Seniors: Our season kicked off on Sunday last when we played Na Gaeil in the opening round of the Tralee town board league; the match went ahead in Healy Park as Killeen was unplayable.
Conditions were heavy underfoot with rain showers and wind not conducive to open football leading to some often sloppy play from both sides.
We had the aid of the elements in the first half and had the opening score from Tommy Walsh from a free inside 6 minutes; scores were hard to come by and with 5 mins remaining in the half we were 0-4 to 0-01 in front when a great team move resulted in Kieran O’Mahony finding the back of the net, being some compensation for his earlier effort which came back off the upright.
On the resumption, we introduced Karl Mullins and Darragh McElligott for Diarmuid O’Sullivan and David Murphy respectively, both of whom had picked up earlier knocks.
We began to exert more control around the middle third where Tommy Begley, Ross O’Callaghan, Con Barrett and John C O’Connor were prominent and had increased our lead to 1-06 to 0-03 when Tommy Walsh powered his way into the square and fired low to the corner of the net – this effectively finished the game as a contest and we finished up deserving winners on a final score line of 3-09 to 0-06 with John Ferguson finding the net late on.
This was a good early season work out which also saw Killian Moran & Kieran Mangan make their senior bows and both can be very happy with their contributions. We play Austin Stacks in round two next week on Sunday ( 12.30) in Strand Rd.
Jack Savage became the latest Strand Rd man to don the county colours in competitive fare when lining out at corner forward in the opening round of the Allianz Football league against Donegal in Letterkenny last Sunday.
Jack had a fine outing with 4 points ( 1 free, 3 from play) and can be very happy with his efforts; David Moran was the outstanding midfielder on view and Barry John Keane was also introduced as a second half substitute.
Kerry entertain Mayo in Austin Stack Park next Sat night under lights in Round 2 where we hope to see our Strand Rd contingent in action again.
Club Championship: The draw for the senior club championship for this year saw us pitted against Kenmare when the draw was made last Monday night in Austin Stack Park- this is a home fixture which will be played around Easter week end- this date is yet to be confirmed and is dependent on the progress of our county teams at senior and U-21 level.
Minors: Our minors are back in action this coming Sat 11th Feb when they welcome Ardfert to Strand Rd in a Tralee town board league fixture where throw in is at 3.30
Junior Blues: Next Sunday 12th Feb sees the launch of our juvenile academy for 2017 when we switch from our traditional slot on Saturday mornings to Sundays for the foreseeable future.
The academy caters for boys and girls aged 4-10 years with fully qualified coaches whose aim is to develop skills for gaelic football whilst also maintaining the “FUN” element of our games. A number of family events have been planned for Strand Road including penalty shoot outs, cross bar challenges, face painting etc- it all kicks off at 2 pm so please come along, meet the coaches for the year ahead and have your selfie taken with your favourite player – all our county players will be in attendance. A registration day will be held on Sat Feb 25th in Strand Road- membership costs are €30 for one child, & €50 for two or more.
Club Lotto: The club lotto draw on Monday night last ( 30th Jan) saw no winner of the jackpot of €6000 with match 3 winners on the night taking home €25 – the winners were: Maria Hickey, Eugene McGrath, Gerard Moran and Joan & Caroline Naughton – the lotto will now increase to €6100, so why not chance your luck for €2 to be in with a chance to win or share this fine prize.
Charlies Bar: A range of activities take place weekly in the bar with all tastes catered for – from pilates on Mondays & Tuesdays to Irish dancing on Wednesdays, to card playing ( Whist Drive) on Thursdays; there is live music on week ends with food each evening. Friday night specials include a steak/chips with a pint or glass of wine all for €19.95- why not make Charlies your next port of call for your night out? You can contact Tom or Eileen on 7124956.
Linda Gleeson will be stepping out on Sat night next ( 11th Feb) in Ballygarry House in aid of the Ballymac GAA “Strictly Come Dancing” and we would like to wish her and our neighbours in Ballymac all the best with their fund raiser.
Finally, we would like to wish Melissa Ryan Nix a speedy recovery and hope she is back on her feet very soon.
PRO Contact:
If you have any thing you feel is of interest for the Kerins O’Rahillys notes please get in touch. You can contact me at pro.kerinsorahillys.kerry@gaa.ie. Why not join our Facebook group to keep up to date with all fixtures and what is going on in the club. Just follow the following linkhttps://www.facebook.com/groups/Narries/ or follow us on Twitter @korgaa