KILDIMO PALLASKENRY GAA CLUB NOTES

INTERMEDIATE FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: Kildimo/Pallaskenry 1-13 Mungret/St. Paul’s 1-11. Our Pallas Plastering/Chill the Beans-sponsored footballers are into their first ever Intermediate Championship semi-final after an excellent victory over Mungret/St. Paul’s in Ballybrown. Mungret had beaten us in the previous two Championship campaigns since getting promoted and today was a real sign of the progress we have made year-on-year since winning promotion! Every season at this grade has been about progress: we consolidated our position in 2019, last year we made the knockouts for the first time and now we have made our first ever semi-final! But this victory was no fluke; this was a composed, mature performance and were well-deserving victors on the day!
Tony McCarthy kicked us into an early lead with a fine score from play but our opponents hit back with a point from a free. Right from the off, our backs were tenacious, making it very difficult for the opposition and, when we turned the ball over, we moved the ball at pace. It was one of these counter-attacks which saw us re-take the lead with a point from play from the boot of Peter Nash, a very well-taken score. Dylan Corrigan then ran hard at the Mungret backline and when he broke the cover, he was able to pop the ball over the bar to give us a two-point advantage. We had a couple of wayward shots ourselves as we had the better of the early proceedings, but were then hit with a sucker punch. Mungret were one of the favourites for the county title before today, and strong favourites with the bookies for this match, and they showed their quality when they put together a very slick move down the left wing, linking play nicely before the runner from deep planted the ball in the bottom corner of the net. This was a very soft goal to concede from our point-of-view, one that we were frustrated with considering how well we had played, and they backed this up with a second pointed free. But, whereas in the past, this may have really rocked us; we are now a more experienced side and we responded really well to that score.
We turned over the ball a couple of times in the aftermath of the goal but also forced Mungret into some poor shot attempts and we then took over to get back on level terms by the first water break. When we turned over Mungret deep in our half, we were able to get team captain, Liam O’Sullivan, running from deep. The defence parted like the Red Sea in front of him, he went right through the middle before firing over the bar from close range. This was followed up with our first score from a free; Peter Nash kicked the free after the ever-lively Darren O’Connell was fouled. This meant that we were level at the first half water break, having responded very well to the concession of a soft goal.
We upped our work rate another few notches after the water break, however, and stamped our authority on the game. The work rate from the likes of Darren O’Connell and Ryan Kelly was superb, involved in a number of turnovers while James Pomeroy and Conor Staff were linking play very nicely in the middle third, getting our runners going beyond them. Darren O’Connell was winning free after free inside in the full-forward line, and Peter Nash was able to put us back into the lead with another free. It was fantastic to see Darragh Deegan back in the team after his injury had seen him miss the opening two games, and when he punched a hole in the defence, he was able to kick over from close range. It was almost half-time before Mungret/St. Paul’s kicked their first point from play, which cut our lead back to one point again. But a quick flurry before the half-time break saw the tide really turn in our favour.
Mungret had applied a bit of pressure on our kickouts early on but Jamie Hickey nailed some excellent kicks away in this second quarter and one of these led directly to our goal. Jamie
pinged the ball into space on the right-hand side to where James Pomeroy had made a brilliant run. Pom was able to pick out Darragh Deegan in space further down the line; he drove at the defence before finding Peter Nash. Peter Nash had had a goal disallowed earlier in the contest for over-carrying, this time when he slipped inside the defender, he was able to get a shot away but it was blocked. However, Darren O’Connell, like any good poacher was there to follow-up and finish to the back of the net. Before the end of the half, Barry Walsh made a superb block to prevent Mungret from getting a score and when we moved the ball forward, we always looked dangerous. We would also get the final score of the half; a brilliant pass with the outside of his right foot from Conor Staff found Peter Nash in an ocean of space. When Peter gets that kind of room, he inevitably gets a score, and he made no mistake, hitting his second point from open play! This left us in the lead when Jonathan Hayes blew the half-time whistle: Kildimo/Pallaskenry 1-8 Mungret/St. Paul’s 1-3.
