ST KIERAN’S GAA CLUB NOTES
County Minor ‘A’ Football Championship Final:
St. Kieran’s 3.10 Croom 0.7
Mick Neville Park, Rathkeale was once again the venue this past Tuesday evening as the minor footballers captured the County Minor ‘A’ Football championship title for the first time since 2017 following an excellent team performance to comprehensively see off the challenge of Croom. Played in excellent underfoot conditions we controlled the game from the off with our potent forward line giving the southerners defence a lot of problems. The foundation for the victory was laid around the middle 8 with our half backs, midfielders, and half forwards in particular gaining the upper hand and feeding the ever dangerous inside line of Conor Woulfe, Jamie Keane, and Shay Greaney. The game swung in our favour inside the opening quarter when full forward Jamie Keane pounced to find the back of the net to give us a five-point lead at the water break, 1.3-0.1. further first half scores came from Jamie Baynham, Cormac Mann and Cathal McEnery to increase our tally to 1.7 at the interval as we led 1.7 to 0.3. To Croom’s credit they battled hard in q2 and their tactic of isolating their impressive full forward was paying dividends. Their chances were dealt a major blow just before half time when they were reduced to fourteen men as their centre forward received a black card for decent. Now playing with a numerical advantage for the start of the second half the management emphasised the importance of making the most of this and the team exploded out of the blocks at the start of the second half with two early goals which finished the game off. Croom were dealt a major blow when they were permanently reduced to fourteen following an off-the-ball altercation and from here it was a case of keeping possession of the ball and seeing out the game. While there were many excellent individual performances on the night it was a brilliant team performance with each player winning their individual battles, each player worked tirelessly to win possession in particular the breaking ball around the middle third and took the right options in front of goal. At the final whistle there was great scenes of jubilation from the Kieran’s faithful. For many of these players it is their first taste of county championship success while for team captain Aaron Heffernan it was his second Minor A Championship having been a panel member in 2017. In his acceptance speech Heffernan thanked the players and management team for their efforts throughout the campaign and urged his fellow panel members to push on and seek further championship success in the Minor B Hurling championship. Congratulations to the players and management team of John Ryan, Noel Broderick, Paudie McCarthy, Robert Bradley and Mikey Greaney on their championship success. The team have played an excellent brand of attacking football throughout their championship campaign, they put together an excellent panel of players, many of whom who have played senior championship in 2021 and hopefully many more can gain senior experience in 2022. The future is very bright for this group of players with only four players overage in 2022 as they make the step up to Premier Level. Finally, we would also like to thank our contingent of players from Monagea who played with St. Kieran’s throughout the 2021 minor campaign. They worked extremely hard and fitted into the set up seamlessly. Congratulations to all involved, the success is richly deserved and hopefully we can continue to enjoy success in the years ahead.
Team vs Croom:
Craig MacInnes, Conor Kelly, Aaron Heffernan, Jamie O’ Brien, Shane Fitzgerald, Daniel Geraghty, Sean Ryan, Cormac Mann, Lorcan Murphy, Cathal McEnery, Jamie Baynham, Tom McMahon, Shay Greaney, Jamie Keane, Conor Woulfe, Michael Long, Robert Cremin, Jack Mulqueen, Cillian Heffernan, Darragh McMahon, Cian Brennan, Cormac Browne, Conor Shanahan, Patrick Ambrose
County Junior ‘A’ Hurling Championship Semi Final:
This Saturday afternoon our Junior hurlers travel to Clarina in pursuit of a place in the 2021 County Junior ‘A’ Hurling championship final where east Limerick side Ballybricken/Bohermore will provide the opposition. Both teams go into the game having topped their respective groups and were pushed to the pin of their collars in the county quarter finals. Morale will no doubt be high among the squad following the excellent quarter final victory against Doon and hopefully the players can put in another strong performance on Saturday against a Ballybricken side who have been potent in front of goal to date scoring sixteen goals in their six games. From our perspective we have been watertight at the back in our last two games and if we are to advance to our first County final since 2012, we will have to bring the same level of intensity and aggression as have so far this campaign. Saturday’s game throws in at 3pm in Clarina. Tickets can be purchased in advance of the on-Universe ticketing. For those unable to attend we will have live updates throughout on our various social media platforms.
