Seniors: Churchill travelled to Austin Stacks in Round 5 of the County League on Saturday evening looking for a win to keep them in touch with the top half of the table. Despite conceding a goal midway through the first half we rallied to go in level at the break, 1-05 to 0-08.
In a tit for tat second half, both sides found the back of the net with Killian Fitzgerald grabbing ours, while former Kerry star William Kirby scoring for Stacks.
Despite coming under huge pressure late on Churchill managed to come out on the right side with a one point victory on a scoreline of 2-08 to 1-12. Next up is a home game this Sunday at 2pm against Rathmore.
Academy: There was no Academy training this weekend due to the Spa School’s Donal Walsh fun run on Sunday morning.
However, we are back again this Sunday morning from 11 to 12 for U6, U8 and U10’s. The U10 team also continue to train every Wednesday evening from 7-8. Don’t forget to bring water, gumshield and €2.
U12: Div 2A Churchill 5-16 Ballyduff 2-05. Played in Churchill on Monday night, this was a master display from start to finish. Playing against a strong wind in the first half, we played quick and direct football which gave us a commanding half time lead of 3-09 to 0-05.
This was easily our most complete performance of the year. The direct play of our forwards was brilliant. Cian Mason constantly obliged the supporting runs of Maurice Lenihan, Josh Elvans and Oisin McGibney.
Oran Murphy and Hugh Lenihan worked tirelessly in midfield. David Chute’s kickouts were 100% economic, which he has really worked on. Gearoid O’Connor had the task of marking their best forward and didn’t disappoint.
Billy Walsh swept up all around the half back line and our full backs of Barry Hamilton and Art O’Sullivan won everything. Overall, this was the most satisfying performance of the season. Well done boys and next up Keel at home next Tuesday.
Div 2B: On a windy evening in Churchill we went down to a strong Ballyduff outfit after a great battle. Missing four of our regular starters we were always up against it and found it hard to get the ball to our inside forwards in the first half. Ryan, Mark and Tom Quilter (who joined us from the u10 team as we were short so many) played out of their skins before the break but the strong wind made it very difficult to compete.
At half time we set a goal of winning the second half and to be fair to all players they never dropped their heads and managed to out score our opponents after the break. Ronan and Tom kicked some great scores in this period.
The players can be very proud of their effort and hopefully we will have a full squad to choose from on Tuesday 20th in our final league game against Keel. The final score was 5-16 to 4-6. We also wish Conor O Sullivan a speedy recovery from the injury he sustained in the first half.
U14: Churchill had a challenge game on Monday night against St Pats in preparation for the Central League which starts next Monday 19th June.
Our first game is away to An Gaeltacht and there will be games every Monday evening for 5 weeks. Every player has put in a huge amount of effort in preparation for the league and we should be in a good position to challenge for the title.
U16: U-16 training continues on Wednesday evening in the New Pitch from 7.15 to 8.30 in preparation for the County League.
We have been placed in Division 2 and the fixtures are as follows: June 21st Dingle (away), June 28th Firies (away), July 19th Na Gaeil (home), July 26th Milltown/C’maine (away), August 2nd An Ghaeltacht (home), all games at 7pm.
U12 Ladies: It has been a busy period for the Churchill Ladies U12’s. We recently hosted Duagh in the Spa in what was a thrilling game. Despite playing superb football, Churchill found themselves trailing by 7 points at half time.
However, the girls rallied and each and every one of them played their hearts out to cut the deficit to a single point with 5 mins remaining. It was then, that Churchill took control of the game & were justly rewarded for their efforts when they struck for goal. This was quickly followed up with 2 points to win the game in the end by 3 points.
We then travelled to Firies in the semi-final of the Co. League. This was a very close game from start to finish.
Playing against the breeze in the first half and with Ciara Collins and Aoife Greaney playing very tight in defence, Lisa Cassidy & Laura Reilly covering alot of ground in midfield & Clara O’Dowd sweeping up the breaking ball upfront, we were trailing by only 2 points at half time.
In the second half, we cut the deficit & eventually took a 2 point lead into the last 5 minutes of the game. However, during this period Firies got a soft goal & finished stronger to leave the final score; Churchill 2-08 Firies 3-09.
