The Oskars, 2025

Ollie Conlan pictured with Dave Harrington,

East Coast Fm, at the launch of The Oskars, January 18th 2025.

The Story so far…

Clogherinkoe/Broadford GAA secured a grant of €138,283 from the Community Sport Facilities Fund 2024 for “Drainage and Levelling of Pitches”. Clogherinkoe Gfc, Broadford Hurling Club, Broadford Camogie Club, Balyna Ladies Football Club and Balyna Juvenile Club all use the facilities. With their numbers growing the pitches are coming under pressure and we want to carry out much needed remedial works to ensure they are in top shape for all the age groups and codes.

After a well attended Community Information Night back in October 2024 various ideas were bandied about. The one that seemed to catch everyone’s attention was The Oskars. Following the meeting it was decided to set up another information night with Kevin Rowe events and see what it would all entail.

Roll on December 10th and the Clubhouse was festooned in Christmas decorations, there was a lovely smell of mulled wine and mince puddings. The chairs were set out and we all wondered would there be a crowd to fill them. The turn out was phenomenal, standing room only as a great buzz of excitement filled the air. Bear in mind this was only the Information Evening! After a presentation by Kevin Rowe over 100 people decided they would sign up for The Oskars, 2025!

Christmas came and went but the committee were working away in the back ground. Messages were sent out that a Casting Night would be called on January 7th. No need to fear, just bring yourself and all would be fine. Time slots were allocated and 90 people of all abilities and experiences out their best for forward for the clubs. Those who missed out on physically attending had the option to submit their audition by video. All of this, for a lot of people, was completely out of their comfort zone so we really do appreciate your commitment to the clubs.

There wasn’t too long to wait as all the actors were matched to suitable roles and films. The big announcement was to be made on January 18th by Dave Harrington of East Coast Radio with local band Shindig providing the entertainment after.

Finally the night everyone was maybe looking and maybe not looking forward to, depending on your nerves, arrived. The Clubhouse was the venue again and it looked great. Someone described it as Championship winning atmosphere! Parking spaces were already limited come 8pm. The Clubhouse was absolutely jammed. This is a Saturday night in January! Thankfully proceedings were not dragged out with Dave Harrington getting straight to business. The format was, when your name was called out you went down to a section of the Clubhouse where you would be delighted to be joined by the rest of your cast mates. The floor could try guess the movie titles and roles before Dave would finally put you out of your misery.

First name out was Clogherinkoe stalwart Ollie Conlan to rapturous applause! People rightly guessed that he would take on the role of The Bull McCabe in The Field. A role no doubt he will make his own.

Other films cast and announced on the night included Squid Game, The Snapper, The Green Mile, Calendar Girls, Derry Girls, Forrest Gump and Father Ted. Once everyone knew what they were destined for there was a different vibe crackling. People were openly googling their character while some were trying the accent and lines out for size. One man who hadn’t a clue what Squid Game was gleefully informed of its content by his fellow cast mates while another expressed deep satisfaction for partaking in that role as he just finished watching the series.

Shindig launched straight into a brilliant set and had everyone up on their feet singing and dancing the rest of the night away.

We hope as everyone wakes up this morning that they are still as excited! This is a great thing people are doing for the clubs and the benefit will be for all to reap. With this in mind, we hope everyone can sponsor the actors, businesses take advertisement space in the programme, or buy tickets for the big night itself on March 15th in Johnstownhouse Hotel.

Everyone who sponsors an actor will be entered into a prize to win a €500 voucher for The Connacht Hotel in Galway. If you are not in a position to do any of the above, we’re sure the actors would appreciate a share of their sponsorship card on social media, by word of mouth, practice their lines with them or just tell them how great they are for taking part!

There will be an Oskars Page set up soon and details of how to sponsor etc will all be available there so please keep an eye out for more updates.

Please see training schedule, names of cast and films and also some photos of the cast members from last nights launch. Please note wrong spelling of names will be amended.