vol 7. issue 4 november 2016 club glory...finals and semi-finals played in all of the counties....

Vol 7. Issue 4November

2016

County championships concludeas provincial race intensifies

Club glory

OFFICIAL GAA PUBLICATION€2.50

A Chairde Gael,

THE Connacht club football championshiphas never been so competitive, and itlooks to go right down to the wire with

some more intriguing pairings on the way.Reigning champions Castlebar Mitchels,

2015 All-Ireland winners Corofin and 2013 All-Ireland champions St Brigid’s are all still inthe senior race this time around.

Leitrim’s Aughawillan will provide the in-trigue as the 11-time Leitrim title holders, arethe dark horses left in the competition and they will to create anupset.

In the hurling St Thomas’ are once again, the kingpins of Galway,following a dominant display against Gort in the final at Pearse Sta-dium. Thomas’ won the All-Ireland title in 2013, and they are heavilyfancied to go on and have a big say in the All-Ireland again, this timearound.

Unfortunately for Mayo their wait for the Sam Maguire Cup goeson, after they came unstuck against Dublin in the All-Ireland final atCroke Park on October 1. It had been a tremendous campaign forStephen Rochford’s men, who kept their cool after they lost the Con-nacht semi-final against Galway at MacHale Park.

Many people thought it was the end of this great Mayo team, butthey re-grouped and got themselves back to Croke Park once again.

On the opposite side of the draw Dublin had been rampant all sea-son. They were outstanding in their semi-final against Kerry, but Mayonearly pipped them in the drawn final. They almost did likewise in thereplayed final. 2016 Player of the Year, Lee Keegan, scored a fantasticgoal and Mayo came so close to getting the game to extra-time.

But I know that team will return to headquarters again next sea-son, and backed by Rochford, they will be a fearsome outfit again.

The Galway minors came so close to upsetting Kerry, in their huntfor a three-in-a-row. But that is a great Kerry team, and Galway canhold their heads high, with a great future ahead of them.

Outside of the inter-county sphere, the various underage competi-tions have continued to capture the imagination in the province re-cently, and we here in Connacht continue to produce the very besttalent that can compete with any corner of the GAA.

And as the many Connacht club titles get decided in the comingweeks, we will see some great teams that will no doubt go on and flythe flag proudly in Croke Park later this year, and beyond.

Is mise, le measJohn PrentyRunai, CLG Cuige Connachta

A Chairde Gael,

AT this time of theyear we are allengrossed in the

build up to the provin-cial club champi-onships, while we allhave a great bank ofmemories to call uponfrom the various inter-county games all year.Those competitionshave been parked fornow until the dawn of2017 – this time of theyear is all about theclubs.

All of the county club championships have beenconcluded at this stage and there was some excellentfinals and semi-finals played in all of the counties.Congratulations to all of the winner over the senior,intermediate and junior championships, and we wishthem all the best in the provincial championships asthey go on to represent their clubs and counties at ahigher level.

While I am reluctant to list all of the winners, spe-cial mention must go to Roscommon club Oran, whocompeted in both their county’s senior hurling and in-termediate football finals and managed to work theirway past stern opposition and replays to emerge ashurling champions. It was an incredible effort from allof the players and mentors and it just goes to showthat the dual club is not a thing of the past.

While the inter-county season has been consignedto the history books Mayo senior footballers shouldbe congratulated for their brave run again this year. Itwas tough to see them fall short after a replay in theAll-Ireland final, but I’m sure it was a lot tougher foreveryone involved in the set-up there. No doubt thatdefeat to Dublin – an excellent team – will drive themon through the winter and we’ll see plenty of themback in the green and red shirt come spring time.

Congratulations also to the Mayo players whopicked up All Stars recently. First time winners DavidClarke and Brendan Harrison had fine seasons, whileLee Keegan and Colm Boyle continue to set the stan-dards for all players from this province.

Special congratulations to Lee Keegan too onbeing named as the footballer of the year. He had anincredible campaign, and the fact that the award isvoted by his peers will give him genuine satisfaction.

On the hurling front Galway’s David and DaithiBurke were honoured with All Star awards, whileLeitrim’s Colm Moreton and Zac Moradi were namedin the Lory Meagher champions 15, and Roscom-mon’s Michéal Kelly was named in the Christy Ring15. Well done to all of the winners.

Before too long we’ll know the identity of theprovincial winners and I wish them the best of luck asthey go on to fly the Connacht flag in the New Year.

