Watty Graham's GAC, Glen Notes

September 29, 2014

Glen minors Danny Tallon, Cathal Mulholland and Tomás Convery who won their 4th Derry Minor 'A' Championship medals.

Lotto Numbers: 29, 36 & 39. There was no winner of the £4000 jackpot. Next week's jackpot jumps to £4500. Please support the weekly lotto!

Bar Staff Required: Bar Staff are required for the Glen Centre. Entails weekend hours only- suitable for students looking to earn some extra cash. Contact Shane Carville on 07790900900 for further details.

Minor Football: Our Minors travelled to Celtic Park on Saturday hoping to be the first club team in Derry to win four consecutive minor titles. The game started very competitively which both teams grabbing fine points. However as soon as Mark Doole hit the Magherafelt net, the floodgates opened with Glen scoring at will. Further goals came from Tiarnan Flanagan, Danny Tallon and Oran McGill and as a result leaving the game over as a contest at half time. After the restart Glen continued in a similar vein and blasted in goals from Tiarnan Flanagan and Danny Tallon. Magherafelt battled manfully and responded with three fine goals but the Watties closed the game out to win on a scoreline of Glen 7-14 Magherafelt 3-09. Well done to the players and management on this fantastic achievement. The winning squad and management was Callum Young, Stephen Glass, Declan McCusker, Shane Turner, Tomas Convery, Tommy Mullan, Aidan Hughes, Conor Glass, Jack Doherty, Oran McGill, Danny Tallon, Conall Darragh, Cathal Mulholland, Tiarnan Flanagan, Mark Doole, Shay McMath, James McGilligan, Joe Young, Tiarnan McCusker, Jordon Martin, Marc Hutchison, Cathal Gallagher, Niall Gallagher, Darragh Higgins, Fergal P McCusker, Aaron McGrath, Mickey Beaker and Ciaran O'Neill.

A special word of recognition goes to Cathal Mulholland, Danny Tallon and Tomas Convery who won their fourth minor championship - all as starters!

The squad will now have a well-earned break before resuming their training and aiming to retain their Ulster title at St Pauls, Belfast in December. Note: Photos from the historic minor win will be posted on the club website and the Glen facebook page in the coming days!


Reserve Football: (Report courtesy of Conall McKee).The intermediate reserve semi-final was fixed for Friday night past in Owenbeg, some four weeks later than the original final date! This resulted in experienced captain Ryan Bradley (holidays) and Aodhan McGrath (honeymoon) missing out through no fault of their own! However a strong panel was still in place to take on the job in hand and retain the cup in their absence. Craigbane were the opposition and with Glen being forced to concede the league game early in the year both teams knew very little about each other. Glen started much the brighter and went into an early four point lead by the tenth minute. Despite having the majority of possession in that period we were being very wasteful up front and a number of wides had been registered. Craigbane then came roaring back into the game when they got a fortunate goal with our lads guilty of failing to track the overlapping runners. This was soon cancelled out when wing half back Colm Sargent made a great supporting run into the full forward line and after being fisted the ball he blasted brilliantly to the back of the net to restore the four point advantage. A few minutes later that goal was cancelled out by Craigbane from the penalty spot after Odhran Glass committed a black card offence in the penalty area. Odhran was replaced by Ben McGuckin. Before the ball was to be kicked out two further substitutions had to be made with Colm Sargent fracturing his collar bone in the lead up to the penalty award with Kevin Brolly picking up a groin injury. Dominic Carville and Shay Gormley entered the fray in their places. It was nip and tuck for the next five minutes before captain for the day Sean Gribbon received his marching orders for a black card offence and he was replaced by Niall Mallon. Craigbane then levelled the scores with their first point of the game however our lads soon got the upper hand again and stretched into a three point lead by the time the half time whistle was blown. Half Time Score: Glen 1-07 Craigbane 2-01. After a breather at half time the lads once again started the half the better and by the tenth minute had stretched the lead to five points with Connlan Bradley and Paul Gunning making great runs and receiving good ball. Further wastefulness by the forward division meant the lead was not extended further and Craigbane got their second point of the game to reduce the deficit to four points midway through the second half. A further blow was to be had when midfielder Damien McKernan harshly received a second yellow card and a subsequent red and we were to play the remaining fifteen minutes with just 14 men. However, with our defence now totally solid and blotting out any further Craigbane advances possession was now being used more effectively and when Connlan was upended in the penalty area when bearing down on goal he stepped up himself to dispatch the resulting penalty to the bottom corner of the Craigbane goals. Seven points now separated the sides. In the last ten minutes of the game the 14 men controlled possession and with a further four points in the remaining period, the best coming from the boot of Niall 'Dessie' Mallon, they saw out the game comfortably and won by a margin of eleven points in total with our defence restricting Craigbane to just one point in that entire half. Full Time Score: Glen 2-13 Craigbane 2-02. Team & Scorers: Ciaran McCloy, Deccy Brolly, Sean Convery, Brendan O'Kane, Colm Sargent (1-00), Johnny Glass, Odhran Glass, Tommy McCloy, Damien McKernan (0-01), Cahir McCabe (0-02), Sean Gribbon (0-02), Marc Cudden (0-01), Paul Gunning (0-03), Connlan Bradley (1-03), Kevin Brolly. Subs: Ben McGuckin for Odhran Glass, Dominic Carville for Colm Sargent, Shay Gormley for Kevin Brolly, Niall Mallon (0-01) for Sean Gribbon, Gerard McKenna, Blaine O'Donnell, Kevin McErlean. Glen were deservedly crowned intermediate reserve champions for the second year running with Sean Gribbon collecting the cup on behalf of the team in Ryan Bradley's absence. With the league title won earlier in the year this meant the reserves only defeat on the pitch this year was against junior champions Moneymore in the Graham Cup final. Thanks to all those who attended the final on Friday night and many thanks to the committee for the food after the game.

