U16s Reach Championship Final 

Semi-final: Southern Gaels 2-12 v 1-9 Fr. Daltons 

When these 2 sides meet, neither give an inch or take a backward step. However, when a place in a County final is at stake, the ante is upped and once players cross the whitewash, they goto battle. These teams are very familiar with each other having played twice already earlier in the year with a victory each. The weather was not in their favour either with so much rain in the previous days making conditions very soft. The game was scheduled for Ballymore but moved on Sunday morning as their pitch was unplayable. That allowed some extra home support for the Gaels and they were not afraid to match the intensity they saw on the pitch. The game opened very well for the gaels, getting some super early well-earned points and frees which opened up a 5-point lead after 15 minutes. However, Fr. Daltons were not to lie down and battled that back to a few points again, before a well taken goal from the Gaels just before half time, which meant they went into the break maintaining that 5-point advantage. The second half started well in possession stakes for the home side, but unfortunately were not accurate in front of the posts. There were a few chances went a begging and the crowd feared they could be rued at the final whistle. These wides gave Daltons the chance of a comeback and they duly took it by converting a few points in response. That gave them momentum and they pushed on, while the Gaels tired. With every attack, Fr. Daltons seemed to be forcing the Gaels to foul and they converted. However, the biggest scare came with a well taken goal from Fr. Daltons after a high ball perfectly to the edge of the box, which was superbly caught and dispatched to the net despite perfect defensive tackling. Then came another point, and things were getting scary for a few in the crowd, but the mentors and players never panicked, even though the Gales were only leading by a point at this stage. After making some appropriate substitutions and each of the players digging deep to overturn the Daltons purple patch, the Gaels had the extra gear to kick into and responded by winning the next few balls superbly and duly converting to give the Gaels a goal lead heading into the last few minutes. This was the most intensive period of play and the players came through it in flying colours, sealing the victory to rapturous applause from the crowd with a last second long range free going straight to the back of the net. So Delvin await these fine bunch of players next Sunday at 11am in Castletown Geoghegan. Please come out and support us. 

The Panel of Hero’s for the Semi Final were: Conn O’Hara, Ryan Fallon (V-Capt), Cian O Súilleabháin, Andrew Ruane, Cian McCarthy, Evan Farrell, Cian Geary (1-1), Seán Murphy (Capt) (0-1), Alban Cepi, Luke Whelan, Chulainn Dowd (0-7), Eoin Hardiman, Paul Hogan, Tom Kelleher (1-0), Johnny Martin (0-3), Michael Dolan, Alex Devaney, Páidí Ó Leocháin, Luke O’Connell, Dano McMonagle, Diarmaid Murtagh. 

Halloween Party Fun 

A very large number of children attended this year’s joint Athlone GAA/ Southern Gaels Halloween Party. Great fun and games throughout the evening with treats for all the kids and parents. Put together by Rachel Prendergast with Pat O'Neill as the compere for the evening and invaluable assistance from William Quigley; Dave Clarke; Tracy Johnson; Fiona Killian and Roisin Rizza. Thanks to all the parents who attended and the children for having such great fun. 

U10 and U12 Off-season Hurling Sessions 

Off-season hurling sessions start next Sun 10th November, 3-4pm on the astroturf in the Gaelscoil. It will run for 5/6 weeks before Christmas and similarly after the Christmas holidays. Mainly for U10’s and the U12’s still in national school as many U12’s are playing hurling and other sports in secondary school and will be moving up to U14 anyway. U14 session will be announced shortly as the path to Féile 2020 is laid out.  

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