Southern Gaels Club Notes

Intermediate Championship: Southern Gaels 3-19   Turin 1-13

Southern Gaels enjoyed an emphatic victory over Turin in their final group game in this year's championship. Played in Ballymore last Sunday in ideal conditions the Athlone side dominated much of the game. They had a bright opening with a Noel Morgan goal within five minutes but the opening stages were closely fought with the sides level at 1-6 after the first quarter. However, on twenty minutes an excellent Tony O'Keeffe goal gave Gaels a lead they would never relinquish. Three points followed and though Turin added two it saw the Athlone side lead by two at half time.

Ray Aughty opened the second half scoring with a long range free for Turin to cut the deficit to the minimum but Gaels answered in style. Over the next twenty minutes they outscored Turin by ten points to one. Kieran Duncan excelled at center back ably supported by Jonathan Keogh, Kevin Dolan and Shane Galvin. Sean Dowd tormented the Turin defense and was accurate from frees. Noel Morgan and Diarmuid Martin were busy throughout and MJ Kelly picked off some fine scores. There was a spread of seven scorers on a day when the side showed great determination, commitment and a high level of skill. Sean Dowd capped a top-class performance with a third goal for this side in the closing stages as Turin finished with a pointed free just their third score of the half.

This was the final game of the championship and though they do not make the semi-finals it was a very encouraging finish to the campaign.  Thanks to team manager John Benton and medical officer Vera Corcoran for their work during the year. John has announced that he will be stepping down from his role after two years in charge during which he has worked endlessly to ensure hurling at senior level in the club continues to thrive. The club greatly appreciates your commitment John and you will always remain a true Southern Gaels man.

Team: Ronan Farrell (Captain), Eoin Meaney, Kevin Dolan, Killian Coyle, Shane Galvin, Kieran Duncan, Jonathan Keogh, Sean Kilgarriff (0-1), Sean Carey (0-1), Dermot Treacy, Sean Dowd (1-7,4f), MJ Kelly (0-2), Tony O'Keeffe (1-1,1f), Diarmuid Martin (0-5) and Noel Morgan (1-2)

Subs: Colin Larkin (O'Keeffe), Frank Kelly (Morgan), Peter Muldoon (Kilgarriff), Ciaran Connolly (Treacy), Gary Fitzpatrick and Fionn Dowd.

U12s Finish Season with a Win
The U12s official season ended last Friday evening away to St. Brigid’s in Rochfortsbridge with a solid win but some positional changes at the end did cause a wobble before the re-adjusted squad shored up the defence and ran out winners. Great performances from Gearóid McCarthy solid in goal, Kyle Mahon driving out from the back line, Dara Shortall relentless in half back, Seán O’Donoghue as master of mid-field and Lee Turley in top-form at full forward ensured this contest was out of reach for the home side by half time. Dean Burns and Aaron Murphy worked endlessly throughout the match and tracked and tackled with an unequalled hunger. It’s been a great season for this bunch of lads and they are ready for their last engagement of the year next Tuesday when they defend the Artie Pyke trophy in the annual club tournament against Roscommon Gaels and Longford Slashers. Players on the day were Dáithí Ó Leocháin, Gearóid McCarthy, Kyle Mahon, Josh Blaine, Dara Shortall, Dean Burns, Aaron Murphy, Cormac Murphy, Diarmaid Morgan, Ciarán Morgan, Leon Macken, Kristers Vargovcik, Lee Turley and Seán O’Donoghue.

