GRASSROOTS

BLESSINGTON

Blessington Seniors – St. Patrick’s 3-16, Blessington 1-10 - Blessington were second best throughout this league encounter in Wicklow Town on Saturday evening.

The hosts played with greater tempo throughout and were full value for their win over a disjointed Blessington performance.

Blessington will need an improvement for the next league game which is away to Bray on Tuesday, April 25, at 7.30pm.

Junior A – Stratford 2-04, Blessington 7-17 - We had a great win away v Stratford on Thursday, April 13.

Next up is away v Knockananna (Tinahely) Football League Division 3, Round 4, on Sunday, April 23.

Wicklow Ladies – Wicklow 0-12, Fermanagh 2-03. Wicklow ladies are in the NFL football final v Longford in two weeks’ time. No venue or time yet. Well done to Mick O’Rourke, his management team and all the team especially our own club ladies Kim, Molly, Shauna, Shona and Amy.

Important information on our Facebook page for any of our members intending to play while travelling this summer.

Physio - Physio on Wednesday at 7pm in the clubhouse. €5 donation. Players training will have first preference.

G4M&O – Training on Wednesday 7pm to 8pm starting this week on the pitches. New playing members are always welcome. Anyone over 18 is welcome to come along and try it out for a few weeks no previous football experience is needed. For more information contact Michelle 086 3734748, Sinead 086 2446510 or Kevin on 087 6123202. Big welcome to Clare.

Juvenile – For upcoming fixtures, pictures and pitch rota please see our website and Facebook page.

Academy - Blessington GAA Academy runs every Sat morning from 10am until 11.15 am for boys and girls aged 4 – 6.

The purpose of the academy is for the kids to have fun and to introduce children to the basic skills of Gaelic football. New members are always welcome throughout the year.

The club has many teams for boys and girls aged from U7 up to U18. If you’re interested in joining please look at www.blessingtongaa,ie (Juvenile Section + Ladies Section) for contact details for all managers. Go Games – Away to Dunlavin 11am. U7 NKL – At home on Sat 22 Apr v Sallins at 2.30pm.

U11 - We were away to An Tochar on Wed last in the Wicklow League and we fielded two teams of 11 and had 3 subs on each team. Despite playing some great football particularly in the second half of games we lost by few points on aggregate. All players did great and thanks to those for travelling. We have no training on Easter Mon so we meet again on Wed at 18.30. Next Wicklow fixture is at home to Eire Og on Wed Apr 26.

U11 NKL - U11’s are at home to Sallins on Sat 22 Apr at 3.30pm.

U15’s – On Wed last the U15’s welcomed Clara Gaels to Blessington . An entertaining game seeing the home side take early lead and control the game until midway through the second half where the visitors clawed back an 8-point deficit to come within 2 points of us. The Blessington boys held their nerve and two late goals brought about the victory. Final score Blessington 5-9 Clara Gaels 3-08.

Minors – Our lads were beaten well by St Nicks in Donard on Mon 10 Apr on a scoreline of 3-12 to 0-11. Missing a couple of lads at the moment. Next up is a home game v Bray Emmetts on Mon 24 Apr.

Hurling - Go Games Little Buds Programme – A great evenings hurling at home on Friday, April 14, hosting the first of the years Go Games. Kiltegan, Stratford Grangecon and Fergal Og’s travelled to us. Blessington had a 4-team blitz in both U7’s and U9’s. 0ur U9’s had some great matches narrowly being pipped at the post each match. Fine performance from all players. Many thanks to all parents who helped out with feeding the masses especially Lynn, Mark and Erin McMahon who ran the kitchen.

