GRASSROOTS
NEWTOWN
The Seniors were scheduled to take on Bray Emmets in the Keating Cup last night (Tuesday).
The under-12 girls finished off their season last Sunday when they were narrowly defeated in the A Shield final by a good St Pat’s team.
The girls battled on bravely and left everything on the pitch but a couple of goals just after halftime meant we were always playing catch-up. In the end we just ran out of time but nevertheless this team still had a great year having already won the Division 2 league.
Well done on a great season to the girls and management of Owen, Ned, Loretto and Lorna. Well done also to Tia McDonald, Anatasia Razniak, Katelyn O’Toole, Hannah Martin, Katie Smith and Alicia Farrell who all represented the club and played their part in a Leinster blitz last Saturday.
The under-16 girls are still awaiting a date for their A Shield final while the under-14 girls are also waiting for a date for their league play-off final.
The under-11 final for last Saturday didn’t take place and hopefully will be re-fixed for this weekend.
The under-13s started their championship group with a hard earned win over St Hugh’s in Newtown. Newtown led by 3-5 to 1-2 at half-time after playing with a strong breeze and knew they would have a battle to hold this lead against the wind in the second half against a good St Hugh’s side.
A crucial Newtown goal just after the lead was cut to a point with 10 minutes to go along with some spirited defending in the last few minutes enabled us to hold out for the win on a score of 4-6 to 3-6.
We are awaiting their next championship fixture, and training is on Mondays at 6.30pm. We have a bus organised for the ladies all Ireland final next Sunday, for more information give Shay a ring on 087 2699620.
There is a good stock of club gear now available to buy for any enquiries regarding club gear please contact Amy at 086 3332195.
Well done to Jim O’Riordan, Johnny Murphy and Barry McGuirl who won the All-Ireland football tickets.
Nine people matched three numbers last week but no one won the jackpot of €6,200, numbers drawn were 2, 3, 8, and 25.
AN TOCHAR
John’s Strictly Music – as part of his fundraising campaign for Strictly for An Tóchar, John McHugh is hosting an evening of music in Fanning’s Tochar House on Sunday, September 24, from 6 to 9pm. Music by Roamin’ Cadillacs and Friends. No cover charge, pay to get out. (Bucket collection and raffle).
Brian Higgins’ Strictly Supercar - Brian is giving a lucky someone the opportunity to take a passenger ride in a Ferrari down the runway in Western Airport on Sunday, October 8 at 2pm.
The winner will also receive a luxury valet to the value of €100! To be in with a chance winning this fabulous prize get your tickets now.
Tickets are €10 and can be bought from Brian 087 9737305 or Nick Nolan 086 8516254 Chairman of An Tóchar GAA.
The winner must be available on the day and will be announced on Friday, October 6.
Val & Karina’s Strictly for An Tóchar - Biodiversity Walk and Talk – Saturday, September 23, starting at 10 am.
Learn about the flora and fauna around our beautiful reservoir with a guided walk by Dr. Helen Sheridan, AgriEcologist from UCD and Paddy Purser, Forester. Meeting Point – Reservoir Gate on the Newtown Road. This is a family friendly event with fun for the kids guaranteed! Adults €10, children are free of charge.
Cindy’s Bag pack for An Tóchar - As part of her fundraising Cindy s doing a bag pack in Tesco, Bray on Saturday, September 23. If anyone can help out for an hour or two it would be great, just text me on 086 8305672.
Richie Cullen is kicking off his Strictly for An Tóchar campaign with an Irish Night/Set Dancing on Saturday, September 23, in Kavanagh’s Lounge from 8.30 pm. €5 admission. Raffle on the night.
Fergal Mulligan’s Strictly for An Tochar fundraising tees off with an Open Day at Ballinastoe Golf Club, September 30. 4 Ball Scramble - €60 per team. Lots of Prizes and light refreshments on the day. Contact: Fergal Mulligan on 086 8591545 for tee time. Tee times run from 8am to 10am and 2pm to 3pm
Joanne ‘s Strictly Style - Joanne’s fundraiser is a raffle to win a five-hour image consultation to include the following: two-hour wardrobe detox.
