Minor Championship Group 2

Athlone 3-16 Garrycastle 2-8

Our minor team qualified for the knockout stages of the Division 1 championship when they recovered from a wasteful opening half to defeat neighbours Garrycastle in the second round of the group stage, played in Garrycastle on Monday evening.  This game had been rescheduled as a mark of respect to the late Dermot McManus so our thanks to Garrycastle for facilitating this change at short notice.

Despite having most of the early possession and opening the scoring with points from Joseph Offorjama and Aaron Forde, Athlone were wasteful in front of goal and trailed a more economic Garrycastle side by 0-3 to 0-2 after 10 minutes.  Three quick points from Danny Reid and Benny Martin (0-2) should've settled Athlone, but they continued to squander good scoring opportunities and added only one more point, a free from Benny Martin, in the final 18 minutes of the half.  Fortunately for Athlone, the defence did an excellent job in marshalling Garrycastle's attack in this period so, despite their profligacy, the visitors still led at the break on a scoreline of 0-6 to 0-5.

After Garrycastle had drawn level early in the second half, Athlone got a major boost when Danny Reid got on the end of a long ball to finish coolly to the net for his side's first goal and this was quickly followed by another Benny Martin point.  Garrycastle did strike back with their own first goal but Athlone had finally found their shooting boots and six excellent unanswered points between the 40th and 50th minutes put some daylight between the sides, although Athlone did need a great block from Shane Allen not to concede a second goal in this period.   Two brilliantly taken goals from substitute Deba Okodugha added a further gloss to the scoreline and, despite the hosts closing the scoring with a fine goal of their own, Athlone had done enough and ran out winners on a score of 3-16 to 2-8.

Athlone:  John Duddy, James Finlass, Diarmuid Martin, Patrick McGettigan, , Robert Teape, Eoin Fahey, David Cleary, Danny Reid (1-2), Shane Allen (0-2), Joseph Offorjama (0-1),Sean Dowd (0-3), Donagh Prendergast, Benny Martin (0-7) Aaron Forde (0-1), Anthony Johnson  Subs:  Deba Okodugha (2-0)


Ladies Junior Championship Semi-Final

Athlone 1-10 Garrycastle 3-5

Athlone's Ladies' team exited the Junior championship at the semi-final stage after an agonising one point loss to Garrycastle in a thrilling game played in Páirc Chiaráin.  The very strong wind and heavy rain showers made for extremely difficult conditions for football, but both teams played their part in a thriller in which the result was still in doubt until the final whistle, which came after a nail-biting 10 minutes of second half injury time!

 Despite playing against the strong wind in the first half, Athlone got off to  a good start and opened the scoring with a Grace Halligan point, before the visitors took advantage of the conditions and scored 1-3 without reply to open up a five point lead.  Sorcha O'Rourke kept Athlone in touch with her team's second point, but Garrycastle extended their lead with two more points for their own.  It looked then like Garrycastle were going to push and build up a substantial half-time lead, but Athlone finished the half strongly with two points from Grace Halligan and one from Niamh Byrne to leave only a goal between the sides at the interval.

Athlone would've been pleased to start the second half trailing by just a goal after playing against such a strong wind, but they suffered an early blow when Garrycastle struck for another goal to restore their six point lead.  Undaunted, the home team responded with points from Niamh Byrne and Grace Halligan, before Sorcha O'Rourke got on the end of a free to fist to the net to leave just the minimum between them.  It looked at this stage that Athlone had the momentum, but before they could draw level, the visitors scored their third goal to put daylight between the sides again.  As before, Athlone responded well and three Grace Halligan points reduced the gap to just a point as the game entered its closing stages.  However, despite there being almost 10 minutes of injury time played, Athlone were unable to fashion another scoring chance and when the final whistle finally blew, Garrycastle had held on to win on a scoreline of 3-5 to 1-10.


Boys U16 Championship Group 1

Athlone 5-14 Mullingar Shamrocks 1-8

An extraordinary sequence of five unanswered goals early in the first half set Athlone on their way to a comfortable victory over Mullingar Shamrocks in their opening U16 championship fixture.  Points from Andrew Beaumont and Donagh Prendergast gave Athlone an early lead, but after Shane Allen scored Athlone's first goal, the floodgates really opened and further goals from Josh Beaumont (two), Faris Kajani and Enda Tynan Daly had Athlone gave an unassailable lead, which they stretched with further points to lead by 5-8 to 0-3 at half-time.

After three points in the opening two minutes of the first half had stretched Athlone's lead further, they dropped the intensity somewhat and let the visitors came much more into the game.  Fortunately the Athlone defence was not in generous mood and, despite Shamrocks having most of the possession and going for goals, they were only able to pull one goal back and Athlone ran out comfortable winners by 5-14 to 1-8

Athlone: John Duddy, Killian O'Sullivan, James Finlass, Joseph Devins, Kevin Cleary, Conor Rushe, Niall Doolan, Shane Allen (1-3), Mark Tallon, Anthony Johnson, Donagh Prendergast (0-4), Andrew Beaumont (0-3), Faris Kajani (1-0), Josh Beaumont (2-1), Enda Tynan Daly (1-3)  Subs:  Rytis Liaukevicius, Deba Okodugha, Sean Fox

Senior Championship

Our Seniors take on Caulry in the fourth round of the Senior Championship in Moate on Sunday 28th at 1.30pm.  All support most welcome!

Lotto Results;
There was no winner of this weeks €4800 jackpot.
The numbers drawn were 6-7-12-28.
There were two match three winners.
Myra Allen c/o Mags Daly.
Marian Beaumont c/o Bernie Egan.
This week,s jackpot will be €4950.

Underage football for boys and girls age 4-12 continues every Sunday at 11.30am.  New players are always welcome and never hesitate to bring a friend. Any queries, contact David O'Connell at 087 2397519.  Club gear also available in the Clubhouse between 11-1pm every Sunday.

Athlone GAA Bingo:
Bingo takes place in the Clubhouse every Thursday at 8.30pm.  Loads of cash prizes. Everyone Welcome.

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