We had outscored our opponents 1-3 to 0-1 since the water break, and had utterly controlled that quarter, dominating all aspects of play. Our backs were very solid, supported ably by excellent work rate from our forwards while we were moving the ball brilliantly in attack. Mungret would kick the first score of the second half, again from a free, and would get a score from play shortly after. It took us a bit of time to get going in the second half but when we did get our first score of the half, it was well worth the wait. It was the captain who delivered the score, Liam O’Sullivan with an outstanding effort off the outside of his right boot which sailed directly over the crossbar from distance! However, we would follow this score up with a number of wides in a row, perhaps just forcing shooting opportunities a little and Mungret were able to cut the gap once again with a point from play, although perhaps could have scored a goal, the ball blazed just over the crossbar. We would have a goal chance of our own before the water break, a long ball was brilliantly played inside towards the full-forward line which Darren O’Connell did superbly claim. He turned inside and hammered a shot with his left foot which cannoned off the crossbar, the goalkeeper beaten all ends up. It was disappointing not to see the back of the net bulge, but Tony McCarthy gathered possession from the rebound and was able to kick left-footed over the bar to give us a four-point lead at the water break.
We expected Mungret to come at us all guns blazing in that final quarter, and while they would, that would only after we dominated the early stages. This period of dominance from us in the latter stages pretty much put the game beyond our opponents’ reach. Straight away following the water break, Peter Nash kicked his third point from play, a beautiful curled effort which came just inside the right-hand upright. Our subs made an impact off the bench, the likes of Cathal Downes getting on a lot of ball while Brian Howard made some crucial interventions in defence; although Mossy Sheehan made one of the most vital contributions of the second half with a massive tackle on the Mungret full-forward when danger lurked. When Dylan Corrigan set off on a run towards goal, the only option Mungret had was to foul him and Peter kicked his sixth point from the resulting free.
We were now six points ahead, and although Mungret hit back with a point from play, we would hit back shortly after with one of the scores of the game. We had worked the ball very nicely down the left-hand side until we were finally able to work the ball to a player in a shooting position. Luckily for us the player in position was Tony McCarthy, and he showed his class with an immaculate curled effort from out the field. If there had been a stand in Ballybrown, the roar from the crowd have lifted the roof off. We led by six and the expected flurry from Mungret/St. Paul’s finally came. They kicked a point from play to reduce the gap to five but then went a period without scoring, as we put them under serious pressure in
defence. Darren O’Connell and Peter Nash were among those seen getting back to support the defence and pick up loose ball, while Jack Mullane and Eoin Sheahan were also hoovering up plenty of breaks. We introduced fresh legs and all of Garry Sheehan, Matthew Lucey and Martin Nunan made vital contributions in getting hold of the ball in attack and easing the pressure on our backline. When the press did come, Mungret were able to kick a few points in a row but our backs were determined not to concede any goal, they held firm under all sorts of pressure. High balls, low balls, running through the lines; it made no difference, they could not breach our rearguard. In the end, we had counter-attacks that probably could have led to additional scores but we had to be satisfied with a two-point victory!
This is a huge result for the club, putting us into an intermediate semi-final for the first time in the club’s history. But backing up the result was a very impressive performance while still having plenty of areas that can be improved ahead of a semi-final. Well done to all the players and backroom for their efforts so far this year and we’d like to wish them the very best of luck in the semi-final and beyond!
Team: Jamie Hickey; Barry Walsh, Mossy Sheehan, Eoin Sheahan; Liam O’Sullivan (0-2), Tony McCarthy (0-3), Jack Mullane; James Pomeroy, Conor Staff; Darragh Deegan (0-1), Lorcan O’Leary, Dylan Corrigan (0-1); Ryan Kelly, Peter Nash (0-6, 0-3 frees), Darren O’Connell (1-0)
Subs: Cathal Downes for Ryan Kelly; Brian Howard for Barry Walsh; Matthew Lucey for Darragh Deegan; Garry Sheehan for James Pomeroy; Martin Nunan for Dylan Corrigan
Panel: Johnny McHale, Luke Guinane, Paudie Walsh, Tom O’Shea, Naoise McGarrigle, James Fitzgerald, Mícheál Cuddihy, Darren Lane, Ciarán Galvin, Tadhg O’Shaughnessy, Bryan O’Shea, Aaron O’Donovan, Shaun Barry, Kieran Bourke, Evan Considine, Sean Staff
SENIOR HURLING COUNTY CUP FINAL: After a great victory for our footballers, attention returns to the small ball next weekend as our Pallas Plastering/Chill the Beans-sponsored senior hurlers take on Garryspillane in the County Cup final. It isn’t the match we wanted to be playing this weekend but now that we are involved, it is certainly a trophy that we want to win. Silverware at senior hurling level hasn’t been something that has been regularly seen in the parish, so we intend to take the opportunity we can to add to the trophy cabinet. Garryspillane defeated us in the Premier Intermediate semi-final in 2018 in our first year at the grade enroute to their county title success. They have remained senior since then and, similar to us, are backboned by a team of very young players. It should be an entertaining contest in the Gaelic Grounds next Friday night, and once again, we would ask that our supporters come out to lend a hand! We have been informed that our clash against Adare has been the best-attended fixture of the club championship to date, and we’d like to thank you all for that. This will be the final outing of our senior hurlers for 2021, and it’d be fantastic to round off the season by lifting a trophy in the Gaelic Grounds in front of our fans!
