Aghada GAA Juvenile News
Hi folks, hope all is well, what a fantastic day we witnessed in Rostellan last Saturday for the Seán Kenny and family fundraiser. The weather was excellent for the time of year and our club was a hive of activity with many teams from the mothers and other groups putting on a great exhibition of football. The atmosphere was electric, and it was great to see the young children dancing away to the sounds of DJ Shane Farmer as well as our former player and local musician Andrew Fletcher who had everyone singing along to his catalogue of popular songs. The cake sale was a huge hit in our clubhouse along with a cello musical ensemble and face painting that added hugely to the day and well done to all the volunteers who contributed and made it such a special occasion. Seán and his wife Bríd spoke glowingly and eloquently about the importance of the GAA, Community and Companionship with Bríd reminding the young people that FAIL stands for First - attempt – in – Learning and to always try and show up no matter what the circumstances. We wish Seán all the best going forward and especially in his upcoming wheelchair race against Bríd’s sister who by all accounts just edged the duel in the first instalment!
To be there when you need them.
No matter how small the need.
Or how great the need.
A good friend is there – Always.
U17 hurling shield semi-final Inniscarra 4-17 Aghada 0-13
The Topsy Turvey nature of our u17 hurling season continued in Ballyanly last Saturday as we followed up an excellent outing against Midleton in the last round with a rather underwhelming performance this time around against the home side Inniscarra. The first ten minutes saw both teams go at it hammer and thongs and things looked even enough so what transpired thereafter was somewhat surprising with a combination of bad luck and being under par contributing to a lopsided scoreboard. Corner forward Callum Roberts got us off the mark with a nice over the shoulder point and further scores from Jude Devoy from play and James Hurley from a free had us 3 points to 2 ahead when James crashed a shot off the crossbar and our opponents made full use of this let off to go up the other end and score the first goal of the game. This proved to be a big boost to the home side, and they almost totally dominated the rest of the half although we had some good scores from Samuel O’ Driscoll, Tomás Condon, Jude and 2 frees from James but the half time deficit was big 3-11 to 0-8 and one we would not recover from. We were outscored in the second half 1-6 to 0-5 and in fairness to our lads they did make a fight of it, we raised white flags from Samuel (2) James Hurley (2f) and a fabulous Hugh Mulcahy effort, but the big downside was a knee injury to Jack Linehan, and we wish Jack all the best in his recovery and no doubt he will come back stronger. So, the end of the road for our minor hurlers this year and although disappointed by our timid exit the players can take great solace in the standard of hurling, they have been competing in that can only be good for the club and these players going forward. Team & scorers James O’ Donell, Seán O’ Sullivan, Ronan Devoy, Evan Crowley, David Wallace, Seán O ‘Callaghan, Colm O’ Donoghue, James Hurley 0-5f, Isaac Oosthuizen, James Motherway, Hugh Mulcahy 0-1, Samuel O’ Driscoll 0-3, Jude Devoy 0-2, Tomás Condon 0-1, Callum Roberts 0-1. Subs used Conor Bakx, Jack Linehan, Andrew Murphy, Cormac Walsh, Tom Walsh.
U12 football Shield final.
Aghada 2-9 Midleton 1-1.
Our u12 footballers claimed silverware, after a storming second half performance was too much for our opponents Midleton, on our forest field last Sunday afternoon. We started well with plenty of possession but could not find the target and were rocked when after a slick Midleton move they found the net for the first goal of the game. We responded well with Luca Hurley and Ben Eagle dominating around the middle, Fionn Musgrave and Ronan Callanan driving out from defense, while up front Gavin Conway and Cormac O’ Brien started to make their presence felt. We kicked points from Gavin, Cormac, Ronan, Bobby Creedon and Cormac Byrne to lead at the half time whistle 0-5 to 1-1 but were thankful to outstanding goalkeeper Conor O’ Neill who brought off some top class saves. We upped the ante considerably in the second half and totally dominated proceedings with ace poacher Rory Casey striking for 2 cracking goals. The team was in full flow now with every player playing his part, more points flowed from Seán Walsh, Rory and 2 from the lively Michael Creedon the second, a wonderful, fisted effort. Joint captains Luca Hurley and Ben Eagle lifted the shield to great applause before the team headed to the clubroom for some well deserved food provided by Lennox’s. Team & scorers Conor O’ Neill, Dylan Crowley, Maidhc Collins, Alex Day, Fionn Musgrave, Ronan Callanan 0-1, Cian Sawyer, Ben Eagle, Luca Hurley, Cormac Byrne 0-1, Seán Day, Cormac O’ Brien 0-1, Harry Martin, Alek Kapusta, Gavin Conway 0-1 subs all used Bobby Creedon 0-1, Dara Kelleher, Seán Walsh 0-1, Adam O’ Loughlin, Michael Creedon 0-2, Mason Sheehan, Rory Casey 2-1.
The Parish League u10 hurling finals were completed last Friday night with Ballybranigan winning the Cup final against Inch and White Bay securing the plate against Guileen. Everyone was a winner on the night as all the players received beautiful trophies from our club president John Motherway and our Cork Minor hurler Seán O’ Callaghan. Johnty sang our national anthem and Anthony Oosthuizen provided the PA and music that greatly added to the atmosphere. Pat Scanlon spoke on behalf of the coaches and thanked the parents while our Juvenile chairman PJ hurley spoke about the quick transition from Juvenile to adult and commented on the number of players present who would have played in the parish leagues just a few short years ago. Also, a big thank you to our referees on the night David Wallace and Jack Norris. All in all, a great occasion and we will do it all again this Friday night in the football finals where Inch play White Bay in the cup final and Guileen face Ballybranigan in the plate. The u9s involved face a busy weekend as they are off to Tallow on Saturday morning for a Munster hurling blitz where they will play teams from Waterford, Clare, Cork, and Tipperary but sure they wouldn’t have it any other way!
Our schools are going great guns in the Sciath na Scol boys football group stages with Aghada and Saleen both winning all their matches and qualifying for their respective semi-finals, while Whitegate who are involved in the mixed team competition boys and girls are still in contention and well done to all as it’s great to see our 3 schools doing so well.
Midleton CBS got their Harty cup campaign off to the perfect start last Wednesday with a six-point win over Rice College Ennis on UL’s all weather pitch as the match originally fixed for Kilmallock was moved due to heavy rain falling earlier in the day. Seán O’ Callaghan, Fionn O’ Connor and Noah Devoy all played in the game, and we also had Tomás Condon and Oscar Slye named among the substitutes. Samuel O’ Driscoll was named on the Christian Brothers Colllege Cork team but unfortunately that game was postponed due to the weather. Well done to all involved and it is great to see our players playing at this level.
Tuesday night 7pm October 24th is the date for the Juvenile GAA AGM. This is a very important night in our Juvenile calendar that will shape the running of our Juvenile affairs for 2024. If you are interested in getting involved in the Juvenile committee then now is your chance as there are positions up for election and if not, then you are still more than welcome to come along and see how our juvenile section fared in 2023.
Fixtures.
Sat 14th U17 Rebel Óg County Football semi-final Castlehaven v Aghada 13:00 Brinny
Sat 14th U12 Rebel Óg East Hurling Shield Final Midleton(2) V Aghada (2) 14:00 Park South
Thurs 19th U12 football league Aghada v Carrigtwohill 18:30 Rostellan.
Slán go fóill
Be seen wear the Green.
Ár nDícheall Go Deo.
