Aghada GAA Juvenile News
Hi folks, hope you are all well in this glorious weather. In what was a particularly busy week in the club, nearly 200 children enjoyed a spectacular week of fun and sunshine at the Cúl camp, many matches were played, highlighting once again the highs and lows of sport and we witnessed another Roy of the Rovers finish on the national stage as Kerry beat Dublin to reach the All-Ireland football final, with a monstrous Seánie O’ Shea free with virtually the last kick of the game, although our own Jack Norris scored a point from play for our adult footballers in Rostellan on Sunday from a similar distance as we beat Rockchapel to reach the league decider, sometimes you don’t have to go to Croke Park to see scores of the highest quality.
The Cúl camp proved to be a big hit once again, with fantastic organisation from our main volunteer coordinators Elaine Counihan, Niamh Callanan, Helen Walsh, Una Lehane and Head Coach Christine Moran as well as our brilliant young coaches who kept the enjoyment at the highest level all week. Many thanks to all who helped out, too many to mention and to our generous sponsors, Phillip Burgoyne Chadwick’s Midleton, Nick Eagle Regal Cinema Youghal, Damien Keohane DM Retail, Mike Lehane Energy fitness Midleton, Ger Hurley Hurleys SuperValu Midleton, and Irving Oil Whitegate who made sure the children were able to cool down in the intense heat with the spray of water from the fire truck. All in all, a truly enjoyable week in what is a massive event undertaken by the club that the children look forward to being involved in every year.
Hard luck to Sarah Leahy, Rachael Leahy, Hannah Looney, Roisin Phelan, and the Cork Ladies football team who bowed out of the championship last weekend.
Dave Creedon and Aiden Kelleher were also on the losing side as they came up against a very strong Clare side in the masters Football competition in Whitechurch, but the lads are enjoying their Indian summer in the Red Blood and Bandage Rebel Colours.
We have an international Taekwondo champion in the club as our young u12 player Colin Whyte represented Ireland recently in England, a black belt Colin had four fights winning them all to take home the gold medal, a brilliant achievement. Well done Colin on your success from all in the club.
Games were invented to test the mind and competitions to test physical supremacy exist within all civilisations from the beginning of time.
U15 premier 2 Hurling league final Aghada 3-17 St Colman’s 2-11
Our u15 hurlers were crowned premier 2 hurling league champions on a balmy breezy night in Rostellan last Wednesday. An accomplished team display saw us emerge victorious in a tense battle for supremacy with our near neighbours the Russell Rovers/Cloyne amalgamation as it was only in the last ten minutes that we made our superiority count to finally put the game out of reach from our opponents. We started confidently racing into an early lead with points from a Jude Devoy free and a smart Jack Linehan score after a clever Seán O’ Brien pass. We led 1-4 to 1-2 after ten minutes our goal coming from a long Jack Buckley delivery that was controlled well by Jack Linehan and he made no mistake with a nice finish. A brace of points from our captain and centre back Colm O’ Donoghue and a fine effort from corner back Josh McCarthy who was in a roving role following St Colman’s danger man and sticking to his task admirably pushed us further ahead. Colman’s levelled the game 1-7 to 2-4 with a goal from distance but this did not deter our lads who drove on once again with points from Seán O’ Brien, Cormac Walsh and 2 from Jude to take a deserved lead at the interval 1-11 to 2-4. Cormac Crowley was steady as a rock at corner back in front of ace netminder Adam Lewis and outside him Cian Moore was hurling confidently, while on the other wing Andrew Murphy put in a man of the match display with a stylish wristy display of pure hurling. Midfielder Sam McAllister was his combative and battling best and Jack Mulcahy hurled well in a competitive first half. The second half was nip and tuck and level on a few occasions with the breeze getting a little stronger and favouring our opponents that made it difficult for us to make forays into the opposition’s half. We dug deep and showed great maturity putting the ball on the hurley and running hard direct lines. Captain fantastic Colm O’ Donoghue took off on a lung bursting run deep into enemy territory and switched the ball goalward where Jack Dorney now positioned at full forward rose highest to touch a sublime flick to the net. We were in the ascendancy now; Jude struck some great points and Cillian Falvey made an impact when introduced. Tom Walsh who played a stormer all through won a great puckout the ball landed near the St Colman’s goalmouth where Cormac Walsh was on hand to raise another green flag and the cup was going to be residing in Rostellan. Tom struck a beauty from out on the side-line to put the icing on the cake. Captain Colm accepted the cup from board treasurer and fellow Clubman Michael Mulry, and he thanked the travelling St Colman’s team who played their part in a very competitive and exciting encounter. Team & scorers Adam Lewis, Josh McCarthy 0-1, Jack Buckley, Cormac Crowley, Cian Moore, Colm O’ Donoghue 0-2, Andrew Murphy, Sam McAllister, Tom Walsh 0-1, Jack Mulcahy, Jack Dorney 1-0, Jude Devoy 0- 8 4f, Seán O Brien 0-1, Jack Linehan 1-3, Cormac Walsh 1-1 sub used Cillian Falvey.
