Upcoming Fixtures:
County U21 Football Championship
Fr. Caseys v/s Rathkeale, Wednesday November 1st in Mick Neville Park at 8pm
County Junior A Football Semi-Final
Fr. Caseys 1-09 Galtee Gaels 1-10
Having finished all square at 10 points each on Thursday night, Fr. Caseys and Galtee Gaels did battle again last Monday with a place in the County final against Croom up for grabs. A well taken goal by wing forward Jamie O’Connor in the opening minute gave Fr. Caseys the perfect start but Galtee Gaels quickly replied with three consecutive points to level proceedings. Fr. Caseys were holding the lions share of possession but found it hard at times to break down the compact Galtee Gaels defence. On 15 minutes Fr. Caseys raised their first white flag to regain the lead but Gaels soon replied at the other end. There was very little to separate the sides with every ball being contested. Galtee Gaels had a great opportunity on 20 minutes for goal but the agile Sean Scannell spread himself very well to deny them with his foot. At half time the side were level at 1-03 to 0-06, a fair scoreline after an energy sapping first 30 minutes.
Galtee Gaels made the ideal start to the second half with a goal within two minutes of the restart. The Abbeyfeale men would now have to dig deep and that’s exactly what they did. With 47 minutes on the watch, Fr. Caseys had clawed their way back and tied the scores at 1-07 each to setup a nail biting last quarter. Gaels continued to stick to their game plan which involved crowding their defence and trying to score on the counter. Gaels regained the lead again and when they extended the margin to two points with 5 minutes remaining it looked like the end of the road for Fr. Caseys. This team have shown great spirit all year and they were going nowhere without a fight. Kieran Foley popped up to slot over the bar with a great point under pressure to leave the bare minimum between the teams. As the game entered injury time Fr. Caseys looked like they had received a lifeline when awarded a free 40 yards from goal. Galtee Gales surrounded the kicker to prevent the quick free and then in a bizarre decision the referee decided to throw up the ball for time wasting by Fr. Caseys. In what was a fine sporting game throughout this dubious call right at the end tarnished what was a brilliant dual. Galtee Gaels won the break and the final whistle was sounded. It was heart break for the Abbeyfeale men who had left everything on the field. The full time score was Fr. Caseys 1-09, Galtee Gaels 1-10
It has been a brilliant year for our Juniors who claimed a total of four cups throughout the season. Having won the West and County junior A league titles in June they went on to claim promotion from division 4 of the All County league in July, topping a group which contained Gerald Griffins, Newcastle West and Ballylanders among others. On September 10th came their finest hour when they overcame a fancied Newcastle West side to bring the West Junior A Championship title back to Abbeyfeale for the first time in 55 years. This team has given the club great entertainment all year and we are extremely proud of their efforts. Many thanks to the management team of Seamus McNamara, Gerard O’Connor and James Collins who left no stone unturned in preparing this team.
Club Limerick Draw:
The eighth Club Limerick draw of the year took place last Saturday morning on Limericks Live 95fm. Congratulations to Stephen Byrne who won €250 in this month’s draw. The top prize of €10,000 went to Joe Treacy of Doon GAA. A full list of winners can be seen on the Limerick GAA website www.limerickgaa.ie.
There are still 2 more draws remaining before the end of the year. The top prize in November will once more be €10,000 cash with the star prize of a car worth €25,000 coming in the December draw. The Club Limerick draw is one of the main sources of revenue for our local club with 50% of all entry fees being returned to the club, the remaining money going towards the development of our county teams.
National Club Draw:
The yearly GAA National club draw has returned and Fr. Caseys GAA club are currently selling tickets for this draw throughout the parish of Abbeyfeale. With all money raised being returned to our local club, this is a very important fundraiser and we would strongly encourage all club members and supporters to support this draw. Fr. Caseys GAA club have been very busy in the past year upgrading the club facilities from the all-weather training pitch, new nets and dugouts to maintenance work on the complex and clubhouse. All of these upgrades come at a high cost and we would really appreciate the support of the people of Abbeyfeale in this fundraising initiative. The top prize in the National Club is a Renault Dynamique, second prize is a €2,000 travel voucher. In total there are 20 fantastic prizes on offer, more details can be found at www.gaa.ie/nationalclubdraw. The cost of the tickets are €10.
AIB Home Insurance Offer:
Does your Home Insurance need renewal? Open a home insurance policy with AIB Bank, mention Fr. Caseys GAA club & AIB will kindly donate €50 to our local GAA Club. If 20 of our fans do this before the end of December, our club will receive a €1,000 O’Neills voucher. Please note this offer has been kindly extended from September to the end of the year. Your support for this offer would be greatly appreciated.
41 Card Game:
The weekly 41 card game continues every Friday night in the GAA clubhouse. A great night of entertainment is guaranteed and with door and raffle prizes also on offer you have plenty of chances to win. The card game starts at 9pm sharp with both regular and new faces more than welcome. The winners from last week are as follows Joint Winners (13 games): Mike Shine, Michael Shine and Diarmuid Shine.
Joint Winners (13 games): Timmy Joe Ftzgerald, Tom Lenihan and Patsy Healy.
Table Prize: Mossie Gleeson, Billy Broderick and Tommy Nelligan.
Door Prize: Kathleen McCarthy
Raffle Prizes: Dan Reidy, Tom Murphy, Dan Casey, Patsy Healy and Tommy Nelligan.
Club Website:
Check out our club website at www.frcaseysgaa.ie for all the latest club news, fixtures, results and lots more. Our club website is updated regularly and is well worth a visit. You can also follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/frcaseysgaa and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/frcaseysgaa