KILDIMO/ PALLASKENRY GAA CLUB NOTES
LIMERICK U-20 HURLERS: Commiserations to Cathal Downes, Éanna McGarrigle and the Limerick U-20 hurlers as they fell to Cork in the Munster final. Cathal started in the middle of the field, and Limerick showed unbelievable heart and determination to claw back a six-point deficit to go level in the final few minutes. Sadly, they could not go ahead and Cork scored two points to take a narrow victory. Hard luck to Cathal and the rest of the team.
LIMERICK MINOR HURLERS: There was also disappointment for the Limerick minor hurlers who were also defeated by Cork, in a Munster semi-final. Our own Davy Fitzgerald started at wing-back on the side, with Ciaran McMahon also part of the panel. Things didn’t go their way but they fought to the bitter end, and Davy fired in a late goal to reduce the deficit. Hard luck to Davy and Ciaran, and well done for all the efforts put in during the year.
LIMERICK SENIOR HURLERS: Best of luck to Kyle Hayes, Darren O’Connell, Ruairí Maher and all involved with the Limerick senior hurlers as they face into an All-Ireland semi-final next Saturday at 5pm. It will be a repeat of last year’s All-Ireland final, after Waterford overcame Tipperary in the quarter-final, and hopefully the result will go in our favour again.
LIMERICK U-14 HURLERS: Congratulations to Jose Azzopardi, Cian Guinane and Joe Fitzgerald who are all part of the Limerick U-14 hurling panel. This is a huge honour for the players themselves, their families and the club and we hope that it is the start of a long career in the green of Limerick for these lads.
CITY JUNIOR A HURLING LEAGUE FINAL: Kildimo/Pallaskenry 3-10 Mungret/St. Paul’s 3-19. On Saturday evening, we played the final of the City Junior A Hurling league. As a Junior B outfit in Championship, this league campaign has been a chance to test ourselves at a higher level. It was an achievement to make the final and, although we were up against a strong Mungret side (who only lost by a point to eventual junior champions, Croagh/Kilfinny, in last year’s Championship), this was a game that we led with ten or so minutes to go and could have gone our way with a bit of luck. An injury to goalkeeper James Mason, a sending off and some excellent goals from our opponents all played their part in a strong finish by Mungret.
All six of our starting forwards did get on the scoresheet, and we set down an early marker with Brendan Meskell hitting the back of the net. We played with a breeze in the first half but were largely reliant on frees from Aaron O’Donovan. Mungret were very lively, pulling extra men back around the middle and moving the ball quickly between them but we defended stoutly, with the likes of Jack Mullane and Naoise McGarrigle putting in a big shift. The veteran, Mikey Dillon, was getting through an amount of work in attack and also got on the scoresheet with a fine score from play. Mungret edged in front but, we hit them for goals in the second half. Our second goal was a brilliant team move, with slick stick passing that wouldn’t have been out of place on the intercounty scene. Aaron O’Donovan, Ger McKeogh and Tom O’Shea were all involved with some lovely crisp passing, straight to hand, before Shane O’Brien was picked out in a pocket of space and he found the back of the net from close range.
Mungret drew back ahead with points from placed balls but, just after the water break, we would strike again with a third goal. Naoise McGarrigle linked up with Mikey Dillon who delivered the ball inside to the always-dangerous Martin Nunan. Martin showed an
unbelievable piece of skill to flick the ball up past the defender and goalkeeper, before finishing to the back of the net from close range. This put us two points up with 10-15 minutes to go. We suffered a blow when the referee gave a penalty to our opponents for a dragback as their forward entered the square but James Mason, who delivered a fine display between the sticks, pulled off a fantastic save, diving to his right side to divert the shot away. Unfortunately, James was injured in the process and was forced to come off as a result.
Mungret raised a green flag shortly after and this loss of momentum, playing into a stiff breeze and tiredness setting in having only played our semi-final two days earlier saw the tide swing Mungret’s way. We just ran out of legs as we chased scores in the final few minutes and a lively Mungret side scored two more goals to give them victory, perhaps flattering on the final scoreline. But, nevertheless, this was a strong display against a very solid Junior A side which will give us hope ahead of Junior B Championship. We have a competitive junior panel this year, with another 14 players who have featured in matches this year unavailable for selection on Saturday night. There is serious competition for places at both senior and junior level, which can only be healthy for the club!
