Athenry went into a deserved 2-14 to 0-12 lead, with twenty minutes to go.
However, in a testament to the character of the Thurles CBS panel, led by manager Niall Cahill of Urlingford Emeralds, there was no panic and Thurles CBS fought for every ball, and set about eating into the Athenry lead. Hard running, dominant defending and excellent stickwork were the keys to the fightback with finishes from Rossiter, Cillian Minogue, the imperious Euan Murray and substitute James Butler, adding to the free taking of Cormac Fitzpatrick and the all round workrate of every single player in the Blue and Gold of Thurles CBS.
The winning score came from a free by Cormac Fitzpatrick after Kieran Rossiter was tripped bearing down on goal. The final whistle brought scenes of jubilation from the travelling Thurles support. Holycross-Ballycahill’s Robbie Ryan had the honour of lifting the Croke Cup after his hardworking display on the field, and he delivered a passionate and rousing speech, thanking all those who helped this special group of young men in their journey to Dr. Harty Cup and Croke Cup successes.
Lyrics: American lyricist, librettist, theatrical producer and director Oscar Greeley Clendenning Hammerstein II and American composer Richard Charles Rodgers, (Rodgers and Hammerstein). Vocals: English beat group Gerry and the Pacemakers(Group formed in 1956)
You’ll Never Walk Alone.
When you walk through a storm, Hold your head up high, And don’t be afraid of the dark. At the end of a storm, There’s a golden sky, And the sweet silver song of a lark. Walk on through the wind, Walk on through the rain, For your dreams be tossed and blown. Walk on, walk on, With hope in your heart, And you’ll never walk alone. You’ll never walk alone. Walk on, walk on, With hope in your heart, And you’ll never walk alone. You’ll never walk alone.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.AcceptRead More
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
Recent Comments