Credit Union Co League Div 1
An Ghaeltacht 1-10 Kerins O’Rahillys 2-15
This Round 7 game was played at a sunny Gallarus this afternoon. It was a crucial game, with both sides sitting on eight points, just one point behind table toppers Rathmore who had drawn with Legion on Friday evening.
However, with four other clubs also sitting on eight points, a victory would not only see the winners leapfrog Rathmore into top spot, but also give them serious momentum for the remaining four league games.
An Ghaeltacht had led the league table from the start, reeling off four consecutive victories, but came unstuck in their previous two games and were surely anxious to get back to winning ways.
On a firm sod and with the advantage of a consistently stiff breeze for the first half at the glorious seaside venue, the West Kerry men would have been expected to grab the initiative, but it was O’Rahillys who started the better with Barry John Keane converting a 13-metre free in the first minute.
By the 10th minute, the visitors had added another four points without reply courtesy of another pointed free from Keane and three more from play from the boot of young Conor Hayes, who was proving a real thorn in the homesters’ side.
His first came after he was picked out by Keane, his second after good work from Shane Brosnan and Gearóid Dillane and his third when Keane again found him from a short placed ball.
An Ghaeltacht finally broke their duck in the 12th minute with a lovely pointed free from all of 48 metres, but Strand Road countered immediately when centre back, Karl Mullins drove at the heart of An Gaeltacht’s defence and offloaded to Darragh McElligott who fisted across to Hayes and he finished to the net from point blank range to make it 1-5 to 0-1 in O’Rahillys’ favour.
The sides then exchanged points, the Westerners with their first from play from 45 metres, but with Ryan Carroll in fine fettle on his return to the side, Con Barrett prominent and Sean Walsh fetching very well from Strand Road’s kickouts, they forced the concession of another free after a foul on Hayes and Keane slotted over.
An Ghaeltacht were finding their feet though and they narrowed the gap to five points by the 24th minute with two superb pointed frees from 45 metres each and the margin was maintained over the next five minutes with both sides adding two points each, with Keane converting two frees after fouls on Hayes and Dillane respectively and An Ghaeltacht replying from play and a placed ball.
Then, in the 30th minute, the home side rampaged down the left and although the move seemed to have broken down, the ball fell kindly to an inrushing attacker who first-timed it into the net giving Shane Foley no chance.
O’Rahillys could be forgiven had they tried to batten down the hatches until the half time whistle in an effort to preserve their two-point lead, but instead they produced a fantastic response when Keane passed to Hayes who picked out the inrushing McElligott with a pinpoint foot-pass and although the shot was blocked down, the ball ran loose to the overlapping Ross O’Callaghan who diverted it into the far corner of the net to leave the score at 2-8 to 1-6 in O’Rahillys’ favour at the short whistle, the five-point margin being a fair reflection of the first half’s proceedings.
The wind seemed to have picked up on the resumption and now favoured the Tralee men, but An Ghaeltacht were fast off the blocks and pointed a free inside the first minute.
Strand Road kept their composure though and after seven minutes, Danny O’Sullivan’s fine kick-pass found Hayes in space but this time the goalkeeper denied him at the expense of a ‘45’, which was expertly converted by Carroll.
This was followed by another spell of possession that culminated in Keane swinging the ball over the bar from 40 metres with his left foot and Carroll then found the range from a 50-metres free that resulted from a turnover forced by Carroll himself.
The sides then exchanged points from frees with Keane converting for O’Rahillys after a foul on Rory O’Connor and as we entered the final quarter the score stood at 2-12 to 1-8 in favour of the Blues, who introduced Johnny Keane and Shane McElligott into the fray.
Sensing time running out, An Ghaeltacht started to turn the screw but due to fine defending from Mullins and Carroll in particular, ably supported by David Murphy and Sean Collins, the Westerners return was limited to two pointed frees as we entered the final minutes.
This gave O’Rahillys a platform to lift the siege and it took a fine save from An Ghaeltacht’s keeper to deny O’Callaghan a second goal, but the home side countered straight away and it took an equally fine point-blank stop from Shane Foley to keep the Blues five points in front.
O’Rahillys retention of possession was starting to take it’s toll on the homesters at this stage and they used it to move six points clear when Keane pointed a close-in free and extended their lead further when Aaron Roche and Carroll combined to set up Keane for another point from play.
They then introduced Kieran Mangan and Brian Scannell to good effect and Keane swung over their final score after a fine long delivery.
An Ghaeltacht had one last kick in them however and when a high ball into the small square broke in their favour, the resulting shot was superbly tipped away by Shane Foley and the final whistle blew seconds later with the scoreboard reading An Ghaeltacht 1-10 Kerins O’Rahillys 2-15.