U8 Darren O’Donnell Tournament
Southern Gaels hosted their annual U8 Darren O’ Donnell tournament on Tuesday 11th September in Athlone. Castletown Geoghegan, St Dominic’s, and Roscommon Gaels were our visitors on this occasion.
We had a fantastic turnout with over 80 players taking part in the tournament. We had some great contests and really entertaining U8 and U7 matches under floodlights which greatly added to the occasion. At the final whistle, there was never much to separate any of the sides. All teams put on an amazing display of the hurling skills they have been learning throughout the year. There was fantastic striking, blocking, tackling and commitment on display from everyone on this Autumnal evening.
In our U8 section, the teams each played 3 short group matches and then the top 2 played in the Shield final and 3rd and 4th place played in the Plate final.
Roscommon Gaels and Castletown Geoghegan qualified for the Shield final and Southern Gaels and St Dominic’s contested the Plate final. In the Shield final Castletown Geoghegan narrowly defeated Roscommon Gaels and in the Plate Final Southern Gaels narrowly defeated St Dominic’s. Two very exciting and evenly contested matches. Congratulations to our 2018 winners Castletown Geoghegan and many thanks to all Clubs for participating
In our U7 section the teams played a mini round-robin blitz. In each of the games the kids displayed brilliant teamwork and scored some well taken goals. The level of skills shown by our youngest players is encouraging for the future of these clubs. The younger players then cheered their friends in the finals adding to the level of noise and excitement on the night.
U8 Team: Liam Ambrose, Aoibheann Flynn, Sam Meegan, Eoghan Hardiman, Cillian Lee, Tom O’Keeffe, Daniel Crosbie, Nathan Quigley, Kevin Vargovick, Brandon Coffey, Glenn Heaton, Ryan Cunningham
U7 Team: Shane Cahill, Aodhán Fallon, Fearghal Kelly, Evan Martin, Conor Matthews, James Cahill, Sachin Sundaresan, Thomas Walsh, Michael Cunningham, LJ Kelly, Casper Joyce, Cillian Coughlan, Jamie Costello. Kevin Jordan, committee member, presented the trophies to the winning teams and medals to all participants among scenes of great celebrations.
Many thanks to the O’Donnell family for their continuing support for this Tournament. Many thanks to all who helped out on the night, to the parents for supporting the players and to the teams for travelling to Páirc Chiaráin.

Academy Exhibition Match
The future Southern Gaels heroes from our Academy put on an exhibition match for their parents and friends right in the middle of the big evening under lights for the Darren O Donnell tournament. The energy of the whole occasion resulted in a great display of hurling by our club’s youngest members. They were magnificent and a credit to themselves. Afterwards, in the spirit of the night, they were presented with their Academy medals. They then served their media obligations with due patience before some refreshments were enjoyed. Congrats to all our younger members and thanks to their parents for bringing them along.

 

U14s Qualify for Westmeath Championship Semi-Finals

Our young lads had 2 matches this week and if they won one, they would qualify in the Top 4 of the Division 2 Championship to make the Semi-final. First match was versus Fr. Daltons and in the previous game this year, it was a 1 point victory for the Gaels. This time, the contest would also go down to the wire with only one score separating the teams, however it was Fr. Daltons who took the victory on a score line of 3-7 to 2-7. The Gaels started well and had 1-2 on the board before the Ballymore side were to register a score. However when they did, they took off and scored 2-5 without reply to give them a healthy lead going into the break. The gaels were not to lie down to the onslaught and fought tooth and nail in the second half to battle back as hard as they could. However, they could not beat the opposition keeper from play as he was in fantastic form. We did get some notable points on the board and a late penalty to reduce the margin to 1 goal, but the result always looked safe for Fr. Daltons.
Next up then was a “Must Win” match for the U14 squad v Longford titans: Wolfe Tones. They came to town having been getting some great games against other westmeath opposition and a win for them would put them into the semis. However the Iarmhí southern team squad were up for the game and came out from the throw in fighting, to notch up 2-2 without reply. Then the visitors got 2 points before the gaels notched up a further 5 points but leaked a goal to take a Healthy 2-7 to 1-2 lead at the break. Wolfe Tones came out very determined in the second half and threw everything at us to score a few goals and reduce the deficit to just 1 goal. However the large Gaels squad had their sights set on the semis and collectively settled together to knock over the vital scores at critical times to see off the opposition by 5 points on a score line of 4-10 to 5-2 and see the 14s into the last 4 of championship for the first time on their own club jersey without an amalgamation, since the last century. Therefore, Next championship game up promises to be a cracking Semi final with a rematch against Fr. Daltons, who have split the victory spoils with us from both their games to date in 2018.

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