Refresh you wardrobe clear out what you not wearing, see what you need to make your wardrobe work for you, show you how to dress to suit your shape.
Plus, three hours personal shopping at a destination of your choice. Raffle tickets are €10. Your entry can be giving directly to me 1 Djouce Meadows, or Lorraine in the post office has kindly offered to take them also, just place your €10 in an envelope with your name and telephone number on the outside.
ÉIRE ÓG GREYSTONES
Lightning, in contradiction to what the seanfhocal says, has struck twice in the fortunes of our senior players.
Both our senior hurlers and our senior footballers drew their respective championship quarter finals.
The hurlers won their replay with Carnew in their pursuit of the O’Donoghue Cup while the footballers earned themselves another shot at the Miley Cup with a 2-8 to 0-14 draw against Baltinglass and as a result next week-end is in the nature of a nightmare for a dual club like Éire Óg.
The hurlers are down to play Glenealy on Saturday at 3.15pm in the Dacia Hurling Championship semi-final in Joule Park, Aughrim while the footballers are scheduled to meet Baltinglass in the replay of the Renault Championship quarter-final in the same venue at 2.30 on Sunday.
There is an overlap of a number of significant players between the two games and this places us at a serious disadvantage against Baltinglass. Come and carry your flag for Greystones!.
IOMÁINT - The observation of the man who found himself in Purgatory that he could have travelled further and fared worse would apply aptly to those who were in attendance in Joule Park on Saturday afternoon for the Dacia Hurling quarter-final.
Spectators had little to complain about in the quality of the sporting entertainment on offer which would have readily held its own against and indeed even have exceeded much of what was to be had at home or abroad at the week-end.
All the ingredients which contrive to make an entertaining –no-time-to-avert-one’s-eyes contest were here in abundance: end-to-end play and sustained full-blooded engagement, a plethora of cameos of camán skills which included strategic accurately timed blocking down of the sliothar, a roller coaster of changing fortunes and an ending which raised blood pressures to dangerous levels.
The game itself with its various twists and turns was somewhat of a purgatorial experience for the followers of both sides.
The opening quarter had the Éire Óg followers in the doldrums of despair. During this period the Clocha Liatha defence was totally out of sorts. It fussed and fumbled through basic error after basic error and to say the team’s chances looked bleak would be putting it mildly.
Carnew had clocked up 1-3 on the scoreboard before the Éire Óg lads had registered their 1st point.
The team settled somewhat after that and began to make a match of it. However they found it hard to make any inroads into the Carnew lead which oscillated between five and six points to the break.
The resumption saw little change in the pattern of the game and Carnew quickly added to their tally and at this stage with them playing with great confidence a Greystones win did not look at all likely.
However, our lads hurled doggedly on and had whittled the lead down to four points at about the 50-minute mark.
Nevertheless it still looked unlikely that they could close the gap before the final whistle. The move of Chester to the centre of the field turned the game Greystones’ way and with just four minutes of regulation time left Carnew’s lead was a precarious two points.
Then the selfsame Chester burst out of defence with a powerful run and with a number of the opposition in vain pursuit.
He cleverly picked out the in-running Andrew Walsh who collected his accurately directed pass and drove it unerringly to the net from 15m out to leave the score Greystones 1-10 to 1-09 ahead (the Bray People video of the goal can be seen on the club website).
There were no further scores but what agonies we suffered between that and the final whistle.
COMHGÁIRDEACHAS to Shaun Hughes who played on the u-21 Wicklow team which was defeated in the final of the B All-Ireland Championship by Kerry.
PEIL NA MBAN The hard work put in over the year by our senior ladies has certainly paid off. They were crowned County Junior B Football Champions after defeating Barndarrig in An Tóchar on Sunday.
