Harold Engineering sponsors 2 GAA Junior Teams
Harold Engineering sponsors two GAA junior teams (Article courtesy of Hogan Stand Magazine)
Darren Kendrick, Harold Engineering engineer and coach of Lucan Sarsfields U12 girls team receives the set of jerseys from Mark Young, CEO.
St. Sylvester’s GAA club in Malahide has engineered a superb sponsorship deal for this year’s under 14 team thanks to the generosity of Harold Engineering.
A leading mechanical engineering and environmental services company, Harold Engineering is headed up by local man Mark Young who was eager to put something back into the club which his four children are playing members of.
“I’m a born and bred Malahide man and while I had no previous involvement with St. Sylvester’s, I was only too happy to help out when I became aware that the under 14s were looking for a bit of sponsorship,” he explains.
“My eldest lad Gerard is on the under 14 team and it was through him that I heard about it. My other two children, Lisa and Marcus, play for the under 12 girls and under 10 boys teams, and our youngest Vicky is just starting so it made sense for me to do the sponsorship. It’s a fantastic club and they deserve all the support they can get.”
Included in the deal is a set of jerseys, rain jacket, club fleece and a t-shirt for each member of the squad. Declan Ryan, who manages the team along with mentors Gerard O’Flynn, Brian Sexton and Noel Corcoran, was keen to put on record his gratitude to Mark.
He said: “Sponsorship is a lifeblood for clubs. This sponsorship is genuinely welcome and I thank Mark and Harold Engineering for their generous support. The lads are more than appreciative of what they have received and looking smart and looking the part won`t do their confidence any harm at all over the course of the season.
“From a squad perspective, they are a talented bunch of individuals and we have high hopes for them. We will be competitive and we know if we perform to our ability, we give ourselves a great chance of succeeding on the field of play."
The sponsorship was announced prior to St. Sylvester’s Feile Peil na nOg Division 1 campaign. The Malahide club won the All-Ireland title for the first time in 2005 when they defeated the holders Corofin from Galway by 2-6 to 1-6 in a memorable final at the Limerick Gaelic Grounds, and this year’s under 14 team had high hopes of emulating that achievement. But sadly it wasn’t to be with Na Fianna ending their hopes of appearing at the national finals in Cavan in July.
Declan Ryan’s charges opened their Feile campaign with a 1-12 to 1-8 victory over neighbours Naomh Marnog. Syl’s were utterly dominant in the first half and led by 1-9 to 0-2 at half-time. But a quick 1-3 after the resumption brought their Portmarnock opponents back into it, and the Malahide boys had to dig deep thereafter to hold on for a four-point win. However, that was as good as it got for Syl’s as subsequent defeats to Ballyboden St. Enda’s and Na Fianna (2-4 to 4-9) put them out of the reckoning.
“I know from talking to Gerard that they were very disappointed to bow out because they had such high hopes of winning the county Feile and going on to represent Dublin at the All-Irelands. But this team still has the league and championship to play for and I’m sure they will be there or thereabouts in both of those,” Mark says. At the time of writing, St. Sylvester’s were sitting pretty at the top of the Division 1 under 14 league with three wins from three.
Established in the early 1900s, St. Sylvester’s is regarded as one of most progressive GAA clubs in the capital, fielding teams from under 8 upwards in football, hurling and ladies football. The club boasts a vibrant juvenile section which provides games for hundreds of boys and girls, while its fields teams in senior football and intermediate hurling.
Undoubtedly the highlight of St. Sylvester’s long and illustrious history was their 0-11 to 0-9 victory over Erin’s Isle in the 1996 Dublin senior football championship final. It has remained the Malahide club’s one and only senior championship success to date.
Another highlight was the aforementioned All-Ireland Feile triumph of three years ago in Limerick. Managed by Brendan Carney, the team was superbly prepared and one of the best the club has ever produced at underage level. After flying down to Shannon, the team based itself in Croom, and enjoyed a comfortable win over the host club in their opening game. They also accounted for another local club, Kilmallock, and Cappagh of Tyrone, before overcoming Kerry’s Austin Stacks in the semi-final.
Over 100 supporters made the journey to the Gaelic Grounds to cheer the Dublin representatives on to a famous victory over a much-fancied Corofin in the final. And just as they had done in the games against Cappagh and Austin Stacks, Syl’s young guns came from behind to claim the All-Ireland spoils.
Mark Young purchased Harold Engineering in May 2007 after being employed by Smurfit Kappa for 20 years. The company has been based in Harold’s Cross, Dublin 6 since its inception in 1963, but will shortly be relocating to an 18,000ft2 purpose-built facility at Aerodrome Business Park in Rathcoole. Harold Engineering also has an office in Oranmore, Co. Galway and employs 54 staff.
Harold Engineering is a mechanical engineering and environmental services organisation with a core competence in air technologies. Technical specialisations include: air pollution control, air compression and distribution and air heating. The company specialises in turnkey solutions with its specialist areas.
The aim of Harold Engineering is to retain segment dominance in all areas of core activity. A quality and best practice culture through consistent improvement in all aspects of business is promoted, while constantly striving for more efficient, competitive and value-added solutions.
Objectives are achieved through customer relationships management, focused sales teams, deep technical and market knowledge, distribution reach and high quality service delivery. Based on these strengths, a high level of recurring revenue is generated through business-to-business trading.
In addition, installation, after-sales repair and maintenance services are provided by highly-trained service fitters. Support services are also available for all systems and products sold.
The company also provides sponsorship to the Sarsfields under 12 girls team in Newbridge, Co. Kildare. Mark explains: “Darren Kendrick, who is one of 17 service engineers we have on the road, coaches the team and that is how the association came about.”