JUNIOR B HURLING CHAMPIONSHIP: Kildimo/Pallaskenry 0-14 Patrickswell 0-14. Our junior hurlers were held to a draw in Patrickswell on Sunday after a bruising encounter. With the sidelines brought in and the grass left grown long, this was always going to be a serious battle against a wily old Patrickswell side, with bags of experience. We didn’t perform quite to the level that we know we are capable of, got drawn into the dogfight and came away with just the draw. Our shooting was slightly wayward in the first half, hitting a
number of wides while the wind was at our backs but Darragh Walsh got us underway with a socre from play. But the home side hit back with a pointed free, a point from play and then another free. Throughout, our backs seemed to be well on top against the Patrickswell forwards but frees that we conceded kept them ticking over throughout. Aaron O’Donovan soon narrowed the gap as he escaped from his marker before putting the ball over the bar.
Patrickswell struck back with another free, before Aaron O’Donovan got on the scoresheet once again with another point from play. It was then our other wing-forward, the experienced Mikey Dillon, who would fire over two points in quick succession to put us into the lead. With the wind at our backs, we were taking lots of shots from out the field and not really delivering the ball inside to our full-forward line but we were strong at the back; Evan Considine doing well at full-back, while the likes of Jai Chaudri and Naoise McGarrigle were linking very well with Jack Mullane to launch many of our attacks.
But Patrickswell scored two more frees to re-take the lead, before Aaron O’Donovan levelled things from a placed ball. Centre forward Dylan Corrigan was next to get in on the act. He was picked out brilliantly by Jai Chaudri in plenty of space and he turned to fire over the bar from out the field. We hoped to go in ahead at half-time, but Patrickswell earned one more free to go in on level terms: Kildimo/Pallaskenry 0-7 Patrickswell 0-7.
Patrickswell went direct when they had the wind at their backs in the second half, launching ball after ball down towards the edge of the square but the likes of Evan Considine, Marc O’Shea and Ciarán Downes did cope really well with this kind of ball. Brian Howard moved out to the middle of the field and began to send some lovely ball inside while our best attacking moments came when the likes of Jack Mullane and Naoise McGarrigle ran at the Patrickswell backs. Patrickswell took the lead with another free, and then Darragh Walsh, who got through a lot of work, won a free after taking on the Patrickswell backline. Aaron popped the ball over the bar to level things again. We would then take the lead with another free from Aaron; this time after a foul on Jack Mullane. Jack powered through the heart of the Patrickswell defence from deep, offloaded to Ryan Kelly in on goal, but was taken out, high and hard by the Patrickswell full-back, Ciaran Carey, as he did so. Mike Mann dished out a yellow card and Aaron put us back in front.
Naoise McGarrigle then picked out Darragh Walsh in space, who fired over the bar before another free from Aaron gave us a three-point advantage. But Patrickswell were not going to give up without a fight and they began to exert some control as they dropped a sweeper back in behind the half-back line and crowded the already-limited space. They had a free drop just over the bar to reduce the gap before they scored their first point from play since the early moments of the first half to narrow it further. Adam Butler came on to make an impact from the bench; when he was found by Brian Howard, he raced through and his shot went narrowly over the crossbar. But two further Patrickswell frees and a score from play saw them take a grip of the game and go in front with not a whole lot of time remaining. Adam Butler took matters into his own hands by taking a shot from out wide, which dropped over the crossbar to level things once again. In the final moments, both sides had chances, Patrickswell re-took the lead with a point from play but we levelled late on with another free from Aaron.
After a promising league campaign, this was a first Championship match of the season for this group of players and does show the difference between league and Championship intensity, even at Junior B level. This was a hard-fought game against a very experienced side, with a lot of intensity where the running game of our younger team never really got
going. There were some bright performances, but forwards on both sides found it very tough going with limited space to work with. Next up for our juniors is a clash next Sunday against Claughaun; which we need to win to qualify for the City semi-final.
