KILDIMO/PALLASKENRY GAA CLUB NOTES
U-21 A HURLING CHAMPIONSHIP: Kildimo/Pallaskenry 1-15 Blackrock 2-13. On Wednesday night, our U-21 hurlers travelled to Knocklong to face Blackrock under lights and we were on the end of a narrow, one-point defeat. Both teams had already qualified for the quarter-final but top spot was on the line. Conditions were a lot more difficult than they had been in Pallaskenry at the weekend, resulting in a lot of ruck ball being contested by both sides. We hit the front early on with an excellent score from the always-lively Paudi Hartigan but Blackrock certainly were the better side in the opening stages, and hit an early goal to take the lead. They would follow that up with a point, before Liam Griffin replied with a free for us.
We hadn’t been at the pitch of the contest in the opening stages but soon took the lead courtesy of a piece of individual brilliance from Shaun Barry. He won the ball about 25 metres from goal, broke the tackle and instead of taking a handy point, blasted the ball past the helpless goalkeeper from 20 metres! This put us into the lead but Blackrock were still on top, with their sweeper picking up a lot of loose ball. They would hit a point before scrambling a second goal over the line to restore their three-point advantage. Paudi Hartigan would get his second point from play after another Blackrock point and any time we were able to get the ball inside to that forward line, Paudi and others were causing a lot of damage.
We were struggling to put together back-to-back scores and, in response to another Blackrock point, Liam Griffin put over a free that he had won himself. Liam was getting through a lot of work and he also set up Aaron O’Donovan to score a point from play; again in reply to a Blackrock score. Blackrock would get the final score of the half, however, and take in a four-point lead at the break on a scoreline of: Kildimo/Pallaskenry 1-5 Blackrock 2-6.
Blackrock continued their form at the start of the second half, hitting the first two scores of the half to take a six-point lead. However, from there, we would fight our way back into contention as we upped our work rate across the board. Shaun Barry and Liam Griffin were among those who led from the front, Ciarán Barry started to get forward from wing-back while Adam Butler also made a massive impact on the bench, his movement off the ball troubling the Blackrock defence. Shaun Barry fired a free over the bar after Liam Griffin had been fouled, and although Blackrock would reply with a free of their own, Davy Fitzgerald was then fouled, allowing Shaun to cut the gap again.
We were starting to get on top of the Blackrock puckouts and win a lot of breaking ball and forcing Blackrock to foul as we broke forward. A powerful run from Garry Sheehan, carrying the ball from midfield deep into their half, saw him being dragged to ground and Shaun was again able to pop the free over the bar. Momentum was now with us, and when Cathal Downes got forward from centre-back, the captain was able to drive right through the middle and pop the ball over the bar and suddenly there was only a goal in it. We weren’t done yet, the movement of Paudi Hartigan was causing trouble all evening and after drifting in behind, he was fouled, allowing Shaun to narrow the gap to just two points. We also had a couple of goal chances: Shaun was desperately unlucky to see a shot after another great run fly narrowly wide before we crafted what was probably the best move of the match. Adam Butler won the ball and showed great vision to pick out the clever run of Paudi who had drifted in behind the Blackrock cover from centre-forward. He was left one-on-one with the goalkeeper but the keeper saved at his near post. However, we didn’t let this get us down and Shaun fired over another free after Adam was fouled to leave the gap at just one point at the water break.
We had score the last five points in a row and when we levelled the game, we made it six. There was some hard work from Adam Butler down the left wing, the ball was worked back to Shaun Barry who landed an unbelievable point from distance, under pressure. At this point, it looked as if momentum was with us completely but Blackrock finally wrested back control of the game. They responded to our six points in a row, with four of their own. Breaks that had been going our way since half-time went their way again, and a couple of silly fouls allowed them to extend their lead out to four again.
We had dug deep to fight back to level it and we now faced another uphill task to fight back with less than ten minutes remaining. However, there is no doubting the character of this team and they worked their way back into contention once again. Paudi Hartigan was again the one to win the free to get us back on the scoring track, Shaun firing the ball over the bar. When Adam Butler was fouled as he looked to work a goal chance, there was temptation to go for goal but there was still time on the clock and Shaun cut the gap to two, bringing his tally to 1-8. And we were only a point behind when Liam Griffin fired over a fantastic score from the middle of the field. We had time for one last attack but Blackrock did very well to kill the game; the ball was pucked out, it resulted in a sideline and then a throw-in. The game was delayed, they managed to hold the ball up around the middle sector for the remaining seconds and we didn’t get our last chance to equalise.
It was a disappointing result; our first-half performance wasn’t at the level that we know that we are capable of and although the lads showed great heart to fight back, the result just didn’t go our way. However, in reality, the result was academic with both sides progressing anyway and we will learn a lot from the game. Next up is the county quarter-final as we face Bruff on Wednesday evening in Mick Neville Park! Best of luck to all involved.
Team: James Mason; James Pomeroy, Luke O’Keeffe, Eddie McLoughlin; Jai Chaudri, Cathal Downes (0-1), Ciarán Barry; Garry Sheehan, Matthew Lucey; Liam Griffin (0-3, 0-2 free), Aaron O’Donovan (0-1), Shaun Barry (1-8, 0-7 frees); Davy Fitzgerald, Paudi Hartigan (0-2), Ciarán Galvin
Subs: Ciarán Downes for Cathal Downes (blood sub); Adam Butler for Matthew Lucey; Luke Guinane for Aaron O’Donovan; Mícheál Cuddihy for Ciarán Galvin
Panel: Marc O’Shea, Eoin Sexton, Sean Staff, Oran Kelly
U-21 A FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: Kildimo/Pallaskenry 3-9 Oola 2-12. Our U-21s were also in football Championship action at the weekend as they travelled to face Oola. Missing a number of players due to various circumstances, the players put in a massive shift and grabbed a couple of late goals to earn a hard-fought draw! Well done to all involved on an excellent performance!
U-19 B HURLING CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL: Our U-19 hurling county final against St. Kieran’s is now fixed for next Sunday, September 21 in the Bog Garden, Rathkeale at 2pm.
MUNSTER INTERMEDIATE FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: As a club, we are greatly looking forward to yet another Munster adventure as we are due to travel to a Clare venue to play Corofin on the weekend of 4/5 December.
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, with huge numbers in attendance once again! 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!
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: Tom O’Connell was a club winner in the Club Limerick draw for October! 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 4, 7, 14, 26. There was no winner of the overall draw. The €25 lucky dip winners were: 1. Teresa O’Sullivan; 2. Eileen Dowling; 3. Eithne Ralph; 4. M&O Fitzgerald. The jackpot rises to €12,300 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.