St. Kieran’s GAA

County Senior Football Championship Quarter Final:

St. Kieran’s 1.11 Fr. Casey’s 0.7

A sun-drenched Newcastlewest was the venue last Saturday evening for the eagerly anticipated contest with our fellow west Limerick side Fr. Casey’s. Both sides went into the game brimming with confidence and fancying their chances of prevailing to the county semi final where Oola awaited the winners and it was the Fealesiders who registered the games opening score. For our part we were slow to get out of the traps in the opening ten minutes before a Ray Cahill point got us off the mark. Throughout the opening half we enjoyed the majority of possession with further scores coming from John Hayes, Diarmuid Crowley and Noel Callanan to give us the lead by the slenderest of margins at the interval. Unlike the opening half we began the second period the better of the two sides and soon began to take control of proceedings, at the back our defence began to get to grips with the youthful and pacey Fr. Casey’s inside line while up front John Hayes was beginning to exert a huge amount of influence on the game showing maturity well beyond his eighteen years. Inside Donie Nolan was growing into the game and providing an excellent outlet for possession at full forward brining his fellow forwards into the game. Returning from injury during the county league final Darragh Treacy was introduced towards the end of the opening half and despite his shortage of game time in recent months he looked extremely sharp and was beginning to exert his aerial dominance along with Liam Kennedy in the middle third of the field. Our build up play from the back, while slow at times was very calm and composed and proving very difficult for Fr. Casey’s to breakdown. Defensively on our part we began to put a large amount of pressure on the inexperienced Abbeyfeale side forcing them into a large number of turnovers throughout the game. Up front Sean McSweeney and John Hayes were now beginning to find space more easily and continued to add to our tally as our lead increased to four points midway through the second half. In truth we could well have been in trouble only for some wayward shooting from Fr. Casey’s from both frees and play. With the game drawing to a conclusion and trailing by four points Casey’s began to push numbers forward from the back, in doing so leaving their full back line extremely isolated and at the mercy of our inside line who were now well on top of their individual battles. When Donie Nolan found himself bearing in on goal the last gasp Fr. Casey’s defence had little option but to take him down and the referee Johnny Murphy duly awarded a penalty which Sean McSweeney coolly slotted away and in doing so secured our place in the County Semi final in two weeks’ time against Oola. Congratulations to the players and management on an excellent performance and securing our place in the county semi final for the first time since 2013. Saturday’s win was a huge win for this young side with five starters still u21 there is a lot of hard work still required if we are to reach the end goal. We now advance to meet Oola in two weeks’ time and once again both sides will fancy their chances of reaching the County final. Oola, backboned by their four Limerick senior hurlers as well as an array of emerging underage talent will undoubtedly be brimming with confidence having already defeated us by a goal in round 4 of the championship while our lads will want to make amends for that loss. Elsewhere on Saturday afternoon, Newcastlewest staged a remarkable late recovery to overcome Ballysteen in the first quarter final and now advance to meet Adare in the second semi final in two weeks’ time in Mick Neville Park.

Team vs Fr. Casey’s:

Robert Bradley, Mossie Shine, Paudie McCarthy, Diarmuid Mulcahy, Liam Kennedy, Brendan McCarthy, Anthony Mullins, Johnny McCarthy, Anthony Molyneaux, Diarmuid Crowley, John Hayes, Noel Callanan, Ray Cahill, Donie Nolan, Sean McSweeney, Darragh Treacy, Killian Enright, John Doyle, Kevin Meade, Ray Noonan, Mike Shanahan, Niall O’ Shea, Liam Upton, James O’ Connor, Brian Crowley

 

West Junior ‘B’ Football Championship Round 4:

St. Kieran’s 2.6 Adare 1.9

The junior footballers advanced directly to the west semi final following their competitive and highly entertaining draw with Adare on Sunday evening last in Knockaderry. Fielding a team mixed with youth exuberance and experience we put together some excellent passages of play throughout the game against an Adare side blessed with pace. In the end a draw was the fairest result between two very evenly matched sides who both advance to the knockout stages of the championship. We now await the culmination of the quarter finals when we will then know our semi final opponents. Well done to the players and management on Sunday nights win in what was an excellent weekend for the club on the playing front with our u14 hurlers also qualifying for the county final following their victory Saturday morning against Glenroe.

 

Team vs Adare:

Ray Noonan, Eamon Ambrose, Michael Murphy, Mike Shanahan, Eoin Burke, John Byrnes, John Buckley, Darragh Breen, James O’ Connor, Liam Upton, Niall O’ Shea, Mike Upton, Eoin McEnery, Brian Crowley, Kevin Guina, Dan Barrett, Mike Windle

 

Minor Football:

 

The minor footballers travel to Mick Neville Park, Rathkeale this evening where they face off against Ballysteen for a place in the County Premier minor football semi-final. We arrive at the quarter final stage with three wins over Monaleen, Ballylanders and St. Patrick’s from our four group games. The only blemish on our record came against defending champions Fr. Casey’s. Ballysteen for their part came third in group one and come into the game with wins over Claughaun and Mungret before suffering losses at the hands of Newcastlewest and Galbally. This evening’s game throws in at 7pm.

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