St Brendan’s Championship, Churchill 1-4 Ardfert 1-13
Churchill took to the field for this Brendan’s Championship Semi-Final last Sunday in the Spa short a number of regulars. In fact, Churchill had only the bare ‘15’, with no subs togged out. Against the current County Intermediate Champions, this was going to be an uphill battle (though Ardfert rested a number of their regulars for the match). Nevertheless, the home team started brightly and didn’t let Ardfert impose themselves on the game.
Playing with a strong wind, Churchill opened the scoring with a pointed free by Cillian Fitzgerald. Ardfert had the next 2 points and crashed a goal chance off the crossbar. In the 9th minute, following a great diagonal ball by Dara O’Shea which was knocked down by Fitzgerald, Ivan Parker finished to the net in fine style to give Churchill the lead.
Ardfert were yet again guilty of poor shooting when their corner forward Barrett was straight through on goal, but blasted wide. However, they struck for a point when they punished a poor kickout. O’Shea restored the two point margin when he put over a good point after an interception as Ardfert tried to play it out of defence. Ardfert pointed again in the 25th minute, but Parker completed the scoring for the half when he pointed a fine ‘45’.
Half Time: Churchill 1-3 Ardfert 0-4
The second half was all one-way traffic as Ardfert upped the tempo. A two point lead was never going to be enough for the home team against a strong breeze and Ardfert were back on level terms within 2 minutes of the half. In fact, they had 5 points without reply in the first 7 minutes of the half.
Then a reckless challenge by O’Shea, which rightly earned him a Black Card, effectively ended the match as a contest, as that reduced Churchill to 14 men (though Selector Padraig Ryan restored the numbers to 15 later in the half). Fitzgerald had a goal chance for Churchill, which was well saved by the Ardfert ‘keeper. Churchill were doing their best to quell the constant wave of attacks, but in the 21st minute, Ardfert finally found the net with a well worked goal.
Churchill’s sole response of the half was a pointed free by Mark O’Connor. This was a disappointing end to a promising start and even more disappointing was the fact that we couldn’t field a full team for a Championship match. Having said that, the youngsters that came in more than held their own, particularly Jack Kelliher and Eoin O’Brien who can be satisfied with their performances. We wish Ardfert well in the final and in their Munster Intermediate campaign.
Churchill: P O’Sullivan, PJ O’Mahony, Shane Crowley, Shane Kenny, Cathal Rogers, Matt Finnerty, Ciaran Moynihan, Mikey Brennan, Ivan Parker (1-1), Dara O’Shea (0-1), Mark O’Connor (0-1), E O’Brien, J Kelliher, Cillian Fitzgerald (0-1), JJ Prior
Fixture:
Churchill are away to Castlegregory in the final Co. League game next Sunday @ 2pm. Please support the team as they still retain an outside chance of promotion to Division 3.
Juveniles
Our annual awards evening will be held in The Ballyroe Height Hotel on Sunday November 9th 3.00pm to 5.00pm. We will have the Minor ALL Ireland winning cup on the day. Sam Maguire is not available that Sunday. Could you let all fellow mentors know of this fixture.
Race Night:
The club’s Race Night takes place this Friday at 9pm in the Oyster Tavern. Please come along for a great night’s entertainment. If you would like to be an Owner, Trainer or Jockey in one of the races, there are still Horses for sale – please contact any member of the Committee or Juvenile Mentors.
Lotto
The Lotto of jackpot £850 was not won.The lucky dip winners were £50 Anthony Clifford Barrow and £25 Jim Wrenn Spa,Patricia o Mahony Kilfenora and John Moore Kilfenora.The next draw of jackpot £900 will take place in the Oyster on Friday night the 14/11/2014 @ 10p.m.
The club would like to send sympathy to the Hill Family Tralee on the death of Jenny Hill who is a grand-aunt of senior player Brian and to the Lawler Family Fenit on the death of Annes sister Cristina Leahy in Ballyheigue