GRASSROOTS
ENNISKERRY
CLUB LOTTO: Winning numbers on August 29th were 06, 07, 25, 27. Bonus 35. No Jackpot winner or match 3 winners. 8 Lucky Dips and 2 Sellers Prizes receive Euro 30 each. Jackpot on September 5th stands at Euro 6, 800. Thanks to all buyers and sellers of club lotto tickets for continued support.
LADIES FOOTBALL: The girls continue their quest for League honours when they entertain Barndarrig in Enniskerry tomorrow (Thursday 8th) at 19.30. Best of luck to Aoife and the girls. All support is most welcome.
IN SYMPATHY: Condolences to the Cahill and Willis families on the recent passing of Margaret Cahill RIP and Paddy Willis RIP. Members of the Enniskerry- Kilmac Hurling squad performed a guard of honour at the funeral of Margaret Cahill last Wednesday in Kilmac where a large crowd turned up to pay their respects. Former club footballing great, Paddy ‘Spanky’Willis was laid to rest on Thursday morning in Shankill. Ar Dheis De Go Raibh A Anam Dhilis
This Sunday (September 11th) in St Marys Church, Enniskerry the months mind mass for Sean ‘Egger’ Murphy will take place at 11am. All are welcome to attend.
ADULT FOOTBALL: Junior B Football Championship 1/4 Final - Enniskerry 0-13, Blessington 1-8 - We did just about enough last Thursday in Ballinakill to earn a semi final spot after a tough, hard hitting championship game which was played in good spirits and well handled by referee Robby Whelan. Playing some great football and kicking some good points, we lead 0-9 to 0-3 at the break.
However the West Wicklow side came out fired up for second half and when they raised a green flag with 15 left to play it was game on.
Enniskerry with Ian Kirwan, Stephen Cahill, Brendan Fitzgerald and Dan Kelly strong in defence held out for a deserved win. Points were shared by Anto O’Neill, Gavin Barton, Craig Williams and Luke Wrynn. Full match report in Sports Section. Many thanks to the big crowd of supporters who made their way down to cheer on the team. Your support is much appreciated by the team.
VICTORIAN FESTIVAL: Remember the local Victorian Field Day takes place this weekend on the Ballyman Road. Best of luck to the Festival committee and if possible why not call in on either day. Plenty of stuff going on to suit all tastes while also supporting some very good causes.
EIRE OG GREYSTONES
Lotto: Monday’s (September 5th) Lotto Pota Óir stood at an extremely attractive 11,000 euro. Instructions for buying online are given on www.eireoggreystones. com. There were three match three winners on Monday 29th and they shared 200 euros. The numbers drawn were 3, 20, 25 and 26. GAA clubs endeavour to develop a sense of community and to this end promote social events. The next such occasion on the Éire Óg calendar is the Club marquee social night which is being held on the eve of the All-Ireland football final (17th September). Tickets are just 10 euro and can be got through any Coiste member.
Iomáint: On Friday evening Éire Óg played host to St Pat’s of Wicklow in our final game in the league section of the Senior Championship. The match had been fixed originally for Páirc na bPiarsach in Arklow which does not have a lighting system hence given the time of the fixture and with the evenings closing in the second half would have to have been played in semi-darkness. Happily the quality of the flood-lighting in our grounds is more than adequate for the small-ball game so with the sporting consent of the opposition the game was rescheduled for na Clocha Liatha.
It is a sad fact that playing at home carries very little encouragement advantage for Éire Óg teams as only a very small band of loyal supporters turn up to lend their support. For this game the Pat’s supporters greatly outnumbered those for the locals.
Our hurlers’ showing to date in the league section of the championship had, to put it mildly, been far from encouraging and the best that followers could hope for was a defeat of respectable proportions.
St Pat’s got off to a great start and were two points up after 5 minutes and it was looking like our lads were going to have a very bad day at the office. The more fatalistic among the side-line support were already at that early stage beginning to see the writing on the wall for the hosts.
Thankfully this pessimism was soon shown to be somewhat premature. Two points - a long range free from Anto Byrne and one from play by Kristian Flynn - had the teams on level terms around the 8 minute mark. The next 10 minutes belonged to the visitors and in that period they knocked over six unanswered points. Once again Greystones hearts began to sink.
But then the contest took an unexpected turn. A long ball out of defence was snatched from the air by the sure hand of Andrew Walsh and passed to the vigilant “Pooch” Cranley who with the coolness of a “Bubbles” Dwyer sent it unerringly to the net. Thus the teams went into the break with Éire Óg a mere two points behind.
Immediately after the break Wicklow went three points ahead. This lead was however quickly reduced to the minimum with points from Andrew and Pooch.
The next period saw an exciting bout of tit-for-tat scoring which ended with na Clocha Liatha that one point behind and with not much more than 5 minutes on the clock.
In the closing minutes Éire Óg were restricted to another point from James Cranley while the visitors succeeded in adding three more.
Scorers: Anto Byrne (0-5, 2f), Kristian Flynn (0-2), “Pooch” Cranley (1-5, 2f), Andy Walsh (0-1).
A particular highlight of the match was the saving of a well-taken penalty by Éire Óg goalie Dan O’Neill. With the one-on-one format of this set piece such a save has to been seen as quite an accomplishment.