Is mise, le measMick Rock

President’s Note

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‘Into the West’

‘Into the West’ is produced by the Connacht GAA Council.Editor: John Fallon. Published by: Pádraig Corcoran.News and photographs for inclusion can be emailed to [email protected]. To obtain an electronic copy of the magazine eachquarter, free of charge, email: [email protected]. • Deadline for advertising and copy will be announced on the Connacht Councilwebsite – www.connachtgaa.ie.

COVER PICTURES –Main picture: Patrick Skehill captain of St Thomas' lifts the cup onbehalf of his team. Photo: David Maher/SportsfileInset, top: Tourlestrane captain James Leonard is presented the Owen B Hunt Cup by SligoGAA chairman, Joe Taaffe. Photo: Eamonn McMunnInset, bottom right: Corofin's Alan Burke, left, and Ciaran McGrath of Corofin lift the cup fol-lowing their victory over Salthill-Knocknacarra at Pearse Stadium. Photo: Ramsey Cardy/SportsfileInset, bottom centre: Castlebar Mitchels captain Rory Byrne lifts the Moclair Cup after theclub’s latest win. Photo: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

Secretary’s Note

Mayo fall just short in replay .............................................3

O’Connor breathes life into Mayo challenge ......................5

Goals the key as Kerry cruise to victory.............................11

Leonard on fire as Corofin reign supreme once more.........12

St Thomas’ back on top after tense Galway final ...............14

County title resides in the south as Kelly g oals for Tourlestrane ..........................................16

Six of the best for Calry in Sligo senior decider..................18

Cluainin take Leitrim senior hurling title...........................19

Plunkett seals late win for Aughawilian ............................20

Oran claim replay victory after extra-time triumph ..........21

Brigid’s stave off late comeback ........................................22

Mighty Mitchels reign again ..............................................24

Higgins the hero once more ...............................................26

Burke goes for candidancy ................................................27

Regional Drug & Alcohol Task Force Conference discussesIreland’s relationship with alcohol........................28

GAA Youth Forum 2016 ......................................................30

O Fearghail commends new sponsorship deal ...................31

Successful Green & Red Golfing Society outing..................32

Ballinasloe triumph...........................................................33

GAA President visits Sligo Schools.....................................36

Molaise Gaels Back where they belong .............................42

St Michael’s ease to victory to claim junior title ................44

Focus on Galway ...............................................................46

Focus on Roscommon ........................................................52

Focus on Leitrim ................................................................56

Mark Rooney - an Appreciation .........................................57

Louisburgh edge a thriller .................................................62

Westport step up to senior after convincing win ...............63

Focus on Ladies GAA ..........................................................65

Focus on Camogie ..............................................................67

Handball – Ní Churraoin wins again...................................72

St Thomas’ back on top aftertense Galway final

Mighty Mitchels reign again

Brigid’s stave off late comeback

GAA {resodemt vosots S;ogpscjpp;s

O’Connor breathes life intoMayo challenge

Mayo fall just short in replay

Goals the key as Kerry cruise tovictory

Leonard on fire as Corofinreign supreme once more

Contents

Dublin .................1-15Mayo ...................1-14

By MIKE FINNERTYThe Mayo News

Mayo’s dreams of winning thecounty’s first all-Ireland senior titlein 65 years were dashed in the

dramatic replay at Croke Park.Defending champions Dublin put back-

to-back championships together for thefirst time since 1977 as they edged outMayo by single point after another breath-less encounter.

on a day when Mayo lost both LeeKeegan and Rob Hennelly to black cards,and a second-halfpenalty from DiarmuidConnolly proved tobe a decisive mo-ment, this group ofplayers once morespared nothing inpursuit of victory.

The defence was heroic for the secondtime in thirteen days, holding four ofDublin’s starting six forward scoreless

from play. all over the fieldMayo players worked,

harried, chased andturned ball overtime and again,and theypushed Dublinto the brink yet

again.But in the

end it camedown to

scores on the board, and the contributionof impact sub Cormac Costello for thechampions ultimately tipped the scales inDublin’s favour.

His points in the 58th, 59th and71st minutes did huge damage to

Mayo, keeping Dublin in thelead and holding the chasing

pack at arm’s length.In contrast, Mayo’s only

scores in the last 20 minuteswere three frees from cap-

tain Cillian o’Connor as Dublinmanned the barricades and de-

fended Mayo’s runners en bloc.Mayo did have one late chance to

grab an equaliser and force the gameto extra-time, but o’Connor, whoscored nine points from frees in total,saw his 35-yard kick into Hill 16 tail leftand wide.

The final whistle brought stunned si-lence from the thousands of Mayo fans inthe stadium while Dublin and their sup-porters celebrated a famous and deservedvictory.

a frenetic match got off to a sensationalstart with the news that Mayo had droppedgoalkeeper David Clarke and recalled RobHennelly for his first start since the defeatto Galway back in June.

