GRASSROOTS
BALLYMOTE HANDBALL
The Club will play the third Michael Porter Memorial Cup next Sunday at the local court. This is a singles competition with players from Mayo and Sligo taking part. Last years winner Shane Bruen Coolooney Club will be defending his title. Club member Kevin Meehan won the Connacht over 35 B Singles recently when he defeated James Gill(Leitrim) in the final 21 1 21 9 . Kevin travelled to Wexford to play Noel Holohan in the All Ireland Semi Final but was defeated 21 5 21 9. Kevin Meehan teamed up with Mark Murphy (Castleconnor) for the Over 35 B Doubles. The Ballymote Castleconnor combination defeated Myles Connaughton and Kevin Hanley( Galway) in the Connacht final 13 21 21 12 21 5. They went on to be defeated by Offaly pair Kevin Cooke and Sean Ryan in the All Ireland Semi Final.
Veteran Club member Francis Mc Cann defeated Jimmy Connaughton (Galway) in the Connacht Final Emerald Masters 60x30 championship and went on to be defeated in the All Ireland Semi Final by Robert McCarthy (Westmeath) Martin Cooney (Castleconnor) played with Francis McCann in the Golden Masters A Connacht Championship but they were defeated in the Connacht Final by Joe Dowling and Tom Sweeny (Mayo) two games to one.
Juvenile Club member Cormac Finn had a great win recently in the Connacht 60X30 under13 A Singles final when he defeated Steven Kelly (Galway) in two straight games. Laura Finn teamed up with Sara Colman (Collooney) for the Girls Minor Doubles 60 X 30 Championship they were defeated in the All Ireland Semi Final by a very well balanced pair Dearbhail O Keefe and Sorcha Delaney from Kilkenny two games to nil. Club member Mark Tighe was defeated in the Connacht Under 13 B Singles final at Moycullen Handball Club by Yann O maille(Galway) two game to nil.
ST FARNAN’S
THE minor team completed a great week for the club by reaching the minor B final following a single point defeat of Coolera in the semi final. The final score was St. Farnan’s 1-15, Coolera 2-11. This game was a tough battle between the sides. Stephen Mulligan got us off the mark with a point from play. Coolera however raced into the lead with a goal followed by two points. St. Farnan’s then had to do without Kevin McGee who received a black card. Kevin was replaced by Colm Connolly. Coolera were dominant for a period in the half and led 2-6 to 0-7 but three points from Colm Connolly, Stephen Mulligan and Thomas Cawley before half time reduced Coolera’s advantage to two points, 2-6 to 0-10. It was Coolera who got the first point after the break but St. Farnan’s were resolved in their efforts and when Cahan Hallinan got a goal it was a crucial moment . We dominated the next spell, scoring four points without reply to lead 1-14 to 2-7. Coolera fought back but a point from Stephen Mulligan gave us the narrowest of victories. This was a real team performance with players having to give it all. The team will play Coolaney/ Mullinabreena in the final. The team was Simon Mullarkey, David Hallinan, Shane O’Brien, Oisin Connolly, Kevin Mc Gee, James Weir, Cahan Hallinan (1-1), Eoin Gordon, Mark Devaney, Gavin Connolly (0-3(1f), Evan Kilrehill, Stephen Mulligan (0-9(3f), Thomas Cawley (0-1). Subs used: Colm Connolly (0-1), Fionn Connolly. All roads lead to Markievicz Park on Sunday next for the intermediate final at 2pm. Please get behind the team and management. Flags, car flags, headbands etc are on sale in Costcutters, Dromore West. The club wish to thank Sligo Construction, Chicago and Airtricity for their very generous sponsorship of gear for the team. Congratulations to Easkey/ St. Farnan’s under 16 hurling team which won the county championship for the fifth year in a row. The team had a very comprehensive win over Naomh Eoin on a score of 9-12 to 1-6. The under 6/8’s enjoyed a great day out at a blitz in Parke on Saturday. Thanks to all involved and to coaches Dermot Browne, Gary Hannon, Kieran Hargadon and Tony Gordon. There will be an indoor Peile game in Enniscrone on Thursday at 7pm for under 9’s. Details to follow. Congrats to intermediate player Keith Lang and his wife Denise on the birth of a baby boy. Congrats and best wishes to Laura Flatley and Daniel Byrne on their recent marriage. Laura represented the club on many occasions in Scór na nÓg and Senior Scór. Well done to Amber Sweeney, winner of €185 in the 50/50 draw. The next draw is on October 8th. The club extends sympathy to the relatives and friends of the late Finbar Kilgannon. Ar Dheis Dé go raibh sé.
