County U21 'B' Football Championship Final:
This Friday night the U21 footballers travel to Mick Neville Park, Rathkeale where they meet Ballylanders in the County Final. Ballylanders were extremely impressive in their south final victory over Hospital/Herbertstown three weeks ago, especially due to the fact they only played their semi final two nights earlier. We have amassed three good victories over the past month against Granagh/Ballingarry, St. Senan's and South Liberties which should hopefully stand to us ahead of Friday's game. This St. Kieran's side is an extremely young one with only two players overage in 2018 and contains seven players who have already tasted county championship success at minor level in 2017. Ballylanders for their part have also tasted county championship success at minor level over the past three seasons with this group of players winning the 13 a side county championship in 2015. Hopefully on Friday night the lads can continue their rich vein of form at present and bring home another county championship title. Friday's game throws in at 7.30 your support is greatly appreciated.
County U21 'B' Football Championship Semi Final:
St. Kieran's 3.16 South Liberties 2.6
Mick Neville Park, Rathkeale was the venue Friday night last for the County U21 'B' Football Championship semi-final against east Limerick champions South Liberties. Despite the sub-zero conditions we didn't have to worry about underfoot conditions as the game was contested on the 3G pitch which allowed for a very fast flowing game throughout. We began the game the brighter of the two sides and it was clear early on that we had benefited from playing games over the past number of weeks where as South Liberties finished their divisional campaign over a month ago. Noel Callanan got us off the mark first with an excellent score, the first of five for him during the
game. We showed great enthusiasm to get onto possession early on against a much physically stronger side as we moved the ball quickly and tried to avoid the physical contests where possible. Up front we caused the defence a number of problems with the pace of Noel Callanan and Cillian Enright in particular creating a number of scoring opportunities. We made the major breakthrough in the game when Patrick Liston broke through the defensive lines to fire past Limerick u21 hurling All Ireland winner Barry Nash in the South Liberties goal. Despite this the men from Ballyneety kept their composure and continued to deploy their long-ball tactic into their full forward line which was proving to be very fruitful and they were soon back intact when they found the back of the net past a despairing Robert Bradley. We tried to up the tempo from here with our backs trying to break forward, creating overlaps for our scoring threats up front. Scores came again from Noel Callanan and Raymond Noonan to give us a five point lead as the game approached the half time interval. Despite playing some excellent football in the first half our hopes were dealt a massive blow on the stroke of half time when we turned over possession sloppily allowing South Liberties to capitalize on our mistakes and find the back of our net for the second time in the half to reduce our lead to two points at the half-time interval. Despite only leading by two points at the break we put together some good passages of play in the opening half and could have been further ahead were it not for a combination of some wastefulness in front of goal and loose play at the back. We began the second half brightly putting the opposition attack under fierce pressure when in possession. Our fortunes were boosted when South Liberties were reduced to fourteen men for an off the ball incident at the beginning of the half and from here with the numerical advantage we pressed on as space began to appear up front. Scores continued from Killian Enright and Noel Callanan before Darragh Breen found the back of the net to increase our lead. The manner of the second half performance was very pleasing as we worked hard throughout the field applying pressure on the ball, making life very difficult for South Liberties when they got into possession. At the final whistle we
came away with a comprehensive thirteen-point win to set up a county final clash with Ballylanders.
Team:
Robert Bradley, Daniel Barrett, John Byrnes, Anthony Mullins, Eoin Burke, Diarmuid Mulcahy, John Buckley, Liam Kennedy, Darragh O' Connor, Liam Upton, Noel Callanan, Patrick Liston, Killian Enright, Ray Noonan, Stephen Lyons, Darragh Breen, Eamon Ambrose, Stephen Hennessy, Tomas Mullins
Limerick GAA Development Draw:
We would ask those who have yet to pay their remaining membership money to please do so in the coming weeks by contacting their local draw co Ordinator. The limerick GAA development draw is a vital source of income for the club each year with 60% of all income going straight back into the club and it would be impossible to run our club without it. We are extremely grateful to all those who have joined the draw once again this year as we are now one the largest clubs in the draw due to your continued support.
St. Kieran's GAA Twitter:
You can now follow St. Kieran's GAA club on twitter on our new Twitter account where you can stay up to date with live scores, match reports and club news.
Club Shop:
With Christmas fast approaching why not purchase official St. Kieran's merchandise off the official O' Neill's website. We have a fantastic collection of items on offer including a large array of training tops, club jersey's, shorts, socks, gear bags, hoodies, jackets and tracksuits. These would make excellent Christmas presents especially for the younger generations.
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