U17 premier 2 Hurling league final Aghada 2-9 Shandrum 2-17
Disappointment for our minor hurlers who played second fiddle to a cracking Shandrum side the Newtonshandrum/Dromina amalgamation in sun swept Blarney last Friday night. The low hanging sun shone brightly into our back’s eyes in the first half and made life difficult for both sets of players. The opening exchanges were frantic as both sides created and missed chances before Shandrum raised the first white flag and then raced into a 3-point lead. Captain Fionn O’ Connor with a great catch and turn split the posts for our first score and we were indebted to our goalkeeper John Walsh who made a few smart saves in the first half and even managed to take down a shot that was going over the bar showing great confidence. When he was finally beaten in the 22nd minute he was given no chance after a slick move penetrated our overworked defence despite the best efforts of Fionn O’ Callaghan and Ronan Devoy. Impressive midfielder James Hurley notched our next point after a quick free from John found him in space and Fionn O’ Connor added another as we headed to half-time 0-3 to 1-7 in arrears. We started the second half on the front foot with Hugh Mulcahy setting up Tomás Condon to shoot over and Tomás floated over another soon after as we looked to get back in the game. Shandrum continued to trouble the scoreboard with some tasty points, and we also hit some quality scores with Samuel O’ Driscoll expertly setting up Stevie O’ Shea to score with a deft pass and then finding the range himself with a beautiful long-range effort, we then gave ourselves a lifeline when Tomás sidestepped his marker to billow the net and the score read 1-7 to 1-12 after 12 minutes of the second half. Unfortunately, that was as good as it got as our opponents with a ferocious work rate and fast skilful moves moved further ahead. We struck a quality goal from Samuel after great work from James Motherway and points from Robert Dean and Tomás closed out the game but alas it was Shandrum who took home the spoils on this occasion, however with players to come back into the equation this high energetic encounter will stand us in good stead for the upcoming championship. Team & scorers John Walsh, Conor Geary, Fionn O’ Callaghan, Ronan Devoy, Robert Dean 0-1, Cian Hegarty, Aaron Kearns, Noah Devoy, James Hurley 0-1, Samuel O’ Driscoll 1-1, Hugh Mulcahy, Fionn O’ Connor captain 0-2, Stephen O’ Shea 0-1, James Motherway, Tomás Condon 1-3 subs used Evan Crowley, David Wallace.
U17 C-3 League v Midleton A scorching Sunday morning in Rostellan with Midleton the visitors in a game where the magpie’s penchant for goals proving to be the main difference in the end. In centre forward John Walsh we had the games best player who went on to shoot the lights out scoring 12 points from play and frees. We scored the first point when a booming Jack Dunne puckout was fielded superbly by David Wallace who in turn found speedster Stevie O’ Shea and he made no mistake splitting the posts. Our opponents scored 2 quickfire goals to put us on the backfoot but in fairness to our lads they dug deep and went on to play some wonderful hurling and scoring an array of quality scores. Referee David Butler used his common sense and introduced water breaks that were badly needed in the melting conditions, and we led at the first one 0-10 to 2-3. The hurling continued to be hard and fast with Midleton moving ahead by half-time 0-11 to 2-8. We were still producing some fine spells of hurling with Robert Dean and David Wallace excelling in midfield, and some superb passes from Jude Devoy to the inside line, bringing us points from James Motherway and Stevie, and with Evan Crowley superb at wing back and also when moved to full back, taking the fight to the magpies. Midleton continued to pose a goal threat and more green flags finally quenched the Aghada challenge. A great morning’s entertainment in the blazing sunshine final score 0-17 to 5-16. Team & scorers Jack Dunne, Ronan Walsh, Conor Geary, Colm White, Jude Devoy 0-1, Ronan Devoy, Evan Crowley, David Wallace, Robert Dean, James Motherway 0-2, John Walsh 0-12, Cian Murphy, Diarmuid Cotter, Stephen O’ Shea 0-2, Finn Berry subs used Andrew Murphy, Cormac Walsh.
