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Senior Men – Our Division 2 team played at home against Castleisland Desmonds on Saturday last. Well done to the team and management on their performance where we secured a win on a scoreline of 1- 11 to 1 – 08.
We play Gneeveguilla away next Sunday at 2pm. Our Division 6 team were home to Spa, Killarney this Sunday with the visitors winning by one point on a scoreline of 1-12 to 3-07.
Senior Ladies – The curtain came down on this year’s Credit Union Donal Curtin Cup campaign for us last Friday night with a home defeat to table toppers Glenflesk.
The opposition were lightning fast from the blocks and were 4 points in front after the opening five minutes with points from Keelie O’Connor and Eabha Rudden and 2 from the impressive Aoise O Donoghue. Worse was to quickly follow as Glenflesk added goals from Alanna O.’Sullivan and Caitlyn Kelly and suddenly John Mitchels found themselves with a mountain to climb after only ten minutes.
Some rock solid defending from Anna Murphy, Diana O’Keeffe and Ava Sharma settled the home side and a sweeping move involving Tanya O’Connor, Shannon Martin and Laoise O’Sullivan ended with Grace Hamilton playing in Ava Buckley for the home sides opening point. Almost immediately Caroline Harrington played a delightful pass to Jamie Finnegan who was fouled and Niamh Myers reduced the deficit from the resultant free.
Linda O’Connor then fielded magnificently in the middle of the field, fed Sarah Kilgallen who found Aoife O’Brien with a sweet pass and Aoife found Niamh Myers who added another point, this time from play to reduce the gap still further.
Glenflesk responded almost immediately with points from Aoise O’Donoghue and Caitlyn Kelly and just on half time John Mitchels goalkeeper, Kayleigh Collins pulled off a point blank save from Eabha Rudden to leave the half time score John Mitchels 0-03 Glenflesk 2-06.
Glenflesk opened the second half just as in the first with a point from Clodagh Mc Carthy in the second minute but any thoughts they had of taking complete control were quickly extinguished by this very resilient John Mitchels outfit.
With Anna Murphy, Diana O Keeffe and Shannon Martin driving them forward and Aoife O’Brien and Sarah Kilgallen taking a stranglehold in midfield the home side reduced the gap with points from Anna Murphy and 2 from Niamh Myers, one from a free to leave 7 between them ten minutes into the second half.
Linda O’Connor then found Grace Hamilton who fed Ava Buckley who kicked a long range point and almost immediately a wonderful move involving Laoise O’Sullivan, Tara Fitzgerald and Jamie Finnegan saw Niamh Myers kick another point to leave just 5 between the teams with 5 minutes remaining.
In spite of laying siege to the Glenflesk goal the home team were unable to breach the visitors defence in search of the elusive goal that may have saved the game and virtually on the call of time Glenflesk added a point from Aoise O’ Donoghue to see them hold on for a 2 goal victory on the score of John Mitchels 0-08 Glenflesk 2-08.
All in all a very important Credit Union Donal Curtin Cup campaign for John Mitchels, where we fulfilled all our fixtures and were competitive in all of them in a very competitive group.
Lots of highlights to look back on, an opening round win over Southern Gaels, a rousing draw with local rivals Kerins O’ Rahilly’s and some very close encounters in our remaining fixtures.
The group has also increased numerically with a number of players returning to play and a number of the younger players starting to get their initial taste of Senior football which for the future of the club is of course vitally important because at the end of the day isn’t that all that really matters.
We continue training now in preparation for the league which begins in mid July and of course the championship and we are already looking forward to both competitions.
We would like to wish all our squad members facing into the exam season the very best of luck in them as they continue on their career paths and look forward to seeing them back in the Green and Gold very shortly. John Mitchels Abu!
Minor Team – Congratulations to Gearoid White and David Sargent on their Kerry Munster Championship success last Monday evening. A special word of congratulations to Gearoid on his Man of the Match Award. John Mitchels Minors played Ballymac away in the semi-final of the Central League.
Congratulations to Ballymac who won out on the evening. There will be a meeting of players and parents with the Minor Management on Thursday at 8pm at the Club where details for the remainder of the season will be outlined.
Academy – Well done to all the boys and girls who had a great training session in glorious sunshine in Ballyseedy. Looking forward to seeing you all again next week.
Under 9 Boys – John Mitchels U9 Boys had a fantastic training session on Sunday Morning last under the beautiful blue skies in Ballyseedy. Training this week consisted of 10min slots where we practised our stretching, running & passing & kicking & then onto small sided games. We have Fossa coming to us next weekend & parents will be notified during the week regarding schedule so until then keep on practicing!!
Under 8s and 10s Girls – Training continues next Sunday at 10.30am. New players always welcome.
Under 14 Girls – The John Mitchels U14 ladies faced Firies in Farranfore on Monday evening in our second game in this year’s county league.Training is going very well within the group and the atmosphere is great. The team will train on Thursday at 7pm and full attendance is expected.
Under 12 Girls – We take a break from the North Kerry league next weekend, so we will have two training sessions this weekTuesday from 6pm to 7pm and Sunday from 9.30 am to 10.30am. Blitz details to follow, with this blitz expected to happen in the next few weeks.
Under 11 Boys – We played Ballyduff at home in our final Phase 1 game on Thursday evening. A lot of football was played across three periods. Our troops found the going tough at times but thankfully grew into the game.
These games are all about player development and giving players equal game time and that’s what all our players are getting, so well done to all players over the past number of weeks. Phase 2 is due to start shortly so stay tuned for details in the coming weeks via WhatsApp.
We trained at the earlier time of 10am on Sunday on the main pitch. After a warm up we did a few skill drills – the pick up; soloing; hand passing and the punt kick. We concluded with a short game with the emphasis on teamwork.
The coaches finished by emphasising that “practice makes perfect” and it is important that each player gets some ball practice in between training sessions and matches. Training continues on Sundays at 10:30. New players alwayswelcome.
Under 13 Boys – Our Green Team play An Ghaeltacht at home this Sunday. On Friday evening our Gold Team played Duagh at home, coming out winners on the evening, Details of our U13 games for the coming week will be shared across social media.
Under 15 Boys – Our Under 15 Gold Team defeated Glenbeigh/Glencar/Cromane in the county league. Their final takes place this Wednesday. Please see social media for further details of the final, which is due to take place this Wednesday. Our Under 15 Green Team played local rivals Austin Stacks in the Division 2 League Final. Congratulations to Stacks who won out in this local derby.
Minor Girls – Congratulations to our Minor Girls who secured a well deserved victory against Finuge St Senans at home on Thursday night. Training details for this week will be issued via WhatsApp
Under 16 Girls and Minors – Our Under 16 girls are in a plate final v Annauscal/Castlegregory with the date for the game to be confirmed.
Bingo – Continues Wednesday and Friday at 8.30PM at the John Joe Sheehy Road. Over 18s only. ID must be provided on request.
Lotto – There was no winner of our lotto jackpot which this week was €3,350. This week’s numbers were 2, 3, 6 and 10 expertly drawn by Archie Bastible and Pat Kearney Congratulations to our lucky dip winners – Kieran O’Donoghue, Pat Doody and Diarmuid Coffey. Next week’s jackpot is €3,400 and we would ask you to please support this important fundraiser for the club.
Membership – Membership is now due for 2024. You can pay online through Clubforce or call to our Club Registrar Georgie Lowe on Sunday from 11 am to 12 noon weekly.
Sympathies – We express our sincere sympathies to those who have recently experienced bereavement. We especially remember the families of Lucy Hanafin, Julia Diggins, Dermot O’Connor and EileenSugrue.
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