The game itself began in a welter ofexcitement as Dublin came flying out ofthe blocks and were four points to no

ALL-IRELAND SENIOR FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL REPLAY

Mayo fall justshort in replay

POWER: Mayo midfielderSeamie O’Shea holds off the tackle ofDublin’s Paul Flynn in their replayedAll-Ireland final at Croke Park.

Photo: Brendan Moran / SPORTSFILE.

DRIVE: Mayo forward Diarmuid O’Connor bursts through the tackle of Dublin’s Diarmuid Connolly in their All-Ireland final replay at Croke Park. Photo: Stephen McCarthy / SPORTSFILE.

score up after six minutes with threepoints from Dean Rock and one fromKevin McManamon giving the favourites adream start.

But Mayo drew level within six minutesas Paddy Durcan and andy Moran landedsuperb points either side of two Cillian o’-Connor frees.

From there to the finish it was helter-skelter, neck and neck, with enough bighits and off-the-ball skirmishes to keep allthe officials on their toes.

Dublin were running hard at the Mayobackline and won a couple of frees thatwere converted by Dean Rock to leave it0-6 to 0-4 after 16 minutes.

By that stage the game was takingshape, and it was every bit as fast and fu-rious as we had expected.

The ground erupted on 18 minuteswhen Lee Keegan came flying through theDublin defence to take a pass from aidano’shea before smacking the ball low andhard past stephen Cluxton for the firstgoal of the game.

Mayo were ahead for the first time, andtheir thousands of fans in the crowd of82,249 were in full voice.

shortly afterwards Dublin had JonnyCooper black carded for a trip on DonieVaughan, and from there to half-time theintensity was racheted up even further.

Dublin outscored Mayo in the secondquarter by 0-4 to 0-2 as Kevin McMana-mon’s direct style continued to draw freesand Dean Rock knocked over three pointsat his leisure.

one of these came in the 36th minuteafter Lee Keegan was shown a black cardby referee Maurice Deegan for what wasdeemed a deliberate pulldown of Dublin’sDiarmuid Connolly — following a shortkick-out from Rob Hennelly that hadn’tfound his man.

When the half-time whistle sounded,Dublin led by 0-10 to 1-6 and it was any-body’s game.

Just like the drawn game, Mayo startedthe second half like they meant businessand a fifth free of the day from Cillian o’-Connor was quickly followed by a brilliantpoint from his brother, Diarmuid, to easeMayo ahead for the second time.

The lead lasted less than sixty secondsas Dean Rock replied with a free, and wesettled in for another nail-biting episode.

on 41 minutes came another water-shed moment as Rob Hennelly came fromhis goal to claim a diagonal delivery fromPaul Flynn, but he spilled the ball andended up taking down Paddy andrews asa consequence.

Cue a black card for the Mayo keeperand a penalty from Dublin — which Diar-muid Connolly buried into the bottom cor-ner past David Clarke.

Dublin led 1-11 to 1-8 and it was a verydifferent ball game.

as always, Mayo responded in a posi-tive fashion with a free from Cillian o’Con-nor and a neat score from Kevin

McLoughlin to close the gap to theminimum.

Dublin sub’ Bernard Broganand Mayo’s Paddy Durcan thentraded points to maintain the sta-tus quo with 21 minutes remaining.

Mayo were a point behind andchasing hard.

Remarkably, for all the chancesand near misses at ei-ther end, theteams shared sixpoints evenlybetween themduring that time.

CormacCostello arrivedin off the bench toland three crucialpoints from play forDublin, and Cillian o’-Connor potted three frees.

But try as they might,Mayo couldn’t dig out theequaliser they so badly wanted andneeded.

The likes of Brendan Harrisonand Paddy Durcan delivered theirfinest performances ofthe summer, whileseamie o’sheahad possibly hismost impres-sive gameever in aMayo shirt.

and allaround the fieldeverybody didtheir best andgave their all.

so anothermemorablesummer endsfor Mayo indesperatedisappoint-ment, after ninematches and aperformance that un-derlined the team’s re-silience and courage in theface of adversity.

It wasn’t meant to be, butMayo can be proud of their efforts.

DUBLIN: S Cluxton; P McMahon, J Cooper, MFitzsimons; J McCarthy, C O’Sullivan, J Small; BFenton, P Flynn; D Connolly (1-1, 1-0pen), KMcManamon (0-1), D Kilkenny; P Mannion, DRock (0-9, 7fs), P Andrews. Subs: D Byrne for Cooper (20 b/c), B Brogan(0-1) for Andrews (47), MD Macauley for Man-nion (52), C Costello (0-3) for McManamon(56), E Lowndes for Small (60), D Daly for O’-Sullivan (72).

