Seniors: Churchill travelled to Ballyduff in our fourth game of the Co League last Sunday. Ballyduff and Churchill both came into this match full of confidence after picking up two points against Knocknagoshel and Cromane respectively the week previous.
Churchill settled quickest and got their first score of the game with a point from play by Michael O’Brien. The visitors were winning all the battles in key areas of the pitch, with Ivan Parker and Cillian Fitzgerald particularily effective and went in at the break with a 0-9 to 0-4 lead.
Try as they might, Ballyduff could not reduce the deficate and Churchill added points from Pa McCarthy, Oisin O’Brien and three frees from Micheal O’Brien. JJ Prior finished off a well worked goal for Churchill late on to leave the final score Ballyduff 0-7 : Churchill 1-14.
Academy:
There was a big turnout for our first academy morning back in our field in the Spa with 25 at U10, 27 at U8 and 25 and U6. Each session has included fun games, coaching on the basic skills, namely kicking, catching, hand passing, and the pick-up.
All the players have worked hard in the off season, and there are the makings of fantastic underage teams to be seen.
With Kerry’s advancement to the League Final next Sunday academy training may have to be rescheduled due to the unavailability of mentors. Further details to be communicated through the mentors.
U12: A: Churchill 5-11 Legion 2-17. The U12’s got off to the perfect start in Division 2A on Thursday with a well earned victory over a strong Legion side. The team showed a never say die attitude which got them victory at the very end of this game coming from 7 points down with under 5 minutes remaining.
Man of the March was no doubt David Chute in goal, making some point blank saves and consistently finding his target with kickouts. Resilient play from Cian O’Gara, Barry Hamilton JJ Hanafin, Ronan Kelly and Oran Murphy in the final quarter pulled this game out of the fire before clinical goals from Gearoid O’Connor and Josh Elvans put the icing on the cake.
Cian Mason opened the scoring and showed superb tenacity and was our main threat at full forward before suffering a double fracture to his arm.
We wish you a speedy recovery Cian and look forward to seeing you back soon. We struggled for a while after Cian’s injury but when the pressure came on us, brilliant full back play from Paddy Falvey and Oisin McGibney kept us in the game.
In fact, Oisin gave the selectors some food for thought with his successful transition to the forwards late in the game. Dara Gurney was as solid as ever at half back. Our quick forwards, in particular Donagh Murphy and Billy Walsh gave Legion plenty to worry about with some brilliant finishing again from Billy helping us on our way.
B: On a mild evening in Churchill’s new pitch our B team played out a great game with Legion of Killarney. We started very well with Hugh and Billy dominating proceedings in midfield. Ryan and Art were very secure in defence and with Conor making some great saves we managed to build up a lead early on.
Maurice and Josh were creating havoc in the opposition defence ably assisted by Daithi and Mark. We led at half time by 14 points. In the second half Tom,Donnacha,Bruno and Rory were getting on some great ball but Legion showed great character to cut the deficit to 8 points at full time. The Final score in a very sporting contest was Churchill 5-13 Legion 4-8.
Next up is Moyvave which we are looking to reschedule next Sunday to perhaps this Thursday to avoid clashing with Kerry’s National League Final. Further details to be communicated through the mentors.
U14: The U14’s Season got underway with a game against Moyvane under the eyes of Gearoid, PJ and Kevin. The first 2 points of the season were scored by Paddy Walsh, followed by a goal and a point from brothers Mark and Conor Brick.
Eddie McCarthy kicked 2 frees in an even half where Churchill went in 1 point down 1-5 to 1-6. Churchill started to get on top in the second half with a series of points from Paddy Walsh including a fine 45 and a free off the ground followed by points from Mark Brick and Eddie McCarthy.
Moyvane responded with a goal and a few points to close it out in a close fought finish to win. Final Score, Churchill 1-9 Moyvane 2-8. There were strong performances by Donnacha O Sullivan, Cian Kearney and Donogh Stevenson.
This was a good start to the season after only 2 weeks of training and there is certainly more to come from this team. We will have a training session with Micheal Quirke on Monday to sharpen up our players for an away game to Listowel on Wednesday Night. Training will resume on Friday night at 6:30pm.
Ladies U12: Our u12 team played their second game in the North Kerry Ladies League last Sunday away to Moyvane. In what were perfect conditions for football, and although we were short a few regulars, Churchill put in a good performance but were beaten by a better side on the day. Churchill play their third game in this competition at home to Ballymac next Sunday.
