MONALEEN GAA CLUB NOTES

ALL-IRELAND SEMI-FINALS: Monaleen players Andrew La Touche Cosgrave and Jamie Power are members of the Limerick senior hurling squad which will face Kilkenny in the All-Ireland semi-final at Croke Park this Saturday, July 27, 6pm. Monaleen’s Brian Geary is a selector with the Limerick side and Paul Kinnerk is team coach.
Best of luck also to Monaleen’s Ronan Lyons who is a member of the Limerick minor hurling squad which also takes on Kilkenny in this year’s All-Ireland minor hurling semi-final this Saturday at Croke Park at 4pm. Ronan was an ultra consistent performer as Limerick claimed the Munster minor title in impressive fashion in recent weeks. Monaleen’s Neil Clifford is the Liaison Officer with the Limerick minor team.

SENIOR FOOTBALL: Our senior footballers resume their county championship Group 1 campaign this Friday night with a crucial game against St Senan’s at Ballybrown at 7.15pm. After two earlier defeats, the squad will be hoping to get their campaign back on track. Best of luck to the players and management team. All support greatly appreciated.

LOTTO RESULTS: The latest Lotto draw took place on July 18, with the jackpot standing at €13,600. The numbers drawn were 9, 22, 32, and 35. Winners of the €50 lucky dips were L. Brett, Rivers; M. Larkin, Fairways; L. Kelly, Shanbally; D. Kenny, @Leos. Tickets can be purchased on a weekly basis from local shops and pubs and the draw is held every Thursday night in the club at 10pm.

U-16 FOOTBALL: An understrength U16 football side lost out to Askeaton/Ballysteen/Kilcornan in the county Under 16 Football Division 1 football championship in Askeaton on Monday night. While defeat was our lot on the night, this young squad can take plenty of positives from this gritty display, kicking some excellent points from play in the second half. The U16 side can now look forward to competing in the Shield section of the competition in the coming weeks.

Participants enjoying the fun at the recent Monaleen GAA Club summer camp

LADIES GAELIC FOOTBALL

JUNIOR TEAM: The Groody Gaels ladies Junior team travelled to the Manor Fields in Adare on Monday, July 15 to take on the Adare Ladies team in the final round of the county league. Groody Gaels came out on top, winning the game on a final score-line of 6-11 to 3-6. It was the first time the two sides had meet this season and there was some excellent football and score taking on display from both sides. Groody started the game the better of the two sides with a brilliantly taken early goal from centre forward and Limerick Minor Captain Rachel O’Dell.
Two further points followed soon after from wing forward Claire Byrne and Rachel O’Dell before Groody Gaels scored their second goal of the night which was expertly fired to the corner of the net by wing forward Claire Byrne. Following a further point from centre forward Rachel O’Dell, wing back Maeve Higgins capped off a strong run through the middle of the Adare defence to score her first point of the match.
Groody then scored two goals in quick succession, the first, a super team effort which was brilliantly finished to the net by full forward Claire Tierney before Saoirse Fitzgerald struck for her first score of the game with and great strike to the corner of the next. Two more points for Groody followed soon after from Rachel O’Dell and a trademark effort from midfielder Laura O’Mahony following a great run through the centre. The first half finished with wing forward Claire Byrne scoring her second goal of the match with a super strike to the roof of the net. At half time the score stood at Groody Gaels 5-6 to Adare 2-4.
The second half started well for Groody Gaels with early points from Rachel O’Dell, Saoirse Fitzgerald, Claire Byrne and a brilliant long-range effort from Claire Tierney. Adare responded with a period of sustained pressure on the Groody defence but excellent defending from corner backs Breda Doheny and Saoirse Lane, wing backs Sammi Chang and Maeve Higgins, centre back Aisling Moyles and wing forward Karen Lynch ensured Groody maintained their lead heading into the final quarter of the game. ith 5 minutes remaining in the match, Saoirse Fitzgerald capped a brilliant performance and an excellent team move to score her second goal of the game and Groodys sixth. Full forward Claire Tierney completed the scoring for Groody with a well worked point from play. That makes it 4 wins out of 5 for the girls in the county league and next up is an away match against Galtee Gaels in the Championship in August. Groody Gaels Squad: Marlon Carey, Breda Doheny, Saoirse Lane, Sammi Chang, Aisling Moyles, Maeve Higgins, Maria Sheehan, Laura O’Mahony, Karen Lynch, Rachel O’Dell, Claire Byrne, Claire Tierney, Saoirse Fitzgerald, Jemma Duhig, Ciara Sobolewski, Aideen McAuley, Rebecca Wray, Alison McDevitt, Alie Lacey, Emily O’Halloran, Ciara Hodges, Lucy D’Arcy, Aoife Neville.

The Monaleen Gaelic for Mothers and Others side

MONALEEN G4MOs: This was a busy week for our Gaelic for Mothers and Others (G4MOs). On Wednesday we played in Murroe Boher’s blitz. We had 2 exciting games playing Murroe Bohar and St Brigids. Noreen played in goal against Murroe Bohar keeping a clean sheet. Sarah after scoring 1-2 in the first match went in goal. Karen and Jeannine were tenacious in the backline and Roisin playing mid field distributed the ball with ease setting up numerous scores. Jean’s marking job on their St Brigids key player ensured we turned the tide when we were trailing the in the first half. One of the outstanding scores came when Brigid under pressure from 2 opponents made a left legged clearance from deep in our defence finding Maura who swiftly moved the ball to Patrigue who ran through their defence scoring an excellent goal. The passing and running off the ball throughout both matches were top class. While G4MOs do not keep score we did win 3 of the 4 of the halves we played. Well done to all.
Our G4MOs travelled to Mallow on Saturday to play in the Munster Blitz which had over 40 teams competing. This was the first year we had sufficient numbers in July to attend the event. We were in a group with Ballingarry, Banteer (Cork) Bishopstown (Cork ) and Ferrybank (Waterford). The matches were played in great spirit and comradery. We played Ballingarry and enjoyed a great game of football losing by the narrowest margin 1-2 to 2-0. We played Banteer next and won well. Next up were Bishopstown and we were joined by Amanda a guest player from Adare. We played a great passing game and lost narrowly. Our final game against Ferrybank ended in a draw. Well done Jeannine, Jean, Noreen, Maire, Patrique, Roisin and Amanda. This was a well-run tournament and we are determined to return next year.
Gaelic for Mothers and Others (G4MOs) is a non competitive ladies football initiative. It is geared for those who never played football previously or those who have not played in a number of years. We train in the Clubhouse pitch each Wednesday 7:00 – 8:00. New members are always welcome. Simply come along on the night and join the fun.

CAMOGIE

Monaleen U13 A County 15-a-side Camogie Champions

U13: Well done to the Monaleen U13 camogie squad which defeated Newcastle West 1-4 to 0-2 in the U13 county 15-a-side final. Congratulations to the players and coaches involved.

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