ST. KIERAN’S GAA
Charity Road Hurling 2022
This year’s annual road hurling charity fundraiser on Dec 27 is less than 3 weeks away. This year’s chosen charities are Milford Care Centre and Crumlin Children’s hospital for sick children. We are supporting Crumlin Children’s hospital this year in appreciation of the care of Jack king and his family recently.
The road hurling has become a great community event annually on Dec 27th and again this year everyone is welcome to come along on the day and walk the circuit even if you aren’t taking part in the road hurling. The event will start at 11am. Please bring an old sliotar (or two!!!) and please wear a high jacket.
AGM:
As our u21 footballers get their championship campaign underway this Friday evening against Mungret/St. Pauls in Caherdavin at 8pmwe have decided to postpone our 2022 AGM which was originally due to take place. A new date will be announced in the coming weeks.
St Kieran’s GAA New Pitch Donation/fundraising fund.
Donations are continuing to come for the new pitch donation fund as can be seen from the donation barometer at the top cross In Ardagh. We sincerely thank all those who have contributed to date. Receipts will be issued in due course.
All donations will be acknowledged on a ‘donation wall’ in the later phases of the project.
Ní neart go cur lé chéile.
Munster Club Junior Hurling Championship Final:
St. Kieran’s 0.11 Ballygiblin (Cork) 3.12
The Mallow GAA Complex provide the venue on Sunday afternoon as the masses of St. Kieran’s made the long journey across the border into Cork to face off against defending Munster Champions from Mitchelstown, Ballygiblin. In the lead up to the game much had been made of the fact that Ballygiblin were appearing in their second Munster Club Final in succession having won the championship in 2021 but due to a restructuring of the Cork Junior Championship this season were not promoted to the Intermediate ranks. It was great to see such strong Kieran’s numbers make the journey to Mallow to lend the players and management their support and they were met with a barrage of
noise as they emerged from the quite quarters of the dressing rooms to begin their warmup prior to the game. The game began at a frantic pace with both teams looking to exert early dominance in the physicality stakes. We got the games opening score thanks to an Ian Mackessy free which was met with huge applause. Ballygiblin soon replied with a free of their own to tie up the game. We were dealt a cruel blow inside the opening ten minutes when we lost corner forward James Muckell to a nasty shoulder and leg injury which required substantial medical. Dubiously enough we failed to receive a free for the incident following what was a very severe tackle. Our chances took a major blow when the Avondhu side found the back of the net for the first time to the rapturous applause of the cork fans. Both teams fought tooth and nail for possession in the middle third and scores were hard to come by as shown by the fact that only four players scored throughout the hour of hurling when free’s were dominant. Despite a second Ballygiblin goal midway through the opening half we never lost focus and kept battling hard to get ourselves back into the game with further scores from Darragh Treacy and Ian Mackessy keeping us in the hunt. As end of the opening half approached, we were dealt another severe blow when Ballygiblin capitalised on a moment of indecision at the back to find the net for the third time to give them a four-point lead at the interval, 3.2 to 0.7. The half time break saw the introduction of Anthony Molyneaux who has made telling contributions throughout the championship campaign and once again he proved to be an excellent outlet for possession in the full forward line. Further Ian Mackessy points kept us intact but as the half ensued the Cork side began to exert their dominance around the middle third and began to force several significant turnovers and punished moments of indecision on our part. Darragh Treacy was bitterly unlucky to see his excellent strike glide past the keepers left hand post midway through the second period, had it gone in it could have had a major bearing on the outcome. As the final whistle approached and enjoying a strong lead the Cork side retreated into defence to reduce the space and goalscoring opportunities. Ian Mackessy’s late effort from a 25-yard free fizzed over the crossbar and it was evident that lady-luck was not on our side in our tenth outing of the season. At the final whistle there were mixed emotions in Mallow. The Ballygiblin supporters celebrated with delight at a second Munster championship in two years and they now progress to the All-Ireland semi final where they await this weekends Leinster championship winners. From our perspective there was a real sense of disappointment from the game in which we never found our rhythm and couldn’t play with the same energy as we have in other games. Goals win games and Ballygiblin got three while we found it difficult to create meaningful goalscoring chances, Darragh Treacy’s second half effort apart. While we are extremely disappointed at the Munster final loss everyone within our wonderful club is extremely proud of the efforts put in by
the players, management, backroom team, and medical staff throughout the 2022 campaign. Such is the competitive nature of each County Championship in Limerick at all levels county championship success is hard earned and doesn’t come easily. 2022 has seen the club win our first adult County title since the 2012 County Junior ‘A’ Hurling title success which will hopefully act as a springboard for our younger generation of players to future success. The players deserve a huge amount of credit for their efforts throughout the season competing on both fronts at Junior ‘A’ Hurling and Senior football level. We are entering a very exciting period of development within our club with a new pitch on the horizon as well as a return to the Intermediate Hurling grade in 2023 we have so much to look forward to. Congratulations to the management team of Chris Madigan, Conor Mahony, Jason Mullins, Donal Balfe and coach John Fitzgerald for their hard work and dedication throughout the 2022 campaign. This group of players has brought many great days to our club and hopefully many more to come in the years ahead.
Panel vs Ballygiblin:
Cillian Ambrose, Diarmuid Mulcahy, Paudie McCarthy, Aaron Heffernan, Jack Harnett, Brendan McCarthy, Cathal McEnery, Mossie Shine, Sean Ryan, Cormac Mann, Johnny McCarthy, Darragh Treacy, Ian Mackessy, Eoin McEnery, James Muckell, Donie Nolan, Anthony Molyneaux, Mike Flynn, Anthony Mullins, Liam Kennedy, Michael Murphy, Shay Greaney, Billy Breen, Mikey Breen, James O’ Connor, Edward Fitzgerald, Conor Woulfe, Michael Long, Darragh McMahon, Brian O’ Neill, Cathal O’ Connor, William Steele, Danny Collum, Padraig Balfe, Evan Donovan
U21 Football
The u21 footballers get their County Championship campaign underway this Friday evening when they make the journey to Caherdavin (Na Piarsaigh GAA) for their opening round encounter against Mungret/St. Pauls. This will be Mungret’s second game of the championship having drawn with 2021 runners up Galbally in their round 1 encounter. Friday’s game throws in at 8pm. Your support is greatly appreciated by all concerned.
Ardagh Development Association & St Kierans GAA Club Lottery Draw
Results for Monday 5th December 2022 as follows.
Jackpot €10,600
Numbers Drawn 10, 16, 17, 30,
NO WINNER
Lucky Dips
€40 Kitty McCarthy c/o Dawn
€40 Michael Ambrose Dunganville (Online)
€40 Hannah O Connor c/o Josie
€40 Margaret Sheehan Ardagh Village
€40 Marie MacInnes Coolcappa (Online)
Next Draw Monday 12th December 2022 with a jackpot of €10,700
Thank you for playing and for supporting our lotto. Go raibh maith agaibh go léir.