Saturday
morning coaching is going very well and reports back are that the kids are
learning something new every week and our youngest are coming on in leaps and
bounds. Well done to all involved,
Aiden Murphy on registration, coaches who numbered 27 on last Saturday, Simon
and Gabriel for stewarding the carpark and those providing teas and
coffees. John Kent’s pop-up shop is
proving popular and he will be along again this weekend. For U8 to U10’s things are particularly busy
as they have started playing matches on Wednesdays and some Saturdays. Last week, we welcomed St Johns and this
coming week we will travel to Ballymote.
There was a very impressive performance from our U9 team against St
Johns when our lads showed the skills they have been working hard on and both
sides provided a very entertaining game.
We had very good performances throughout the team, as seen by excellent
goalkeeping and distribution from Dylan Kilgannon, lovely scoring by Rian
O’Connor and Daniel Mullaney and fine defending from Jack Noone and the other
backs on the evening. The U10’s played
the same opposition and in an evenly contested game both teams kicked some excellent
long range scores and showed great skills with numerous examples of top class
high fielding and blocking on display. While we had excellent performances all
over the pitch our two birthday boys, Patrick Brady and Conor Murray played
very well, Dara O’Neill was solid in defence and Adam Feeney made some great
saves in goals.
At the
other end of the age groups our Men’s Junior side had a league match against
Enniscrone on Saturday evening and this was a great contest to play or
watch. In a tight first half, St Marys
were dominant as Hadi Moussa, Johnny Lynch and Conor Darcy got us on the
scoreboard. Then a well worked move
from Enniscrone resulted in the only goal of the game and this proved decisive
in the end. St Marys never gave up and
the returning David Caffrey impressed throughout a second half and Adam Lynch
scored a fantastic point from distance.
However, the experience Enniscrone brought to Kent Park saw them
continue to add scores despite everything the St Marys team threw at them and
final score was 1-12 to 0-09. The St
Marys team was Smyth, Mahon, Sheerin, McKeon, O’Grady, O’Donnell, Smith, J
Lynch, A Lynch, Moussa, Darcy, McGoldrick, Caffrey with E Foley, O Foley, Watters,
Gaffney and O’Kelly-Lynch on the bench.
Next match is this Friday away to Eastern Harps.
There was
no senior game as the County were involved in the Championship. Although it ended in defeat, well done to
our Sligo team. The match was much
closer than the final scoreboard read, and Mayo were relieved that our lads did
not get the couple of scores at crucial times that could have caused an upset. The St Marys Senior side will play their next
league match at home on Sunday against Eastern Harps with a 1pm start.
The U14
division 1 side met St Molaise Gaels on Tuesday, and continue to impress,
putting up another big scoreline when defeating their opponents by 5-14 to
1-06. Performances were particularly
good from D Whelan, J Stewart, P Moore and man of the match Cormac Niland. Congratulations to Conor White on winning
the U14 feile skills county final in Scarden last week. The U14 division 3 side play Coolaney
Mullinabreena this Monday at home with a 7pm throw-in, and are out again on
Thursday when they travel to St Farnons for the league tie deferred from last
week. Interestingly the U16’s play the
same opposition in Kent Park on that evening in their league.
The
honour of representing St Marys in the first final of 2017 goes to the U16
girls who take on Drumcliffe-Rosses Point in the A League decider this Friday
evening, (venue not confirmed at time of writing). These girls give 100% commitment and
dedication to the game and best of luck to them and their management team of
Ultan, Orla and Sinead. Please support
the girls and let’s hope the first trophy of the season comes our way this
Friday.
A
reminder that there is a car wash on Saturday 27th in Kent Park for
the Feile fundraising. We are also
getting very close to the Clifford Cup and in addition to wishing our U12’s the
best for the competition, people are being requested to volunteer as stewards
on the day.
All in St
Marys and particularly the lads on the Junior Panel wish Blaine Gaffney and
Danielle every happiness and health both this weekend and for their future
together.
These club
notes and more detail on St Marys are available on our social media and the club
website at www.stmarys.sligo.gaa.ie