St. Kieran’s GAA

County Premier U21 Football Championship Round 1

St. Kieran’s 2.12 Mungret/St. Pauls 2.12

There was no separating two evenly matched sides in a windswept Ballingarry on Saturday afternoon last in our opening game of the 2019 County Championship. Making the step up from west championship level for the first time five years we began the game the better of the two sides registering the games opening score. Playing with the assistance of a stiff breeze in the opening half we built up a commanding lead with points coming from Darragh Breen, John Hayes, Noel Callanan, Cillian Ambrose and Daniel Geraghty added to two sublime goals from the industrious Noel Callanan. Our lead could have been further going in at the break only for Daniel Geraghty’s fine effort to narrowly go over the crossbar just at the stroke of half time. Given the strength of the elements at Mungret’s disposal in the second half it was inevitable that they would come back into the game. Disappointingly from our perspective we found it difficult to break through their lines of defence in the middle third as the half progressed. On the occasions when we moved the ball at pace we created some excellent chances only for our execution in front of goal to let us down. As the half progressed and the pitch began to degrade Mungret who had the benefit of an opening round game against Na Piarsaigh began to put a lot of pressure on us up front and were duly rewarded for their efforts and as the game drew to a conclusion had brought the game back to a draw. As we turned over the ball up front Mungret punished our lack of composure in possession and took the lead for the first time in the game in the dying moments before we got a late reply from Darragh Breen following a long ball from a free from Darragh O’ Connor who found the ever impressive Liam Kennedy. Kennedy field the ball brilliantly to dispose of the ball to the waiting Breen who coolly slotted the ball over the bar for the equalling score. At the final whistle there was a sense of disappointment and content from both sides. From our perspective having had a strong lead we should have held out but the players showed great character to salvage an equalizer when it looked as if the game had slipped out of our grasp. One of the most encouraging aspects of the performance was the performances of our two youngest players, Aaron Heffernan and Daniel Geraghty playing their first game at this level. Next up in round 2 we face a tough task against Fr. Casey’s this weekend. Fr. Casey’s lost their opening round game against Na Piarsaigh but given the array of underage talent coming through their ranks in recent years they will no doubt provide us a stern test to our championship credentials. 

Team vs Mungret: 

Robert Bradley, Eoin Burke, Eoin McEnery, Aaron Heffernan, Mike Shanahan, Diarmuid Mulcahy, Eamon Ambrose, Liam Kennedy, Darragh O’ Connor, Dan Geraghty, John Hayes, Noel Callanan, Kevin Guina, Cillian Ambrose, Darragh Breen, Dan Duggan, Stephen Hennessy, Míchael Murphy

 

Charity Road Hurling 2019: 

This years Charity Road Hurling competition will take place on Friday December 27. Since its inception the event has gone from strength to strength and has proven to be one of the most eagerly anticipated days in our GAA calendar attracting competitors young and old from within and outside our parish. Once again the competition takes place around our traditional route in Ardagh, beginning at the bottom cross, working down the main road to Skehanagh Bridge which has ruined many a teams aspirations over the years before coming up by Cahermoyle House before the finishing stretch back into Ardagh. 

 

Hurling for Fun:

Session 4 takes place this Friday evening at 8.30 in Ardagh Astroturf. There has been an extremely positive uptake in the event during the first three weeks and we hope to see many more in the coming weeks. The event is open to everyone regardless of your hurling ability. In order to cover the cost of the lights we would ask all participants to contribute €3. 

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