Kerins O’Rahillys GAA Club News

Seniors:
We made the short trip to Blennerville this afternoon for round 2 of the Tralee town league and came away convincing winners on a final scoreline of 2-16 to 1-05.

Tom Hoare had the opening score inside the first minutes but St Pats hit back immediately with a goal and followed it up with 3 quickfire points, our only reply being another fine point from Tom.

However, from here until the half time whistle we gradually took over with 3 pointed frees from Darragh O’Connor plus a fine effort from play from Diarmuid O’Sullivan to level matters and this was followed by a well worked goal from Daniel Bowler.

We had three wides on the trot before that man again, Tom Hoare pointed, half time 1-07 to 1-03.

We continued to dictate matters in the 2nd half with our defence on top with TJ Heaphy, Chucky and Ross O’Callaghan well in command and our half forward line of Padraig Griffin, Shane McElligott and Daniel Bowler providing plenty of ammunition for our inside line which saw Conor O’Sullivan ( a half time sub) hitting four points and Shane McElligott billowing the net towards the finish to cap a dominant display.

Scorers: Shane McElligott 1-01, Conor Hayes, Tom Hoare ( 0-04 each), Darragh O’Connor ( 0-03), Daniel Bowler ( 1-0), Diarmuid O’Sullivan, Conor Hayes ( 0-02).

Team: Rob O’Connor, Jake Foley, Ross O’Callaghan, Stephen Nix, Seán Collins, Chucky, TJ Heaphy, Diarmuid O’Sullivan, Tom Hoare, Padraig Griffin, Barry J Keane, Daniel Bowler, Darragh O’Connor, Shane McElligott & Conor Hayes.

As of now, we have no fixture planned for next weekend but there is an outstanding game vs Ballymac which may be penciled in for next weekend – failing that we will play our first county league on weekend of 19th March when newly promoted Castleisland Desmonds will visit Strand Road – our B team will be in action on the same weekend when they play Dr Crokes in Lewis Road – as always, keep an eye on social media platforms for updates.

Victory Social:

It was a night to reminisce, a night to recall and a night to revel.

The club’s victory social held at the resplendent Ballyroe Heights Hotel delivered all of the above and more, as the club celebrated their 2022 achievements in winning the Kerry senior and Munster club championships before narrowly failing to eventual winners Kilmacud Crokes in a January showdown in Croke Park.

The atmosphere crackled as the crowd gathered, old friends reunited, the air filled with congeniality and warmth.

The proceedings went like clockwork, and with everyone seated shortly after 7.30 pm the history makers,led by captain Ross O’Callaghan entered the room as the Black Eyed Peas hit “ Tonight’s going to be a good night” rang out bringing the crowd to its feet in rapturous applause.

Chairman Haulie Kerins welcomed everybody and handed matters over to MC for the night, Denis Hanafin – Denis, in his own inimitable way, conducted proceedings with all the aplomb of an orchestral conductor ensuring everything went to plan ( the air horn and water gun helped too!!)

Guest speakers on the night included Liam Lynch, vice chair of Coiste Chontae Chiarrai and former Uachtaran of Cumann Luthchleas Gael, Ireland South MEP Seán Kelly.

Liam Lynch endeared himself to the crowd with his opening lines of “I am from a small intermediate club on the other side of town” before delivering a well constructed, humorous speech rich in praise of the club’s recent feats whilst lamenting the role of a 33/1 outsider in the Oscars who walked away with best supporting actor – a reference to the harsh sending off of David Moran in the Eire Og encounter.

He lavished praise on David Moran as he departed the inter county scene, likening him to Australian rugby legend John Eales for his mighty feats in the green and gold over 15 years and complimenting him on his leadership,sportsmanship and footballing abilities.

Seán Kelly fondly recalled his time as a juvenile in Strand Road lauding the likes of Johnny Kissane and John Dowling for their great and unstinting work whilst also acknowledging the contributions of Tommy Walsh, Barry John Keane, Jack Savage and David Moran all of whom have won senior All Ireland medals with Kerry in the recent past.

He, acknowledged too, the contribution of Declan Quill who as joint bainisteoir of Kerry ladies has led them to five victories in a row and a place in this year’s national league final.

