KILDIMO PALLASKENRY GAA CLUB NOTES
INTERMEDIATE FOOTBALL FINAL: This week is all about the Intermediate Football Championship final which takes place in Mick Neville Park, Rathkeale on Thursday evening at 7.30pm! Between hurling and football, it is our fifth county final in five years for our adult teams. In 2017, we defeated Glenroe in the intermediate hurling final to win promotion to the premier intermediate grade. The following year, it was the turn of football, as we won the junior football championship by defeating Cappamore! In 2019, we actually contested two county finals as our premier intermediate hurling final against Blackrock went to a replay which, unfortunately, we came out on the wrong side of. This has been our only defeat in this run of county finals and we immediately made amends in the 2020 final, by winning promotion to the senior hurling ranks by defeating Mungret/St. Paul’s. And now, in 2021, we are back in another football final, looking to become one of the few clubs in the county to compete at senior in both codes.
Along the way, we have defeated some of the strongest teams around in the form of 2015 senior champions, Dromcollogher/Broadford, and two sides that defeated us last year in the form of Mungret/St. Paul’s and St. Senan’s. We did suffer one blip in the group stage against Crecora/Manister which show how tight the margins can be in this competition. But we recovered from that narrow defeat to seal two hard-fought victories, both by just two points. We now face Rathkeale in the final and hopefully we will come out on the right side of the result once again.
We would ask all our supporters to try and make the match Thursday evening and lend their support, as you have all year. It is a huge opportunity for the club to go senior in both codes! Best of luck to captain Liam O’Sullivan, manager John Chawke and all players and backroom team ahead of what is a hugely exciting week!
JUNIOR B CITY HURLING CHAMPIONS! Kildimo/Pallaskenry 0-16 Na Piarsaigh 0-12. Our Seven Sisters-sponsored Junior B hurlers claimed the City Championship title after a hard-fought victory under lights in Caherdavin! Considering we are almost in November, the pitch was in fine nick but heavy rain throughout the day and a blustery wind meant skills had to be on point. Na Piarsaigh played with the aid of that breeze in the first half and scored the first two points of the game, both from play. But we grew into the game as we began to get a bit of control in the middle third, with Kieran O’Brien, Jack Mullane and Naoise McGarrigle among those getting on plenty of ball. It would be Kieran who would get our first score of the night, after being set up by the excellent Mikey Dillon, who got through a mountain of work. However, despite that score, Na Piarsaigh would hit three further points in a row, two of them from frees to open up a four-point lead.
At no point did we panic, but we knew that we would have to stop conceding silly frees, particularly with the wind at the back of Na Piarsaigh. They were looking to feed their inside line but the likes of Marc O’Shea, Evan Considine and Ciarán Downes beat their men to most of the balls going inside. But before the first half water break, we knocked over two scores to reduce the gap. Matthew Lucey picked out Mikey Dillon, who turned and fired over the bar before Mikey himself was fouled as he ran at the Na Piarsaigh defence. Aaron O’Donovan popped the free over the bar for his first score of the evening. Heading into the water break, we knew that we hadn’t played to the best of our ability, but were still well in the game. When the ball did go in as far as our full-forward line, the likes of Ryan Kelly and Aaron O’Donovan were out in front, while Brendan Meskell was also a threat under the high ball.
There was only a point between the teams when a lovely pass from Naoise McGarrigle picked out Mikey Dillon in space on the right wing and Mikey made no mistake.
Na Piarsaigh did hit back with a point from play before we scored again. Darragh Walsh began to grew into the game as he got on a lot of breaking ball in around the middle third and when he found Aaron O’Donovan in space on the left wing, Aaron pointed for his first score from open play. This was the first of three scores in a row from us; the next two being almost carbon copies. The ball was delivered inside to Ryan Kelly, who beat his man to the ball, who was then forced to foul him. Aaron made no mistake with either free, and that put us back into the lead. But Na Piarsaigh would get back on top just before the end of the half and would put our backs under a bit of pressure. Jack Mullane was having a huge game at wing-back, however, and winning most of the breaks while Naoise McGarrigle was covering a lot of ground in his centre-back role, cutting out a lot of the supply going in. But a Na Piarsaigh free saw them go back on level terms, before two points from play saw them take a half-time lead: Kildimo/Pallaskenry 0-7 Na Piarsaigh 0-9.