Kerins O’Rahillys: S Foley; D Murphy, R O’Callaghan, S Collins; R Carroll (0-2,1f,1’45’), K Mullins, D O’Sullivan; C Barrett, S Brosnan; D McElligott , BJ Keane (0-10, 0-6f), R O’Connor; G Dillane, S Walsh, C Hayes (1-3). Subs: J Keane, S McElligott, A Roche, B Scannell, K Mangan, B Foley, D Fitzgerald.
Credit Union Co League Div 5A
Ballyduff 0-12 Kerins O’Rahillys B 1-06
Our Senior B team had an uphill task facing them against the recently crowned county junior champions in Ballyduff on Sunday last and against the breeze, the home side started very brightly, notching three points inside the first seven minutes.
O’Rahillys had their chances too but Ballyduff’s keeper dealt comfortably with efforts from Donagh O’Brien and Jason O’Leary, before in the eight minute, a high ball into the North Kerry side’s goalmouth was parried and John McGrath was on hand to tap the rebound into the net.
Three minutes later, Ballyduff worked the ball in along the end line and it took a point-blank save from Rob O’Connor to keep the scores level. Strand Road capitalised on this reprieve when they worked the ball up the pitch and Johnny Keane converted a 20-metre free after a foul on Shane McElligott.
It was end to end fare now and Ballyduff careered downfield to raise a white flag only for O’Rahillys to counter and in a move involving O’Brien, McElligott and his brother, Darragh, McGrath slotted over to restore their one-point lead.
It was shortlived though as two points from play in two minutes saw Ballyduff nose ahead, but Rory Molloy evened things up after good work from Darragh McElligott and Sean Griffin and then O’Rahillys went in front with a superb left-footed point from wide on the left flank courtesy of Darragh Fitzgerald.
Ballyduff responded well however and had the best of the remaining seven minutes of the half, kicking a fine long-distance point and converting a free to lead by 0-8 to 1-4 at the break.
O’Rahillys, despite the stiffening breeze, started the second half well and Molloy evened the score with a fine point from 30 metres, but the next 20 minutes saw Ballyduff take control of the game and some fine shooting on their part, allied to some erratic play from Strand Road saw the home side rack up four unanswered points.
The only response the Blues could conjure up from there to the finish was a first-timed effort from O’Brien that flew over the crossbar and despite the urgings of Barry Foley, Kieran Mangan, Tom McGrath, Evan Doody and Brian Scannell, O’Rahillys were unable to bridge the three-point gap.
Kerins O’Rahillys: R O’Connor; B Foley, T McGrath, K Mangan; E Doody, J O’Leary, B Scannell; R Molloy (0-2), D McElligott; D O’Brien (0-1), J McGrath (1-1), S Griffin; D Fitzgerald (0-1) J Keane (0-1f), S McElligott.
LADIES NOTES
U12 GIRLS
Training continues on Tuesday and Thursday at 5.15p.m. in Ballyrickard. Great attendance every week girls. Keep up the good work.
U13 KLGFA DEVELOPMENT TRAINING
Training commences this Saturday, July 6th in Ballyrickard for girls born in 2006 ONLY at 11a.m. until 12.30p.m.
Please be there 15 minutes beforehand to register and please bring €2 each.
U14 GIRLS
After a great win in the county league division 2B, we are awaiting the draw for the North Kerry league. We continue to train every Tuesday and Thursday evening in Ballyrickard at 6.30p.m. . New young ladies are always welcome to join us.
Upcoming games as follows:
The Sandra Keane Tournament- July 20th.
U13 and U15 Championship- dates to follow.
North Kerry League- August 4th.
Numbers have being great to date, keep up the good work.
U16 GIRLS
Training continues on Tuesday and Thursday at 7p.m. in Ballyrickard. Hopefully we won’t have any more torrential downpours during training like last Tuesday.
SENIOR LADIES
We are away to Annascaul/ Castlegregory this Wednesday. Throw in at 7.30p.m. in Annascaul pitch. Best of luck! Please support !
CAKE SALE
Calling all enthusiastic bakers and volunteers for our ‘Cake Sale ‘ next Sunday, July 7th from 12p.m. – 4p.m. in Strand Road.
Please support this ladies fundraiser which will be held during our Family and Community Fun Day.
CÚINNE NA NÓG
We have a busy few weeks ahead of us with so much happening in the club.
Sunday saw a great crowd as always have fun during our Juvenile Academy training in Ballyrickard.
Next Sunday, we will be be in Strand Road at 12p.m. instead of Ballyrickard at 11a.m. for our Community Fun Day.
