Naomh Máirtín CPG of Monasterboice has won the €5,000 Louth County award in this year’s Texaco Support for Sport initiative. The money will be used to expand the club's dressing room facilities to meet the demand of its ever-increasing membership.

With some 650 playing members, Naomh Máirtín CPG has developed its football activities over the years to accommodate the growing numbers of females becoming involved in Gaelic Games which now account for half of its juvenile players. Recently the club formed ‘Gaelic for Mothers & Others’ and ‘Gaelic for Dads & Lads’ social football teams which have grown in popularity and participation with over 50 players training weekly and playing regular social games.

Now in its fourth year, the Texaco Support for Sport initiative – organised by Valero Energy (Ireland) Limited, the company that markets fuel in Ireland under the Texaco brand – sees a fund of EUR130,000 set aside annually for allocation in equal amounts of EUR5,000 to successful applicants chosen on a county-by-county basis.  Previous Louth winners were Ardee St. Mary’s GFC (2021), Ace Athletic Club, Drogheda (2022) and Cooley Kickhams Gaelic Football Club, Carlingford (2023).

Congratulating the winners on what he termed ‘the invaluable contribution that sports clubs make to the heart of community life in Ireland’, James Twohig, Director of Ireland Operations, Valero Energy (Ireland) Limited praised the unstinting work of club officials and volunteers, stating that “since its inception, in excess of €500,000 has been distributed to a variety of more than 100 sports clubs under the Texaco Support for Sport initiative”. 

Overseeing the judging process was Texaco Support for Sport ambassador, former Irish rugby international and well-known broadcaster, Donncha O’Callaghan. Commenting, he said, “As adjudicator, the most heartening aspect of the Texaco Support for Sport initiative is the benefit it brings to Irish sports clubs by providing rare access to funds which are not linked to the popularity, membership size or success of any given club.” 

Describing the Louth club as ‘a deserved winner’, he went on to add: “Naomh Máirtín CPG is a growing club with important social values that carries out vital work in its community. The need for fundamentals like dressing rooms are necessary to help the club continue to flourish – so congratulations, and well done, to everyone involved.”   

Entries for the 2025 Texaco Support for Sport initiative will open in the Autumn for all clubs, including those whose application may have been unsuccessful previously.