MAYO: R Hennelly, B Harrison, D Vaughan, KHiggins; L Keegan (1-0), C Boyle, P Durcan (0-2); S O Shea, T Parsons; K McLoughlin (0-1), AO’Shea, D O’Connor (0-1); J Doherty, A Moran

(0-1), C O’Connor (0-9, 9fs). Subs: S Coen for Keegan (35b/c), C O’Shea for Vaughan (ht),D Clarke for Hennelly (41b/c), BMoran for A Moran (55), A Dillon

for Doherty (60), C Barrett forBoyle (71).

REFEREE: M Deegan(Laois).


HIGH-BALL: CillianO’Connor claims the ballahead of David Byrne in theirAll-Ireland final replay defeat toDublin in Croke Park.


By EDWIN McGREALThe Mayo News

THE door into the press audito-rium is opened for StephenRochford by Croke Park commu-

nications executive Cian Murphy. TheMayo manager walks in, looking ashen-faced, followed by Mayo PRO Paul Cun-nane and the Horan brothers, Mauriceand Liam.

Liam is the Mayo media liaison offi-cer and a regular at these gigs. Mau-rice, the team’s lead video analyst, hasnot been in here all year. It looks like ashow of support for the manager as hefaces questions over his team selec-tion.

Three bottles of River Rock waterare on the table in front of him. Therewere six a few minutes before, butthree have already been pilfered bythirsty (and thrifty) journalists beforethe conference begins. Rochford drinksfrom a small bottle he has brought inhimself.

Over 20 phones and dictaphones lit-ter the table in front of the Crossmolinaman and the first question is straight-forward – what is his initial reaction?

“Extremely proud of all the Mayoplayers,” are the first words out of theMayo manager’s mouth. “I thought theyleft absolutely every sinew of energyout there and obviously, that’s matchedwith a huge amount of disappoint-ment.”

With instant publication online nowa factor in such media conferences,there are Croke Park media guidelinesto ensure the newspapers can maintainsome ‘fresh quotes’ for their Mondayeditions.

The answers to the first five ques-tions are available to everyone forinstant use, everything else isunder embargo. Those looking

for an instant line cut straight to thechase and the second question fo-cuses in on the big talking point of thegame – the dropping of David Clarkefor Rob Hennelly. Rochford is asked toexplain the rationale behind it.

“When we did our analysis onDublin they had pushed with a forma-tion in the first game, pushing fourguys inside. They were trying to cut offour short kick-out, and as the game de-veloped in the drawn game, they weregetting more comfort or more rewardout of that … It was probably some-thing they were going to try to max-imise further and that Robbie’s kick-outgave us a bit more length, gave us a bitmore option and that was the reasonbehind it,” said Rochford.

The next question was probably notthe best-phrased question. Rochford isasked ‘Did it work?’ We all know the an-swer to that. He visibly recoils and forthe only time in the press conferencelooks ruffled, angered almost, and letsout a long sigh.

“In some cases maybe it did but I’mnot thinking through every kick-outnow at this moment in time to wonderabout that.”

Later on, after the five questionshave passed, he’s asked about the ref-ereeing and if Maurice Deegan’s per-formance meant the game could havegot out of control. Rochford re-fused to blame the ref-eree.

“I’m not going to be hypocritical andget into a conversation about referees.I’ve said all year that they are in a verytough position. The margins were tight,it showed on the scoreboard, it showedthe last day. Every ball was as if it wasthe last ball in the game, there wasnothing easy for any of the officials inthat. We had a greasy surface to startwith and, in fairness to Maurice, he didas good a job as anyone could have.”

He feels the two black cards Mayogot and Donie Vaughan’s injury ‘forcedour hand’ in terms of how Mayo usedtheir bench.

“Seamie O’Shea was carrying an in-jury into the last couple of minutes ofthe first-half, and it was incredible justthe way he carried on into that second-half, because with our bench runningso tight, he probably should have beenpulled ten or 15 minutes to go,” hesaid. “But we were down to the barebones and we couldn’t afford anotherblack card or injury. That just goes to il-lustrate the pride I have in them inthem. Brendan Harrison was starting tostruggle as well and still they went in,made blocks and tracked men.”


Rochford speaks of pride fol lowing heartbreaking defeat


Rochford speaks of pride fol lowing heartbreaking defeat

DECISIVE: Mayo goalkeeper Rob Hennelly haulsdown Paddy Andrews in the Mayo penalty areaand is subsequently black carded in the All-Ire-land final replay against Dublin at Croke Park.