Easter Camp - Well done to Jess Brennan, Pat Brennan and their 24 coaches who hosted 204 kids last Monday and Tuesday. The weather was sunny and dry. Lots of fun and games over the two days. Every child who attended received a new jersey. Huge thanks to the following: Macaris for their sponsorship towards the jerseys, Julie Connors for the lovely lunches and refreshments for all the coaches. Barry and Phyllis Hamilton for photos. The four ladies that looked after the very busy registrations on both mornings – Sinead Johnston, Michelle Richardson, Lynn McMahon and Frances Sargent. Last but not least to our brilliant coaches – Maura Reid, Eddie Boyla, Olivia Kinsella, Kim Connors, Amanda Connors, Nicole Walsh, Martin Shannon, Sean and Ciaran Mescall, Mallaidh Behan, Orla Doyle, Jordan McGarr, Kevin Quinn, Ethan Cotter, James Mulligan, David Phibbs, Craig Maguire, Ruairi Finan, Sophie Cronin, Rachel Hanlon, Lauren Bird, Niamh Cullen, Conor Richardson and Cromac Noone. Thanks also to local milkman Ross O’Duffy who supplied all the kids with Mooju milk. Thanks to Awards went to the following: Junior girl of the camp – Chloe Dempsey. Junior boy of the camp – Fionn Whelan. Young girl of the camp – Freya Carroll. Young boy of the camp – Ryan Sargent. Senior girl of the camp – Kayleigh McGuire. Senior boy of the camp – Jack Byrne. Coach of the camp was Sean Mescall. Lots of pictures on our Facebook page.

Lotto – No winner of the lotto on 4 Apr. Numbers drawn were 8,15,23,27. No match 3 winners so this is now €600 for the next draw. Jackpot €2,800 on 18 April in the West Wicklow House. Thanks for your continued support. Don’t miss a draw again and sign up for Direct Debit. Contact Arthur Hennessy for details 087 2396157. Remember you can also play online at www. blessingtongaa.ie. Thanks for your continued support. No more forgetting to do the lotto… why not sign up for our fortnightly lotto by Direct Debit mandate? Contact Arthur on arthurphennessy@hotmail.com for more info.

Get well wishes – The club sends get well wishes to Katie Hamilton.

Remember to keep updated on what is happening in the Club log on www.blessingtongaa. ie and Blessington GAA on Facebook and on Twitter @blessingtongaa.

ENNISKERRY

THE OSKARS - Tickets are now on sale for The Oskars which will take place on Saturday week, April 29. Phone Rebecca on 085-1443441 doe more info or message the Facebook page.

CHARITY MATCH - Thank you to everyone who attended and played our charity match last Saturday in Kilgarron, we raised over €400 on the day.

LADIES UPDATE - Clan na Gael will face Newtown in the league tonight, Wednesday 19th with throw in @ 8pm in Newtown.

MEN’S UPDATE - The lads will face Baltinglass away in the league on Sunday with throw in at midday.

JUVENILE UPDATE - This weeks Go Games will take place in Kilcoole on Friday night, Nursery & U11s training will be as normal in Kilgarron at 7pm. Clan na Gael U13s will play St Kevin’s at home on Monday night at 7pm.

TINAHELY

Lotto results from April 10 - Numbers: 6, 11, 18, and 26. Bonus number was 5. There was no jackpot winner. There were four match three winners: Eamon Darcy, John Nolan, Eugene O Neill ,

Padraig Murphy. Next week lotto jackpot will be €5,500.

Last week our senior team got their first win in the league when they defeated coolkenno 3-13 to 1-10. A massive performance from the lads had them in control of this game from the early start. On Sunday last the team was away to kilmacanogue in the league but unfortunately this ended in a defeat with kilmacanogue winning 1-13 to 1-09.

Our junior team had their first outing of the year last Thursday with a home match against Coolkenno. We lost this game by two points. Final score was 3-13 to 3-11. Team on the night was willie Quaile, Timmy, Larry, JOEY, Tonto, Jamie, Niall o Gorman, Dillon, Rory, Stewart, Bill, Enda, Dempsey, Paul O’Keefe and Wazza.

Training for all Minors, Juniors and Seniors is Tuesday and Thursday night at 8pm sharp. Please bring membership and insurance with you.

Thanks to everyone who bought, sponsored or sold horses for our successful race night held in Maggie’s Bar last Sunday night. The money raised will be a huge help in providing facilities for all our teams throughout the coming year.

BRAY EMMETS

The notes this week are dedicated to our major club fundraiser. A lot of effort is going in to ensure the success of the event. Thank you for your invaluable support. Are you ready for the Bray Emmets Oskars? The Oskars big night of Friday, April 28, is fast approaching and all the casts are completing their shooting. The back-room team of Kevin Rowe & Associates are busily cutting and pasting scenes to make the most of the very hard work done by all of the over 50 actors. The Oskars committee led by Gary Prunty is beavering away in the background organising adverts for the program, selling tickets and seeking sponsors. Ní neart go cur le chéile

We need all members to row in behind these actors to make this another great fundraising and entertaining event for the club. Have you got your ticket yet? If you have committed to buy, have you paid your money and got your ticket. Who will you vote for? Have you told your friends and workmates.