The squad is composed of 28 players and numbers in its ranks neophytes, ring rusty returnees, experienced footballers and players who have graduated from our u-16 team.
The improvement in the cailíní’s skill levels and match play savoir faire has been impressive and hopefully the Éire Óg name will soon be found among those of the senior clubs.
The exposed heights of An Tóchar are prone to blustery conditions and this was the case on Sunday.
To ár gcailíní’s credit they overcame this disadvantage and played some good football. Greystones started off in whirlwind fashion and had 6 points on the board before Barndarrig knew what hit them.
But fair play to the ladies from the south-east, who are also in a team-building stage, they fought back to parity scoring 1-03 on the trot. The Barndarrig revival proved to be of short duration however.
Our defence, marshalled by captain Ciara Patrick at full-back, closed ranks and with Erika Bellamy in great form between the posts the opponents scoring rate was reduced to a trickle. Aoife McTeague and Claudia Randles lorded it (or should it be ladied it?) in the middle third and provided a plentiful supply of good ball to an excellent forward division in which Katie Lawless, Rachel Purcell, Tracey O’Halloran and Kellie Ryder excelled.
In her well-constructed acceptance speech Ciara complimented Barndarrig on their performance and wished them well in their efforts to put Peil na mBan on a sound footing in their club.
Maith sibh a chailíní! Will it be a case of ‘move over lads’ at the Annual Dinner Dance?!
RATHNEW
Our Senior team continued their run to the latter stages of the championship with a win over a much talked about Kiltegan team last weekend. We started the game playing with a very stiff breeze.
The lads started well and created many chanc- es, if we had converted all of our goal chances and wides in the first half this game would have been over at half-time.
As it was we went in leading 0-8 to 0-1 with our defence not having much to do.
The second half turned out as expected with Kiltegan coming through the blocks, midway through the second half we led by only a few points and then in true Rathnew fashion the lads kicked on again and came out handsome winners.
As was the pattern of the previous week, superior fitness told in the end. Players and management again wish to thank our band of loyal supporters who as always help the team when needed.
We now await the winners of Baltinglass and Eire Og in the semi-final.
Our Junior B team took on Kiltegan on Saturday evening in Arklow and battled hard being reduced to 14 men in the second half to come out winners. We now meet Enniskerry in the county final. Well done, lads!
Our Intermediate team take on Dunlavin at the weekend in the semi-final of the championship. Please see fixtures for details. Best of luck to management and the lads.
Under-11s are county champions the future is bright for the club with these young men. Josh Butler and Ross Devlin captained these two teams in two incredible matches every lad played a stormer to the pride of Darren and Nicky. Rathnew GAA is very proud of all these lads and we hope Charlie Mernagh is back up and running soon!
Good luck to under-12 girls in semi-final which takes place on Wednesday at 6.30 in Ballinkill vs Carnew. It will be a tough game as under-12 narrowly lost to this team in league final. Best of luck to this cracking team.
It was a good season for under-14 narrowly losing by one point against Eire Og in the semi-final of championship in a cracking game but girls happy to have won their league.
Rathnew’s Charlie melia Trophy tournament was held on Friday night in merrymeeting
There was a great turn out (close to 200) all the juveniles in the club from the nursery kids to the under 11s, well done to all the coaches for having everyone turned out so well in all their new gear! We would like to thank all recent sponsors of gear for all teams at the club.
A big thank you to all the volunteers who make the whole thing possible.
Our annual fun day has been pushed back until the end of the month. Please keep an eye to facebook page (Rathnewgaa1885) for updates.
Club merchandise on sale at the clubhouse for supporters wishing to purchase some red and green! Contact committee any members.
We send birthday wishes to Kirsty O Connor, and Tom Quinn who celebrate milestone birthdays recently, also to Dale Franey who dons the red and green Jersey for our Junior team.