CLASH: Lee Keegan and Diarmuid Connolly renew rivalries during the All-Ireland final replay at Croke Park. Photo: Piaras O Midheach / SPORTSFILE.

Mayo ............0-15Dublin ...........2-9

By EDWIN McGREAL The Mayo News

IT was difficult to know whether Mayo leta chance slip here to go for the kill, or if

their display was the start of the decon-struction of the Dubs.

We do, however, have yet more evi-dence for the creaking file on the sheerbloody-mindedness and will of this groupof Mayo players. Were they to exit stageleft without an all-Ireland, it would be atravesty.

Ultimately it was a Cillian o’Connorgem after 77 minutes which levelled thegame and sent the vociferous Mayo sup-porters into raptures.

Few people would have predicted any-thing but a Dublin win in advance had yousaid Dublin would score two goals toMayo’s zero. In fact few people predictedanything but a Dublin win, full stop.

Clearly undeterred, stephenRochford’s team came out with a sense ofpurpose and controlled aggression thattold you they were men on a mission.

and despite several setbacks – theconcession of two ridiculously unfortunatefirst-half own goals; trailing by three com-ing into second-half injury-time – Mayokept at it.

Dublin may not be as bad again (someof their shooting was very poor), but itwould be churlish to dismiss Mayo’s role inthat. Their defensive performance was ex-ceptional with big displays in particularfrom Brendan Harrison and Paddy Dur-can. a Dublin team who scored 22 pointsagainst Kerry could only point nine timeshere.

and, truth be told, Mayo never dancedwith perfection on the front foot either.some of their approach play was poor,some of their decision-making was worse,and there is plenty of room for improve-

ment for both teams.Mayo started well with points from Tom

Parsons and Cillian o’Connor beforeDublin struck their first goal. David Clarkesaved well from the marauding Brian Fen-ton, Brendan Harrison foiled Bernard Bro-gan’s effort on the rebound, but the looseball was inadvertently diverted into the netby Kevin McLoughlin’s right foot.

Mayo struck next with a point fromDonie Vaughan but then Mayo were dealtanother sucker punch. a wondrous passfrom Diarmuid Connolly found Dean Rock,

but when hespilled theball, it can-noned offthe re-

treatingColm Boyle and past ahelpless Clarke. Incredibly, a free after 30minutes from Rock was the first time aDublin player scored.

ALL-IRELAND SENIOR FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL

ACE: Mayo forward Cillian O’Connorcelebrates after he scores the equal-ising point in their All-Ireland finaldraw with Dublin at Croke Park.Photo: David Maher / SPORTSFILE.

O’Connor breathes life into Mayo challenge

Dublin took a 2-4 to 0-5 lead in atthe break and there were fears Mayomight be wilting, especially giventhe nature of the goals. But they re-gained their composure andcame roaring back into thegame on the resumption.andy Moran set things inmotion with a sweetscore from the rightwing. a PaddyDurcan pointand three fromCillian o’Con-nor (twofrees) hadMayo levelafter 46 minutes.

Mayo never led in thesecond half or were able todrive on, which might be aconcern, but they refused tobuckle either. Points from the

excellent Brian Fenton and the erraticDean Rock had them two up. andy Moran(with a goal chance) and alan Dillonreplied at the other end.

However, points from the superb Johnsmall, Rock (free) and Diarmuid Connolly(his only point of the day) had Dublin threeclear after 69 minutes.

o’Connor replied swiftly with a free.Donie Vaughan kicked his second on 71minutes. Mayo’s chance appeared to havewent after a wild shot from aidan o’sheawent wide, but after Diarmuid Connollyfired a sideline kick wide at the other endin the 77th minute, a quick David Clarkekick-out set in train the move which led toan incredibly courageous and brilliantequaliser from Cillian o’Connor.

so much drama, and there could havebeen more had referee Conor Lane givena free in from the kick-out for what ap-

peared to be a pick up off the ground byDenis Bastick. Instead, Dublin retainedpossession, happy with the draw.

Whether Mayo are is a question whichwould be answered the following week.

MAYO: D Clarke; B Harrison, K Higgins, P Dur-can (0-1); C Boyle, L Keegan, D Vaughan (0-2);S O’Shea, T Parsons (0-1); D O’Connor, J Do-herty (0-1), K McLoughlin; A Moran (0-2), AO’Shea, C O’Connor (0-7, 5f).Subs: A Dillon (0-1) for S O’Shea (55 mins); CBarrett for Boyle (58 mins); B Moran for Dillon(67 mins, inj); S Coen for D O’Connor (67mins); E Regan for Moran (71 mins); C Loftusfor Regan (78 mins, inj).

