Great start to league campaign

Abbey Rovers 0-14 Araglin 1-07

Abbey Rovers made the best possible start to their 2022 Division 2 Football League campaign, played in lovely spring like conditions in resplendent sunshine at Castletownroche GAA grounds. The game was played on Saturday, March 5 with a late afternoon throw-in. A combination of injuries and work commitments meant Abbey Rovers were down to the bare bones, but the work the lads have put in over the last few weeks in training showed, as they had the legs on our visitors Araglin over the hour.

Abbey Rovers started the game strongly and had the opening score on two minutes from Dylan. A lovely move which started with Muiris taking a clean catch from the kick out and laying the ball off to his midfield partner Patrick, and some nice interplay from Dylan, Mark and Aiden saw the latter point the score of the game. This was a hallmark of the half forward line who caused the opposition a lot of problems with their pace and movement.

The visitors registered their first score from a free on six minutes, and they were to score two more frees by the 13th minute to level scores, after Mark had pointed a nice effort from play. Abbey Rovers took over during the second quarter of the game, and the natural rustiness that comes with playing the first game of the year was evident for all to see, with a point from Patrick eventually giving them the lead on twenty two minutes. Points from Muiris and Mark in the lead up to half time, ensured the home side led at the break, with Araglin responding with their first score from play to leave Abbey Rovers ahead 0-06 to 0-04 at half-time.

The second half saw Abbey Rovers continue to dominate, particularly in the third quarter, where they reeled off 7 unanswered points from Muiris, Aiden (2) and Dylan (4, 2 from frees).

This gave the lads an unassailable lead, and indeed could have been more only for the woodwork to deny two goals in this period. Credit must go to the inside forward line of James, the evergreen Dave Butler and Liam for creating space and scoring opportunities throughout the hour. Patrick and Muiris took over at midfield and were prominent throughout. Johnny in goals varied his kick outs well and was never really troubled over the hour. Pat, Thomas and James never gave an inch throughout the game, while the halfback line of Noah, Will and Adrian were also very impressive, both defensively and offensively.

Towards the end of the game, Araglin rallied and three frees in the last five minutes gave them some hope. Aidan, who carried the ball with intent over the entire game, registered his fourth score towards the end to settle any nerves, and a goal from the last kick of the game by the visitors narrowed the deficit to four points. Abbey Rovers it was who emerged deserved winners on a scoreline of 0-14 to 1-07 for a gallant Araglin side. A very good performance for our lads, considering it was the first day out and with all bar three points coming from play, it shows the potential of this squad.

The visitors no doubt went on to enjoy their victory social that night, celebrating their county successes at junior B hurling and junior C football over the last two years, a fantastic achievement which deserved to be marked.

Team: Johnny Batterberry, Pat Madden, Thomas Barrett, James Linehan, Noah O’Brien, Will Madden, Adrian O’Donovan, Patrick Sheehan (0-02), Muiris Brown (0-02), Mark O’Callaghan (0-02), Aiden O’Leary (0-04), Dylan O’Connor (0-04), James Ladd, David Butler, Liam McGrath.

DIVISION 2 HURLING LEAGUE

Our next fixture is a hurling league encounter against Buttevant in Buttevant on Sunday, March 13, with a throw in time of 2.30 Let’s hope the lads continue to build on this positive start to the season.

CLUB LOTTO

The next draw takes place on Monday, March 14 in the Rockforest Bar, with the jackpot now standing at €3,600. Tickets are available through local retail outlets in the village, from your usual sellers or through any club officer. The club would like to express our appreciation to everybody who continues to support our draw.

ADULT CLUB MEMBERSHIP

Adult club membership for 2022 remains at €50 per adult/€20 for Students and OAPs.

We would appreciate if you could arrange to pay membership as soon as possible to any member of the club committee.

REBELS’ BOUNTY 2022

The first two draws for Rebels’ Bounty 2022 took place on Tuesday night last in Páirc Uí Chaoimh. The lucky winner of the €20,000 jackpot for January was Lynn O’Sullivan from Kanturk, while February’s winner of the same jackpot amount was Paul O’Halloran from Cobh. There were many other cash prizes drawn on the night but unfortunately, we had no winner from Castletownroche. The next draw is at the end of March and we will continue to post the winners in these notes. You can also find the winners on the Cork GAA website.

U21 FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

The U21 Football Championship final between Ballycastle Gaels and St Dominics is provisionally scheduled for St Patricks Day, with an 11.30 throw-in in Kildorrery. This is subject to change, so please be sure to look out for any updates on the club social media page. Best of luck to the lads in the final.