Busy weekend in Leinster Club Championship:
With three Westmeath club sides in action at the semi final stages of the AIB Leinster Club championships, it was certainly a very busy weekend for the players and supporters of Garrycastle,Moate All Whites and St Brigids respectively. Though both Garrycastle and St Brigids fell at the penultimate hurdle, there was success for Moate All Whites who will play Straffan from Kildare in the Leinster Junior final in two weeks time. Westmeath Senior Champions Garrycastle made to journey to Parnell Park to take on their Dublin counterparts and reigning All Ireland Club Champions St Vincents in an eagerly awaited but daunting encounter. Indeed for the first 25 minutes of the game, Vincents led Garrycastle a merry dance as they dominated all areas and led by a whopping ten point margin, 2-06 to 0-02. It could have been more as the Dublin side were going for goals at every opportunity and it looked like the Castle were in for a roasting. But the Athlone side are resilient and they hauled themselves into contention before half time with four successive points. James Dolan hit two of them while Des Dolan and Justin Barrett grabbed the others. Garrycastle still trailed 2-06 to 0-06 at half-time but had wrestled back vital momentum and restarted with aplomb in the second-half.
Des Dolan picked off a stunning 1-02 without reply before a Michael Monaghan score that leveled the game against the odds. Dolan's goal was a brilliant effort. Garrycastle won back possession following a short Vincent's kick-out and Dolan sprinted clear of Ger Brennan before blasting a low shot to the bottom right of the net. With that momentum, one would have expected Garrycastle to push on but the game became very cagey as Vincents regrouped and regained some composure with a couple of points which put them ahead.   The decisive score came in the 56th minute when Ruari Treanor was pulled down by the Garrycastle 'keeper  Cathal Mullin and Quinn dispatched the  subsequent spot kick low and right to the net for a four point winning margin of 3-08 to 1-10. It was a hell of  a brave performance from Garrycastle who could so easily have given up when under severe pressure in the opening half and they certainly showed up Westmeath club football in a very good light despite the eventual loss.
In the AIB Leinster Club Junior Hurling semi final, St Brigids made the short trip to Ballinamere in Co Offaly to take on Shamrocks, the Offaly champions with the prize of a place in the Leinster final at stake.  However, that hurdle proved slightly too steep on the day as Shamrocks won through by 1-17 to 0-11 to qualify for the provincial final. It has been a great journey for St Brigids and while they will be somewhat disappointed not to have progressed to the final; it has been a great season for them and bodes well for their return to Senior ranks next year. There was success for Moate All Whites who comfortable overcame Ballon from Carlow to earn a spot in the Leinster Junior final. Moate dominated from start to finish but were very wasteful especially in the opening half. Corner Forward, John Corbally scored six points over the hour but they could have made things much easier had any of the four excellent goal chances in the opening half been put away. Moate held an 0-7 to 0-3 lead at half time and added on five further points to win by 0-12 to 0-5 at the finish.

 

Under 21 Hurling Final:
Raharney added more silverware to their collection in 2014 when defeating Clonkill in the Under 21 Hurling Championship final played at Lakepoint Park on Sunday 23rd November. The game which was due to be played in Kinnegad on Saturday 22nd November but was postponed for 24 hours due to the Kinnegad pitch being waterlogged on Saturday morning. Sundays game was well contested with Raharney leading by a solitary point at half time by 1-5 to 1-4 but they were much the better side in the second half to eventually win by 2-12 to 1-08. With two trophies under their belts, I'm sure that thoughts are now on claiming the Minor title which would be a unique collection but that's another days work yet to come.

Scór na nÓg:
The Scór na nÓg season commences next weekend with two semi finals on over the course of the weekend. The opening semi final is on in Ballymore Community Centre on Saturday 29th November with a 7-30pm starting time. The second semi final is on Sunday 30th November in The Downs GAA Centre with a 3-00pm afternoon starting time.

National Club Draw
Following the success of the first ever GAA National Club Draw last year we are happy to announce that it will become an annual event. The Draw raised in excess of €2.4m for clubs throughout Ireland last year. All funds raised were retained solely by the club to assist in funding the development and the promotion of our games. 945 clubs took part in last year's Draw which included Handball clubs and clubs from our sister Associations. This year there will be a larger number of prizes, all of which are provided by Ard Chomhairle.

Background & Information on the DrawThe purpose of running the GAA National Club Draw is to assist clubs in their drive to fundraise much needed funds. In the current economic climate clubs are struggling to raise sufficient funds to develop and promote our National games at all levels. The GAA National Club Draw is an opportunity for clubs to raise up to €20,000. Each club retains all the proceeds from the tickets sold by their club.

• Tickets are €10 each and are printed in books of 5 tickets.
• Each club will receive an initial allocation of 400 tickets (80 books).
• Each club can apply for additional tickets if required.
• Each club can obtain up to 2,000 tickets, thus giving clubs the opportunity to raise up to €20,000.
• Prizes are provided by Ard Chomhairle as outlined below.
• Each club will retain the proceeds of the tickets sold by their club.
• Clubs cannot purchase tickets in their own club name.
• Participation in the Draw is not compulsory.
• The Draw is subject to terms and conditions as outlined below.
• Each County has assigned a designated GAA National Club Draw Liaison Officer who will coordinate the collection of tickets from Croke Park, the distribution of tickets to each club and the collection of tickets stubs sold by each club.
• Additional tickets can be requested through the club's County Liaison Officer.
• Each club must use the online ticket recording system to reconcile their ticket sales before all ticket stubs are returned to the County Liaison Officer.
• Each club secretary will receive the details on accessing and using the online system by the week commencing October 13th. 
• For any queries on the Draw please contact your County Liaison Officer or the National GAA Finance Dept. on [email protected]
• Ticket stubs to be returned to the County Liaison Officers by January 24th.
• Tickets returned after January 24th will not be entered into the Draw.
• GAA National Club Draw will take place on February 27th at Congress.
Though the draw is now up and running, the opportunity is still there for clubs to come on board and tickets are available from the Office in Cusack Park.

County Convention:
Westmeath GAA County convention this year will take place on Sunday 21st December at the new Brownstown/Archerstown Community centre. Convention is set for 3-00pm.
I can be contacted at [email protected] or 086 3992403

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