Kerins O’Rahillys GAA Club News

.

Seniors:

Club stalwart Johnno Connor has taken the reins of the senior management team and will be joined by Maurice Horan as coach, Oliver Molloy selector, Daniel Breen S & C along with Frank O’Connor (Tiler) on logistics – the full team was announced late last week with the team taking charge of their first game @ home to Desmonds on St Patrick’s Day ( see match report below).

Johnno, since his retirement has been involved in under age coaching and more recently served as a selector for 3 years with Willliam Harmon – he is passionate about the club, has a clear vision of the type of football he wants played and has assembled a very able management team – we wish him and the lads the very best for ‘23.

County Senior League: Div 1:

Despite an opening point from Tommy Walsh within 20 seconds, we largely played second fiddle to a Castleisland Desmonds side who with wind and rain assistance , dominated the first half of this tie to go in at half time, 2-06 to 0-04 ahead.

We lined out as selected but positionally had David Moran at centre forward with Tom Hoare and Diarmuid O’Sullivan at midfield and Shane McElligott on the wing.

Desmonds were sharp, savvy in possession and looked to have more pre season work done than we did; they defended in numbers, often had 13/14 behind the ball blocking the middle with bodies and then transitioning quickly when in possession.

They had green flags in the 5th & 15th minutes with lively wing forward Tomás Lynch scoring one and being heavily involved in the other.

Our response was a return of 3 points, one from Seán Walsh and two from David Moran, one from play and a free. Desmonds made full use of the breeze with goalkeeper Stephen Bartlett twice coming up to pop over long range frees.

The second half saw us resume with David in the middle and the introduction of Karl Mullins and Daniel Bowler – we knocked over 4 points and saw 3 wides accrue before Desmonds had their first point of the 2nd half, on the 20th minute when Bartlett again split the posts from a free.

We continued to dominate with some great runs from deep by Ross and Ben Hanafin but the elusive goal we craved was not forthcoming, Bartlett with a great save from Tommy in the 16th minute, after a fine team move, with the resultant “45” going harmlessly wide.

Shortly after, we lost Ben Hanafin and Stephen Nix to injury with Desmonds notching only their 2nd point of the second half in the 28th minute – we continued to probe and the much sought after goal arrived following a bout of sharp interpassing with Conor Hayes finding the corner of the net; another goalmouth scramble resulted in a “45” which, with the clock in the red, was sent sailing between the posts by Diarmuid O’Sullivan – there was one final play, the margin was 2 points but the kick out was gathered by a Castleisland man and the referee blew for full time.

The long lay off since the All Ireland semi final was very much in evidence in the first half especially, where our match sharpness was lacking as evidenced by the kicking of 10 wides, four of which came from placed balls, plus 2 shots dropping into the arms of the goalie.

We are down a significant  number of bodies ( Cormac, Jack, Gavin, Karl) and it will take time for the younger members like Ben Hanafin,Jake Foley, Stephen Nix, Conor O’Sullivan, Darragh O’Connor and Daniel Bowler to bed in – all performed credibly today but unfortunate injuries to Ben & Stephen may rule them out of upcoming games.

Desmonds will be happy with their win and will, if continuing in this vein of form, be a match for most sides at this level.

Scorers: Conor Hayes ( 1-01), David Moran ( 0-03), Diarmuid O’Sullivan (0-02), Tommy Walsh, Tom Hoare & Seán Walsh ( 0-01) each.

Team: Shane Foley, Jake Foley, Ross O’Callaghan, Stephen Nix, Ben Hanafin, Ryan Carroll, Darragh McElligott, David Moran, Tom Hoare, Seán Walsh, Shane McElligott, Diarmuid O’Sullivan, Darragh O’Connor, Tommy Walsh, Conor Hayes.

Subs: Daniel Bowler, Karl Mullins, Seán Collins, Conor O’Sullivan and Padraig Griffin.

We have a break next weekend before taking on Ballymac at home in the 2nd round on the first weekend in April – fixtures as usual will be notified on social media platforms and on our website.

