Intermediates start league campaign

Our intermediate hurlers got their RedFM D2 group A Hurling League campaign under way last Sunday afternoon away to Carrigaline. Given the amount of rain that fell in the proceeding 48hrs the pitch was in as good condition as could be expected for this time of year but still was heavy underfoot with a fair share of scrummages for possession as is typical for spring hurling.

With the aid of the breeze in the opening half, the lads got off to a steady start, trading points with Carrigaline until the 11th minute, where a long range free from goalkeeper Aiden Foley ended up in the Carrigaline net, giving us a 0-3 to 1-3 lead. The teams traded points until the 25th minute when the hill led by 0-7 to 1-8. Two unanswered Seán Desmond frees stretched the gap to 5 points, with the scoreline 0-7 to 1-9 after 28 minutes, and when the half-time break came, Watergrasshill were ahead on a scoreline of 0-9 to 1-10. Given the strength of the breeze, a 4-point lead seemed to be about reflective of how tight the game was.

Within 9 minutes of the restart the game was level 0-13 to 1-10, Carrigaline made good use of the breeze registering the first 3 unanswered scores of the 2nd half. Points were traded over the next 10 minutes with the score being level on 0-17 to 1-14. It was evident at this point, that the hill had to work much harder for their scores however into the breeze, where Carrigaline’s wind-assisted clearances bypassed half of the field of play.

The pivotal score of the game came in the 24th minute of the second half. After one of many rucks for possession in midfield, the ball was thrown in, straight through the assembled group who were awaiting the restart, to an unsuspecting unmarked Carrigaline player behind the group, who promptly struck the ball to the edge of the square where it was dispatched into Foley’s net. We did reply with a further point on 25 mins to bring the gap back to 2 points, however Carrigaline managed to add a further point to restore their 3-point margin to finish the game 1-18 to 1-15.

Scorers for Watergrasshill were Seán Desmond 0-10 (0-7 frees), Aiden Foley 1-01, Anthony Cronin 0-2, Seán Field 0-1, Chris Healy 0-1. Although the lads came out on the wrong side of the result on the day, there were lots of positives so credit to the lads for their efforts not just on the day but in the preceding weeks during the off season.

TEXT SERVICE RE-LAUNCH

This year we are re-launching our supporters’ text messaging service as another way to keep members up-to-date with upcoming fixtures.

If you would like a weekly supporter’s message with fixtures for Watergrasshill and Glenville hurling, football, camogie and ladies football matches please contact Paud O’Neill 087-9890964 or Barry Joyce 087-1847017. There is a nominal fee of €5 per year for this service.

We would also appreciate if members could share this service with those who are not on social media as we have found in previous years that this service is very beneficial for them.

LOTTO

There was no winner of the lotto jackpot this week. Numbers drawn were 7, 12, 30 and 32. Lucky dip winners are Jenni Fouhy, Aisling Murray, Ber O’Callaghan (c/o The Hut) and John O’Connor. Congrats to you all.

Next week’s jackpot is a fantastic €12,400. Tickets are on sale in some of the village businesses like The Hut Bar, The Fir Tree, Johnny’s Shop and our new Lotto stand in Ross’s Centra. Tickets can also be purchased online via our club website. The club would like to take this opportunity to thank all our members and supporters of the Watergrasshill GAA Club lotto.

The club lotto is a vital source of income for the running of all our teams within the club and for future development of our facilities, so we ask you to please support it if you are in a position to do so. Remember, if you’re not in you can’t win.

RECENT RESULTS

Sunday, 13th March - RedFM D2 Hurling League Group A Carrigaline 1-18 v 1-15 Watergrasshill.

UPCOMING FIXTURES

Friday, 18th March - Rebel Óg East Fé15 D2 Hurling League Mayfield vs Watergrasshill in Mayfield at 12noon. Saturday, 19th March - Rebel Óg North Fé17 D1 Hurling League Kilworth Araglin Óg v Watergrasshill in Kilworth at 11am. Saturday, 19th March - Rebel Óg East Fé13 D1 Hurling Grading League Watergrasshill v Fermoy in Watergrasshill at 1pm. Sunday, 20th March - Rebel Óg Coiste Fé14 Hurling League Castlelyons v Watergrasshill in Castlelyons at 11am. Monday, 21st March - Rebel Óg Coiste Fé17 C3 Hurling League Shandrum 2 v Watergrasshill in Shandrum at 7.45pm. Wednesday 30th March - Rebel Óg East Fé15 D2 Hurling League Watergrasshill v Erins Own in Watergrasshill at 6.30pm.