The wind had died a fair bit towards the end of the first half but we still had the advantage of whatever breeze was there in the second half. And we started very brightly in the second half, drawing level within moments. Kieran O’Brien was reading the breaks excellently and picking up a lot of ball and, as a result, he drew a free which saw Aaron strike another point. Jack Mullane then broke the Na Piarsaigh puckout, Darragh Walsh went on a great run through the middle and, despite being fouled, he was able to release the pacy Matthew Lucey right through the middle whose low shot flew just over the crossbar. This had us back on level terms but we soon lost Matthew Lucey to injury, although we were delighted to see the return of Roger Ryan, after a long spell on the sidelines!
Na Piarsaigh hit the front again with another free, and the concession of frees seemed to be the only thing holding us back as Na Piarsaigh would only score a single, late point from play in the second half. But that is testament to the work rate of our players all over the field, the likes of Liam O’Sullivan, Ryan Kelly, Mikey Dillon and Jai Chaudri were all involved in turnovers which led to chances for us. Darragh Walsh seemed to be everywhere in the second half, and although he took a lot of punishment, he was able to win a free out on the sideline as he took on the Na Piarsaigh defence. Aaron stood over the free again and put it straight between the uprights to level things once more. We gave away another free before the second half water break, which was converted by our opponents, which meant that we went into the final quarter a point adrift.
We had powered home towards the end of our semi-final and once we got a bit of momentum here, we pulled away very quickly. Immediately after emerging from the water break, we took the game by the scruff of the neck and had scored five points within five minutes to really control matters. Keel Moloney was heavily involved on his introduction and he won a ball brilliantly, and fed another substitute, Roger Ryan, to fire the ball over the bar for the levelling score. Roger had been very lively since his introduction, and although he had missed a couple of opportunities, he made no mistake with the one that really mattered. Keel was involved again as he broke another ball from the puckout and, as he looked to get away from his marker, he was fouled. Aaron again fired the free over the bar from straight in front of the posts. Na Piarsaigh didn’t launch as many attacks in the second half as they did in the first but when they did, we were able to repel them. Naoise McGarrigle brilliantly won a ball and burst out of defence, he found Brian Howard in space who was able to pick out Aaron O’Donovan. Aaron turned and fired the ball straight over the bar to put us two points in front.
The crowd was making plenty of noise now and if there had been a stand, the next score would have lifted the roof off. Aaron himself intercepted the puckout and put it straight back over the bar; suddenly, we had a three-point lead. It was amazing how quick things had turned around and now we were attacking from everywhere. Jai Chaudri was charging out of defence with every ball, Jack Mullane was beating his man all ends up, Brian Howard had come in to hoover up ball alongside the ageless Mikey Dillon and the ever-lively Darragh Walsh. It was Darragh who would be fouled for yet another free as he drove at the Na Piarsaigh defence yet again, and Aaron would make no mistake with the placed ball. This gave us a four-point lead and our momentum was halted after a couple of injuries, but there was still time for Na Piarsaigh to launch a comeback if momentum shifted.
They probably needed a goal in the final ten minutes considering they were really struggling to hit points and, while neither side created a clearcut goal chance, we have our captain Evan Considine to thank that they never got a real opportunity. For once, Na Piarsaigh actually broke the ball past our dominant half-back line and a runner came straight for Evan in the full-back line. He looked to get the shot away but Evan showed immense bravery, throwing his body on the line to successfully block the shot! Evan took a heavy blow and, unfortunately, we had already used five subs so were unable to remove him from the pitch but our goal remained intact, it was a superb piece of defending. As it was, the next score would go our way, Aaron O’Donovan getting a block in on a Na Piarsaigh defender and beating him to the loose ball to throw the ball over the bar for his eleventh point of the game, his fourth from play. Aaron had really stormed into the game in the second half as he came out the field, his pointscoring superb. Na Piarsaigh launched a few attacks at the end, and perhaps we dropped a bit deep but the likes of Mikey Dillon, Brian Howard and Jack Mullane always seemed to be there to take the ball away to safety and although Na Piarsaigh notced a point from play in stoppage time, we held on to take the trophy!
