by thesaffrongael

Glenavy advance in close contest at Hightown

Reserve Football Shield

St. Enda’s 1-10 St. Joseph’s 0-14

St. Joseph’s Glenavy came out on top in a well contested Reserve Football Shield meeting with St. Enda’s at Hightown on Wednesday night.

Playing with a slight wind advantage in the opening half St. Joseph’s built up a 0-8 top 0-4 lead thanks to two 2pointers from Finn Shannon and another from Darragh Armstrong.

After the break the home side came back strongly and a Ruairi Doran goal in the 30th minute closed the gap to two with Thomas Gilmore’s injury time point coming too late to send the game into extra time.

Glenavy got off to a bad start when they lost Shea O’Neill after four minutes to a knee injury and it was Odhran McKenna who gave the Hightown side the lead with a point in the 8th minute.

A Darragh Armstrong 2 pointer edged the visitors ahead and mid-fielder Niall McLaughlin followed with another to move his side 2 ahead after a low scoring 18 minutes.

Jude Stewart closed the gap to one before Finn Shannon restored the St. Joseph’s 2 point lead from a 20th minute free.

There was little between the sides at this stage but it was the Chapel Hill side who finished the half on the offensive and Finn Shannon struck a fine 2 pointer from distance and added a second double of the ground to leave his side leading by double scores at the break.

                                           Half Time 0-4 TO 0-8

The home side responded positively at the start of the second half despite facing a slight breeze and Thomas Gilmore raised an Orange flag after a fine conversion off the carpet in the opening minutes.

Sean Neilan followed with a point from play and an Odhran McKenna pointed free and another point from Ryan Kelly saw St. Enda’s hit the front by the 8th minute and the Chapel Hill side looked in trouble.

In a game of changing fortunes, Niall McLaughlin squared the contest once more with Glenavy’s first score of the half in the 12th minute and it seemed to awaken the men in Orange from their slumber.

Finn Shannon edged them ahead once more from a free and Fergal Henry and Ruairi Forester extended that lead before Shannon moved them five in front from a breakaway that started deep in defence.

St. Joseph’s looked home and hosed as the clock ticked down but St. Enda’s were not finished and they put an excellent move together with Ruairi Doran finally finding a way past the excellent Gareth Collins and the deficit was down to two.

As the game edged into time added on St. Joseph’s had an opportunity to put matters to bed but this time it was St. Enda’s keeper, Nathan Kerr who came to his side’s rescue.

Thomas Gilmore responded with the game’s final point in the 33d minute for the home side to leave just one in it but that was as close as they would get with Paul McNally’s final whistle sounding to bring matters to a close.

OTHER SHIELD RESULTS

Glenavy now join Dunloy, Gort na Mona and Naomh Padraig in the semi-final draw.

The Cuchullian’s looked strong as they swept aside the challenge of St. Brigid’s third string, 3-20 to 2-7 while in the other ties Gort na Mona defeated Davitt’s 2-19 to 0-12 and Naomh Padraig recorded a narrow 3-11 to 1-15 win over Sarsfields at Kirkwood Park

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by thesaffrongael

Casements edge out Con Magees in tight contest

Reserve Football Cup – quarter final

Glenravel Con Magees 2-15  Roger Casements Portglenone 2-17

Glenravel and Portglenone played out an absorbing contest at Father Maginn Park. Despite being labelled as underdogs, the men from the tenth glen really put their opponents to the sword and this one could’ve gone either way but the Bannsiders just got the job done.  In the opening half, Harry Fyfe and Darragh Donaghy popped over scores for the hosts with Shea O’Broin contributing 0-04 and Fergus Donaghy grabbing the host’s major. For the visitors, Ciaran McAleese notched up 0-04 of his own with Corey McLaughlin (2) and Ryan McKeever adding further white flags. Fergal O’Kane’s goal helped his side to a narrow 1-07 to 1-06 lead at the interval.

Glenravel sought to battle back in the second and looked good value to do so. Spearheaded again by their chief marksman, Shea O’Broin, who notched a further 0-06 to his tally including a few excellent two-pointed efforts. The Con Magees would add further scores through Sean Óg O’Neill, Eamonn Ward and Shea McAuley with Luke McQuillan rattling the net. Despite their best efforts though, Portglenone would take the spoils as they narrowly outgunned their hosts in the end with full forward Ciaran McAleese on top form in front of the uprights to add another 0-05 to his tally. Michael Kelly and Ciaran McKeever were also on target with Stephen Kelly’s goal playing a vital role in sealing a tight two point victory.

