Ballymacward PS held their annual and popular GAA day.The school lapsed their curriculum for the day and enjoyed thoroughly celebrating and learning about the GAA and participating in coaching. Highlight of the day was the visit and company of Sam Maguire for the morning which generated great excitement among pupils, parents and staff. The day commenced with the pupils watching a powerpoint presentation of the GAA and then participating in a fun pictorial quiz of spotting Principal Mr Kennedy and Mr Buchanan in pics from their gaa careers.
In assembly Mr Buchanan delivered a presentation on the history and importance of the Sam Maguire and pupils watched highlights of Armagh’s All Ireland win in 2024. Popular Saffron Gael photographer Bert Trowlen then conducted a busy photoshoot of an array of quality pics with the Sam involving pupils, staff and parents . Bert was so captivated by the excitement of the presence of Sam he ended up getting his own pic with the famous and iconic trophy. Throughout the day all classes experienced quality coaching in Gaelic football, Hurling and Camogie conducted by Gaelfast’s Mark Munce and Kieran Megraw and Caroline Tracey from Lámh Dhearg the clubs feeder school. While in class the pupils completed a series of GAA related tasks and activities such as listening to the story “My First Match”, completing comprehension of Croke Park, designing their own GAA jersey and Colouring in GAA stars Competition etc. The pupils thoroughly enjoyed the day with a difference and focused on the GAA as so many pupils are involved in GAA sports and a wide range of teams are represented in our school.Many thanks to Bert, Coaches and Co Armagh Board for making the day possible.
To see more of Bert’s photos from the day click on the link below
Good luck to Antrim Camogs and management for today’s game against Wexford in Ahoghill at 2pm. This is their first senior match in the Very National League and a first run out with their new jerseys from our main sponsor, Creagh Concrete. James McKeague of Creagh Concrete, said: “Creagh is honoured to commence our ambitious sponsorship agreement with Antrim camogie. Antrim Senior Camogie is the latest chapter in our extensive partnership with Antrim GAA. Creagh was eager to diversify our sponsorship portfolio to include Camogie following our recent sponsorship of Antrim Football & Hurling Academies. All of us at Creagh extend our best wishes to the players and management for the upcoming year.”
Brendan McTaggart reports from Corrigan Park, Belfast
Antrim left it late in the day on Saturday afternoon to seal an opening day win in the McDonagh Cup. Conor Johnston’s second goal coming in the fifth minute of injury time proving to be the decisive score as the Saffrons edged past the challenge of Offaly.
To say this was a rollercoaster for 70 minutes would be an understatement. You would think as an Antrim supporter we would get used to this by now but Corrigan Park hosted another intense battle with two sides giving everything they had.
Offaly came with a point to prove and were certainly a different animal from two weeks ago. Antrim exploited gaping holes in their defence in Navan and looked like scoring a goal at every opportunity but Michael Fennelly and his team learned from that 70 minutes. Any sights of Stephen Corcoran’s goals were hard earned or coming through pieces of quality play.
In a bruising encounter, Domhnall Nugent gave everything he had for the Saffrons with he and Joe Maskey shouldering a lot of the heavy hits Offaly could give. Some curious refereeing decisions going against both men or no calls at all being given that left plenty in attendance scratching their head. Conal Cunning was once again mesmeric from frees with eight of his 10 points coming from placed ball while the goals came from the two Conor’s – Johnston and McCann…..
TEAMS
Antrim: Ryan Elliott; Ryan McGarry, Gerard Walsh, Stephen Rooney; Paddy Burke, Eoghan Campbell, Scott Walsh; Joe Maskey, Keelan Molloy; Seaan Elliott, Domhnall Nugent, Conor McCann; Conal Cunning, Ciaran Clarke, Conor Johnston
Subs: James McNaughton for K Molloy (HT); Phelim Duffin for S Rooney (56); Matthew Donnelly for S Walsh (61); Daniel McKernan for S Elliott (64); Conal Bohill for D Nugent (68)
Scorers: C Cunning 0-10 (7f’s 1 ’65); C Johnston 2-2; C McCann 1-1; C Clarke 0-3; P Burke 0-2; R McGarry 0-1; K Molloy 0-1; S Elliott 0-1; J McNaughton 0-1
Offaly: Stephen Corcoran; Joey Keenaghan, David King, Padraig Cantwell; Eoghan Parlon, Ben Coneely, Eimhin Kelly; Jack Screeney, Leon Fox; Adrian Cleary, Eoghan Cahill, Brian Duignan; Sean Cleary, Jason Sampson, David Nally
Subs: Luke O’Connor for S Cleary (48); John Murphy for L Fox (52); Killian Sampson for B Duignan (54); Ciaran Burke for E Parlon (63); Paddy Clancy for A Cleary (67)
Scorers: E Cahill 0-15 (11f’s, 1 ’65); D Nally 1-3; J Murphy 1-00; E Kelly 0-1; J Screeney 0-1; A Cleary 0-1; B Duignan 0-1; J Sampson 0-1; L O’Connor 0-1
Brendan McTaggart looks ahead to Antrim’s National League encounter with Offaly
The show rolls on to Tullamore on Sunday as Antrim face Offaly in their third league match of 2025. The record books will show one win and one defeat so far but that only tells half the story. Dig a little further and you get a huge difference in performance levels in the space of a little over seven days. The margin of victory over Westmeath last week could have been even greater, it maybe should have been, but it was a boost of adrenaline for Davy Fitzgerald and his backroom team as he recorded his first win as the Saffrons manager.
