Month / April 2018

by thesaffrongael

Brídíní Óga maintain their unbeaten start

All County Under 16 Camogie League – Division 1

Ballycastle 1-9 Brídíní Óga 3-9

Brídíní Óga made it four wins out of four in Division 1 of the All County Under 16 Division 1 Camogie League when they travelled to Ballycastle on Monday evening and bet the home side by 3-9 to 1-8.

A goal inside three minutes by Naimh McKay and a point soon afterwards by Cassie McQuillan gave the Glenravel girls a great start but Ballycastle came back with points from Katie McCloksey and Fionuala Kelly brought them back to within two. An exchange of points between Brídíní Óga’s Naimh Donnelly and Ballycastle’s Riana McBride kept two between the sides but the visitors hit a purple patch and hit a goal and a point through Shauna McDonnell, plus points from Aimee Traynor and Maeve Mulholland to take command of the game.

Leading by 2-5 to 0-4 at the interval kept the gap around the seven point mark for most of the second half. A Riana McBride point brought Ballycastle back to six entering the last ten minutes, but Aimee Traynor got Brídíní Oga’s third goal on fifty five minute, and though Fionuala Kelly got one back for Ballyastle less than a minute later the destination of the points was already decided.

Pics by Dylan McIlwaine

by thesaffrongael

Cushendall start badly but bounce back to win well

Under 16 Hurling League – Division 1

Cushendall 3-14 Ballycastle 4-05

Despite another slow start in which they fell behind by 3-1 to 0-3 after twelve minutes Cushendall came back strongly to beat Ballycastle in Monday evening’s Under 16 Division 1 Hurling League game at Pairc Mhuire, Cushendall.

Ballycastle started like a steam train with two goals from corner forward Jack Egan and one from Jo McToal and by the end of the opening quarter they looked like winners. However Cushendall, who had conceded two goals in as many minutes in their opening game against Loughgiel two weeks ago, started to gain the upper hand and two cracking goals from Conlith McKinley and Padriag McKillop helped them to a 2-7 to 3-2 lead by half time.

Three points early in the second half from Padraig McKillop, Calum Kilgore and Fiontan McQuillan in reply to two from Ballycastle’s Seamus McAuley put three between the sides by the end of the third quarter. McQuillan, who hit some great scores from frees throughout the game, then picked up a breaking ball and blasted it home from twenty metres out to put clear daylight between the sides and though corner forward Jack Egan completed his hat-trick with a brilliantly taken goal to close the gap to three a series of pointed frees from McQuillan and a great individual score from centre back Pearse McKeegan pulled Cushendall well clear at the end.

 

In the other games played in Division 1 Loughgiel had a facile 7-21 to 0-1 win over St John’s at Fr Healy Park. Rossa were also big scorers as they beat Glenariffe by 5-21 to 0-4, while Dunloy travelled to Dungiven and beat Kevin Lynch’s by 5-16 to 4-11. These results see Loughgiel sit on top of the table with the maximum six points while Cushendall, Dunloy and Rossa are all on 4 points.

In Division 2 leaders St Gall’s beat Lamh Dhearg by 4-17 to 3-4, Ahoghill beat St Enda’s by 4-13 to 3-7, Shane O’Neill’s had a 8-12 to 2-5 win over Glenravel while Gael an tSeibhe Dhuibh had a runaway win over St Olcan’

by thesaffrongael

75th Anniversary celebrations at St. Joseph’s GAC Glenavy

 

GlenavyThis year St. Joseph’s GAC, Glenavy celebrate their 75th anniversary and have a number of high profile events organised to mark this milestone anniversary.

The big event of the year will be the 75th anniversary Formal dinner in the Europa hotel, Belfast on October 6th. First up is the annual festival held in the marquee on the pitch and this year is shaping up to be as much fun as previous year.

On the Friday night we kick off with the family bingo and the £1,000 prize for the ninth game. Following the bingo our own Karl Hegney will be entertaining the crowd with a melodic blend of ballads and classic songs. Running alongside Karl’s spot will be Texas Hold’em for the more discerning poker player

Saturday starts off with a children’s sports morning for the under-age group, which includes tug of war, races and novelty competitions followed by a BBQ. On Saturday evening we have a super night planned Ceili with the ‘McStocker Ceili Band’. This evening starts with a Hog roast BBQ and then Ceili dancing to work off all the ‘excess’ DJ Jazzy Joe finishes off the evening with dancing until the wee small hours

A ‘Big Breakfast’ starts Sunday off at 09.30 in St. Clares hall, with breakfast being available up to 1pm for the late risers! The marquee event of the weekend is the ‘Lips Sync’ battle on Sunday evening, where our local talent will strut their stuff to win the coveted title of Lips Sync champione!! This promises to be a fun night and big crowds are expected. Bar facilities and food will be available throughout the festival and we look forward to seeing you there

by thesaffrongael

Antrim Hurlers Golf Day winners

Terry Reilly, Niall McGuigan, Colly Murphy and Michael McNeill were the winning team in last Friday’s Antrim Hurlers Golf Day at Galgorm Castle Golf Club.  The winning team came in just ahead of Paddy Dallat’s team while former county chairman John McSparran starred on David Morgan’s team who finished third.