Cailíní: The cailíní of Éire Óg have recently had successful outings in the county championship at U-12, U-14 and U-16.
The U-12s have reached the final of their competition by virtue of a narrow (2-6 to 2-4) away win over Barndarrig and a 7-5 to 1-9 win away in Valleymount.
The U-14s beat St. Nicolas 6-12 to 4-10 in Dunlavin and the U-16s overcame an Tóchar in the first rounds of their respective championships.
Comhghairdeachas to Laurie Ahern and Lorna Fusciardi, former Éire Óg players, who were members of the FoxCab team that defeated St. Brigids by two points in a hugely exciting Dublin ladies senior final played before a fine crowd in Parnell Park on Thursday evening. A little further afield Laura Mitchell, another former Éire Óg player, was on the St Brigids Chicago team that beat Calgary to win the North American championship in Seattle last weekend. Maith sibh a chailíní!
FERGAL ÓGS
Our U12’s football team took on Lackan/Kilbride on Monday 29th in Ballywaltrim Park, in the 1st round of the U12’s Mini Festival.
On what was a great summers evening, we saw an exciting game of football played out with Lackan/Kilbride making the stronger start, scoring a well worked point from play in the opening minute. They followed quickly with a goal, before Oisin Allen kick started Fergal Ógs first attacks with some superb kick outs in which he continually found his team mates in the middle and down the wings. Cian Byrne and Caitlin Doyle in midfield soon started to make inroads into the opposing half, and got their names on the scoresheet, finding Fergal Ógs first points of the encounter. With Fergal Ógs having settled into the game, the tie became a back and forth affair with both teams trading attack for attack. Lackan/Kilbride found another brace of goals, and could have netted a couple more if it wasn’t for a couple of brilliant saves by Oisin Allen, while Michael Doran and Kara Molloy were first to many of the balls that came their way at the back. Dennis Vickers and Ross McAteer in the corner forward positions looked to find Jake Peare at full forward who was having a great one on one duel with the Lackan/Kilbride full back.
With both teams trading points, an injury to Kara Molloy approaching the end of the 1st half would prove a turning point in the tie, with Michael Doran’s defensive requirements doubled. Lackan/ Kilbride immediately took advantage of the situation and found another goal just before half-time.
Heading into the 2nd half, there was little between the sides. Caitlin Doyle dropped back to help Michael Doran at the back, leaving Cian Byrne to win the midfield battle by himself.
Outnumbered, Byrne won his fair share of ball and at times, ran rings around the duo marking him, setting up scores for the forwards.
Fergal Ógs were dealt another blow when the Lackan/Kilbride’s midfield duo’s frustration with being unable to contain Byrne, led to pushing and shoving with Byrne receiving a knee in the side. Byrne retaliated, kicking out at the Lackan midfielder. With the referee only metres away, he received a straight red card.
With two less players out on the pitch, Fergal Ógs were now up against it, with Lackan/Kilbride finding their men in space and taking their points, before securing another brace of goals.
Despite their two man deficit, Fergal Ógs showed no let up, refusing to give up the fight.
Ross McAteer dropped back to help Michael Doran on defensive duty, with Caitlin Doyle pushing back into midfield to make up for Byrne’s absence.
Doyle made a couple of brilliant runs and found another two points from play, while Lackan/Kilbride made use of their two free men, peppering the Fergal Ógs goal, with Oisin Allen making a string of impressive saves.
Midway through the half, Jake Peare pushed back onto the wing and won numerous kick outs, carrying the ball, and hitting balls over the top to Dennis Vickers, who was now the lone man up front. A fine attempt on goal from Vickers was saved before his 2nd attempt, courtesy of a Jake Peare lay off, found the back of the net, after he struck it superbly from just inside the box.
After a tremendous shift put in, an exhausted Caitlin Doyle switched with Oisin Allen in goals, with Allen providing a fresher pair of legs in midfield.
With full time nearing, Fergal Ógs found their final score of the game when Dennis Vickers, after striking two earlier wides, found his range and launched a ball over the bar to top off what was an impressive 2nd half performance by the Bray team, given the circumstances.
The final score in Ballywaltrim Park was Fergal Ógs 4-7 Lackan/Kilbride 7-12.
Well done to all the team who performed admirably on the night.
Fundraising: We have received our allocation of National Draw tickets for the 2017 National Draw. Tickets cost €10 with the top prize being an Opel Corsa. There are plenty of other prizes on offer too.
All proceeds of the draw go directly to the club, so a huge drive is needed to sell the tickets, as it presents us with a fantastic fundraising opportunity. If you’d like to buy a ticket or wish to sell one to family/friends etc, you can contact time to get selling!
Other News: Well done to former club member Katie Taylor who represented Ireland in the Rio 2016 Olympics recently. Unfortunately, she didn’t manage to bring home another gold medal as she did four years ago, but still did us all proud!
Former club members Gary Messitt and Ryan Nolan will be representing Ireland in the upcoming Rio 2016 Paralympics, as part of the Irish soccer team. Be sure to keep an eye out for them.
Finally, congratulations to club member Stephen Jenkins who married Sandra Smith last week. Best of luck to both of them in the future!
AVONDALE