ST. KIERAN’S
County Senior Football Championship Round 2:
St. Kieran’s 2.9 Ballylanders 2.8
Our senior footballers made it two wins from two in dramatic fashion on Saturday evening with a dramatic one-point win over Ballylanders in a game that looked to be out of our grasp for much of the hour of football. Played in sun-drenched conditions in the newly redeveloped grounds in Ballyagran it was the 2014 County Champions who registered the games opening score inside the opening moments before Liam Kennedy opened our account with a well struck point within five minutes. Following their opening round defeat Ballylanders had a point to prove and looked particularly potent up front in the opening quarter and soon raced into a five-point lead as we found it increasingly difficult to deal with their pacey and economical inside line. From our perspective we created many scoring chances in the opening half, but our accuracy left us down at time, the fact we were creating scoring opportunities despite the Ballylanders onslaught was a sign of encouragement. We trailed by two points at the interval, 1.5-1.3 with our goal coming from Anthony Molyneaux but a massive improvement would be required in the second period if we were to reduce the deficit. We got off to the worst possible start with the south Limerick side increasing their lead to four points inside the opening five minutes of the half. Disaster struck when Ballylanders found the back of the net for the second time and now lead by seven points as we left ourselves with a huge mountain to climb. To the lad’s credit they never lost heart and rebounded in fine fashion as Liam Kennedy cut through the heart of the defence to find the back of the net for our second goal and now there was only three points between the two sides. Further scores from Sean Ryan and the ever-impressive John Hayes who once again put in another excellent performance saw the game tied up. Momentum quickly swung in our favour, the introduction of substitutes in the second half who each brought great energy into the game in the sweltering heat. As the game concluded, we were awarded with a free some fifty yards from goal. Up stepped john Hayes who showed great composure and accuracy to coolly slot the ball over the Ballylanders crossbar to give us the lead for the first time in the game as we headed into additional time. Leading by a point, it was vital that we either won back possession or not foul. With the final whistle fast approaching Ballylanders had two late opportunities to tie up the game. Thankfully for us neither effort breached our defences and on the final whistle there were scenes of jubilation as we emerged victorious in a game which looked to have gotten away from us for long parts of the game. This new youthful side deserve great credit for the character they have shown in their two games to date to battle back from adversity to come away with two hard earned victories. With Saturday night’s win we head into the championship interval sitting in second place on four points behind Adare who currently top the group on score difference following victories over Galtee Gaels and Kildimo/Pallaskenry. Galtee Gaels rebounded from their opening round loss by overcoming Ballysteen on Sunday evening by a goal and currently sit in third position on two points ahead of Ballysteen on the head-to-head. We now have a six week break from the senior football championship, in round 3 we face off against Galtee Gaels on the weekend of august 18-21 before a round 4 encounter with Ballysteen the following weekend.
Team vs Ballylanders:
Ian Mackessy, Mossie Shine, Johnny McCarthy, Mike Shanahan, Brendan McCarthy, Diarmuid Mulcahy, Sean Ryan, Darragh Treacy, John Hayes, Kevin Meade, Dylan Moloney, Jack Harnett, Seamus Mangan, Anthony Molyneaux, Liam Kennedy, Shane Fitzgerald, Anthony Mullins, Aaron Heffernan, Cormac Mann, Ray Noonan, James O’ Connor, Michael Murphy, Michael Long, Cillian Heffernan
All Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Final:
All roads lead to Croke Park this Sunday as Limerick senior hurlers look to in their fourth All Ireland Senior Hurling Championship in five years when they take on the might of Brian Cody’s Kilkenny. Both teams go into the final fresh off provincial championship success, Limerick overcame near neighbours Clare after extra time in what was a game for the ages while Kilkenny saw off the challenge of Galway in the Leinster final, like Limerick winning their third provincial title in succession. The All-Ireland semi finals were contrasting encounters with the Cats easily disposing off Clare in the first semi final having looked like they recaptured the form that saw Kilkenny dominate the hurling landscape during the noughties while we once again in the 2022 championship were pushed to the pin of our colours against Henry Shefflin’s Galway charges. All within St. Kieran’s GAA club would like to wish John Kiely, Declan Hannon and the entire Limerick management, backroom team and panel of players the very best of luck this Sunday. This team have brought immense joy to the county on their journey throughout the past five years and hopefully on Sunday afternoon they can once again put in another big performance to bring Liam McCarthy back home to the banks of the Shannon.
Ardagh Development Association & St Kierans GAA Club Lottery Draw
Results for Monday 11TH July 2022 as follows.
Jackpot €8500.00
Numbers Drawn 5, 11, 15, 30
NO WINNER
Lucky Dips
€40 Darragh Breen Belguim (Online)
€40 Jason O Donovan Ardagh
€40 Noel Broderick Coolnoran (Online)
€40 Denis O Sullivan c/o Nora Dineen
€40 John Doyle Carrigkerry (Online)
Next Draw Monday 18th July 2022 with a jackpot of €8600.00
Thank you for playing and for supporting our lotto. Go raibh maith agaibh go léir.