Maher cup
We held the final of our Maher cup competition on Friday last the 5th of September in Pairc Ciaran. Oran from county Roscommon came to Athlone to play the game and ran out winners on the night. It was nip and tuck in the first half with the half time score at 1-6 a piece. Fionn Dowd scored the goal for Southern Gaels from a penalty. In the second half Oran gained the upper hand and ran out comfortable winners. Best on the night were the hardworking Sean Kilgarriff in midfield and Fionn Dowd in the forwards.

Fixtures
Castletown Geoghan v Southern Gaels 14/09/2014      16:30 Intermediate Hurling Championship
Minor Hurling League Championship Division 2 Turin: Turin v Southern Gaels Wednesday 17th  September 2014 6:30PM
Under 12 hurling league Wednesday 10th September  2014, 6:30PM Ballymore: Fr.Daltons v Southern Gaels
Under 8 county Blitz, Pairc Ciaran 13th September 10:45 AM

Southern Gaels v Brosna Gaels Academy
Southern Gaels played local Offaly rivals Brosna Gaels in a thrilling encounter at Pairc Chiarain. Brosna Gaels started the first half very strongly displaying great team work and raced into a three goal lead. Southern Gaels came into the game in the second half playing with a higher level of intensity and moving the ball at speed from one end of the field to the other via good passing moves. Southern Gaels pulled one goal back and were unlucky not to score on a few more occasions. Both teams demonstrated the ground hurling, blocking and chasing skills they have learned during training. Refreshments were enjoyed by all after the match. Thanks to Brosna Gaels for travelling with their younger children to Athlone.
The squad for this game were: Aaron Hardiman, Cian Cahill, Ciaran West, Cillian Donlon, Conor Flynn, Dara Geary, Darragh Bradley, Donnacha Lee, Eoin Whelan, Padraig O' Neill, Philip Heavey, Sam Fox, Shane Cahill, Van McCay

Darren O'Donnell Shield Tournament
Sunny Friday September 5th saw Offaly, Roscommon and Westmeath teams play out the Darren O'Donnell Shield Tournament.
The First ground hurling match in this tournament for Southern Gaels was against St. Dominics who traveled with great numbers and were really up for the challenge.
Dominics dominated the game and over-powered the Gaels all over the pitch and took an early lead. We fought back but were not good enough to overtake Dominics. Southern Gaels lost shape and Dominics ran out comprehensive winners on a score line of 4-2. Next up were four Roads, so the team re-focussed, knew losing was not an option, burst out of the blocks and got an early goal. However Four Roads fought back into the game and with 3 minutes to go, were 2-1 up, so it looked as if Gaels were going out of the Tournament. Cometh the Hour, Cometh the Cillian Geary - he upped his game and completed his hatrick with some super long range shots, to get Gaels over the line with a 3-2 victory. Still hanging in the tournament, the next game was against Brosna Gaels to ensure we qualified to get into the Last Matches. However we were not getting it our own way. We got into an early lead with Super Goals from Cillian McGowan, Shane Wheatley and Cormac Bradley ably supported by Leon Macken up front. Meanwhile Cathal Hardiman, Lee Turley, Gearóid McCarthy and Cormac Murphy controlled the defence before Brosna Gaels bossed their way back into the game and charged at us scoring a brace of goals. Then it was Nathan Corcoran in goals who bravely kept us in the game making some crucial saves. At the other end Cormac Bradley got another of his important goals with a close in goal into the corner. It proved such a crucial goal as we leaked another leaving it 4-3 to us with a few mins to go. Sean O'Donoghue and Donal McDermott stepped up their game to see us clinch the game. While these games were ongoing, an extremely competitive mammoth under 7's game was ongoing v St. Dominics Under 7's. Starring here in defence were Liam O'Flaherty, Ruairí Dolan and Oisín O Donoghue, while Eoin McCormack, Seán Cosgrove and Eoghan West played well in midfield. Up front Conor Hughes and the Morgan twins, Ciaran and Diarmuid were also show casing their skills.
In the Last Matches, we raced into an early goal scoring spree to give us a comfortable lead with Ruairí O Duibhir commanding the defence against St. Dominics who dominated us in our first game. Goal of the Tournament was scored by  Cillian McGowan who volleyed on a Nathan Puck out to drive the ball into the net. In a close second was Kyle Mahon's direct puck-out, which also ended in the net. Seán O Neill also scored a cracker with Stephen O'Connor and Harry Healy battling well in mid-field. Daithí  O Leochain was getting stuck in, but took a sore belt to the leg and had to be carried off. There was great support from the parents, Academy members and especially the Under 10 Team who were in great singing supportive form after their own victories to see us run out victorious 8-2 winners. Special Thanks must go to Cody O'Donnell for sponsoring the Tournament and to the McMonagle's Danny and Jackie for their great support and presenting all the medals and treats to all the teams. Also to the McCarthy's; Kieran who managed the Under 7's and to Eoin and Cian who refereed the group matches very professionally. We wish a speedy recovery to TJ Turley suffering from a shoulder injury which prevented him from participating. Mentors, Tommy Murphy, Gearoid O Duibhir and Martin Geary.

Our U10s played a number of challenges while the U8s took part in the Darren O'Donnell tournament.

St Domincs and Brosna Gaels both brought U10 teams and Pairc Chiarain was a hive of activity as we had well over 120 children playing hurling on

Friday evening in the sunshine. We fielded two teams and everyone got to play full games so there was plenty of opportunity for all the players.

On Saturday we entertained Birr in another challenge and on this occasions the  Birr lads were too strong for us after

making a great start. In the second Half Southern Gaels were on top  but could not the get enough scores needed to make up the difference.

There were fine performances all over the pitch. Calum Devaney, Diarmaid Murtagh and Dano McMonagle were outstanding in defence, making great clearances.

Luke Whelan made some great saves and made an amazing  full length diving save to his left  to stop a shot destined for the bottom corner after being

moved into goal to steady the ship after first few scores from Birr. Bobby Nugent and Cian Geary played well in the middle and Donagh McCormack

and Luke Farrell and Ryan Fallon and Alex caused the opposition defence to worry on a number of occasions. Our free taking was not as good as usual and on another day we

would have been closer to Birr at the final whistle. Next Stop is Ballinalsoe for our final away match of the year.

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