Division 6:

We made the trip to Lewis Road on Sunday where we were pitted against the locals C team and after a lively encounter lost out on a final scoreline of 3-12 to 1-08. The score line does not reflect the efforts of the lads when we turned a half time deficit of 1-04 to 0-04 points into a lead 10 minutes into the 2nd half, 0-08 to 1-04  – we then lost Padraig Griffin to injury and with Crokes using their bench to good effect we simply ran out of legs in the final quarter – we were without a number of starters but in Daniel Bowler we had our top performer.

We  would expect to be able to field a stronger, fitter team for our next outing on the first weekend in April when we are at home to Milltown/Castlemaine.

Team: Robert O’Connor, Cormac Gallagher, Sam Pituch, Jake Foley, Aidan Mangan, Barry Foley, Jordan Foley, Ben O’Brien, Fenton Collins, Seán Griffin, Padraig Griffin, Daniel Bowler, Shane Flavin, Daniel Nix, Seán Collins.

Subs used: Cody O’Shea, DJ Hanafin.

Kerry were worthy winners over Roscommon on Sat night in the Allianz League winning on a scoreline of 1-12 to 0-12; this leaves the Kingdom on 6 points which means that the final game away to Galway next weekend could well see the winners on their way to a meeting with Mayo in the league final.

Limerick suffered a defeat at the hands of Kildare on Sunday losing out by 6 points, 3-10 to 2-07; this means Limerick will be playing division 3 football next season along with Clare.

Rock St PO Club Lotto Competition:

We are in the final few days of the above competition,  and would urge everyone to support us in this initiative,  as the sale of our lotto tickets in this outlet is integral to the successful running of our lotto – so please, if you have any PO business, pop in to Rock St and place your token in our bucket!

Masters Golf Challenge:

Our annual masters golf challenge is up and running again this year with the competition taking place from 6-9th April ( Easter)

This competition is a popular and most important source of revenue for the club and all funds are  reinvested in club activities – tickets are available from all club members and online via QR Code on our website. You can also play online if you are in the Klub, The Grand Hotel, The Mall Tavern & Benners Hotel.

Taking part in Friday’s parade. Photo by Dermot Crean

Juvenile notes:

The weather took a turn just as we were setting up for Academy Training Sunday morning so the decision was made to cancel U5 and U6 training, apologies for the late notice to everyone it was out of our control. But all other age groups braved the wet conditions and surprisingly you could hear laughter throughout the pitches despite getting drenched wet.

Taking part in Friday’s parade. Photo by Dermot Crean

U5 Boys training was cancelled due to the weather on Sunday morning. Our coaches have asked that all the boys keep practicing their kicking and hand passes during the week and look forward to seeing everyone next Sunday.

U6 Girls training session was cancelled due to the bad weather! We still had two new girls arrive and look forward to them taking part next week. If the girls could keep practicing their hops, hand passes and kicks we’ll use them in some of our drills next week.

U7 & U9s boys training took place despite the rain and there were huge numbers in each age group which was great to see that the rain did not turn them off attending training. Both the boys and coaches were delighted with their training session despite the conditions and enjoyed fun drills and a short game to finish.

Taking part in Friday’s parade. Photo by Dermot Crean

U8 Girls and U10 Girls – well done and fair play to all the girls for braving the weather Sunday morning. Each girl got stuck in and trained hard despite the heavy rain falling. The coaches want the girls to practice their kick passes and look forward to seeing everyone at training next week, hopefully the weather will be much improved.

Our juvenile Academy will continue next Sunday at 10am to 11am in Ballyrickard for the rest of the season. Please keep an eye on clubzap for all updates regarding your child’s age group. New members are always welcome to join our club you can contact us by

Text: 0876934801

Email: juvenilechair.korgaa@gmail.com

Taking part in Friday’s parade. Photo by Dermot Crean

U11 Boys – Unfortunately training was cancelled due to the terrible weather. Our U11 Boys will be playing in the Town league against John Mitchel’s at home this Thursday 23rd March. Can everyone be in Ballyrickard at 6pm. The game is kicking off at 6.30pm.

U13 KOR Boys – Training continues in The MTU Astroturf Thursday the 23rd March 7pm to 8pm.

Phase 1 – U13 County League Round 1 – Sunday 26th March Away to Gneeveguilla A at 6pm Sunday 26th March Away to Cordal B at 6pm Panels TBC on Clubzap.

