Former St Pats players and mentors that won numerous titles during the glory years of 1989 to 1995, gathered at their reunion night last Saturday in the Rose Hotel.
Lotto
There was no winner of our Club Lotto Jackpot on Sunday night last. The numbers drawn were 05, 06, 18 & 23. The five €30 consolation prizes went to Eileen Scollard c/o Texaco, Anne Kelliher Annagh, Kathleen McMulleen Caherina Cross, Moss O’Donnell Blennerville and Mike Farmer Lohercannon
Next week’s Lotto will have a Jackpot of €4,700 and the draw will take place on Sunday night Feb 24th in Keane’s Bar. Lotto tickets can be purchased online, from any club officer or at the following outlets: Seamus O’Sullivan Master Butchers, O’Shea’s Shop and Service Station, Poff Motors, Noyeks, Byrnesworth, Rock Inn, Dwyer’s Bar, Skelper Quane’s, Betty’s Bar and Keane’s of Curraheen.
Dingle Way Challenge 2019
Plans for the biggest and best DWC so far are well underway. The date is set for June 2nd (keep that date free and marked in your diaries and calendars).
And as usual, there will be two challenges: The standard DWC, which is has a choice of 2 options – Option 1 is a 31km walk with the route going from from Ballyferriter to Dingle, and there will be return buses to Blennerville available from Dingle; Option 2 is a 53km walk from Ballyferriter to Annascaul (again, there will be buses available to Blennerville from Annascaul).
Please note that buses will leave from Blennerville at 7am sharp for this option.
And then we have the ultra route, which is 60km. This option starts at 5.45am at Murragh walk via Smerwick Harbour and Slea Head and on to Duncaoin for breakfast at Krugers, from where the walk takes you around Slea Head and on to Ventry and to Dingle for lunch.
The ultra walkers will leave Dingle on the old Connor Pass road and turning east along the high road with takes in the spectacular views of Dingle Bay via Lispole and Minard with the walk finishing in Annascaul.
The DWC registration is now open via www.spatsgaaclub.com with an early bird offer of €45 if you register before the 30th of April or €50 if you register on or after the 1st of May.
Juvenile Academy
U6: We had a fun busy session this morning, well done to all the U6s and younger siblings for joining in. We are all enjoying the running games working on evasion, balance & agility. We’re learning how to tackle and run into space & work as a team. Great to see all the boys & girls getting so strong & fit!
We’re looking forward to getting out to the AstroTurf pitch as the weather improves. We will progress to little matches and more ball drills over the coming months!
Very well done to Rachel Colivet today for great attention and listening & really improved hand eye coordination.
Gooo St Pats!!
U8: Under 8 training continued last Sunday morning in Cumann Iosaef with our biggest turnout of the year! Protnu and Shovik joined the group this week and the few weeks with the under 6’s has really brought them on.
It was great to have Kieran O’Shea assist the regular coaches this week as he will be commencing coaching in Blennerville School in the coming weeks. We started training with our usual warm up games and then we progressed our skills stations further. It was another very difficult decision for the coaches to choose a player of the week as so many of the boys and girls are improving and concentrating hard in training.
However, Riain Flynn has shown great leadership over the past few weeks as being one of the eldest in the group by being very attentive to the coaches and helping out his team-mates in drills.
He is proving to be an excellent footballer and is a well deserving Player of the Week this week. Training continues in Cumann Iosaef on Sunday at 10am. We will be there for another few weeks before we will move outdoors to our astro pitch on our club grounds in Blennerville.
Also, registration will be open shortly and we encourage parents to register the children as soon as possible using the online portal on our website.
U10: He’s not back in action long however last Sunday Stephen Enright put in a great session and as Player of the Week he has set a standard for the others to follow. Well done to Stephen!
Our sessions continue to be well attended with everyone participating very well and enjoying the sessions. While Stephen set the standard he had serious competition from Ródhan Culloo who got some great scores during our game, Conor Sheehan with high level of dynamism and skill, James Daly with some great catches and hand passing, Lainey Costello with her speed in the sprints and Rhiona O’Brien who’s kicking is improving all the time.
We hope that all our players are putting in some ball practice at home during the week.
U12: St. Pats under 12’s were training last Friday on our Astro pitch and again last Sunday indoors in Cumann Iosaef. Everyone put in a great effort especially Jack Costello, Daniel Sheehy, Killian O’Mahony, and Luke Passway.
A special thanks to St Pats senior player Kieran Dwyer for taking the session with the u12’s on Sunday. Next training session is this Fri 22nd of Feb from 5.45pm to 6.45pm on our Astro in Blennerville Gaa Pitch and then again next Sunday 24th of February from 11am to 12pm indoors in Cumann Iosaef.
The u12 county league starts Sunday 31st of March so it’s important ye all continue to attend our training sessions and keep practicing yer skills at home during the week. Naomh Pádraig Abú !!
U14 Boys: Our U14 boys lost their opening game of the year against John Mitchels last Sunday in a Tralee Town Board League fixture. Training continues on Mondays and Wednesdays on our astro pitch at 7.00pm.
Team: Leo Keanne, Mark O’Brien, James Dowling, Thomas Sheehy, Josh Quilter, Rory Kelliher, Seanie Murphy, Paddy Moran, Callum Houston, Callum Hayes, Fionn Dairo, Quin Griffin and Zac Howarth. Subs: Jamie Lynch, Eddie Stack, Daniel Sheehy and Siad Harazi
Our next match is a home fixture against neighbours, Kerins O’Rahillys on Sunday 24thFebruary at 11am in the same competition.