Path to the Quarter Final:
St. Kieran’s Ballybricken/Bohermore
Round 1: St. Kieran’s 1.14 Kilteely/Dromkeen 4.18 Round 1: Ballybricken/Bohermore 5.24 Old Christians 1.8
Round 2: St. Kieran’s 2.12 St. Patricks 0.15 Round 2: Ballybricken/Bohermore 2.17 Drom/Broadford 1.16
Round 3: St. Kieran’s 2.16 Garryspillane 2.10 Round 3: Ballybricken/Bohermore 1.17 Caherline 0.17
Round 4: St. Kieran’s 3.9 Monagea 1.9 Round 4: Ballybricken/Bohermore 2.13 Crecora/Mainister 2.15
Round 5: St. Kieran’s 5.15 Ahane 0.8 Round 5: Ballybricken/Bohermore 3.25 Templeglantine 3.12
Quarter Final: St. Kieran’s 1.11 Doon 0.11 Quarter Final: Ballybricken/Bohermore 3.15 Kileedy 1.19
AGM 2021
The 2021 St. Kieran’s GAA AGM will be held on Friday November 19. Due to covid 19 restrictions in 2020 we decided to hold a virtual AGM which proved to be extremely successful. We hope to be in a position this year to hold our AGM in person once again. We will have further details re time and location in the coming weeks.
County Minor ‘B’ Hurling Championship Semi Final:
St. Kieran’s 2.18 Caherline 1.11
A strong third quarter performance saw our minor hurlers book their place in the 2021 County Minor ‘B’ Hurling Championship. Staker Wallace GAA complex in Kilbreedy was the venue and Caherline were our opponents on a windy yet sunny bank holiday Monday afternoon. The opening quarter was a keenly contested affair with the east limerick men obtaining the opening score of the game, our ill-discipline at the back ensured that Caherline kept increasing their tally early on, but we were soon on the board thanks to efforts from the extremely impressive James Normoyle who was ably assisted with opening quarter scores from Conor Woulfe and Sean Ryan. We trailed by two points at the first water break as we played against the elements. Had we shown more accuracy in front of goal then we may well have been in front but there was a noticeable change in attitude following some words of encouragement from the management at the brief interval. Normoyle found the back of the net in the second quarter to put us into the lead by the slightest of margins at half time, 1.8 to 0.10. To the lad’s credit they really upped the ante in the second period, we were now operating in a more disciplined manner at the back and once we stopped giving away free’s then Caherline’s scoring opportunities were drastically reduced. We began to get a stranglehold on possession in the middle third of the field during the third quarter and from here we never looked back. Second half scores came from James Normoyle, Conor Woulfe, Cormac Mann and Cathal McEnery to increase our lead to ten points at the final whistle. Once again on Monday afternoon the lads put in an excellent performance, all six backs got on top of their men in the second half, the ability to reduce Caherline to two second half scores, one of which was a goal from a penalty is a great sign of a team and the lads will have to show the same intensity in the coming weeks if they are to add the county hurling title to their newly acquired football crown. Up front the forwards worked hard throughout in conditions which weren’t conducive to fast flowing hurling. Despite this you have to be happy any day you score 2.18. The lads now have a glorious opportunity to follow in the footsteps of our U15’s who this week added the County Football title to the County Hurling Championship they won two weeks ago. In the County Final we will undoubtedly face a huge test against a Kildimo/Pallaskenry side who overcame Dromin/Athlacca by two points in the semi-final last Friday night and have been extremely impressive in their games to date amassing huge tallies in their respective championship victories over St. Patrick’s and Ballybricken/Bohermore-Fedamore. Congratulations to the players and management team for their outstanding victory on Monday, they can now look forward to a County Final in the coming weeks full of optimism with the opportunity to add another County title to the trophy cabinet.
Team vs Caherline.
Tom McMahon, Conor Kelly, Jack Kiely, William Steele, Cathal McEnery, Aaron Heffernan, Shay Greaney, Cormac Mann, Jamie Baynham, Michael Long, Sean Ryan, James Normoyle, Conor Woulfe, Jamie Keane, Conor Shanahan, Daniel Geraghty, Darragh McMahon, Robert Cremin, Cian Brennan, Cillian Heffernan, Cathal O’ Connor, Lorcan Murphy, Craig MacInnes, Nathan Cahill
County U21 Football & Hurling Championships:
County Premier U21 Football Championship
1 Fr. Casey’s
2 Monaleen
3 St Kieran’s
4 Na Piarsaigh
County U21 ‘B’ Hurling Championship Group 4
1 Tournafulla/Killeedy
2 St Kieran’s
3 Caherline
Bereavement:
St. Kieran’s GAA club would like to express our condolences to the Collins family, Ardagh on the recent passing of Denis Collins. May he rest in peace.
Ardagh Development Association & St Kieran’s GAA Club Lottery Draw
Results for Monday 25th October 2021 as follows.
Jackpot €5000.00
Numbers Drawn 4, 21, 25, 29,
NO WINNER
Lucky Dips
€40 John Dillane (Online)
€40 Alva Quaid (Online)
€40 Micheal Liston Glenastar
€40 Brendan Madigan c/o Madigans
€40 Maurice Hartnett Ardagh
Next Draw Monday 1st November with a jackpot of €5100.00
Thank you for playing and for supporting our lotto. Go raibh maith agaibh go léir.