The players were presented with their medals by Will Harmon and Claire Walsh, and the final presentations of the night were reserved for the outgoing management team for their endeavours over the past 3 years, for their meticulous preparations and overall leadership.

Awards on the night were also made to Ben Hanafin, young player of the year, Shane Foley, most improved and to David Moran, player of the year.

2022 also marked the end of an era, as main club sponsor Kerries Golf Range, no longer operating, was succeeded by Higgins Waste and Recycling with Haulie thanking John, Jackie and Seán for coming on board.

The formalities over, the crowds danced the night away to the music of Brighside and later to the sounds of DJ Manus.

Kerry came up short in Omagh when going down on a scoreline of 1-15 to 2-09 to the locals; it was a game that we looked like winning early on when taking a 3 point advantage towards half time but a strong finish by the homesters saw the sides level at the break.

The second half was nip and tuck but Tyrone got the vital scores when it mattered to take the league points on offer. Kerry next play Roscommon on March 18th under lights in Austin Stack Park where throw in is @ 19.30

Limerick with Mark Fitzgerald on their coaching ticket registered their first points in Division 2 when gaining a very credible draw with Meath on a final scoreline of 0-17 to 2-11.

Rock St Club Lotto:
We are in the month of March and the final weeks of the Rock St PO club lotto competition – please ensure you visit Martin and Marie in Rock St for any of your post office transactions, receive a token and place in the Kerins O’Rahillys bucket.

The importance of maintaining our exclusive rights to sale of our lotto tickets here cannot be stressed enough with a large volume of our weekly tickets being purchased there.

St Patrick’s Day Parade:

We will once again be participating in the St Patrick’s Day parade and would encourage as many as possible to take part – we would especially ask parents from our juvenile academy to bring your children along as it is always a most enjoyable occasion and provides an opportunity to show your colours as you march through town – we will have more on this next week.

ClubZap:
ClubZap is where you will find all the latest news, fixtures and results – we will soon have additional

features like playing our Lotto and it will be used also for any future fundraising.
All communications regarding our fixtures/training or any changes to events will be communicated

via this platform ( ClubZap | Download The Mobile App)
Make sure you download at your convenience to keep up to date with all that’s happening in the

club!

Juveniles:

Another great week in our Juvenile Academy with great numbers in attendance throughout the age groups. To facilitate Coaches & Parents attending the Victory Social last Saturday Night, Juvenile training took place as follows last week:

U5 Boys & U6 Girls training took place on Saturday, they enjoyed a fun filled session with their coaches having great fun while incorporating the key skills of football throughout their training. We have a great bunch in each group and look forward to watching them develop over the years.

U7 & U9s boys training took place on Thursday evening. The boys were delighted with their training session which involved some fantastic drills and skills based learning but also having fun while doing so. They finished with a short game to put their skills to practice.

U8 Girls and U10 Girls trained Thursday evening. Their coaches had a great session planned out for each group. Starting off with a fun warm up involving running and jumping. They were

focusing on their agility and soloing skills but also ensuring the girls were having fun doing this. Each girl gave it 100% and enjoyed their training session.

Our juvenile Academy will return to the normal time of 10am to 11am from next Sunday 12th March in Ballyrickard for the rest of the season. We look forward to welcoming everyone to Ballyrickard on Sunday morning. New members are always welcome to join our fantastic club you can contact us by

Text: 0876934801
Email: juvenilechair.korgaa@gmail.com

U11 Boys training took place on Thursday evening. There were great numbers in attendance and they enjoyed a great day including new drills set out by their coaches to enhance their skills. They finished with a short game at the end putting their skills to practice.

U13 Boys – played Ballymac on Sunday the result from the game went the way of our opponents Ballymac with a scoreline of 5-8 to 3-4.

There were lots of positives from the game, lots of possession and ball in hand so we’ll hopefully turn that possession into scores in the coming games, great effort by all our players. Evan Griffin and Caden O’Sullivan were both outstanding. Our next game is this Thursday 9th March in Ballyrickard at 5.30pm. See you all then.

Minors:

We played Dr Crokes in Killarney last Thursday evening.

We got off to a bad start conceding 2 early goals but were very competitive throughout. We finished with a score of 4-10 thanks to great work by our forwards. Our mid field grew into the game and helped us get within a few points of the opposition as the second half progressed.