Players of the Week:
U6 Girls – Amelia O’ Connor
U6 Boys – Julian Zytka
U8 Girls – Aoife Hobert
U8 Boys – Callum Rice and
Tomás Bailey Kelliher
U10 Girls – Córa Meehan
U10 Boys – George Keane
Well done to everyone!
U16 BOYS
We travelled to Listry for our second Co. League game to encounter a strong challenge from Keel/Listry and were fortunate to come away with full points. The first half was a tight affair until a probing ball by Danny Hennessy into the square ended up in the Keel/Listry net and this goal coupled with a goal from Ben O’ Brien, along with points from Seán Healy , Danny Hennessy , Ben O Brien (2) and Darragh O’ Connor was all that divided the teams at half time with a score line of 1-6 to 2-6.
The second half saw us under constant pressure from the opposition and within 15 minutes of the restart we were trailing by a point. We were then awarded a penalty which was expertly dispatched by Seán Healy which put us two up. This lead was shortly reduced to a draw while struggling to come to terms with the opposition’s midfield. We struck another goal from the boot of Danny Hennessy to edge us ahead once again only to be pulled back to the minimum immediately. Then after a great run from Seán Healy saw his shot saved, Alan O’ Connor was first to pounce on the rebound and slot home a fine goal. Heading into the final minutes of the game we were struggling to stay ahead by a single point when Kevin Molloy split the posts with the last score of the game ending it with a score line of 5-9 to 2-16. A major factor in our victory on the night was the display of our Goalkeeper Thomas Maguire, who gave a man of the match display throughout .
Team and scorers – Thomas Maguire; Sam Pituch, Eric Mc Mahon, Jake Foley; TJ Heaphy, Jerome Daly, Matthew Higgins; Enis Reka, Danny Hennessy (2-3); Ben Hanafin, Seán Healy (1-1), Gearóid Meehan; Darragh O’ Connor (0-3), Ben O’ Brien (1-2), Alan O’ Connor (1-0). Sub: Cormac Gallagher, Kevin Molloy, Joe O’Sullivan, Alan O’ Connor, Rory O’Halloran, Seán Collins.
CÚL CAMP
Kerins O’Rahillys will host Cúl Camp from Monday, July 1st – Friday, July 5th in Strand Road. For anyone who hasn’t yet registered please be there for 9.40a.m. to register. Camp is from 10a.m.- 2.30p.m. daily.
AMBER FLAG
It’s with pride we will raise the ‘Amber Flag’ in our club next Sunday, July 7th. This means so much to us. We are the first GAA Club in Kerry to be awarded this for our work in promoting mental health and wellbeing amongst our children.
We mightn’t see it – but each one of us somewhere in our family is affected by a loved one who has mental health problems. We have started a ‘Mental Health and Fitness Program ‘ to help our members.
Our guest speakers will be Dr. Susan Lawlor, Elma Walsh and Eoin Burns. It all kicks off at 12p.m. Come join us!
COMMUNITY FAMILY FUN DAY
We are incorporating our celebration of raising our ‘Amber Flag ‘ with a Family Fun Day for our Community.
Community means so much to us In Kerins O’Rahilly’s Club. Everything kicks off at 12p.m. There will be plenty of entertainment for all including Rinka, a puppet show, magician, face painting, balloons, a barbecue, games , pop up shop, raffles etc.
Please come and join us. We will also be taking names for the ‘Street Leagues ‘ for girls and boys. Training for them commences the week after. You don’t have to be a club member or play football to join in. It’s all fun.
SUMMER CAMP
We will hold our summer camp from Monday, July 29th to Friday, August 2nd. The camp will run from 10a.m. – 2p.m. daily. It’s €30 for one children and €50 for a family of two or more (siblings). All welcome!
Please contact Adrian (085) 1500199 to reserve a place as numbers are limited.
BAG PACKING FUNDRAISER
Thanks to everyone who has responded so far. We are still looking for volunteers to help out from 2p.m. to 6p.m.
Please give an hour or two of your time. All money raised goes back into our children in the club.
SNIPPETS from “top of the right”
· The Snippets Man hears that Ken Savage has been linked with the Cork Senior Ladies Football squad.
· An approach may have been made
· But who approached who?
· Joby Fitzgerald Senior’s “Suggestion of the Week” implemented on the club’s Twitter account.
· Cheque arrive yet Joby?
· Dan Walsh saves the black and amber caterpillar in Gallarus.
· Denis O’Sullivan’s musing that it could be an omen for Kilkenny in Croker proves incorrect…
· Much to the delight…of Top of the Right”
CONDOLENCES
All at the club wish to extend our deepest sympathy to the family and friends of Helen O’Shea, Cluain Mór House, Boherbee and Timothy McCarthy of Strand Road. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a n-anamacha.