COOLANEY/MULLINABREENA
The Monthly meeting will take place on Tuesday 3rd October at 9pm, in St. Nathy’s Hall. The U.16 team Defeated Drumcliffe / Rosses Point in the Semi final on Sunday due to a impressive first half display.The Fulltime score was 6-17 to 3-12. The team was Ryan McCaulay. Cian Golden, Luke Mahon, Patrick Dixon, Kevin Gorman, Shane Tuohy, David Barrett, Brian Marren, Sean Doyle, Michael O Dowd, Cathal Davey, Kieran Gorman, Conor Matthews. Congratulations to St. Nathy’s U.14 team on winning the county final at the weekend. Our Club is delighted to announce that we will host a fundraising Rock gig featuring Shane McGowan, Seamie O Dowd and Kieran Quinn Ken McDonald and Donal Cunnane. The Support Acts are Lana Moore, Daragh McDonagh, Colin Marren and Fergus McGowan. It will take place on Friday 27th October in St Bridgid’s Hall, Tubbercurry. This promises to be a great night. Doors open at 9pm, late Bar. Shuttle Bus service available. Tickets are 15 euro and are available from Micky Macs Bar, ComputerBits, Homeland Achonry, O ‘ Grady’s Coolaney & Anderson’s Bar Sligo. Early booking advisable. Anyone interested in sponsoring a sign in Nace O Dowd park, can contact secretray.coolaneymullinabreena. sligo@gaa.ie there has been very positive interest so far.
OWENMORE GAELS
OUR Mens team bow out of the Junior A Championship after a disappointing semi final loss to Ballymote on a scoreline of 5-17 to 1-10. Thanks to all who supported the team throughout the year, and also to David and Paul for their commitment throughout the year. Our U16 girls bowed out of the C’chip this evening following a defeat to Eastern Harps in Connolly Park. In a thrilling encounter, which featured 17 goals, the girls could never recover from a sluggish start. Despite being behind throughout the game, our girls kept going to the end and scored a very respectable 7.05. Thanks to all the girls for their commitment during the year as they now take a well deserved break from GAA. Huge thanks to management team of Paul Haran and Eugene Gilligan for their effort and expertise throughout the year. The club is deeply saddened to have learned of the passing of Jim Gilligan,Main Street,Collooney. Jim was a stalwart for 3 to 4 decades of the GAA in Collooney. He held every position in the club, Chairman,Secretary,Treasurer and was also a very successful manager guiding Collooney Harps and Collooney/Ballisodare to a number of Senior Titles in the 60s. The club extends its deepest sympathies to the Gilligan Family. Huge thanks to all who supported the club in the recent behind the ball GAA promotion ran by Kane’s Supervalu Ballymote who this evening presented us with 50 kids football’s. Representing the club we have Jude Mannion, Anthony Scanlon, Paddy Watters and future stars Emily Mannion, Jake Scanlon and Eoghan and Donal Watters. Thanks to Simon Davey (Kane’s Supervalu) and Ross Donovan (sligo coaching officer and county star) for presenting the footballs.
ST MOLAISE GAELS
CONGRATULATIONS to our Junior Panel and Management Team on their qualification for the B Championship final following a 2-12 to 1-11 win against Coolera/Strandhill in the semi final at Scarden on Saturday evening last. An Ollie White penalty in the 50th minute proved crucial as the MIck McElligott manged side were denied a more emphatic victory by some excellent goalkeeping. Gaels gave a very impressive display throughout with the blend of youth and experience producing some fine football. Gaels led by 1-07 to 0-06 at the interval with Martin Feeney very impressive at full forward. Coolera/Strandhill did reduce the margin to just three points with five minutes remaining but a point from substitute Aaron Shaw sealed a well deserved win. Captain Conor Waters was outstanding throughout and Damien Kelly and Evan Farrell were also to the fore in defence while in attack Conor Colreavy, Ben Roberts and Ronan Keegan impressed alongside veteran Martin Feeney and Ollie White. Gaels will now take on neighbours Drumcliffe/Rosses Point in the final. The opposition will be looking to secure a League and Championship double but such has been the excellent work done with this Gaels squad by Manager McElligott ably assisted by Tommy McGowan and Brian White that an upset could be on the cards. A date for the final has yet to be set. Our Parish League Finals day will take place this Saturday at Monsignor Hynes Park with details of games and throw in times circulated to all during the week. This is one of the highlights of Club activity for the year and everyone is welcome to come along and enjoy what should be a very entertaining day. On Sunday next October 8th our U16 Girls take on CT Gaels in the C Championship final in Connolly Park Collooney at 12.00pm. Good luck to the Girls and Management and hopefully a big crowd will come out to support the team. Our annual “Cash for Clobber” fundraiser will conclude this week. If anyone has old clothes and footwear that they don’t need the Club would be delighted to take these. Goods can be left at the Club rooms during the Parish League Finals this Saturday morning. Our Club meeting will take place this Tuesday October 3rd at 9.00pm.