Sunday morning on our main field in the scorching sunshine our u13 hurlers took on Fr O Neill’s, this game was nip and tuck all through in a contest that ebbed and flowed and could have gone either way. O Neill’s opened brightly with 2 points, and we responded with a cracking goal from our full forward Dara O’ Brien after a fine pass from Marcus O’ Loughlin. 2 points from Dara and a nice David Murphy effort pushed us ahead. Donncha Walsh and Conor Charles formed a formidable midfield and the defensive unit of Dylan Kearns, Sam Morgan, Rossa White, Finbarr Alcock, Cormac Cashman, and Kaylan Cunningham tenacious in the tackle, while upfront Eoin Kirrane, David, Dara and player of the match Marcus were in super form as we led at half-time 1-6 to 1-5. The team from Ballymacoda/Ladysbridge got off to a great start in the second half moving into the lead playing a fine brand of hurling and we also had our moments with 2 goals from David and Kaylan with an outrageous strike, however it was our opponents who prevailed on a scoreline of 3-10 to 3-7 in a match that entertained from start to finish.
We travelled to Caherlag on Monday evening to take on the home side in the u12 football league in near perfect conditions for football. We had an early let off when Erin’s Own broke through right from the throw in and forced our goalkeeper Cathal Lowney to make a flying save. They did hit the first 2 points before we broke up the field and our full forward Marcus O’ Loughlin gathered superbly from an excellent Eoin Kirrane through ball and turned on a sixpence to rifle the ball to the net. David Murphy kicked some nice points, but it was the home side who held the upper hand in the first half with some nice attacking play to lead at half time 3-3 to 1-3. We came out in the second half with a new sense of purpose and dominated possession although this was not reflected on the scoreboard. Our backs were much tighter, and we began to gain territory. Dynamic wing back Dylan Kearns drove forward and passed to Rian O’ Brien Higgins whose ferocious shot was blocked by the keeper; corner forward Sam Ahern was quickest to react to the rebound to plant the ball in the back of the net for a great goal. We continued to drive forward and were rewarded with excellent points from Rian and the impressive Dara O’ Brien. The home side were having great luck in front of our goal and despite a few setbacks our lads never gave up the ghost and the whole panel of players can be proud of the way they battled bravely to the end. Final score Erin’s Own 5-5 Aghada 2-5. Team & scorers Cathal Lowney, Cormac Byrne, Cormac Cashman, Finbarr Alcock, Colm White, Donncha Walsh, Dylan Kearns, Jack Kelleher, David Murphy 0-3, Eoin Kirrane, Harry Burgoyne, Dara O’ Brien 0-1, Sam Ahern 1-0 ,Marcus O’ Loughlin 1-0, Tim O’ Hanlon subs used Leon O’ Connor, Rian O’ Brien Higgins 0-1.

FIXTURES:
Wed 13th Rebel Óg East U15 Div1 Football League Midleton V Aghada 19:00 Midleton Fri 15th Rebel Óg U17 P2 football Championship Aghada V Carrigaline 19:00 Rostellan Sat 16th Rebel Óg East Div1 Football League Aghada V Mayfield 12:00 Rostellan Sat 16th Rebel Óg U17 C3 Football League Aghada V Kiltha Óg 19:00 Rostellan Mon 18th Rebel Óg East U12 Hurling League Aghada V Cobh 19:00 Rostellan Wed 20th Rebel Óg U15 P2 Hurling Championship Ballinora V Aghada 19:00 Ballinora Fri 22nd Rebel Óg U17 P2 Hurling Championship Carrigtwohill V Aghada 19:00 Carrigtwohill.