Team: James Mason; Jack Mullane, Evan Considine, Darragh O’Brien; Naoise McGarrigle, Keel Moloney, Jai Chaudri; Brian Howard, Brendan O’Shea; Aaron O’Donovan (0-6, 0-5 frees), Martin Nunan (1-1), Mikey Dillon (0-1); Shane O’Brien (1-1), Brendan Meskell (1-0), Adam Butler (0-1, 0-1 free)
Subs: Gerard McKeogh for Adam Butler; Tom O’Shea for Brendan Meskell; Kieran O’Brien for Darragh O’Brien; Danny O’Sullivan for James Mason; Mark O’Shea for Jai Chaudri; Eoin Sexton for Keel Moloney
CITY JUNIOR A HURLING LEAGUE: Kildimo/Pallaskenry 2-18 Monaleen 1-13. Two days before our league final, we played Monaleen in Pallaskenry to decide which side would get there. This was an even contest in the midst of a hectic schedule, with many of our younger players having played an U-19 match the day previous, but allowed us to give gametime to more players on our junior panel. It took us a little while to settle into this game, and we were perhaps not as clinical as we could have been, missing a couple of goal chances. Brendan Meskell was operating as a target man inside, bagging himself an early point and when Martin Nunan worked off him, he fired over the bar with a chance to beat the keeper. Darragh Walsh scored a lovely point from play and just before the first half ended, Adam Butler came into the game and scored two fine points from play.
Monaleen hit a goal but we took control in the second half; Martin Nunan moved into the full-forward line and began to torment the Monaleen defence, while Keel Moloney was dominant at centre-back, powering out of defence time after time. Brian Howard seemed to be everywhere, and fired over two great points from play. Adrian Garvey came off the bench and got on a huge amount of ball, as well as claiming a somewhat fortuitous goal. A shot from distance dropped short, but dropped all the way into the back of the net to give us a more comfortable lead. Although, we were on top, we did miss some good goal chances and when we got a second goal, it was also of a lucky nature. This time it was Dean O’Neill’s shot which dropped all the way to the back of the net. In the end, it was a well-deserved victory, against another Junior A side and a great runout for the panel with plenty of matches still to come.
Team: James Mason; Jack Mullane, Evan Considine, Darragh O’Brien; Brendan O’Shea, Keel Moloney, Naoise McGarrigle; Brian Howard (0-2), Darragh Walsh (0-1); Aaron O’Donovan (0-4, 0-4 frees), Martin Nunan (0-5), Liam O’Sullivan; Dylan Corrigan, Brendan Meskell (0-1), Adam Butler (0-2)
Panel: Adrian Garvey (1-0), Mikey Dillon (0-1), Kieran O’Brien, Dean O’Neill (1-2, 0-2 frees), Shane O’Brien, Darren Walsh, Garry Sheehan, Ciaran Barry, Mark O’Shea, Eoin Sexton, Jai Chaudri
U-9 HURLING: Our U-9s hosted Kerry side, Crotta O’Neill’s, in a blitz in Kildimo. We had a great morning, with both clubs fielding three teams and some superb intense clashes. We were delighted to be joined by Kyle Hayes who dropped in to meet all the players.
PREMIER MINOR HURLING CHAMPIONSHIP: Best of luck to our minor hurlers who take on Cappamore on Wednesday night in Pallaskenry in their second Championship match of the year.
CLUB LIMERICK DRAW: Unfortunately, we had no winners in the June Club Limerick draws for the year but there are still plenty more opportunities to win! This is a great way to support both your club and county, so please join the Club Limerick draw for 2021! You can win up to €10,000 monthly with 30 cash prizes and an exclusive star prize given out each month! Join the Club Limerick draw by visiting www.limerickgaa.ie/club-limerick-draw “supporting the future success of our clubs & county teams”.
PITCH SIGNAGE: If you or business is interested in supporting your local GAA club, give us a message on social media for details of pitch signage options in both Kildimo and Pallaskenry GAA grounds.
CLUB LOTTO: The winning numbers in this week’s lotto draw were 3, 4, 19, 25. There was no winner of the overall draw. The €25 lucky dip winners were 1. Phyl Divily; 2. Catherine O’Neill; 3. Lorcan O’Leary; 4. Des O’Hanlon. The jackpot rises to €10,700 for next week’s draw.
Our lotto has moved online and can be played at https://smartlotto.ie/kildimo-pallaskenry-gaa/lotto with options to play weekly, monthly or as often as you like! Six-month and annual lotto subscriptions are also now available. With ongoing restrictions our club lotto is the most vital fundraising and income source for the club, even more so now when all other fundraising activities remain suspended and not possible to run. We are continuing to reach out to members, supporters, friends of our club to please consider joining and playing the lotto online in order to support the ongoing costs of running our club. The best way to support the club right now is through the lotto!
Tickets are also available in Mace Kildimo, Gala Pallaskenry and from our weekly lotto sellers. Please continue to support your local club!
TWITTER: The club also have a new twitter account which can be found by searching Kildimo/Pallaskenry GAA or by the twitter handle @kildimopallas. Give the club a follow to keep up to date with all the latest club news.