Davey chats with the two Brendans after last week’s win over Westmeath
Speaking after the game, Davy said: “I’m happy with the performance. Nine points flatters Westmeath by a longshot. The referee gave them a few easy frees, if you’re going to call holding on the inside on one side, you have to do it at the other side as well. He didn’t do that and it kept them in the game.
“My honest opinion, we were worthy of double that. I saw flashes of what I want to see. Last week we were very disappointing, Dublin have a lot of work done, we’re not near that yet. I have said it from day one, I have things that we have to do in order for us to improve and that’s just going to take time to do it.” Fitzgerald reserved special praise for the Corrigan Park crowd when he continued: “You can see certain things we’ve been working on. Some of it was good, some of it was not so good. We have to get that better but I will. It helps when we have the crowd here going mad. You have no idea how big a plus that is.
I just want to stay in this division. If we can manage that, we’ll grow.”
Antrim abandoned their sweeper or ‘plus one’ system they used against Dublin but the Antrim manager insisted that it’s all part of the process that he’s trying to instil: “They have a licence now. We played a different system today, we played plus one last day and we will be playing plus one at times, we’ll go from one to the other. I want them to have two different ways they can play and we’ll see what we can do with that.
“We are probably in the same category as Westmeath, Laois, Carlow and maybe a fraction better than them. We need to get good wins if we can under our belt, we need to be winning them games and pushing on to the next level.
The Elliott brothers Nigel and Seaan
“We missed a penalty and another couple. We created the chances and we were very dangerous on the inside. There is lots of work to be done but I’m very excited about what we can do and you can see a lot more fire from the guys. You can see the appetite and the work rate there but we can’t just be doing that in Corrigan.”
The Clare native was absent from the sideline against Dublin due to a suspension carried over from last year. Last Sunday, he patrolled the side line and he got a reaction from the players: “The lads know I’m there. I have a presence, I’m fighting for Antrim and that’ll rub off on them too. I’ve said it before, I really want everyone to get behind us. Have a bit of patience, it will come. These lads are absolutely killing themselves (in training) and that’s all I want from them every day we go out.
“We have Offaly now and that’ll be a big test. They will be a big test down there, they’ll fancy themselves to be a tier above us now because of their underage success and we’ll probably be underdogs going into that one but let’s see how we go.
“I don’t want to give 1-19 every game. I could show you from last year where Antrim were driving the ball long, it wasn’t a good result. We’ve got to get that mix but that’s going to take time to get to that place. We will happen and we might hit another couple of speed bumps but I think they know we’re on the right track and we need to continue to work on it.”
A trip to a resurgent Offaly certainly whets the appetite. There is rarely much between the two counties in recent times with the Offaly men bringing a host of U20s into their ranks from their recent All-Ireland success at that level. Cathal King, Colin Spain, Dan Bourke, Donal Shirley and Dan Ravenhill have made the transition to the senior ranks with relevant ease while James Mahon has made eye catching performances so far.
It’s three points from their opening two games for the Faithful County who had a mighty impressive victory last weekend. Laois at O’Moore Park are far from a push over and Offaly had nine points to spare by the final whistle. Brian Duignan top scoring with 13 white flags while Dan Ravenhill chipped in with five points from open play. Substitute David Nally added their major late in the game with his first touch but it just added further gloss to what was an impressive win for the home side.
It was the reaction Offaly had hoped for after hat has been described as an underwhelming opening day performance against Carlow in a match that finished 0-19 to 1-16. Duignan coming off the bench on that occasion while goal scorer against Laois, Nally top scored with 0-9.
Conal Bohill, James McNaughton and Paddy Burke
Team manager Johnny Kelly rejigged his forward unit for the Laois game and certainly got a better tune out of his side. The Portumna native is having to go without the experience of Eoghan Cahill, Ben Conneely and Cillian Kiely through injury while the prodigiously talented Adam Screeney is taking an extended break after Kilcomac/Killoughey’s extended run in the Leinster club championship.
Trips to Tullamore have proven successful in recent memory with wins against Offaly in both league and McDonagh cup coming away from home while Darren Gleeson led the Saffrons to promotion after defeating Kerry at O’Connor Park in 2020. Sunday will be an acid test for Davy Fitzgerald’s team and it should be a cracking game.
It is a game that Antrim have the capabilities to come away from with another two league points but it’s also a bit of going into the unknown. Offaly are much changed from any recent encounters and those who have come in bring a winning momentum at county level.
Antrim will have to reach the standards met against Westmeath and produce a more efficient performance if they are to get anything from Tullamore. I wouldn’t expect too many changes from the starting 15 that performed so well last day out and while it might be a stretch to expect the two points coming up the road again, we’ll travel to the Faithful County with confidence.