The club send condolences to the Snell family on the passing of Sean. RIP
ST PATRICK’S
Heart-break for our Senior hurlers who left nothing on the pitch in a titanic battle with reigning champions Bray Emmets.
The first half in Joule Park, Aughrim, had St Pats down by the minimum as they headed into the dressing rooms at 1-05 to 1-04.
In a dramatic second half St Pats will rue the saved penalty and the two goal chances that lady luck shined on Bray.
It is hard to believe that St Pats lost this game on a final score of Bray 3-11, St. Pats 3-09 after an epic battle!
Well done to the under-16 ladies on Monday night who made the long journey to Tinahely and had a comprehensive win Tinahely 0-7, St. Pats 4-11 in wintry weather conditions. We now face Baltinglass in a semi-final on Monday 18th at 7.45pm in Newtown.
Well done to all who organised the Camogie presentation on Thursday evening for the under-8 and under-10 girls.
The girls had their first competitive home game last week against Donard-The Glen. A welcome return of camogie to Dunbur since the late 80s.
Congratulations to our under-7 hurlers who participated in a mini All-Ireland on Saturday from 11am until 1pm with a medal presentation in hall afterwards.
A massive well done to the St. Pats under-11 football blue team who won against Annacurra on Wednesday and finished in top position of Division 1 after 13 games and 11 wins over the past seven months.
Well done to both St Pats under-11 football teams who took part in the Under-11 Football Mini-Festival Final in Ballinakill on Saturday.
Our white team who are all underage again next year, put in a spirited performance against a very mature and strong Enniskerry team.
Our blue team played Eire Og in two games and lost but one score when the scores from both games where added together.
The blue team played with great team work, with over 50 per cent of the players underage again next year the future looks bright for St. Pats.
In total, over 38 St. Pats players played in Ballinakill. Thanks to the players for their huge commitment to training this season and to the parents for their support and all of the coaches for giving up their time to coach and develop the players.
We will celebrate a great year with a presentation next Friday in the clubhouse. Thanks Steven, Conor, Paul, Tom and Johnny.
Well done Paul, Padge and under-15 lads who won with a full-time score of Bray 1-04, St Patrick’s 3-18, on Friday in Bray. This now puts the lads into a championship semi-final v St Nicks.
A tough night on the playing fields for our under-17 hurlers against Bray Emmets in the championship. Full-time score was St. Patricks 0-09, Bray Emmets 2-16.
The lads now play Carnew Emmets on Tuesday night in the championship quarter-final. The winner is expected to play in the championship semi-final on Saturday, venue and time to be confirmed.
Hard luck to our under-17 footballers who battled hard against a strong Baltinglass side in a windy wintry night in Avondale on Monday in the championship. A slow start saw the lads facing an uphill battle with the half-time score Baltinglass 1-11, St. Patricks 0-01.
A much improved second half battling performance with the lads going right to the end and the final score Baltinglass 1-14 St. Patricks 0-03
Well done to the Pat’s Under-16s who helped out with the LGFA coaching course Saturday morning: Sarah Evans, Lucy Dunne, Aoife Dunne, Naoise O’Reilly, Jess Bolger, Holly McSorley, Molly Hodgkinson and Ellen Griffin.
Well done to the under-12 girls who won the A shield 5-09 to 4-04 on Sunday in Ballinakill. Congratulations girls and management team of Liam, Sean and Trina
Congratulations to Kayleigh Keogh and Justin Cronin who played for the county under-12’s on Saturday .
Well done to all our players who were successful in their Junior Cert results.
Well done to Damien O’Brien who won the members draw for the two All-Ireland football Tickets.
St. Patrick’s GAA Club presents TEXAS HOLD’EM NIGHT in the Clubhouse on Saturday. Registration time is 8pm. Please support
An excellent quiz night was had by all who attended in the club house on Saturday evening. The quizmaster Eddie Leonard tested the knowledge of all especially in respect of local GAA club crests. The winners on the night were: Alan Lawlor, Brian Gleeson, James and Mary Phelan