Remember, this will only be a success if all help. If you want to secure your ticket and can’t attend on Tuesday 18th or Saturday 22nd in the clubhouse, contact Dermot O’Brien at 0862560401 to secure your ticket.

ÉIRE ÓG GREYSTONES

LOTTO - Nos. drawn Monday, April 10, were 5, 7, 11, and 22. No winner of the Pota Óir but cash prize shared by Sam Thompson and Fiona Ryan. Jackpot on Monday 17th was €5600.

DATE FOR YOUR DIARY - Our annual social and awards night will take place on April 22 in Greystones Golf Club. Tickets are €35 each and will be available from mentors or by contacting Daniel at 086 1541260 or Mark at 083 8570005. Book now to avoid disappointment.

PEIL NA MBAN - For five years now the ladies’ footballing activity within the club has been confined to the juvenile level. Last year the first cohort of these players graduated from the u-16 ranks and it was seen that for these girls to maintain their contact with the club it would be necessary to get an adult team off the ground. The preparatory work for this enterprise was set in motion last year and at present a panel in excess of 30 attends training. The first signs of these efforts coming to fruition were on display on Sunday morning when the team played host to Barndarrig in the first round of the Junior League.

25 players turned up on this occasion and the mentors, Ray McTeague, Oliver Leonard, Conal Brennan and Neil Randell were presented with a logistical problem. How to give as many players as possible reasonable game time?

The squad is composed of players at various levels of experience and competence and includes some who are new to the game. It was not surprising then that the team struggled somewhat in the first half and went in 1-4 to 2-2 behind at the break. However, after the resumption the girls played much more as a team and had soon added two goals. This sent the Éire Óg cailíní on the road to quite a comfortable victory.

The Juniors had not long departed the pitch when it was the turn of the cailíní faoi 14 to enter the fray. Their opponents were the Tinahely B team. This match was closely contested with Éire Óg exiting as victors, 2-8 to 3-3. The win owed much to the sterling work of Faye Evans (six points) and Eva Sterritt in centrefield.

U-16 - Last Tuesday night the under-16 cailíní travelled to Blessington to take on the locals in the opening game of the league. The Blessington girls were on the offensive from the off and spent virtually all of the first quarter camped in the Éire Óg half of the field.

However, resolute defending by the Clocha Liatha back division of Chloe Leonard, Andrea Hanlon, Megan Maguire, Faye Evans, Alice O’Neill and Frances Dallaghan and excellent goalkeeping of Ciara McDonnell succeeded in keeping the locals’ tally to just three points during this period of dominance.

At this juncture Kerianne Hamilton and Iseult Brosnan began to gain the upper hand in the centre and to supply the forwards with good ball. These, to their credit, put it to good use with goals coming from Ellie O’Neill and Iseult Brosnan and points from Ava Megannety, Katie Lawless and Kerianne.

The second half, as with the first, saw the Blessington girls in the ascendant and they soon tagged on three unanswered points. Thankfully ár gcailíní quickly recovered from this set-back and began to dominate once more. A lovely cameo of combined play between Ella Horgan and Ellen Garvey saw Ella calmly slot the ball to the opposition’s net. Kerianne Hamilton added 1-2 and the Éire Óg scoring was completed with points from Ellie O’Neill and Eimear Fawsett.

Eva Roche was injured mid-way in the first half and was replaced by Kerrie Williams.

The under-12s are in action on Tuesday evening in Ashford.

CAMÓGAÍOCHT U-14 - On Saturday, our under--14 girls travelled to St. Olafs for their second game in the Dublin League. Their more experienced opposition had the Éire Óg girls under serious pressure from the throw-in but the Greystones cailiní did not relent and battled to the end with a never-say-die spirit which was a source of pride to their supporters and mentors. Two of the girls were singled out for mention, Ellie who was playing her first ever match and Hazel who had just been promoted to u-14 ranks.

Thanks to Ellie’s father the team enjoyed a picnic of sandwiches and beverages in the sun after the game.

