Senior: After a well deserved weekend off our seniors return to Co League action this weekend when we welcome Austin Stacks B to Churchill on Sunday afternoon. Throw in in our new pitch in Churchill is at 2pm.
Churchilll minors.
Minors: Churchill minors won the County League Division final on Saturday evening beating Castleisland Desmonds in the final in Austin Stacks Park. In a close run game we came out on top by 2-13 to 1-10. Captain Ciarán Murray collected the cup on behalf of the team and Liam O’Donnell was a very deserving man of the match winner. The minors will have a bit of a break now for exams and will return to action in the central league later in the summer.
U12 Div 1A Churchill 3-13 Rathmore 5-12. In a very keenly contested opening round of division 1A we came up just short on Sunday night. We led by 2-08 to 3-03 at half time after conceding goals against the run of play.
We had outstanding scores from Billy Doyle, Hugh and Maurice Lenihan, Tom Quilter and Mark Gazi. Defensively, we closed down and tackled from Daithi Murphy to Ryan Hickey, Josh Favadon, Art O’Sullivan and Rory Boyd but were extremely unlucky to be penalised for our tenacious tackling. Jayden Deady made some outstanding saves but it wasn’t to be. Onwards and upwards to Laune Rangers.
U12 Division 1B: Churchill 5-11 Rathmore 3-4. The Churchill U12 B team saved their best performance of the year so far for their debut in Division 1B of the County League in Rathmore last Sunday evening. It would be unfair to single out any one player as the whole team and subs gave a great display of football from start to finish.
Playing with the breeze in the first half, Churchill combined well throughout the pitch and were quick into their stride. Cian and Gregory were bossing midfield and combining well to find our forwards, who were causing trouble for the Rathmore defence. Goals from Sean (2), Cialan and Cian meant that the boys built up a comfortable half-time lead. Half-time Churchill 4-5 Rathmore 1-1.
Against the breeze in the second half, the defence of Jack Nolan, Donnacha, Paddy and Noah worked their socks off to withstand the expected pressure from Rathmore, as they went looking for goals.
Jack Dwyer in goals gave an outstanding display of both shot-stopping and good clearing kickouts. When the ball was moved up to the forwards, they kept the scoreboard ticking over with Alex, busy as ever supporting Aaron who got our final goal with a great shot to the far corner of the net. Both Tom Carroll and Tom Lenihan played their part as well, providing fresh legs when needed.
While Rathmore rallied and showed a never say die attitude by adding a few late goals, our lads played until the end as Aaron, Gregory, Sean and Cian scored some great points to ensure Churchill secured the win. Well done, boys!
U14: On Monday May 14th we took on Castlegregory in the 1/4 final of the County League. We hit the ground running with Cian O Gara, David Feeley, Eddie and Ben driving through their defence at every opportunity. Goals from Gearoid(2), Ben, Eddie and Cian Mason ensured we led at halftime 5-10 to 1-9.
It was great to get everyone on the pitch during the 2nd half and all players contributed to the win. We left ourselves open at the back in the second half as the number of substitutions we made disrupted our momentum but we were never in any danger, and ran out winners 5-22 to 5-10. A special mention must go to Dylan who was again outstanding in goals.
It was a busy week with our county semi-final taking place two nights later in Cromane against the combined might of Glenbeigh and Cromane.
The hosts started much brighter and with 5 minutes to go in the first half we were trailing 1-7 to 0-3. However the boys dug in, fought for every ball and managed to score 2-2 without reply before the break to lead by a point at halftime 2-5 to 1-7.
The goals came from Ben and Eddie. In the 2nd half the attacking ball movement shown by the boys was fantastic and but for some poor finishing we could have pulled away. A lovely finish to the net by Oran kept us ahead but a physically stronger Glenbeigh/Cromane team kept us under pressure and the home team led by 3 points with 5 minutes to go.
Again the boys showed amazing heart and determination to keep winning 50/50 balls and work the ball forward in a controlled manner. This teamwork led to a great opening for Oisín who tucked the ball away to level the game with just 3 minutes to play.
We won the next few kickouts to keep the ball in their half and kicked 3 late points to win 4-10 to 2-13. This is a great achievement, especially considering 9 of our starting 15 are u13 and have another year at this grade.
Everybody has got game time during the campaign and the improvement in our performances has been significant since the season began. We now play Keel/Listry in the County League final scheduled for Wednesday 23rd May.