We would like to thank our main Sponsor Ballyseedy Home and Garden Centre for their continued support. 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.

We would like to congratulate all the Boys and Girls in our club who have made their confirmation and wish those making theirs over the next few weeks the very best too, we hope you all enjoy your special day.

Photo by Dermot Crean

Minors:

We played our last game of the county league on St Patrick’s day. We were close to our strongest team so far with only 3 players unavailable. We competed very well with one of the strongest teams in the division for long periods but finally succumbed to a stronger team. We are looking forward to the Central League in a few weeks and expect to be much more competitive in this tournament.

Notai na mBan

Looking well were our ladies who turned out in great numbers to participate in our local St. Patrick’s Day parade last Friday. Our club colours were on great display and fantastic smiles from all!

Many thanks to the organising committee on what was a terrific parade. Our players were delighted to have been part of it.

A little reminder to please support all of our teams as they compete in their various fixtures. It’s so important for all of our committed players to see lots of support and encouragement on the sidelines no matter what their age. We have always had great support throughout the years so keep up the good work.

Taking part in Friday’s parade. Photo by Dermot Crean

U12 GIRLS

Well done to these ladies who always put in great performances during training last Saturday morning. They did their most difficult drill to date, the shuttle run and this exercised the entire body, heart and lungs not only for the girls but also for their coaches who thoroughly enjoyed it too.

Each and everyone of you gave it 100% and showed fierce determination as always. We’re looking forward to seeing you playing with details of fixtures to be announced shortly.

Training will be in Ballyrickard next week. Messages will be sent during the week.

CONFIRMATIONS

That time of year again when the youngest of our ladies are being confirmed. Congrats to those who were confirmed last week and best wishes to those over the next few weeks. A special day for you and a major milestone . Enjoy!

U14 GIRLS

Unfortunately the weather isn’t on our side at the moment. With so much rain pitches are being closed so as to mind them. Our first round of the NCP League had to be postponed.

Best wishes to the team and management as they get their competitive season underway next Sunday in Beaufort.

Well done to Allie, Aoife and Lily who played amazing football and had a very enjoyable day out at the annual Munster blitz in Mallow last Saturday.

U16 GIRLS

The county league commences on April 5th ladies . Looking forward to seeing a full turnout at training. We will send on fixtures as soon as they’re ready.

Well done to our amazing U16s, Kelly, Aoibheann and Saoirse who lined out for Kerry last Sunday against Waterford.

Another proud day for Strand Road.

MINORS

Messages will be sent out during the week with training times. The county league commences on Wednesday , April 12th. Fixtures TBC.

Best wishes to the Kerry minor team and management in round 4 next Saturday and to our club player Katie Nix.

SENIORS

Keep an eye out for updates on training times during the week.

Round 1 of the Donal Curtin Cup commences on April 2nd.

MEMBERSHIP

**2023 MEMBERSHIP **

The weeks are flying past. Before we know it the deadline for registration will have come and gone.

As we start a new playing year it is important that all players are registered for 2023.

You should already have an account with Foireann from last year. Please use this account and request user name and/or password if necessary – please do not set up a new account.

The membership option for ladies is LGFA and select the required option.

Please note that anyone who helps out at training must also be registered with the LGFA,  be Garda vetted, have completed a face to face safeguarding workshop and a foundation coaching course.

MOTHER’S DAY

Last Sunday we celebrated Mother’s Day. Hope everyone appreciates what our Moms do for us. We especially remember those who have lost their Moms . Thinking of everyone!

CONDOLENCES

Our condolences to the families and friends of Aileen Kennelly ( née McCarthy) , Geraldine Galvin ( née Dowling), and Helen Mackessy. May their souls rest in peace.

Keep in touch:

We endeavour, on a weekly basis to keep you up to date with all that’s happening within the club and highlight the successes of our members who are involved with their schools or colleges where possible – sometimes we may not get it all right but to ensure your news reaches its correct destination, below are the appropriate contacts:

Club: pro.kerinsorahillys.kerry@gaa.ie ( Pat Flavin)

Juveniles: norakissane@hotmail.com

Ladies: korladiessec@gmail.com ; Shirley Doody – 086 8713552

.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….