Our momentum was halted by a goal for Crokes and that really ended our comeback. This team is learning a great deal playing in Division 2 and while the results aren’t going our way progress is positive and we have many players who are showing signs of improvement every week.

Please ensure you have paid your membership through clubzap. We have posted a short video on our Facebook and Instagram account to assist you in downloading the app and paying membership.

We will be using clubzap for all communication regarding your child’s group.

NÓTAÍ NA mBAN
Last Wednesday saw the start of the two weeks of celebrating our Irish language and culture. Seachtain na Gaeilge is the biggest Irish language festival in the world! So try to use a few Irish words as you play our traditional sport for your club! Enjoy ‘ag imirt peile.’ Great to see each ‘peileadóir’ having fun.

Wednesday, March 8th is International Ladies Day. Embrace equity.. Go raibh maith agaibh! GRMA!

U12 GIRLS
These girls were in action again last Saturday in the Sports Academy, MTU.
They continue to show great development as a team and we had lots of smiley faces as always. What a talented group!
Next Saturday, March 11th we will be training on the AstroTurf in Tralee Sports Complex from 12-1pm.

We are awaiting news on the format for U12s and are looking forward to playing games in the near future.

U14 GIRLS
Round 1 of the Non county player league is coming up … everyone looking forward to March 19th !
Instead of training this week we will play a game instead. More details to follow.

U16 LADIES
Looking forward to seeing a full turnout at training ladies next week… round 1 of the county league won’t be long coming round.

Best wishes to our club players Kelly Fitzgerald, Saoirse O’ Connor MacCarthy and Aoibheann McCarthy in round 2 when they are away to Cork next Sunday, March 12th.

MINORS
A great turnout for training even though we were missing our TY students who we believe had a wonderful night at their ball in Ballyroe.
Looking forward to seeing you all next Friday again.
Best wishes to the Kerry minors who are away to Tipp next Saturday and to our player Katie Nix.

SENIOR LADIES
Last weekend our senior ladies got back on track with training and what a turnout we had ! Can’t wait to see everyone next weekend at Tralee Sports Complex.

ONE GOOD COACH
Many thanks to Frank O’ Rahilly of Jigsaw Kerry who delivered a very interesting workshop on “One Good Coach “ for all in our club.
This is one of the areas that Karon McLysaght who is involved with the ladies in Strand Road felt should be organised so as to provide information to our coaches on something we all have but probably don’t discuss- mental health and it’s importance for all ages!

Jigsaw Kerry is part of the National Jigsaw network . This organisation supports young people’s mental health .As well as providing a service for 12 to 25 year olds to receive support in relation to mental health concerns, they also provide information and support to young people, adults, clubs and communities who

•would like to increase their knowledge
•would like to have the ability to support young people’s mental health.
Positive wellbeing allows young people to flourish , to develop and maintain meaningful relationships , to care for oneself, to learn and to contribute to society.
The Jigsaw community have a shared belief in an Ireland where every young person’s mental health is valued and supported to allow them reach their best potential.

One of the many services they also provide is “Jigsaw Live Chat / Support for Young People “ See https://jigsaw.ie/talk-online/live-chat/ for more information.
A great turnout! Thank you to everyone!
Now we can all be the coach we needed when we were younger thanks to Jigsaw’s Frank O’ Rahilly. It was a privilege to have you join us last week.

CONGRATS
Well done to Mounthawk senior ladies footballers and management who won the Munster B final last Thursday v Clonakilty . It was great to watch our club players Keelan Coffey, Kelly Fitzgerald , Katie Nix, Lily O’ Brien and Aoibhín O’ Connor MacCarthy on the day.
Final score : 2- 12 to 2-10

REGISTRATION
Ladies registration is NOW open. You can register online through FOIREANN only . Simply login using the following link
https://returntoplay.gaa.ie
•Our new players will need to set up a profile on Foireann.
•Select your required membership for 2023.
•You MUST register by March 31st as 2022 registration ceases then and you will no longer be able to train/ play.
Karon is our ladies club registrar. If you require any assistance Karon will be more than happy to help.

CONDOLENCES
Our condolences to the families and friends of Paul Dennesen, Denis Boland, Brad Duffy, Justin Hinchy and Mark O’ Brien.
May their souls rest in peace.

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