GRASSROOTS
ÉIRE ÓG GREYSTONES
On Friday evening, the evening of the Arklow Bay Hotel Div. 1 home game against Avondale, one was greeted at the grounds by the inspiring sight of a hugely overflowing car park and the sound of many young children enjoying themselves.
One soon discovered that it was also the occasion of the hosting by the club of a Bray People Go Games blitz which involved a multitude of games taking place simultaneously over our two pitches. A scene to raise the spirits of anyone with an interest in the future of the G.A.A. in the east of the county.
Unfortunately, the feel-good sensation engendered among Éire Óg followers by the sight of so many young children playing and enjoying our games was deflated a short time later with our Seniors two-point defeat to Avondale who, to that date, had not garnered a single league point.
On a happier note, our Juniors continued their winning run in the Murphy’s Hotel (Tinahely) Football League with a convincing victory over Enniskerry on Wednesday night.
Baltinglass has, for as long as one can remember, been one of the leading football clubs within the county and indeed not so very long ago attained the status of All-Ireland club champions.
So we in Na Clocha Liatha have always regarded them as a touchstone against which to measure the progress of the various football teams within the club. On this criterion, football – particularly at under-15 and under-11 levels – is showing great strides.
On Wednesday (14th), our under-11 game was away to Baltinglass. An intimidating prospect on two fronts for these young lads: a round trip of in excess of 100km (mid-week logistical problems for parents and mentors) and the formidable reputation of their hosts.
In the event, the former proved to be quite frustrating as there were many traffic hold-ups on the way agus is ar éigin that the convoy of cars arrived in time.
It was straight into action for the players but nil desperandum and they took the whole thing in their stride. Indeed, overall between the two 11-a-side games it was unexpectedly Éire Óg who dictated matters.
In the first game, among the forwards Piaras Healy, Joshua Barry and Sam Cunningham were on fire and made great use of the plentiful supply of ball from Daniel Connerty, Robbie Owens and Robert Moore. Liam Finn, Nathan Donnelly, Charlie Fox and James O’Dowd were the backbone of a Scrooge-like defence
Cross-fertilisation between sports was in evidence in an attention-grabbing Éire Óg score. Piaras was in the process of sending a goalbound shot from the edge of the square when it was knocked from his grasp but he quick-wittedly back-heeled the ball to the net.
The second game was a much more closely-fought affair and the visiting lads were forced to pull out all the stops to gain victory. Éire Óg trailed for a long period around mid-way in the second half and a Balto win looked to be on the cards.
However, our lads fought back with courage and determination and emerged with a wellearned victory.
The team worked very well as a unit and succeeded in putting together many intelligent pitch-length movements.
In this matter, the wonderful understanding between Cathal Kirby, Daniel Burns, Eoghan Duddy, Tomás O’Connell, Darragh Shanahan and Jack Caffrey was particularly evident. The game was played in a good spirit but with that healthy physicality that is very much part of the sport’s attraction.
Laois, while not having a great standing at present in the Gaelic football world, would still have been judged as short-odds favourite in their All-Ireland Round 1A qualifier against Wicklow in Aughrim. The 1st half proceedings did little to disabuse of this assessment.
Anaemic and nervous - seen in a kick-out mistake by the goalie and in the widespread handling errors more akin to those of junior football – probably best describe the Garden County’s performance over the first 35 minutes. On this evidence one could only see the 1-8 to 0-3 gap at the break in favour of the visitors widening to an abyss before the end. The 1st half trend did unfortunately continue into the 2nd period to the point where Cill Mhantáin were 2-16 to 0-10 behind.
At this juncture Wicklow threw off the shackles, inspired to no little an extent by the take-no-prisoners approach of half-time substitute John McGrath, and proceeded to give it the proverbial lash.
This change of tactic put the opposition on the backfoot and in particular had its backs at sixes and sevens with the result that Laois were left clinging precariously to a two-point lead at the final whistle.
Éire Óg had two representatives on the team, captain Stephen Kelly and half-back Darren Hayden.
Both played effectively and consistently over the 70 minutes. Stephen’s all-round defensive play was outstanding and thwarted the scoring ambitions on many occasions.
His piece de resistance, however, was his insightful and uncanningly accurate diagonal 35m cross-field pass to an in-running John McGrath who duly sent it over the bar.
The indefatigable Darren was seen now in defence, now in attack, using his superb ball-carrying skill to good advantage.
Two instances in particular spring to mind, the first saw him prevent a certain Laois goal with a brave accurately-tuned block and the second saw him denied a goal when his well-struck shot was brilliantly saved by the goalkeeper.
FIXTURES Saturday July 8 at 6.00pm Arklow Bay Hotel Football Div. 1, Rathnew v Éire Óg. At Avondale, Tuesday, July 11, at 8.00pm: Boom Platform Hire Junior A Football C’ship Group 1, Round 1 Baltinglass v Éire Óg.