DUBLIN: S Cluxton; D Byrne, P McMahon, JCooper; J McCarthy, C O’Sullivan, J Small (0-1);B Fenton (0-1), MD MacAuley; P Flynn, D Con-nolly (0-1), C Kilkenny; K McManamon, D Rock(0-4, 3fs), B Brogan.Subs: P Andrews (0-2) for McCarthy (24 mins,black card); P Mannion for McManamon (45mins); M Fitzsimons for MacAuley (52 mins); EO’Gara for Brogan (61 mins); D Daly for Byrne(66 mins); D Bastick for Flynn (74 mins).

REFEREE: C Lane (Cork).


O’Connor breathes life into Mayo challenge

HAND-OFF: Mayo target-man Aidan O’Shea shrugs off the challenge of James McCarthy from Dublin in the drawn All-Ireland final at Croke Park. Photo: Stephen McCarthy / SPORTSFILE.

STRENGTH: Mayo veteran Andy Moran bat-tles for possession with Dublin’s Cian O’Sulli-van (left) and Jonny Cooper (right) duringtheir drawn All-Ireland final at Croke Park.Photo: Stephen McCarthy / SPORTSFILE.

By DANIEL CAREY The Mayo News

In the dressing-room after the all-Irelandfinal finished in a draw, stephenRochford said to his players: “Put up

your hand if you thought you had yourbest game”.

nobody raised their hand.“Guys genuinely didn’t feel that they

had delivered their ‘a’ game,” he saidwhen asked about the incident at the sub-sequent press event in Breaffy HouseHotel.

“and that’s what’s required to beatDublin ... I suppose what it comes backto is that guys have set a high stan-dard for themselves.Every day you goout, you’re lookingto improve, andthere’s certainlyscope for improve-ment.”

The Mayo manager won all-Ireland club titles as both aplayer (with Crossmolina) andmanager (Corofin) in CrokePark, and was a selectorwith the Mayo minor teamthat lost the 2005 de-cider to Down. still,donning the bainis-teoir’s bib for thebig gig is obviouslya different kettle offish. We wonderhow he found thewhole all-Irelandday experience.

“I’d recom-mend it!” hesays, smiling.

“I’d hope tohave anotherone or twoof themalongtheway!… I

wasn’t lucky enough – or good enough –to be there as a player. It’s the day youwant to get to, and to be involved withMayo, and being able to do that was cer-tainly an aim of mine.

“But part of that as well is to get a win,and get performances in there, and wehaven’t quite achieved that yet. so we

won’t be getting too senti-mental about the oc-

casion.”When we met

two days after thedraw, he’d watchedthe

game back once, and the squad was gath-ering for training the following evening.sipping occasionally from a glass of waterplaced between his feet, Rochford sayshis focus will not be on doing somethingdifferent, but on what Mayo can do better.

“The thing that pleased me most wasour level of consistency,” he says. “I thinkwe worked hard throughout the 70-plusminutes. We challenged well, we broughta level of intensity and discipline to thegame … But there’s a lot more that I’m nothappy about.”

He reels off some of the specifics of his‘must do better’ list. Mayo will be lookingto ‘cut out’ Dublin goal chances (he’s notprepared to write off the two oGs as‘freakish’ – after all, Dublin ‘had created anopportunity’).

The high number of turnovers last wasa concern – “I wouldn’t be happy with ouruse of the possession”. and he’s lookingfor an improved execution rate on goalchances (which he tallies at one and a half– andy Moran’s second-half shot which

went over the bar, and Paddy Dur-can’s blocked effort in the open-

ing period). “I think you need a

big score to be able tobeat Dublin, and inthat, you need to scorea goal,” he reckons.

The 37-year-olddeals smoothly with any

potential fires. Rumoursthat Jim McGuinness ad-

dressed the Mayo players at a trainingcamp in Limerick are scotched (I’ve

never spoken to … or met the man”). JoeBrolly’s description of Mayo as ‘celebritylosers’ was not ‘fair language’ but ‘cer-tainly didn’t keep me awake last night’.Referee Conor Lane ‘did a good job’ in‘difficult conditions’.

after being widely praised for matchingup the Mayo backs expertly with theDublin forwards, Rochford is philosophicalabout the possibility of changes in thechampions’ attack, saying: “We won’t beover-focusing on it being Player a versusPlayer B”. as for his own team, the wayMayo battled back late on means thereare reasons to be cheerful.

“I think it illustrates what we have beensaying all year – we can get to a level ofconsistency in our performance. But thequality of it is now the challenge that weneed to rise to.”