1st: Terry Reilly / Niall McGuigan / Colin Murphy / Michael McNeill

2nd: Patrick Dallat / Rory Gallagher / Michael Dallat / Sean Donnelly 34Paddy Dallat (left) and his brother Mickey were part of the team who finished second.

3rd: David Morgan / John McSparran / James Mc Caughan / Brendan Mc Sparran 23David Morgan (right) and his team who finished third

4th: Conor Gillan / Benny Dillon / Pearse McGarry / Aodhan McAfee

5th: Martin Tully / Alan Rainey / Robert Holden / Gary Nelf

Best Gross Score: Neal McAuley 29

Longest Drive: Shaun Donnelly

Closest to the pin (7th): Terry Reilly 6That swing may not be textbook, but Terry Reilly was on the winning team, and was closest to the pin at the 7th.

Closest to the pin (14th): Ciaran Doherty

Prizes

1st: Lough Erne Resort overnight stay

2nd: Four-ball around the Irish Open Course at Portstewart

3rd: 4x £100 meal vouchers for Galgorm Resort and Spa (Sponsored by Bathshack)

4th: Gym Memberships at Peak Physique Belfast (Sponsored by Peak Physique)

5th: 4x Brian Walsh Hurling Sticks (Sponsored by Brian Walsh Hurleys)

Best Gross Score: £30 O’Neills Voucher

Longest Drive: £30 O’Neills Voucher

Closest to the pin (7th): £30 O’Neills Voucher

Closest to the pin (14th): £30 O’Neills Voucher

by thesaffrongael

Rossa battle back for last gasp victory

O’Neill’s Antrim Senior Football League Division One

O’Donovan Rossa 0-14  St Enda’s 0-13

An injury time point from left half back Sean Finch clinched victory for Rossa over St Enda’s and completed an enthralling second half comeback by the Shaw’s Road outfit in Sunday’s All County Football League Division 1 tie at Rossa Park. Such an outcome appeared highly unlikely at half time as the visitors St Enda’s led by six points after dominating the opening half.

Leading by 0-11 to 0-6 at the turn around the Glengormley outfit would have been short odds favourites with anyone who watched the first half unfold. They did have chances to push further ahead and in a few instances went for goals when simple points were there for the taking, but as Rossa slowly edged their way back the early confidence started to slip away and the home side battled back brilliantly to make it two wins out of two.

Rossa had started well with points from Colm Fleming and Stephen Beatty in reply to one by St Enda’s Odhran Eastwood, but as the half progressed the visitors began to get on top and points from Eastwood, Donal Walsh and Gerard Crossey had them two ahead by the tenth minute. Stephen Beatty pulled one back for Rossa but St Enda’s were hitting their stride and unanswered points from Eastood, Philip Curran and Peter Healy increased their lead to four. Beatty again found the target for the men in blue and gold but Kristian Healy and Eoin Nagle came back with good scores for the Saints to stretch the lead to five. Colm Fleming pulled one back for Rossa from a free but St Enda’s hit back with two more before he break to open a six point gap at the short whistle. (0-11 to 0-5)

When an early Dominic McEnhill point for Rossa was cancelled out by Odhran Eastwood early in the second half most observers in Rossa Park would have expected the Glenormley men to continue their domination, but incredibly they would raise just one more flag in the remaining twenty five minutes play. Rossa slowly but surely got themselves back into contention as Michael Armstrong and Colm Fleming picked off points, but the gap was still four entering the final quarter. However the home side were growing in confidence as the visitors’ frustration grew. A Michael Morgan point appeared to have steadied the St Enda’s ship as the gap went out to five, but when Colm Fleming sent two frees between the uprights the Rossa comeback was well and truly on.

Stephen Beatty came close to levelling the game soon afterwards but his goal-bound shot was turned over for a point by St Enda’s keeper Paddy Flood which left just two between the sides, and the gap was down to just one when the accurate Fleming converted another free. St Enda’s did have chances to ease the pressure but inaccurate shooting and a tendency to take the wrong option was their undoing, and they were made to pay when Donal Armstrong fired over the equalising point in the last minute. For a time it looked like the points would be shared as the game entered injury time, but Rossa were not finished yet and the mercurial Beatty broke through the middle to send the overlapping Finch through for the match winnings score.

 

ROSSA: C Walsh; M McGreevy, S Shannon, C Orchin; N Crossan, C McGuinness, S Finch (0-1); E McMenamin, S Beatty (0-3); SP Donnelly, C Fleming (0-6, 5 frees), D Murphy; J Connolly, D McEnhill (0-2, 1 free), A Devlin. Subs: J Cooley for M McGreevy (HT), D Armstrong (0-2) for A Devlin (HT), D Grego for J Connolly (41), T McGrath for E McMenamin (51), C McGettigan for C Fleming (60).

 

ST ENDA’S: P Flood; M McNamee, D Gault, C Jennings; R Kennedy, J McAuley, C Lyttle; P Curran (0-1), R Scott; D Walsh (0-1), G Crossey (0-1), K Healy (0-1); O Eastwood (0-5, 2 frees), E Nagle (0-1), P Healy (0-1). Subs: M Morgan (0-2) for R Scott (4), C O’Neill for G Crossey (37), C Thompson for D Walsh (54), E McNulty for K Healy (60).

 

REFEREE: Brendan Toland (Lámh Dhearg)