St Mary's/Sean Finns GAA Club (Rathkeale)

Junior A Football Championship - Sean Finns overcome Drom/Broadford in 3rd round
Played in Knockaderry on Sunday night (25th July), this game turned out to be a rather one-sided affair as Sean Finns of Rathkeale easily accounted for Drom/Broadford in the third round of the West Limerick Junior A Football Championship. Referee Brendan Stack of Newcastlewest officiated.
Eoghan O'Connor, opened the Sean Finns account with a pointed free after 4 minutes when Bob Boyce of Drom/Broadford was yellow-carded for a foul on Keith Harnett. Two minutes later, Kevin Noonan replied for Drom/Broadford after Sean Sheahan fouled. The Barry O'Riordan  playing at corner forward regained the lead for Sean Finns with a well taken point following a good run by Keith Harnett. Drom/Broadford brought on John Barrett to replace their injured centre-back, Anthony Donnelly, after 12 minutes as the Rathkeale side increased the tempo with a well finished goal by Johnny Markham after Mark Sullivan picked him out with a good pass, and they quickly followed with another O'Riordan point. After 16 minutes, Kieran Noonan replied with another pointed free for Drom/Broadford following a foul by Trevor Nolan. In the 20th minute, another enforced change for Drom/Broadford saw them replace their full forward, James Noonan, with Jim Kelly before O'Connor pointed another free for the Deelsiders. As the game ticked towards half-time, Timmy Hogan was fastest to react, when Sean Sheahan's long-range effort came back off the upright, and he sent the rebounder to the net to leave the half-time score 2-04 to 0-02 in favour of Sean Finns.
On the resumption, Stephen Power was well positioned and got a neat point after he received the ball on the right wing when Keith Harnett won the throw in. 5 minutes later Harnett got a gem of a point after great work by Stephen Power and Johnny Markham put him through. Mark O'Sullivan quickly followed with a nugget of his own from the left corner to raise another white flag for Sean Finns as they continued to apply the pressure on the Drom/Broadford defence. 9 minutes into the 2nd half, Sean White was introduced as a sub for Timmy Hogan before Mike Sullivan pointed after collecting a poor short kick-out by Eamonn Scollard. Sean Finns third goal came on the 12 minute when Eoghan O'Connor punched a long delivery by Mike O'Sullivan to the net. Drom enjoyed a period of dominance and scored 2 points courtesy of Mike Boyce and Ben Noonan before O'Connor replied again for the Deelsiders with another point. The Rathkeale mentors emptied the  bench bringing on Robert Byrnes, Rob White, Ger Frawley and Tim O'Connor replacing Mike O'Sullivan, Eoghan O'Connor, Dean Maune and Stephen Power. Sean Finns 4th goal came courtesy of a flick-on when Keith Harnett got on the end of a long delivery by Rob White to flick the ball to the net. The Rathkeale custodian, Ollie Byrnes made a tremendous save as Drom/Broadford kept trying before Rob White finished the scoring for Rathkeale with a long-range point. Drom got the last score of the game with a Jimmy Kiely point to leave the final score 4-10 for Sean Finns to 0-05 for Drom/Broadford
Overall a good team performance from Sean Finns who, apart from a minor blib against Newcastlewest in the West League, retain an unbeaten record so far this year in competitive action. This win will see them finish at least second in the group and earn them a tilt at the knock-out stages of the West Championship when they probably face Monagea in a repeat of last year's quarter final. Hopefully for Sean Finns, they can overcome this hurdle, after failing at the same point last year against the same opposition. Training continues this week with Mike Barrett,  Pat Neville, Niall Ryan and Johnny Mooney putting the lads through their paces
Team and scorers:
Sean Finns: Ollie Byrnes, Brian Duggan, Sean O'Shea, Dean Maune, Patrick Sheahan, Trevor Nolan, Sean Sheahan, Keith Harnett(1-1), Johnny Markham(1-0), Eoghan O'Connor(1-3, 2f), Mark O'Sullivan(0-1), Stephen Power(0-1), Michael O'Sullivan(0-1), Timmy Hogan(1-0), Barry O'Riordan(0-2). Subs used, Sean White, Robert Byrnes, Rob White(0-1), Ger Frawley, Tim O'Connor
Drom/Broadford: Eamonn Scollard, Sean Barry, Liam Buckley, Steven Kiely, Conor Brosnahan, Anthony Donnelly, Bob Boyce, Mike Boyce(0-1), Brian Noonan, John Kelly, Kevin Noonan(0-2, all frees) CJ Fitzpatrick, Michael Brosnahan, James Noonan, Ben Noonan (0-1). Subs used John Barrett, Jim Kiely(0-1).

