St. Kierans GAA Club Notes:

St. Kierans 3-11 Ballylanders 0-08

The 2024 County Championship commenced on Saturday evening when we made the journey to a sun-drenched Ballyagran where Ballylanders were our opening round opponents. As always playing conditions in the south Limerick venue were immaculate and great credit is due to the club officials for always having the field and dressing rooms in excellent conditions for visiting teams. Both teams came into the opening round off the back of disappointing 2023 championship campaigns which saw both sides fail to advance to the knockout stages of the championship. We finished with two wins from our five championship games last season while Ballylanders needed a relegation play-off victory over Claughaun to secure their senior status for this season. Shorn of the services of a number of players due to retirement, illness and travel we began the game with a youthful side that included a championship debutant in Darragh McMahon in the full back line who performed excellently throughout the hour, looking extremely composed in possession on the ball while Ray Noonan made a return in goals and also performed extremely well pulling off an excellent last gasp save low to his left in the second half as the south side piled the pressure on our defence. We began the game brightly with Alan Daly opening our account following a darting attack from Noel Callanan who pierced a hole in the Bally defence. Ballylanders were soon on the board with a point of their own and could count themselves not to have taken an early lead but for some wayward shooting which would prove to be their downfall throughout the opening half. Alan Daly and Liam Kennedy further added to our tally before the major breakthrough in the game as two quickfire goals from Eoin McEnery and Limerick U20 Michael Long put us in the ascendency and from here we never looked back. We held a comfortable half time lead, 2.5 to 0.2 and would be assisted by a stiff breeze in the second half as we played into the village end. We got the perfect start to the second half when Eoin McEnery added to his goal tally, finding the back of the Bally net for the second time increasing our lead to twelve points. Further second half scores would come from John Hayes, Darragh Treacy and Alan Daly who was particularly potent inside ably assisted by Adam Lacey who worked extremely hard as a link man. At the back we worked tirelessly to reduce the scoring opportunities of the Bally attack who have the ability to be extremely potent on their day with Mike Shanahan, Diarmuid Mulcahy and Darragh McMahon showing great resilience in the full back line while the half back line of Mossie Shine, Brendan McCarthy and Anthony Mullins worked extremely hard getting up and down the field and offering support to our midfield partnership securing breaks on our kickouts. Experienced duo Dylan Moloney and Cormac Mann were introduced into the second half and brought great energy to the half forward line acting as outlets as we transitioned the ball from defence to attack at pace. The second half also saw the introduction of a second championship debutant in Sean Long joining his brother Michael in the senior ranks. We may well have had a fourth goal late on as Eoin McEnery bore down on goal only to be cynically dragged to the ground by the Ballylanders defence. Alan Daly stepped up to the spot and played the percentages and slotted the ball coolly over the bar to increase our tally once again to twelve points at the final whistle. At the final whistle there was a great sense of satisfaction from the players and management team as we secured the vital two points which are vital if we aspire to qualify for the knockout stages of the championship. With the two points secured our attention now focuses to our round two encounter this Saturday when we travel to Adare to take on Monaleen in round 2. Monaleen have traditionally proven to be difficult opponents for us in the County Championship although we should take confidence from last season’s County League Final victory over the Castletroy side. Our last championship encounter was the 2022 County Quarter Final in Bruff, on that occasion the city side took the spoils. Monaleen were defeated by Adare in their opening round encounter and will undoubtedly be determined to add two points to their tally before the championship break while we can take huge confidence from our round 1 victory. In the other round 1 game from last weekend, 2023 County Intermediate Champions Mungret/St. Pauls comprehensively saw off the challenge of their City rivals Na Piarsaigh.

Team vs Ballylanders: Ray Noonan, Mike Shanahan, Diarmuid Mulcahy, Darragh McMahon, Mossie Shine, Brendan McCarthy, Anthony Mullins, Darragh Treacy, Liam Kennedy, Noel Callanan, John Hayes, Michael Long, Alan Daly, Adam Lacey, Eoin McEnery, Dylan Moloney, Cormac Mann, Sean Long, Donie Nolan, Oisin Ryan, Luke Corrigan, Shane Fitzgerald, Jack Mulqueen.

Wednesday July 3: County Minor A Football Championship vs Newcastle West in Newcastle West at 7.30pm

Saturday July 6: County Senior Football Championship vs Monaleen in Adare at 3pm

Results for Monday 1st July 2024.

Jackpot €5800

Numbers Drawn 3, 12, 25, 27.

No Winner

Lucky Dips

€40 Ita Dineen Ardagh

€40 Sam King Carrigkerry

€40 Abbie Ahern Rooskagh c/o Moore

€40 Séamus Ambrose Ardagh

€40 Séamus Ambrose Ardagh

Next Draw Monday 7th July 2024 with a jackpot of €5900.00.