A very good season overall and great credit must go to this panel of players for their hard work - with harder work to come as they will now ply their trade in Division One after our Senior team secured promotion after also going unbeaten in the league all year. A good year all round and credit to all of the players and management. Also many congratulations to our Minor team and management on winning an historic four minor titles in a row on Saturday and best of luck to Gary and Bricker and the U21 panel in the upcoming championship.

Under 10 Football: Well done to the Under 10 footballers who won the Fergal McCusker Cup at Glen on Sunday morning. Our boys defeated Dungiven in the final. The Dungiven B team beat Na Fianna, Dublin in the Aidan McAnespie Shield. Thanks to all the teams to attended and to everyone who helped out.

Camogie: We hosted the Karen Coyles memorial tournament on Saturday.  Our Under 14 Camogs were pitted against Ballycastle, Dunloy and Swatragh.  Their first game was against Ballycastle which was a tough encounter but our girls stuck to their task and came out winners on a scoreline of Glen 0-3 Ballycastle 0-0.  The second game was against Dunloy, this wasn't as big a challenge and the girls had a comfortable victory on a scoreline of Glen 5-4 Dunloy 0-0.  Glen needed to beat Swatragh to be guaranteed a
place in the final.  This was a great battle but they came up just short losing by a single point on a scoreline of Glen 1-3 Swatragh 2-1.  Ballycastle had beaten Swatragh but drew with Dunloy so the top two teams to meet in the final were Glen and Swatragh.  This gave our girls a chance to make amends for their earlier defeat.  The girls did just that and played a great game.  They were up by two goals at half time and went on to increase their lead by a further 1-1 to win on a scoreline of Glen 4-1 Swatragh 1-0. This was a great way to end the season and a credit to the players and management alike.  Due to their hard work and dedicated throughout the year this team has made great progress this season.  Well done to all involved. Annie Ni Lochlainn, Naimh McCusker, Aoife McCabe, Sinead Gallagher, Erika Magill, Beth Mullan, Sorcha Higgins, Mary Glass, Aishling Porter, Clare Gunning, Rachel McCusker, Ellen Kelly, Orla Murphy, Bronagh Gallagher, Ciara Convery, Aoibheann Molloy, Ellen Warnock, Mary Ni Lochlainn, Aoife Webb and Emma Curry.

Adult Irish Language Classes: Adult Irish Language Classes will begin in the Glen Centre on Friday 3rd October 7.30pm - 9pm. Beginners and Intermediate Levels available. Everyone welcome - Fáilte roimh chách!

Table Quiz: There will be an 'End of Season' Table Quiz in the Glen Centre on Friday 10th October at 8.30pm. Please show your support.

Watty Ball Drop: Tickets for the forthcoming Watty Ball Drop will soon be on sale. The tickets will be distributed in a similar fashion to the 'Watty Cow Clap' tickets last year i.e 30 co-coordinators will distribute tickets to the membership and also collect the returns. The co-coordinators have already received their allocation. If everyone pulls their weight this will be a very successful fundraising venture. Please play your part!

Gear Shop: The Gear Shop is now located in the new Gym building at the pitch (black door nearest the small training pitch) and will be open every Sunday morning during Underage training hours. New training jerseys are now in stock. Kids £25, Adults £30. For inquiries regarding gear please contact Conor Molloy 07810556039; Donal Convery 07833336106; Roisin Lagan 07759838461 or Louise Strathern 07756400317.

Keep Updated: Keep updated with all the goings on in the club at the official club website (www.wattygrahamsgac.com); Facebook (Watty Grahams Glen GAC) and twitter (@WattygrahamsGAA). One member of each management team in all codes is asked to email a short match report to the PRO ([email protected]) for inclusion in weekly notes. Also please send details of upcoming fixtures for inclusion on club website.


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