Seniors: In glorious sunshine, Churchill entertained Rathmore in Round 6 of the County League Division 5.
Rathmore came into this unbeaten in the league and looking to consolidate their push for promotion to Division 4.
Churchill started the brighter with three early points from Ivan Parker, Killian Fitzgerald and JJ Prior.
Michael Kelleher responded with a point for Rathmore, but Churchill took advantage of their early dominance to register the next 1-02, Fitzgerald with two more points and the goal from Ivan Parker to give them a 7 point lead mid way through the half. Mark Reen pointed for Rathmore and they almost got in for a goal of their own, but Garret Walsh expertly blocked Cian Jenkins shot on goal.
Rathmore were now starting to get some parity around mid field and worked some nice scores through Micheal Kelleher (3) and Denis McCarthy (2).
However, Churchill for their part kept the scoreboard ticking over with scores from Michael O’Brien and Killian Fitzgerald and went in at the break ahead by 1-09 to 0-07.
Churchill’s influential Ivan Parker was substituted at half time through injury, but that didn’t stop their momentum as they added the first four points of the second half with three from Oisin O’Brien and a 45 from ‘keeper Eoghan O’Brien.
To Rathmore’s credit they didn’t give up and got back into the game with 1-02 on the trot. The goal came from the penalty spot after Kelleher was pulled down in the area and he fired the resulting penalty into the bottom corner of the net.
Churchill were not to be denied though and they regained the advantage around the middle of the field and scored the last 4 points of the game to run out winners by 1-18 to 1-09.
Scorers for Churchill: Ivan Parker 1-01; Killian Fitzgerald 0-06; Michael O’Brien 0-04; Oisin O’Brien 0-03; Eoghan O’Brien, Sean Donnellan and Pa McCarthy 0-01 each.
Next up for Churchill is the long journey to play Tuosist next weekend. Keep an eye on our Facebook page for confirmation of throw in time and date.
Best wishes to former senior player Eoin McCarthy who is getting married to Christine Kildea this weekend, from all at Churchill GAA Club.
Academy: We had large numbers again on a beautiful sunny Sunday morning in the Spa for U6, U8 and U10 training. All the players are showing huge improvement week to week and the mentors ensure that training is fun and practical. This weeks under 10 trophy winners were Eamonn Hickey and Ben Horgan. Academy training continues next Saturday at 11am. Remember to put on sunscreen before training and bring water, gumshield and €2.
U12: Div 2A Churchill 5-16 Ballyduff 2-05. Played in Churchill on Monday night last, 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 on Tuesday.
U12: 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: U14s had a challenge match against St Pats Blennerville to help prepare for the coming Central League. It was a sunny evening and the game was a great run out. Daragh started in goals and distributed the ball well.
James, Cian and Ruairi were a new look fullback line, Tommy captaining the team, was in the halfbacks along with Ben and Eoghan. Eddie and Niall had fine games in midfield and then in front of goal, Donncha was at centre-forward with Donagh and David on the wings and Dylan joined the two Paddys in the full-forward line. Eric and Harvey were our interchange players and contributed throughout.
We started brightly and Dylan scored a quick goal followed by a point later in the half. David and Eddie goaled too as well as a fine Donncha point. Points from Eddie and Niall left us ahead 3-4 to 2-4 at the break.
A couple of goals from St Pats brought them back in the game in the second half. We replied with a point from Ben and scores from Darragh (1-3) who moved outfield just before the break. Further points from Tommy, Harvey and Niall along with goals from Cian & Eddie ensured a 6-11 to 6-7 win for Churchill.
The Central League started this week back in Dingle on Monday night with a report next week. Our next match is also away to Milltown/ Castlemaine on next Monday evening.
U16: Churchill will play Dingle in the first round of the County League Div. 2 (away) on Wednesday 21st June at 7pm. Best of luck to all involved. The bus for the game departs Fenit at 5pm and the Spa at 5.10. On the following Wednesday night 28th June, at 7pm, we play Firies (away).