NEWTOWN
The first round of the Senior championship resulted in a tough draw against Avondale in Ashford last Sunday. Newtown played against the wind in the first half and finished two goals down but fought hard in the second half to a three point lead however a last minute controversial penalty resulted in an Avondale goal and a draw at final whistle. The next round is against Annacurra in a few weeks’ time.
We enjoyed glorious sunshine recently at our popular Junior magpie’s nursery which takes place every Saturday at 10am on the pitch, the nursery is for kids aged 4-8 and great fun is had by all every week.
The under-7 and under-9s next blitz is this Friday in St Pats, both of these teams are training on Tuesdays at 6.30pm.
The under-11s are back in action tonight with a home game against Newcastle.
The under-13s are doing well in the league and train on Mondays at 6.30pm.
The under-8 and 10 girls played Ashford last Saturday and training is on Wednesdays at 6.30pm.
The under-12 girls won their league with a great victory over Coolkenno last Tuesday. This is a great achievement as it is the first juvenile girls league win in the club’s history, so a massive well done to all the girls and the management team of Eoin, Ned, Loretto and Lorna.
The girls have only lost one match all season and are now moving up to the ‘A’ championship where they will fear nobody.
The under-14 girl’s had a win over Clan na Gael and their next game is at the weekend against St Nicks. Training is Mondays and Thursdays at 7pm.
The under-16 girls suffered their first defeat of the year last week losing to Eire Og but with three games left we are still top of the league, training continues every Wednesday and Friday at 7pm.
Unfortunately, we are losing two of our hard working juvenile mentors as they head back to the sunny south east, we say a hearty big thanks to Ken and Bernadette and wish them along with James and Kate all the best in the next chapter of their life.
If you need more info about any of our juvenile teams please give Shay a ring on 087 2699620. All membership is now overdue and must be paid immediately
The Kellogg’s Cúl Camps are returning to Newtown once again this year from 24-28 July and online registration is now open (www.kelloggsculcamps.gaa.ie) Please note we will not be accepting money or registrations on the first morning of camp.
There is a good stock of club gear now available to buy for any enquiries regarding club gear please contact Amy at 086 3332195.
Five people won €40 last week as they matched three numbers from 4, 7, 16, and 27, however no one scooped the jackpot so it rolls over to €4,200 this week
BALLYMANUS
The lads were well beaten by a hungrier Dunlavin team last weekend in the championship on a scoreline 2-11 to 0-12.
Elementary errors and poor shooting didn’t help matters.
The lads haven’t long to lick their wounds as they are out in the championship again this weekend against Ballinacor in Arklow.
There was no lotto jackpot winner last weekend. Numbers drawn were: 1, 8, 19, and 28. Match three winners were Mary Byrne (Garry), Alison, Zoey, Becky, Mick Lynch and Darragh Byrne.
RATHNEW
Rathnew under-14 girls v Blessington - Rathnew 12–6, Blessington 9-4 - Played on a terrible wet and windy night, the girls had the long drive across the gap and it proved to be fruitful for the Village against Blessington.
With the bare 15 as a few girls being sick we knew it would be a difficult encounter. From 1 to 15 all the girls showed that great Rathnew never say die spirit throughout the match!
Thanks to Trevor Doyle, Mark Doyle and Kevin Gill who have been helping with training for the last few weeks.
The girls are now in the league final play off v Carnew, Next Saturday, July 8, in Ballinakill.
Our Senior team got their 2017 championship campaign off to a winning start last Saturday evening in Aughrim against a game Coolkenno team.
As to the pattern of this year so far,Our team started extremely well and with some very direct football and delightful scores they finished the first half on a scoreline of 1-8 to 0-0 with the goal coming from Graham Merrigan.
The second half started brightly with Rathnew getting the first score, however Coolkenno then came into the game and it was tit for tat in the first quarter however a very dubious decision by the ref allowed Coolkenno a goal which gave the Coolkenno men momentum, our lads finished the game with some sublime points and ended convincing winners.
Players to play well on the night were John Manley, Nicky Mernagh, Jody Merrigan and Mark Doyle.
Our next league match is away to Baltinglass on Tuesday night, going further we face our near rivals St.Patrick’s in a championship clash in two weeks time. Keep an eye on out on our Facebook page for fixtures.
Our new supporters jerseys will be in stock this week! We will post an update on our Facebook once they arrive.
Well done to Callum Clarke on winning the Monkstown International Box Cup over the weekend.
AVONDALE
Avondale kicked off our Senior football championship in Ashford last Sunday with a tough and interesting clash with Newtown.
We went into this game as complete underdogs as we currently have a lot of players out injured but hats off to the lads who stepped up from Junior football and certainly done themselves proud.
We lost Eamon Kearns early in the game after he injured himself after scoring a wonderful solo goal and then lost Shane O’Neill to a red card but the lads got stuck in, battled hard and never gave up and ended up with a well deserved draw after a nerve wracking game of football.
Our Junior footballers are in action tomorrow evening v AGB in the Carter Cup in Avondale at 7.30pm.