Na Piarsaigh had beaten us in the 2020 final, to our immense disappointment, but we turned that result around with this victory. Both sides now progress to the county quarter-final. We have a massive junior squad this year, who have been training well all year, and pushing hard for senior positions. With 26 players togged out tonight and another few unavailable through injury, there is serious competition for places and this is a good sign. This is just one step on the road of what we want to achieve this year, but is a good start and testament to all the hard work that all the players have put in. Well done also to John Barry and his management team of Jim Maher, Éanna McGarrigle, Danny O’Sullivan, Brendan O’Shea and Natal O’Grady for all their efforts, as well as Alan Fitzgerald. Thanks to our sponsors, the Seven Sisters, for all their support and we hope there are a few more big victories to celebrate in the coming weeks!
Team: James Mason; Ciarán Downes, Evan Considine, Marc O’Shea; Jai Chaudri, Naoise McGarrigle, Jack Mullane; Kieran O’Brien (0-1), Matthew Lucey (0-1); Mikey Dillon (0-2), Brendan O’Shea, Darragh Walsh; Ryan Kelly, Brendan Meskell, Aaron O’Donovan (0-11, 0-7 frees)
Subs: Liam O’Sullivan for Brendan Meskell; Roger Ryan (0-1) for Matthew Lucey; Keel Moloney for Brendan O’Shea; Brian Howard for Kieran O’Brien; Adam Butler for Ryan Kelly
Bench: Adrian Garvey, Eoin Sexton, Mícheál Cuddihy, Evan McCarthy, Danny O’Sullivan, Dylan Corrigan
U-19 B HURLING CHAMPIONSHIP SEMI-FINAL: Kildimo/Pallaskenry 1-13 Dromin/Athlacca 0-14. Congratulations to our U-19 hurlers who have qualified for the county final which will take place on Wednesday, November 3 against St. Kieran’s. This was a hard-fought victory against a very tough and dogged Dromin/Athlacca side. We put in a fine first-half display and hold a significant lead at the half-time break. With Davy Fitzgerald marshalling things excellently at centre-back, Ciarán Galvin a tower of strength at wing-back and the likes of Oran Kelly and Seán Hartigan very lively in attack, it looked as if we would see out the victory with ease, a goal from Seán the key score. However, Dromin/Athlacca threw everything at us in the second half and pulled themselves right back into contention. We had to dig very deep to hold on and see out the victory, with some hugely impressive performances from backs such as Eoin Sexton, Marc O’Shea and Ethan Browne. But there was hard work all over the pitch and although the scores stopped flowing, we did enough to make the final! Well done to all the players and the management team of Tony O’Shea, Chris Sexton, Tommy O’Connor and Kieran McMahon and the very best of luck in the final!
HALLOWEEN SPOOKTACULAR: Next weekend sees our first fundraiser in quite some time as we plan for a ‘Spooktacular’ Halloween weekend. Keep an eye on social media and the Team App for details of events which include discos for youngsters on the Friday night; a sponsored walk/run for all ages, ‘Road to Croker’ competition for U-15s & U-17s and a Halloween Fancy Dress Ball on the Saturday; with a 7-a-side hurling competition, poc fada and bbq among the events planned for the Sunday!
KILDIMO/PALLASKENRY GAA & CAMOGIE FRIDAY NIGHT ACADEMY: We are delighted see the return of our Friday Night Lights academy programme in Kilcornan Hall & Astro last Friday. The academy programme covers 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 and is set to continue until Friday, December 17! Many thanks to our guest coaches Peter Nash, Barry O’Connell, Shaun Barry, Ciarán Barry, Garry Sheehan, Ross Allen and to all our club coaches for their expertise!
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. 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 has 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!
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 8, 10, 13, 32. There was no winner of the overall draw. The €25 lucky dip winners were 1. Billy Chawke (junior); 2. Franzita Whelan; 3. John Paul McNamara; 4. Margaret Davoren. The jackpot rises to €12,000 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.