Senior: Churchill’s County League game against Kerins O’Rahillys was postponed last weekend and will be re-fixed for later in the season.
This Easter Sunday sees the start of the Junior Premier Championship and Churchill’s opening game against Ballydonoghue. This game is fixed for Sunday, April 1st at 2:30pm in Finuge and all support would be welcome.
This year’s Championship sees a new format where teams compete in a group of 4, with the group winners progressing to the semi-finals and the bottom team entering a four-way relegation playoff. Churchill and Ballydonoghue are joined in group 2 by Skellig Rangers and Listry, with matches played on successive weekends in April.
U14: Division 2 Town League Final, On a beautiful Sunday evening in Healy Park we had a real battle with a courageous John Mitchels team who fought until the end in a close encounter. We got off to a great start and following an early David Feeley goal we scored another two points before a Mitchels goal against the run of play brought them back into the game.
Our movement and teamwork was impressive but we failed to put scores on the board while we dominated possession and with Mitchels being more clinical we went in 5 points behind at halftime even though we dominated possession in the opening period. Mitchels started the second half brightly and increased their lead to 7 points with only 20 minutes left to play.
Churchill reorganised and gradually reeled them in, before a strong finish turned the game on it’s head. We scored 4 goals in the 2nd half along with some long range points to runout winners on a scoreline of 5-7 to 3-8. The most impressive aspect of our performance was that we never panicked and kept our discipline even when the odds were stacked against us.
Our decision making improved as the game went on and our strong finish will stand us on good stead for the long season ahead. Having said that, it was obvious that the small numbers at training has hampered our preseason and this needs to improve. Training will be at 6.50pm on Monday’s for the foreseeable future and we need strong attendance at these sessions as we have a lot to work on before the County League commences.
Our first County League game is in Glenbeigh on Wednesday 28th March. Our panel for the final was: David Chute, Eddie McCarthy, Brian Linehan, Ruairi Burns, John Joe Hanafin, Kieran Cahill, Darragh Gurney, Oisin McGibney, Harvey Brosnan, Oran Murphy, Ben Donnellan, Liam O Connor, Donagh Murphy, Cian O Gara, Billy Walsh, Josh Elvins, David Feeley, Dylan Walsh, Barry Hamilton, Donagh Stephenson, Ronan Kelly, Cian Mason, Gearoid O Connor
U14-town league winners
Ladies U12: Churchill Ladies U12s got their season off to a start with their first game at home in Churchill last Sunday against Ballymac B in the North Kerry League. In perfect conditions, this was a game which Churchill controlled from start to finish. Our defence was solid throughout & cut out any attacks which came their way. Our midfield consistently won possession & fed our forwards who finished with some fine scores. It was a delight to see some of our new players show their skills & ability during this game given we have been only training the last few weeks. Next round we are away to Austin Stacks B.
Academy: Academy training for U6- U10 boys and girls will commence on Sunday 8th April in the Spa pitch. Parents will be notified of the details next week. Any players who have not yet registered will be able to do so on the morning.
Lip-Sing: Training is well under way for the Churchill GAA Lip Sing, which takes place on Sunday 6th May in Ballyroe Heights Hotel. We will be holding a launch night in the Oyster Tavern on Friday 6th April at 9pm. Tickets will go on sale that night and are expected to sell out fast, judging on the interest and experience of last years Strictly Come Dancing.
Sympathy: Churchill GAA would like to extend our condolences to the Gleasure, Moriarty and Lenihan families following the untimely passing of Luke Gleasure this week.
