U16:
Churchill under 16s were in action again last Friday when they took on Austin Stacks at Connolly Park in Division 1 of the Tralee Town League.
Our lads had to play against a stiff breeze in the first half, but worked very hard at containing the Stacks forward line as well as getting forward to grab some crucial scores. They finished the half three points down.
Right from the start of the second half, Churchill stormed into it and with some clever passing and movement, they managed to work some great scores to edge ahead. Churchill, now growing in confidence, began to play impressively and built up a good lead.
Despite the best efforts of the Stacks to stage a comeback, every Churchill player continued to battle hard to finish the game strongly and secure a well deserved win over the Tralee lads. Overall, a very determined team effort from all the Churchill lads who also played some great football on the night.
Churchill 4-08 vs 2-07 Austin stacks
U14:
Churchill put in a brave display in their Final of the St. Brendans championship on Thursday night at home in the Spa. They came up against a Na Gaeil side who just had the edge after playing at a higher level all year. Churchill had a great opening to the game and must have felt disappointed at half time. They created many goal and point scoring chances but due to staunch defending and goal line clearances by Na Gaeil, Churchill were unable to convert. At half time the lead was only a few points despite being well on top.
In the 2nd half Na Gaeil grew more into the game and in a short period scored some goals to open up a clear lead. Churchill battled bravely but were unable to get the goals needed to close the gap. In the end they lost by 6 points. Congratulations to Na Gaeil and well done to all the Churchill lads who battled bravely and did the club proud.
Academy:
We had a huge turnout of U10’s and U8’s for our bus trip to Keel on Sunday. A big thank you to Keel for hosting the sporting occasion.
At U10, 27 players and 1 injured player turned out. With these numbers Churchill went with 3 teams of 9. Each of the teams performed very well and it was great to see that all the training is paying off.
At U8 we had 22 players divided into 2 teams of 11. In preparation for the Siobhan Cotter tournament we lined up the teams as they will play for that day and both teams performed well. At U7 we had a great performance and at U8 both Churchill and Keel had a ding-dong affair. For a 2nd game we split up the groups and both teams did fantastically.
Each player at every age should take great pride in their performance and this should give us great momentum to finish out the rest of the season.
It was also great to see so many parents supporting their children, hopefully as many parents as possible can come out and support us for the remaining games of the season.
Next up is Laune Rangers at home next Sunday at 11AM. They will be traveling with players from U6 to U10 to play all our academy ages; and like the morning we had in Killorglin some great encounters are to be enjoyed.
Also, on Wednesday the U10 team will train in the Spa from 6:30 to 7:30PM.
Siobhán Cotter Tournament:
This is scheduled to take place on Sunday morning, 9th of October. It will involve last years winners Austin Stacks, the previous years winners Ballymac, our neighbours Ardfert and ourselves. Put the date in your diary to come out and support the club.
Churchill Fun/Run Walk:
The annual Churchill Family 6K Fun Run/Walk will take place on Sunday 16th October at 1pm. Check out the website and facebook page for registration and route details.
Senior B:
Churchill and Skellig Rangers will have to do it all again this weekend after their Cahill Cup semi-final ended all square in Barraduff on Friday night.
Churchill played with the breeze in the first half and after a slow start managed to get the scoreboard ticking over with a few well taken points.
However, the concession of two soft goals meant we went in at the break trailing by 2-01 to 0-05. Rangers added a third goal early in the second half and things were looking ominous for Churchill. However, the one thing can be said for this group of lads is that they never throw in the towel.
The backs who were well marshalled by full back Peter Rolls got on top of their southern counterparts and Churchill worked some great scores including two goals, the pick of them a reaction shot on the half volley from Pa McCarthy.
Dara O’Shea played a captain’s part, working hard and linking play before he was substituted near the end suffering from exhaustion. In fact it was Skellig Rangers that had to come from behind at the death to force a replay, details of which are still to be confirmed but likely this weekend. Keep an eye on the Facebook page for updates.