Junior Hurling
Our Junior hurlers are fixed to play Adare next Wed (4th Aug) in Dromcolligher at 7pm. This is a must-win game for us if we are to entertain any hopes of making the knock-out stages. Training continues under the stewardship of Gerry Molyneaux & Pat O'Donnell

Under 12 Football
We played round 7 of the Under 12 football league on Thursday last 22nd July against Gerald Griffins. On the night our team played very well and despite the best efforts of the opposition we won easily. Well done to the following Team members : Travis O Reilly, Mark Wilmott, Darragh Curtin, Barry Coleman, Adrian Brennan, Padraig Power, George Mulcahy, Seamus Keating, Brian Keating, Darragh O Grady, Josh O Connor,  Eoin Kelly and Katie Brennan.

Under 14 Hurling County Quarter Final
St. Mary's Under 14 hurlers have now reached the Co. Quarter final stage.  We will play against Crecora on this Wednesday 28th July. This game will be played in Mick Neville Park  at 7.30pm.

Under 14 Football
Our Under 14 football team had a busy week with two away games.  On Wednesday 21st we travelled to St. Patrick's for a 7.30pm throw-in.   The boys of Sean Finn's lost to a much stronger St. Patrick's side on a score-line of 5:05 to 0:01.   On Saturday 24th we had a more fruitful outing when our lads played much better against South Liberties.  On this occasion boys in blue scored 3.12 while South Liberties scored 2:03.  Well done to all concerned.

Under 16 Hurling
Our Under 16 Hurling team returned to the playing field after a break from games on Monday 26th July.  We travelled to Blackrock and played the local side at  7.30pm. This was a high-scoring game with plenty of skill on display from both teams.  Pat Madden and Brian Wilmott were delighted with their charges who scored  5:15 for St. Mary's while Blackrock scored 3:04.
Minor Hurling - Mick Nevilles
Our Minor Hurlers, (who play as a combination team with Croagh/Kilfinny this year under the banner of "Mick Nevilles") have a Championship game in Croagh this Thursday 29th July against Newcastle West at 7pm. 

Congratulations to County players…
We congratulate Steve O'Reilly and Emmett Walsh who represented our club on the Limerick County Under 15 Football team who played in Sligo last Saturday.  Congratulations also to Eoin O Donnell and Martin Roche who were on the County U16 Football Team who played in Thurles last Saturday. Paul White missed this competition due to holidays.  Congratulations also to Darren Jones who played with Limerick Co. Under 16 Hurling Team in Galway also on Saturday 24th.  Congratulations also to Eoghan O'Connor who wore the No. 21 Jersey in the Senior Football Championship Qualifier game between Limerick and Cork at the Gaelic Grounds on Saturday.  Eoghan has been part of a fantastic squad who gave GAA supporters in Limerick plenty to cheer about since the Spring.  It was fabulous to see such support cheering on this team and consoling them as they bowed out of the Championship.   

Cul Camp
The Cul Camp was held in Rathkeale last week and was a great success.  We had 38 children enjoying themselves learning the skills of Hurling and Football from their coaches.  Many thanks to the coaches and to the special guest Brian Scanlon, Limerick Football Goalie.  Many thanks also to the parents who made themselves available to supervise the lunch breaks. 

Fixtures     
Wed. 28th July: U14 Hurling at Mick Neville Park V Crecora. at 7:30pm.(Co. Quarter Final)
Thurs. 29th July: Minor Hurling: Mick Nevilles V Newcastle West in Croagh at 7pm
Wed 4th Aug: Jun Hurling C'ship: St Marys V Adare in Dromcolligher at 7pm