The camogie division of the club has not yet reached the stage of maturity which would enable it to field an under-16 team from its own resources so it has combined with Kilcoole to enter a team in the league. The group played Avondale in the opening game and after a very exciting encounter the teams ended level on the score 5-4 to 6-1.

BALTINGLASS

There was no winner of the lotto draw on Monday, April 10. Numbers were 02, 11, 26, and 29. There were no match three winners so a total of €500 was added to the jackpot this week. This week’s jackpot is €13,800 draw will take place in Germaine’s pub, Baltinglass on Tuesday, April 18. Thank you for your continued support and remember, you can also play our lotto on line at www.locallotto.ie or through our Facebook page.

Well done to the under-13s who had a great win tonight in Eire Og Greystones winning 2-10 to 0-15 coming back from 4 points down with five minutes to go. Well done, lads.

In a repeat of last year’s county under-14 final, our under-15 boys defeated Tinahely by 8-10 to 6-10 in a highly entertaining and high scoring game in Baltinglass on Wednesday 12th April in the second round of the under-15 county league. Scorers for Baltinglass were Jason Kenny 6-0, Tommy Keogh 1-4, Evan Frahill 1-1, Niall O’Connor 0-2, Hugh O’Toole 0-2, Jack Hanlon 0-1. Next match up is Wednesday, April 26, at home to Bray Emmets. Baltinglass gave a run out to all 22 players in this game, while the game itself was only 14-a-side as Tinahely had only 14 players.

Our under-17 boys had a strong win over Pearse Gaels on Monday evening, April 10, at home.

The under-16 girls played away on Monday night to Tinahely. The girls displayed great hardwork and battled to the very end to come away with a draw. Big well done to all the players.

Our Senior men played away against Rathnew in the league on Saturday evening.

La na gClubanna will take place on Sunday, May 7, the day will kick off from 12.30pm with a Fun Run and will be followed by plenty of activities for all ages in the pitch. Last year was a great day bringing all ages of the club and community together. More details to follow.

Our EGGstavaGAAnza Easter Egg Hunt was a major success on Easter Sunday morning. Great fun was had and I am sure the kids spent the rest of the day nibbling on all their chocolate. A big thank you to our Easter Bunny and helpers. We hope everyone had a lovely Easter weekend.

Our walking group will be back Monday, April 24, at 8pm, all welcome, looking forward to seeing some new faces. Don’t forget your Hi-Vis!

Congratulations to Kevin O’Brien, Paul Kenny and Paul Garrigan who just finished a 10-week high intensity Level 2 Coaching course in Ballinakil, it will be great to have coaches with this knowledge and skill in the club.

KNOCKANANNA

Next up for the fund raising committee is a car wash on Sunday morning starting at 1pm-ish. It will cost you only €8 to get your auld Jalopy washed and €12 for a wash Hoover and polish. All proceeds go to the upgrading of the carpark in the GAA grounds.

Knockananna played St Pat’s last Thursday evening ,and notched up another terrific away win their second in four days. It was a hugely impressive performance from the first minute to the last and thoroughly deserved their ten point victory. Despite their dominance we were only three points ahead at the break 1-05 to 1-02.

The second half was a brilliant team performance.

Stephen Hinchy finished a great free flowing move with a goal and that ended the game as a contest.

Well done to Aaron O’Neill and Alan Byrne who worked tirelessly for the 60 minutes. Derek Kavanagh was also in superb form, scoring seven points. Final score: Knockananna 2-12, St Pats 1-05.

Team: John Farrell, Michael Byrne, Garry Bradley, Patrick O’Keeffe, Declan Whelan, Paddy Byrne (0-1), Darren Flynn, Aaron O’Neill, Tristan Maher, Stephen Hinchy (1-1), Dereck Kavanagh (0-7), Eddie Bracken, Damien Byrne (1-02), Keith Corrigan, Alan Byrne. Subs: Kevin Tyrrell (0-1) for Eddie Bracken, Dylan Tracy for Hinchy and Joe Byrne for Eddie Bracken. Next game is Sunday morning in Knockananna against Blessington.

Knockananna GAA Club would like to pass on their sympathies to Sadie and Mick O’Keeffe, Debbie Liz and Myles and their extended family on the sudden death of Andy Byrne, Ballytaigue.