Team: James Mason; Brian Howard, Evan Considine, Marc O’Shea; Jai Chaudri, Brendan O’Shea, Naoise McGarrigle; Jack Mullane, Darragh Walsh (0-2); Mikey Dillon (0-2), Dylan Corrigan (0-1), Aaron O’Donovan (0-7, 0-5 frees); Dean O’Neill, Brendan Meskell, Matthew Lucey
Subs: Ciarán Downes for Dean O’Neill; Ryan Kelly for Matthew Lucey; Adam Butler (0-2) for Brendan Meskell; Kieran O’Brien for Mikey Dillon; Tom O’Shea for Darragh Walsh
Matchday Panel: Danny O’Sullivan, Eoin Sexton, Darragh O’Brien, Adrian Garvey, Mícheál Cuddihy, Ciarán Galvin, Darren Walsh
U-13 HURLING SHIELD SEMI-FINAL: Kildimo/Pallaskenry 0-7 Glenroe 2-7. There was disappointment for our U-13 hurlers who came up just short against a very strong Glenroe side in the U-13 Shield semi-final. Nevertheless, we saw them put in a fine performance, full of determination and they did not give up until the final whistle. Obviously this was a disappointing end to the season for the boys but they have shown serious development as players over the course of the season, and no doubt will continue to improve into the future. The future is bright and this group of players will no doubt produce both club and county players! Well done to all involved, and many thanks to their coaches Jody, Noel and Haulie for all their efforts this season!
U-10 CAMOGIE: Well done to our Mervyn Kearney-sponsored U-10 camogie team who togged out in the Manor Fields against Adare. In glorious sunshine, our young ladies played three top class games. Overall, we had 23 girls togged out; full of energy, enthusiasm and no lack of skill. Against a tough opposition our girls held their own and put in some great performances. Many thanks to all the coaches who put so much time and effort into training the girls: many thanks to Dave Higgins, Emma Sexton, Emma Kelly, Sinead O’Donoghue and Mervyn Kearney. The hours spent training and planning have paid off!
BORD NA NÓG ROUND-UP: There was plenty of action for some of our younger teams this week. Our U-7s travelled into Old Christians and had a fine evening’s hurling at the city venue. As usual, there was some great display of skill from our youngsters. Our U-9s travelled over the road to Askeaton, where they played a number of matches against our neighbours and we are really seeing their skill developing. Our U-11s also travelled away from home this week, as they went south to Bruree for a couple of football games. We fielded two teams, with both sides getting two games each. Well done to all involved, there were really excellent performances all over the pitch!
CLUB DEVELOPMENT GROUNDWORKS LAUNCHED: We were delighted to have three-time All-Ireland winner, Kyle Hayes, at the launching of the groundworks of our club development plan during the week. Our ambitious plans include a 27m ball wall, a 27×25 enclosed all-weather training area, secure perimeter fencing as well as floodlighting for all year round use. This will be a huge asset for the club, will allow us to secure a training base for the winter months while allowing our players of all ages to hone their skills.
While stage one of these works have begun, we still need further assistance from the community in order to bring all these plans to conclusion. We are asking our friends, members, parishioners and supporters to assist with this project so that we can create future All-Ireland winners in the club! Contact any committee member to pledge your support!
KILDIMO/PALLASKENRY GAA & CAMOGIE FRIDAY NIGHT ACADEMY: We are delighted to announce the return of our Friday Night Lights academy programme which will take place in Kilcornan Hall & Astro from Friday, October 8 until Friday, December 17 with a break for the October bank holiday. The academy programme will cover skill development, fun games, fundamental movement and more and is suitable for children from U-7 all the way up to U-17, with different time slots for the various ages! We will be joined by club coaches and senior players throughout the programme. All details and updates will be posted via the Team App. The cost for the 10-week programme is €25 per child. Registration will take place on the first night, Friday October 8 from 5.30pm.
CLUB LIMERICK DRAW: Congratulations to John Chawke who was a winner in the Club Limerick draw for August but unfortunately we had no winners in the September draw. 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 14, 16, 22, 29. There was no winner of the overall draw. The €25 lucky dip winners were 1. Paul Browne; 2. Rita & Stephen Hickey; 3. B&A Moylan; 4. Richard Kennedy. The jackpot rises to €11,600 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, the Seven Sisters, the Beer Garden, De Bucket, the Corner House and Clancy’s Bar 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.