Minors
Minor County League Round 1:
Kilgarvan/Tuosist 3-6
St Pats 1-8
Our minors travelled to Kilgarvan for the first round of the county league and were defeated by the home side, played in very windy but good underfoot conditions.
Kilgarvan, playing with the aid of a strong breeze in the first half, had a dream start and scored a goal in the 3rd minute.
St Pats replied with a point by Tomas O’Sullivan which was cancelled out by a point for the locals. Kilgarvan continued to dominate the exchanges and only for some periods of good defence, wasteful shooting and great saves by Gavin in goals, the home side should have been much further ahead.
However, they did score a second goal in the 16th minute and followed this with another goal from the penalty spot with the decision to award the penalty baffling to all present.
We struggled to win primary possession playing into the breeze but when we did, we caused the home side problems.
We were very unlucky not to be awarded a penalty ourselves in the 26th minute and a close in free shortly after.
However, we did add a point in the 29th minute with a free from Fergal and lady lucky fell our way on the stroke of half time when a free from Patrick Dowling ended up in the net to give us some hope in the second half. HT score Kilgarvan/Tuosist 3-1 St Pats 1-2.
St Pats started the second half brightly and took the game to their opponents. They ran at the opposition and had brought the lead back to 2 points at one stage midway through the second half.
However, we were still struggling to win primary possession and when we did, we gave it away needlessly. Kilgarvan/Tuosist kept running at our defence and only for some superb saves from Gavin Doody, the score-line could have been much worse. FT Score Kilgarvan 3-6 St Pats 1-8.
It was a surprisingly abject performance from our team and we have come to expect much better from them. But, they will learn from this and it will stand to them in the games ahead.
However, we had some notable individual performances from Gavin Doody in goal, Cathal Fitzgibbon and Brian Teahan in defence and Tomás O’Sullivan before he came off injured. We are due to play John Mitchels away in our final town board game this Saturday.
We may look to bring the game forward to this Thursday or Friday night since the lads are on mid term break. Keep an eye on our social media pages for updates on this fixture. The next round of the minor county league is at home to Finuge on Saturday week March 2nd at 4pm.
Seniors
St Pats 0-12
Churchill 1-10
Our seniors narrowly missed out on a share of the spoils last Friday night against Churchill in a St Brendans League encounter as we lost by a solitary point.
Playing with the wind, Churchill had a dream start by registering 1-03 inside the first 10 minutes but we responded by scoring 4 unreplied points through Eoin Greaney, Brian Murphy and a brace from David O’Callaghan as we reduced the deficit to 2 points halfway through the half. Churchill added a couple more points as they maintained their lead. Paul McMahon pointed from 40 metres on 22 minutes and was involved in the following point when he was fouled almost on the 20 metre line. Fergal O’Brien pointed from the rersultant freee but this was cancelled out by another late surge from Churchill which resulted in a point as they took a 1-06 to 6 points lead to the break.
We made 3 substitutions at the start of the second half but our opponents once again were the first to have the white flag raised as early as the second minute. Eoin Greaney closed the gap back to 3 points following great work by Luke Mulligan and David O’Callaghan.
Our backs, led by Brendan Poff, gaining in confidence, thwarted every attack from close range which led them to shoot from further out. At this stage, churchill were enjoying good possesion of the ball and one of such attacks led to a goal mouth scramble which resulted in a penalty awarded to Churchill.
Ivan Parker stepped forward to take the kick but his low effort was saved by Tom Houston and cleared by our backs. Churchill, looking to further stretch their lead threw more men offensively and were rewarded with 2 straight point from frees which put them 5 points ahead with 10 minutes left.
We had the upperhand in the closing stages of the match when we scored 4 unreplied points including 2 frees converted by David and Brendan Poff, Brian Murphy, our roving half-back once again got on the score sheet and Luke Mulligan, scored our last point on 28 minutes directly from Churchill’s kickout.
Brendan Poff, who had been switched to mid-field broke the ball for Luke who pushed on before pointing but this was not enough as Churchill held on for a one point victory.
Our next game is back at John Mitchels where we play the home team this Tuesday, the 19th at 8pm. Keep an eye on our FB page for any changes.
Team: Tom Houston, Joe O’Connor, Cillian O’Riordan, Conor Moore, Ali Gardezi, Brendan Poff, Brian Murphy, Paul McMahon, Liam Poff , Patrick Dowling, Luke Mulligan, Fergal O’Brien, David O’Callaghan, Eoin Greaney, Gary Savage. Subs: Ian McCarthy, Cian Ronan, Sean Kerins, Tommy O’Connor, Sean Dowling and Martin Savage
Ardfert Retreat Centre
Christian Spiritual Deveopment Course – The Beatitudes: Fr. Sean Sheehy, Wednesdays 7.00pm to 8.30pm.
Gathering for all Diocesan Eucharistic Ministers, Readers and other Parish Peronnel: Bishop (Emeritus) Bill Murphy, Thurs. 21st Feb. 7.30pm.
Life in the Spirit: Moss & Janice Carrig, Tuesdays, 7.30pm to 9.00pm.
Summer Retreat: Fr. Philip Baxter, OFM Cap., Fri. 7th – Thurs. 13th June.
Contact: 0667134276
Sympathy
The club would like to extend its sympathy to the family and friends of Mary Cronin Tonevane and Gillian O’Sullivan England (sister of Eamonn Reidy).