Rochford admits Mayoneed a goal to beat Dubs

BATTLE: Mayo midfielderTom Parsons wrestles pos-

session from Dublin’s BrianFenton in their All-Ireland final

draw at Croke Park. Photo: Ramsey Cardy / SPORTSFILE.

Kerry ....................3-7Galway .................0-9

By BILL KIELYMedia West Ireland

KERRy ace David Clifford deliveredthe telling blow with a magnificentgoal as the Kingdom brushed Gal-

way aside to claim their 14th all-Irelandminor title with a comprehensive victory atCroke Park.

He slalomed through Galway defenceand rocketed to the top corner of CormacHaslam’s net seven minutes from time,and Kerry staved off any potential come-back from the challengers.

Kerry came into the all-Ireland final asred hot favourites and they were lookingfor their third title in a row, with the Con-nacht champions in their way.

Galway were just two points behindheading into the final minutes of the game,before Clifford struck and after that theylost all hope against the more experiencedKerry outfit.

Kerry were 2-2 to 0-2 ahead at half-time after first-half goals from David shawand Diarmuid o’Connor – Galway hadbeen dominant in their brilliant semi-final

victory over Donegal but theyhad no answer here.

This Kerry side

were touted as the best ever side at theage-grade – their victory was just thefourth time in history that a minor teammanaged to string three successes in arow.

and as Galway began to launch acomeback in the second-half, spear-headed by star forwards Rob Finnerty andDessie Conneely, Kerry had the perfect re-sponse.

Clifford claimed possession in mid-field, burst through the heart of theGalway defence, and rifled an unstop-pable shot to the top-corner of the net

to seal the win.SCORERS – Kerry: D Shaw (1-1); D Clifford,D O’Connor (1-0 each); S O’Shea (0-2 frees),D Moynihan (0-2 each); N Collins, C Lin-nane (0-1 each).Galway: R Finnerty (0-3, 0-2 frees); DConneely (0-2, 0-3 frees); A Quirke, CD’Arcy, R Forde, R Cunningham (0-1 each).

KERRY: B Courtney; D Naughten, N Collins, GO’Sullivan; M Potts, D O’Brien, M Foley; MBreen, M Ryan; D O’Connor, S O’Shea, D Moyni-han; B Friel, D Clifford, D Shaw. Subs: C Lin-nane for Friel (48); C Teehan for Collins (53); BSweeney for Shaw (57); K Dwyer for; S Okun-

bor for O’Connor (65).

GALWAY: C Haslam; E McFadden, S Mulkerrin,L Boyle; A Quirke, E McDonagh, F Garvey; CD’Arcy, J Maher; F Ó Laoi, E Murphy, R Forde; R

Finnerty, S Raftery, D Conneely Subs: BGoldrick for Murphy (38 mins); R Murphy forRaftery (49); R Cunningham for Finnerty (55);E Deely for Garvey (56).

REFEREE: C Branagan (Down).

ELECTRIC IRELAND MINOR FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL

Goals the key as Kerrycruise to victory

CHALLENGE: Galway forward Desmond Conneely holds onto possession ahead of Kerry’s Graham O’Sullivan in their All-Ireland minor final clash at Croke Park. Photo: Ray McManus / SPORTSFILE.

POSSESSION: Galway’s Ryan Forde challenges Kerry’s Niall Collins in their All-Ireland minor final at Croke Park.

Photo: Seb Daly / SPORTSFILE.

HIT: Galway’s Fionan Garvey is tackled by Diarmuid O’Connor as Kerry claim anotherAll-Ireland minor title at Croke Park.

Photo: Seb Daly / SPORTSFILE.

By DECLAN ROONEYMedia West Ireland

FoUR Galway senior football titles ina row for the first time in their historyis the reward for Corofin, who were

dominant from the first to last minutethanks to their slick attack, led by JasonLeonard and his nine points.

Two clubs in the county – Tuam starsand Ballinasloe – have managed to winseven titles back to back, but this run ofdominance now has Corofin just six wins

behind the stars, whohave 24 Frank Fox Cups

to their name.

Even without the hamstrung Gary sice,you always got the impression that Corofinhad plenty in reserve had they been reallytested by salthill-Knocknacarra, but in theend their classy pack of forwards foundspace too easily and often to be denied onthe day.

It will be a few weeks before we findout of the winners of the Mayo and sligochampions will test them in the provincialsemi-final, but once again Corofin cut aswathe through all in front of them in thecounty title race.

Kevin o’Brien has taken over the reinsfrom current Mayo boss stephenRochford, but it was like looking at his all-Ireland champions at stages of the open-ing quarter as they tore

salthill-Knocknacarra to shreds, maderoom to score up front and took everychance that came their way.