There was no winner of last week’s lotto but we had three match three winners. Numbers drawn were 2, 8, 22 and 27. This week’s jackpot is €900 with draw held last night in the Cartoon Inn.
Congrats to Alan Rattery, TJ Heffernan and Tyler Kavanagh on completing the Junior Hell & Back recently to raise money towards new jerseys for the under-7s and 9s.
The club is been very well supported In Supervalu Nationwide Campaign in the Super value in Arklow called ‘Behind The Ball’. The aim is to promote fitness and football with youngsters (age under 8’s).
Customer shops in store and spends over €20. Customer use their reward card,prints a receipt & then customer chooses their club to support and drops receipt into our Collection Unit.
Whichever club reaches 2000 receipts first will win a set of footballs for their club.
The under-7 and 9s played some fantastic hurling at the Go Games blitz in Kilmacanogue last Friday. Well done to all the players and coaches and to the parents who help out. The next Go Games football blitz is in Ashford this Friday night.
Training continues every Tuesday evening from 6.30pm to 7.30 in the complex for the under-7 and 9s and the Academy which includes the under-5s as well is on every Saturday morning from 9.30am to 10.30am.
Don’t forget that you can register online for the GAA Cúl Camps.
It is in Avondale on from the 14th August to the 18th August.
The website is www.kelloggsculcamps.gaa. ie or contact Liam Kelly at 087-6878123 if you cannot register online.
AGB
AGB’s Junior men have brought the first cup of this season home to AGB, after being crowned the winners of the AWD South East Wicklow Group 1 Division 4 League.
The Junior men triumphed over Carnew at a home match in Pearses Park on Thursday evening.
A good crowd were out to support the team, whos memento was strong from the start, rarley relenting from the tough battle they were facing with Carnew. A very mixed team of both youth and experience proved a good mix for this AGB set up under the management of Eugene Bentley.
The men were put through their paces by a tough Carnew side but the scoreline was in AGBs favour with scores from Alan Mc Bride (4), Peter Hempenstall (2), Garrett Kenny (1), Ian Bracken (1),Darragh Culleton (2) and a goal from Jack Darcy.
The final score finished 1-11 to 0-06. Well done AGB’s Junior Bs.
AGB’s Senior men will play Tinahely on Sunday, July 16, in their first match of the Senior championship. Throw in is at 12pm in Joule Park, Aughrim.
AGBs Senior ladies and Junior ladies both kicked off their championship campaigns in style on Saturday evening where a double header was played at home in Ballymoney football pitch.
The Senior ladies faced Baltinglass in the first match of the evening, where they really put in huge efforts to make the game their own.
Their fitness and speed was evident as they passed the ball quickly down the pitch, rarley playing into the Baltinglass forwards hands in the first half.
he final score finished 6-12 to 2-06, and has given a very promising look at what’s in store this season with this AGB side.
The Junior ladies then followed to play Barndarrig in the next match. The AGB girls were strong in numbers in comparison to Barndarrig.
Both teams played a great match, with excellent football on display from the two teams. The final score finished 4-15 to 0-04 to our AGB ladies.
AGB’s under-12 girls played Bray last Tuesday evening at home in Ballymoney football pitch.
The girls put in great efforts and really tried their best but a stronger under-12 team had travelled to play our AGB girls, who were unlucky with the final score line.
The under-14 girls welcomed Baltinglass to Ballyminey football pitch on Thursday evening. A great game of football was played by our Under-14s as they dominated the field through most of the play. The final score finished 9-11 to 2-07 to the AGB girls.
The juveniles are in action this week with matches for AGB’s under-15s and under-13s played on Monday, July 3, at home and the under-11s travelling to play St. Pats on Wednesday night.
The second under-13s team are in action on Friday evening in Pearse’s Park and the under-17s will be rescheduled against Baltinglass, date to be confirmed.
Super Valu Arklow, are running a promotion from June 22 called “Behind the Ball”. The promotion will give AGB the opportunity to win some much needed footballs for our juvenile section. The idea is that the customer shops in store and spends over €20, the customer uses their Real Rewards card, the till prints a receipt then the customer chooses their club to support and drops receipt into our collection unit. This will run for nine weeks, so whichever club reaches 2000 receipts first will win a set of footballs for their club. So please spread the word and let’s win these for AGB.
AGB’s clubhouse is now open for Sunday Dinner, every Sunday this July from 1pm to 6pm. Call in and sample our delicious menu, with great choices and prices.
AGB’s Summer Camp will take place this August in Pearse’s Park on the week of the 14th to the 18th from 10am to 2pm. The price will be €45 per child, ir €80 for two children. Great fun and games will be played. To book your place please contact Sinead on 087 1374812.
The next meeting of the AGB executive committee will take place on the July 5 in the AGB offices in Pearse’s Park at 8pm.
AGB club gear is available at great prices. Contact Kerry on 087 3287881 to order.
Please send club notes to arklowgaa@gmail. com You can contact the AGB PRO at above email, Facebook (‘Arklow Geraldines Ballymoney GAA Club’ or ‘AGB Ladies’) or Twitter.