Aghada GAA Juvenile News
Hi folks I hope this Newsletter finds you well, after a long wait the Eircode for Aghada GAA grounds Pairc Liam Uí Riain, Rostellan is finally here, I know some of our cars could make it to our grounds on auto pilot at this stage but for teams, other organisations and people less familiar with our grounds this will prove to be a handy tool, we all know of the places we struggle to get to and you just pop in the name on google maps and hey presto it brings you to your destination by the fastest route, well most of the time anyway. I am like the guy who still used the pony express and was happy to wait 3 months for my letters to arrive long after the railways came along, not seeing any reason to change to the trains let’s just get faster ponies but even I know now you can sometimes teach an old dog new tricks. Eircode P25 P6F8.
We have great expertise within this vibrant club of ours and a big thankyou to Dr Diarmuid Mulcahy, Dr Pádhraig O’ Loughlin and Dr Brendan Crowley who were a huge help in sourcing our new defibrillator that will be on the wall at the entrance to our clubhouse, every club should have one. Speaking of expertise, we all have different skillsets that could sometime come in use in a club of our size so don’t be afraid to put your hand up all help is greatly appreciated. The club was delighted to call on the expertise of Damien Keohane from Whitegate who has 2 sons playing with our underage academy. Damien who is involved with the Centra shop franchise has been invaluable with his knowledge experience and hard work in getting our new coffee shop up and running and he along with adult chairman Anthony Connolly and all our local club volunteers are putting in a massive amount of personal time to bring the shop to fruition in what will be no doubt a state-of-the-art facility that we can all enjoy. Sometimes it takes a pyramid of people with lots of rising levels to get to the top and it’s the climb that can make them happy, but don’t forget work does not stop when you get there, so anyone willing to help out in the shop you’re more than welcome contact Helen Walsh Email aghadagaacoffeeshop@gmail.com and remember every penny spent in the shop will go to the development of the club. We hope to be able to announce the grand opening in the next couple of weeks so keep an eye out on social media for dates and times. We all need to enjoy life every now and then and the club grounds can be that Happy Place where hard work, community spirit and fun can go hand in hand.
My thanks this week to Jim Motherway and Eric Walsh for their help with our match reports.
What a week for our U17 hurlers a busy one with 3 matches in total. First up was a Premier 2 hurling match away against the famed St Finbarr’s in Togher and what a game it was. From the start both teams went at it hammer and tongs in what proved to be a rip-roaring high scoring encounter with the sides deadlocked 1-10 each at the short whistle. The second half was just as good and with ten minutes to go we had opened a 2-goal lead and in typical Barr’s tradition you were never going to get anything easy on their home patch as they hit 1-3 without reply and we were level entering injury time in what was going to be a test of character for our lads who weren’t found wanting. A late booming free from Fionn O’ Connor put us ahead and we managed to see it out for a mighty win. Final score St Finbarr’s 3-20 Aghada 3-21. On a sour note, we lost ace midfielder Oscar Slye to a shoulder injury, Oscar has been in very impressive form recently for the club and Cork East in the Celtic challenge cup and we wish him all the best in his recovery.
On Friday night we welcomed Killeagh Itas, to Rostellan for our second premier 2 hurling game of the week. This was another great battle between two evenly matched sides. Level at half time it was all to play for in the second half and it was the away side who took control entering the final stages with a 3 point lead going into added time and once again our teams character came to the fore when a flowing move involving a number of players ended with midfielder Robert Dean blasting a great shot to the net after he made up terrific ground with a lung bursting run through the middle of the Killeagh Itas, defence. A draw looked on the cards before the away side conjured up one more chance to split the posts for the win. Final score 2-13 to 1-17. Although disappointed to lose out to a fellow East Cork team we had already qualified for the league semi-final in a great campaign with 5 wins and 1 loss in a very competitive competition that if acts as a barometer we are in for a very exciting championship ahead.
Our C-3 U17 hurling side then headed to Bishopstown on Saturday to take on the home side where we were again treated to another thriller. From the start our lads tore into the opposition playing some great hurling and when the town responded in kind the sides were level at the break after a frantic first half. With no let up on the resumption the game was end to end and score for score but it was the town who had their noses in front entering the final minutes, when a few smart tactical changes on the Aghada sideline turned the tide in our favour, first a monster John Walsh free levelled the game and what a grandstand finish we got with the town on the attack and looking the more likely winners our defence stood firm broke up the play and delivered a great ball into the forwards where James Motherway gathered and offloaded to James Hurley who buried the ball in the back of the net for the winning score. A fantastic win to round off a great week of hurling for these bunch of lads with 29 players playing and giving their all at the u17 age group. With the junior cert on the horizon to occupy the minds that will bring a break from competitive hurling, I have no doubt Rasper and the mentors will have a few light sessions lined up to keep them finely tuned. The best of luck to all lads doing exams. Players used over the 3 games John Walsh, Conor Geary, Fionn O’ Callaghan, Ronan Devoy, Aaron Kearns, Sean O’ Callaghan, James Hurley, Cian Hegarty, Robert Dean, Oscar Slye, Noah Devoy, James Motherway, Fionn O’ Connor, Samuel O’ Driscoll, Stephen O’ Shea, Hugh Mulcahy, Tomás Condon, James O’ Donnell, Evan Crowley, Ronan Walsh, Colm White, Conor Baxx, David Wallace, Seán Corkery, Finn Berry, Cian Murphy, Callum Roberts, Diarmuid Cotter, Jack Dunne and a special mention for Seán Santos O’ Sullivan who is closing in on a return from injury.
Friday the 13th in Rostellan although not a horror story proved to be a difficult night for our U14 hurlers against a skilful Carrigaline team as we had goalkeeper Adam Lewis to thank who pulled off some outstanding saves to keep us in the match, particularly in the opening ten minutes when the away side threatened to run riot. We stuck to our task and gradually grew into the match with our defence putting up the shutters to keep in contention trailing 1-7 to 0-4 at half-time. We emptied the bench with all the subs getting a run out and the fresh legs added impetus to our attack as we struck for a goal early in the second half to give us a real boost. We started to dominate possession but Carrigaline kept the scoreboard ticking over as the final whistle came just too soon as our brave comeback came up just short. Final score 3-7 to 1-14. On a night where six U13s made their debut and acquitted themselves well with two of those scoring from play.
No break for the lads a quick turnover had us out again travelling to play Nemo Rangers in the U14 hurling league. Bodies were a bit thin on the ground as we had a number of players missing and we had to call on all our resources to get 15 togged out. We won the toss and elected to play against the wind as Nemo made the early running and picked off some nice points, but we struck for 2 vital goals that gave us a big boost before the half-time whistle to put us level 1-7 to 2-4. With the wind behind us we went on the offensive playing intelligently and putting some good fast ball into our forward line to score 2 more goals and it could have been a lot more only for some excellent goalkeeping by the Nemo netminder. We kept our composure to strike over some wonderful long-range points to emerge victorious on a scoreline of 4-8 to 1-10 with six different scorers in a complete team performance.
Go Games took place recently with our U7s in Ballinacurra our U8s in Carrigtwohill our U9s in Lisgoold and our U10s in Caherlag well done to all involved and the best of luck in your upcoming blitzes taking place this weekend.
We would like to wish all the boys and girls of the parish who have made and are making their First Holy Communion all the best on the joyous occasion.
Fixtures
Friday 27th May
U14 Hurling championship
Aghada v Erin’s Own 19:30 Rostellan
Slán go Foíl
Be Seen Wear the Green