DRUMCLIFFE/ROSSES POINT
THE continued development of hurling in the club was underlined last week when Benbulben Gaels lifted the U16 Shield title thanks to a 6-14 to 1-4 win over Tourlestrane in the final at Markievicz Park. The victory means the club has won county underage titles at three different age groups in 2017 (U12, U14 & U16), a great achievement considering the short number of years that the Benbulben Gaels hurling club has been in existence. We are also one of just four clubs in Sligo to field teams at every grade underage. Last Monday’s U16 panel was: Patrick O’Connor (Capt), Oisín McGloin, Killian O’Connor, Evan Ballintine, Senan O’Rourke, Nathan McArdle, Dara Foy, Tola Carway, Eoghan Donaghy, Ryan Gallagher, Ciarán O’Reilly, Augustine Waters, Blaine Waters, Seán Leonard, Eoin Kerrigan, Daniel O’Connor, Colm Ryan, James Herity. Management team: John O’Callaghan, Aidan O’Reilly, Carol McGowan, Anthony Nolan. Our junior men’s footballers are through to the County ‘B’ Championship final after a convincing 2-18 to 1-5 win over Calry/St Joseph’s in Scarden last Saturday evening. The team produced arguably their best display of the season to date with John Hester contributing 1-6 and Eoin Gaughan supplying 0-7. St Molaise Gaels will be our county final opponents. Saturday’s team was: Justin Lyons, Shane Creamer, Eunan Cannon, Luke McDermott, Rory McLoughlin, David Collins (Capt) 0-1, Hugh Kisby, Paddy Gormley, Colin Ginty, Declan Gallagher, Eoin Gaughan 0-7, Joseph Keyes 1-0, John O’Hara, John Hester 1-6, Tom Armstrong 0-1. Subs: Kevin Dufficy 0-2 for John O’Hara, Fergal McGrath for Rory McLoughlin, Hughie Cannon 0-1 for Tom Armstrong, David Brady for Declan Gallagher, Jack McDermott for Hugh Kisby, Ronan Devaney. Management team: James McTiernan & Paddy Gormley. Our ladies minor footballers drew their ‘A’ championship semi-final away to Tourlestrane last Friday evening on a final scoreline of Tourlestrane 3-6 DRP 2-9. The team trailed by seven points at the interval, then led by four going in to the closing stages before a late goal helped Tourlestrane force a replay. The date and venue of the replay had still to be confirmed at the time of writing. Our boys U16 footballers bowed out of the championship at the semi-final stage on Sunday, when they were beaten by an impressive Coolaney/Mullinabreena team at the new Nace O’Dowd Park on a final scoreline of 6-17 to 3-12. The boys are a credit to their parents, families and the Club. We look forward with confidence to next year. Hard luck to the boys U13 footballers who lost their Féile league quarter-final to St Mary’s on Sunday at Kent Park. St Mary’s were the better side on the day, and this game brings the curtain down on the current football season for this developing group of players. Big congratulations to former club members Paul and Emma McGarvey, now living in Singapore, who were part of the Singapore Lions U10 gaelic football team which won the South Asia U10 tournament in Kuala Lumpar recently. Good to see that some of the Oxfield nursery coaching is reaping dividends on the other side of the world! A picture of the victorious team is available to view on the club’s Facebook page. Sligo LGFA is holding its end-of-season dinner dance this Friday night, Oct 6th, in the Clayton Hotel. Tickets are available from any ladies county board member. Congrats to all the athletes from Rathcormac National School who ran their hearts out at the Sligo Primary Schools Cross Country Championships in IT Sligo at the weekend. The day saw Gemma O’Callaghan win the senior girls race, while there were silver and bronze medals for Rían O’Calalghan and Joe Campbell in the senior boys race. The school also won the top team prizes in the Senior Boys, Senior Girls and Junior Girls categories. Best wishes to North Sligo Athletic Club which celebrates its 40th birthday this Friday night with a special Gala night in the Radisson Hotel. SURF and Turf is back!
THE extremely popular Enniscrone Surf and Turf fun run is back for 2017 on Saturday, October 28th with a start time of 12pm. This has been a superb event in recent years and promises to be bigger and better again this October. We will once again have two courses available – a 3k for U-16s and 5k for 16 and above. As always there will be plenty of fun and challenging obstacles to keep our participants on their toes! We look forward to the event once again this year; for further details keep an eye on the Enniscrone Surf and Turf Facebook page. INTERMEDIATE
OUR intermediate team booked their place in the Abbott Cup final with a 7-13 to 1-9 win over Eastern Harps in their semi-final held at Cloonacool last Saturday evening. The final will be against Ballymote or Tourlestrane, with time, date and venue yet to be confirmed. U-13
OUR U-13 team play in the Feile quarter-finals on Thursday evening at 6pm in the Sligo GAA Centre of Excellence at Scarden. Good luck to the team and management. FUNDRAISING
AN extra ten blocks and bricks have been released due to the enormous demand for sponsorship opportunities for our indoor astro turf complex. You can find all the details on our website, or contact any committee member. Thanks to everyone for the superb support.
BLOTTO
THE blotto jackpot is now at its highest ever figure, now €11700. It continues every Saturday night – make sure you’re in the draw. If you’re not in, you can’t win!