Glenravel’s Shea O’Broin who scored ten points in his team’s defeat to Portglenone

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by thesaffrongael

All Saints GAC Marquee weekend

Big 50th Bash

As All Saints GAC continue their celebration of providing Gaelic games in Ballymena for the past 50 years they are inviting fellow Gaels to join with them at their upcoming  Marquee Weekend. Three nights of craic and fun across the Bank Holiday weekend await those who attend. Comedy and live big band music is scheduled across the 3 nights. Tickets are available from the link below.

https://bit.ly/Big50Weekend

by thesaffrongael

Lámh Dhearg host annual Cúl Camp and Saffron Og

The annual  Lámh Dhearg Kelloggs Cúl camp and Og camp were a huge success.  More than 100 children attended the  Cúl camp while  4/5 year olds enjoyed the Og camp . The Og camp focused on developing the children’s basic movement skills and hand and eye coordination skills in a fun environment.

At the Cúl camp the children thoroughly enjoyed quality coaching in Camogie , Gaelic football and Hurling expertly provided by very enthusiastic coaching team of over 11 coaches and 9 volunteers . 

Both camps were very well organised and undoubtedly enhanced the development of skills and provided the children with an enjoyable and meaningful week of Gaelic games .

by thesaffrongael

Shamrocks cruise over the line in their Championship opener

Antrim Camogie Senior Championship Ahoghill 0-06 Loughgiel 8-25

Match report and photos from Michael Corcoran in St. Mary’s Park, Ahoghill

Tonight’s opening senior championship game wasn’t an electrifying encounter, so no shocks were delivered in the outcome. Loughgiel’s strength across the field earned them a big score and made Ahoghill work hard for their well earned points. This was a clean and well spirited game, with only eight frees across the sixty minutes and most of those were for throw balls or holding the sliotar too long.

Tonight’s referee, Paul O’Neill, sporting the new Antrim Camogie championship attire, rolled in the sliotar at 7:30pm with a chilling breeze running the width of the higher pitch up at the clubhouse. The Shamrock’s crafted ten points on the board to Ahoghill’s two at almost a point every two minutes before Marie Laverty finished off a sequence of play stemming from an active Mary McKillen for the first green flag of the evening with twenty two minutes on the clock.

Antrim Championship referee attire, designed by referees, for referees alongside captains Maura Downey – Ahoghill and Amy Boyle – Loughgiel

Ahoghill would post a point in response, making that three from Caitrina Graham, but an industrious Roísín McCormick would drop in a ball to the back of Ahoghill’s net and that wouldn’t be the last of the night from McCormick either. A minute later, Marie Laverty struck at Ahoghill’s goals again, from an accurate pass from sister Orlagh and the Shamrock’s were now in a comfort zone with three goals and eleven points.

As the first half drew to a close, Ahoghill managed to float three points over Loughgiel’s bar, two from play from Katie McCloskey and Caitrina Graham and a free from Graham for a ‘too long’ infringement. Loughgiel’s reply was a further two points from a determined McCormick as she weaved around the edge of the box looking for a goal run but settled for her point and a long haul point from Mary McKillen that split the uprights.

Ahoghill’s total at the short whistle would stand at six points for the remainder of the second half, as the Shamrocks took control of the game, almost doubling their points and running up another five goals with three of those coming from a rampant McCormick. McCormick almost made it four in the second half only for a brave short range save by Ahoghill’s keeper, Aine Graham, before Emma McFadden followed through with the tidy up as the evening light faded early due to a heavy clouded sky.

Loughgiel’s Roísín McCormick outpaced her markers to run up a hefty personal total of 4-07

Loughgiel’s other goal came from Amy Boyle, as she broke through into open space behind the goalkeeper after a delicate pass from Mary McKillen, striking from short range into an open net and Boyle had her championship goal to sit alongside her two points from play.

Captain Amy Boyle slots in her championship goal after finding space behind Ahoghill’s defence

It was a tough opening game for St. Mary’s but very much a part of the learning journey as they step into the senior ranks. Loughgiel’s other challengers lie in wait, down the road and the Shamrocks will be cautious to make sure it doesn’t go from a cruising to a bruising. Exciting camogie lies ahead.

Scorers for Ahoghill

Caitrina Graham 0-5 (3f, 1×45), Katie McCloskey 0-01

Scorers for Loughgiel

Lucia McNaughton 0-01, Emma McFadden 1-01, Amy Boyle 1-01, Katie McKillop 0-05 (1×45), Roísín McCormick 4-07 (1f, 2 x 45), Kirsty McKendry 0-01, Marie Laverty 2-03, Mary McKillen 0-04, Orlagh Laverty 0-01

You can see more photos from Tuesday’s game by clicking on this link…

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