KILDIMO/PALLASKENRY GAA CLUB NOTES
CLUB AGM: The Annual General Meeting of Kildimo/Pallaskenry GAA club will take place next Sunday, December 5 at 7.30pm. It will once again be a virtual event in 2021, and will be run using Microsoft Teams. A link to the meeting has been e-mailed to all club members. For any queries in advance of the meeting, please contact club secretary, Sean Cuddihy.
MUNSTER INTERMEDIATE FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: Next Sunday, December 5, our intermediate footballers travel as Limerick county champions to take on Clare champions, Corofin at 1pm in Corofin. Obviously, our hurlers missed out on a chance to experience a Munster campaign after Covid restrictions in 2020 so this is the first time since 2018 that we are embarking on a Munster Championship campaign. We are travelling to the backyard of our opponents, where they will no doubt be heavily supported, so we would ask our wonderful supporters to come and get behind the team as you have done all year!
U-21 A HURLING CHAMPIONSHIP SEMI-FINAL: Kildimo/Pallaskenry 3-4 Cappamore 0-21. There was huge disappointment last Wednesday night as we fell to Cappamore in the U-21 Championship semi-final in Doon. It was just one of those nights where nothing seemed to go right for us and were just beaten by a better team on the night. We took the lead when Aaron O’Donovan set up Davy Fitzgerald, who fired over a great score from the left wing. It was a good start, but despite having plenty of possession in the opening quarter, we hit a lot of wides while our opponents were that bit more clinical. Cappamore hit two scores in a row to go into the lead, before we had a goal opportunity but Shaun Barry was denied. Cappamore were attacking a lot down our flanks but Ciarán Downes and Ciarán Barry were standing strong and denying them clear passage to goal, while the likes of Shaun Barry and Aaron O’Donovan were getting on the breaks. However, although the ball was going up the field, we were not getting the scores, with even a few frees going astray.
Due to this fact, it was an unusual game, and although Cappamore didn’t have complete dominance of the game, they continued to add scores to their tally while we could not do the same and the gap slowly extended. We had not had a lot of luck with frees but when Shaun Barry was fouled around the middle of the field having won breaking ball from the puckout, Aaron O’Donovan came back the field to excellently strike the ball from distance over the bar. We hoped that this would kickstart us again as there was only five points between the teams, despite not having really got going but, unfortunately, a couple more wides went our way while Cappamore added four more points, primaraily from placed balls before half-time to leave the half-time score: Kildimo/Pallaskenry 0-2 Cappamore 0-11.
The lads were disappointed with their first-half display but came out fighting in the second half. However, with some early profligacy in the second half also, in absolute freezing conditions, we soon were chasing goals. But Cappamore knew that they could continue to tap over points and frustrations got the better of us at times, as we gave away some silly frees. Shaun Barry got our first score from play in the second half, with a beautifully-struck point from the left wing and when the ball was let in to Davy Fitzgerald inside in the full-forward line, he was always a threat. He gathered the ball in the right corner, took on his man, but was hauled to ground before he could create a goalscoring opportunity. From the free twenty metres out, Aaron O’Donovan struck the ball low and hard which beat the men on the line and nestled in the back of the net! It was a momentum boost that we needed and after another goal chance was deflected behind for a ’65, Liam Griffin cut the gap further with the placed ball!
Cathal Downes had moved into attack and was taking the game to Cappamore with his pace and power, while back in the centre-back role, Liam Griffin was dictating things brilliantly with his vision and hurling ability. It was a run of Cathal’s which saw us win another free close to the goal after he had left a number of defenders trailing in his wake, he was hauled to ground. Again, Aaron stood over the free, and once again, he brilliantly finished it low past the men on the line! With time still left on the clock, we were only six points behind and it was clear that there were goals there for the taking. However, Cappamore rallied and we gave away a number of frees which allowed them slow the game down a little, steady the ship and tack on the scores which they needed to put the game out of our each.
The likes of Marc O’Shea battled valiantly in defence throughout, Ciarán Barry moved up the field and added his pace to the likes of Davy Fitzgerald, Cathal Downes and Paudi Hartigan who were running at the Cappamore backline. We would open them up again, and a ball across goal was collected by Paudi Hartigan who finished to the back of the net clinically. But those scores for Cappamore after our second goal meant they had built enough of a lead that points would not reduce the gap and we forced a couple of half-goal chances but they held on for a deserved victory.
It was a disappointing end to the season for our U-21 hurlers and not how we wanted it to go, but it is one of those performances that you have to learn from, and improve as players and coaches from. Well done to all the players for their efforts throughout the year: these have been involved in senior, junior, U-19 and U-17 campaigns as well as U-21, all of which extended to the latter stages and there are big hopes again next year. Many thanks also to the management team of Natal O’Grady, John Barry, Jim Maher, Éanna McGarrigle, Alan Fitzgerald, Danny O’Sullivan and Brendan O’Shea for all their hard work.
Team: James Mason; James Pomeroy, Luke O’Keeffe, Marc O’Shea; Ciarán Downes, Cathal Downes, Ciarán Barry; Liam Griffin (0-1, ’65), Garry Sheehan; Aaron O’Donovan (2-1, all frees), Paudi Hartigan (1-0), Shaun Barry (0-1); Ciarán Galvin, Adam Butler, Davy Fitzgerald (0-1)
Subs: Jai Chaudri for Adam Butler; Luke Guinane for Ciarán Galvin; Matthew Lucey for Garry Sheehan; Dylan Moloney for Ciarán Downes
Panel: Eoin Sexton, Eddie McLoughlin, Mícheál Cuddihy, Oran Kelly
LIMERICK U-16 FOOTBALLERS: We were privileged to have four club representatives on the Limerick U-16 football panel who defeated Wicklow and brought home the Leinster Cup at the weekend! A huge congratulations to Shane O’Sullivan, Ethan Browne, Tiernan Meaney and Conor McMahon on their achievement! As always, we are privileged to have such talented young players amongst our ranks, representing us on the intercounty scene and they are a credit to themselves, their family and their club! Well done to all.
SPORTING LIMERICK CLUB TEAM OF THE YEAR: Kyle Hayes became the third clubman to be voted onto the Sporting Limerick Senior Hurling Championship Team of the Year, giving us the second-highest representation of any club after county champions,
Kilmallock. Well done to Cathal Downes, Darren O’Connell and Kyle Hayes; their fantastic efforts this season but recognised with their place on this team!
KILDIMO/PALLASKENRY GAA & CAMOGIE FRIDAY NIGHT ACADEMY: There were huge numbers in attendance at our Friday Night Lights academy programme in Kilcornan Hall & Astro again last Friday! All players also went home for the Toy Show with a treat bag in hand! Many thanks to our guest coaches: Peter Nash, Aaron O’Donovan, Evan Considine, Tony McCarthy, Ruairí Maher, Lorcan O’Leary and all our superb regular coaches! 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: Sadly we had no winner in the Club Limerick draw for November, after Tom O’Connell and John Chawke had won in previous months! 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 9, 13, 29, 32. There was no winner of the overall draw. The €25 lucky dip winners were: 1. Pat Enright; 2. David Berry; 3. John O’Donnell (Pallasgreen); 4. Liam O’Shaughnessy. The jackpot rises to €12,500 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