Garrycastle club notes
June 10, 2013Garrycastle's championship credentials were seriously called into question when they were convincingly beaten by a far superior St Lomans side in sun drenched Cusack Park last Sunday evening.
St Lomans were quickly out of the blocks and had a point on the board with less than 30 seconds of play. They added a second from a close range free in the 4th minute. Eoin Monaghan got Garrycastle off the mark with a well taken point in the 5th minute. A gaol soon followed, when a long range effort for a point from James Duignan was parried by the St Lomans keeper and Patrick Mulvihill was on hand to side foot the ball to the net. St Lomans continued to dominate despite this setback and two quick pints to level maters. They surged ahead with a point from play and got a goal of their own when a well worked move opened up the Garrycastle defence to lead by 4 points at the mid point of the half. Tom McHugh broke for ward for Garrycastle and hit a good point from 30 meters. The sides exchanged points, the Garrycastle effort coming from a James Duignan free. St Lomans pointed another free but Patrick Mulvihill had the last score of the half in the first minute of injury time to leave it 1-7 to 1-4 in St Lomans favour at the break.
David O'Shaughnessy was introduced into the Garrycastle midfield on the resumption. However, St Lomans continued to dominate possession and their work and football was rewarded with a succession of points, to lead by 8 points by the 43rdminute. James Duignan had a point form a free but St Lomans picked it up again and had a point of their own. A second point of the half from James Duignan, yet again from a close range free, reduced the gap somewhat. However, from there to the end it was all St Lomans who ran out deserved winners on a scoreline of 1-16 to 1-6.
Garrycastle were very disappointing and the second half performance, in which they failed to score from play, was at times lacking in effort or pride. It would be difficult to pick out any Garrycastle player who played to his potential. Enda Mulvihill, Tom McHugh and Patrick Mulvihill were the pick of the side. It will take a huge improvement of this performance if Garrycastle are to get their challenge back on track and qualify for the knock-out stages of this year's championship.
GARRYCASTLE: Cathal Mullin, John Gaffey, Enda Mulvihill, Mark McCallon, Tom McHugh (0-1), Doron Harte, Gary McCallon, Justin Barrett, Aidan Browne, Neil Rattigan, Matthew Guiheen, James Dolan, James Duignan (0-3, 3f), Patrick Mulvihill (1-1) and Eoin Monaghan (0-1).
SUBS: David O'Shaughnessy for J Barrett (half time); Justin McAteer for N Rattigan (35 min); Gary Dolan for P Mulvihill (49 min); Karl Henson for G McCallon (55 min) and Ciaran O'Neill for E Monaghan (57 min).
Mullingar Shamrocks 0-16; Garrycastle 0-9
The Juniors hopes of qualifying for the knock-out stages suffered a setback when they were well beaten by a strong Shamrocks team in Springfield last Friday. With seven players missing from the previous week's win over Caulry, Garrycastle were totally outplayed in the first half and trailed by 0-11 to 0-1 at half time. As they turned to face the breeze in the second half they were facing a defeat of embarrassing proportions. To their credit, they improved dramatically after the break and despite being reduced to 14 players they had much the better of things without ever really threatening to overhaul the ten-point deficit.
There is a vital game against unbeaten St. Loman's on Thursday next, which realistically Garrycastle must win if they are to get their challenge back on course. It is a difficult task but if they play with the same determination as they showed in the second half in Springfield anything is possible.
TEAM: Shane O'Connell, Gary Mullery, John O'Shaughnessy, David Broughan, Colman Gantley, Conor Harrington, Stephen McGuire, Justin McAteer (0-1), Robbie Shine, Peadar Mulvihill, Robbie Fox (0-2), Brian Carty, Sean Carey, Noel Galvin, Michael Monaghan (0-5).
SUBS: Enda Keena for Carey; Damien Rushe for Carty; Conor Molloy (0-1) for Shine
Under 12
Garrycastle Under 12s put in a really excellent performance at the prestigious Newry Mitchels Tournament (11-a-side) held on Saturday the 1 st June last. An 18 man squad were one of 42 clubs competing in the country's largest under 12 tournament, now in its 27 th year, which featured teams from fourteen counties drawn from all over Ulster and Leinster. The quality of the competition on show was reflected in the eventual winners of the Cup and Shield, who were Lavey of Derry and Mayobridge of Down, managed respectively by former All-Stars Henry Downey and Benny Coulter. Garrycastle qualified second from their five man group which saw them make the quarter-finals of the Shield where unfortunately they lost out to an excellent side from Moortown-St. Malachys (Tyrone). The side had bounced back from an early defeat to another very good Tyrone outfit, Moy, home of Sean Cavanagh, to record a win over Bailieboro of Cavan and an unlucky draw against Annaclone of Down. This left Garrycastle needing to beat St. Peregrines of Dublin in their last group game by eight points in order to make the quarter-finals. A superb team performance saw Garrycastle run out winners 3-5 to 0-1. Overall, this was a fantastic performance by a squad who left a number of injured and ill players behind them and ten of whom are eligible for this age group next year. Squad: Andrew Monaghan (Capt.), Owen Keogh, Michael Dooley, Cian Dowling, Cathal Redmond, Joseph Henson, Dylan Keegan, Dara Kenna, Fearghal Mullin, Robert O'Brien, Luke Clinton, Tommy Stephens, James Murphy, Scott Duffy, Ruairi Lyons, Jason Mannion, Daniel Guinan, Jack Norton.
A 26 man panel making up two 11 a side teams,as per County Board rules, travelled to Athlone for the 4th round of the u12 League. Unfortunately there was to be only one 11 a side game played played but we managed to bring in 15 subs over the course of the game . Garrycastle dominated the opening stages but a failure to finish off a number of good moves saw them trail by a point at half time. The more settled Athlone side gradually gained control in a fractured second half as the number of changes naturally upset the Garrycastle rhythm. A four point defeat wasn't a bad days work in the end with every player managing to get some game time. We thank the players and their parents for coming out in such huge numbers, and for their understanding and patience as many lads were to be disappointed with only being given a few minutes of game time.
Lotto numbers
Numbers drawn on 4th of June: 5,8,12 and 23. There was no jackpot winner. Match 3's :Emma Dowling and Nicola McGuire Tweet