“That’s a super win, great to win acounty title. It’s four in a row, it’s the firsttime we have talked about it. I am ab-solutely thrilled for the guys they are agreat group of players,” said o’Brien.

“We’ve a lot of young guys coming inthere, a lot of the experienced guys aswell and they all put the shoulder to thewheel today and delighted with the suc-cess. Fair play to salthill they gave us areally hard game and we kept saying thatall of the time.

“It’s great to have this milestone, greatto have this behind us now and the wholefour in a row thing. We look forward tothat, we haven’t thought about it but it’s agreat opportunity for us, once we have thecounty final behind us. I am really de-lighted for the boys.”

at the heart of all that dominance earlyon was Micheal Lundy, who was mak-

ing his first start of the season forhis club following a stint in amer-

ica. He got them up and run-ning in the early seconds,

and when Ian Burkeand Micheal Far-ragher similarly fol-lowed suit the planfor the day wasclear.

sean armstrongwas very impres-

BON SECOURS/CLAREGALWAY HOTEL GALWAY CLUB SFC FINAL

Leonard onfire as Corofinreign supremeonce moreCorofin ..0-16 :: Salthill-Knocknacarra ..0-11

The Corofin squad ahead of the Galway county final. Photo: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

Jason Leonard of Corofin is tackled by Gavin Duffyof Salthill-Knocknacarra.

Photo: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

sive for salthill-Knocknacarra though andhis four first-half points kept his side intouch, while his super 40th minute effortshowed he still has the ability to play atthe highest level.

alongside him county minor RobertFinnerty chipped in with four scores andthe duo hauled Corofin’s lead back tothree points with 13 minutes remaining,but another three Leonard scores ensuredthat Frank Fox Cup headed north alongthe n17 once again.

Late on salthill-Knocknacarra subPeter Killeen was sent off for a secondyellow card in the space of the four min-utes he spent on the pitch, but this was acanter for Corofin, who could have a goallate on through Ian Burke, but Evan Duffydenied him with a great save.

SCORERS: Corofin: J Leonard 0-9 (4f), MLundy, M Farragher, I Burke 0-2 each, KMolloy 0-1.Salthill-Knocknacarra: S Armstrong 0-6 (2f),R Finnerty 0-4 (3f), T Haran 0-1 (1f).COROFIN: B Power; C Cunningham, L Silke, CSilke; K Figerald, C McGrath, K Molloy; DBurke, R Steede; B O’Donovan, D Wall, JLeonard; M Lundy, M Farragher, I Burke.Subs: A Burke for O’Donovan (32-39, bloodand 44), C Brady for Wall (56), K Murphy forLeonard (61), D Canney for Lundy (64), CBrady for Fitzgerald (65).SALTHILL-KNOCKNACARRA: E Duffy; EWynne, F Hanley, C Halloran; R McTiernan, WFinnerty, G Duffy; C Healy, B Kelly; J Maher, RButler, T Haran; R Finnerty, M MacDonnacha, SArmstrong. Subs: B Conlon for Armstrong (32-37, blood), G Cox for Butler (42), J Killeen forW Finnerty (52), P Killeen for Maher (58), SKelly for MacDonncha (60).REFEREE: Tomás Ó Fátharta (Galway).

BON SECOURS/CLAREGALWAY HOTEL GALWAY CLUB SFC FINAL

The Corofin squad ahead of the Galway county final. Photo: Ramsey Cardy/SportsfileCorofin's Alan Burke, left,and Ciaran McGrath of Corofin lift the cup followingtheir victory over Salthill-Knocknacarra at Pearse Stadium. Photo: RamseyCardy/Sportsfile

St Thomas’ ...........1-11Gort ....................0-10

By DECLAN ROONEYMedia West Ireland

sT Thomas’ manager John Burke in-sisted that his side have what ittakes to go all the way to all-Ireland

glory for the second time, after they weredeserving winners of the Galway sHCtitle.

In a game that was never likely toreach its potential due to the inclementweather conditions at a sodden Pearsestadium, sean skehill’s goal 14 minutesfrom time proved crucial as st Thomas fi-

nally claimed the lead their dominance de-served.

The 2012 winners were the better sidebefore the interval, but still trailed by apoint as aidan Helebert led the Gortcharge, but Conor Cooney edged himafter the restart and his crucial frees andskehill’s goal won the day.

History suggests that the Galwaychampions will have a big role to play inthe eventual identity of the all-Irelandchampions, with six of the last 11 titlesgoing to clubs from the county, and Burkeis keen to add a second to his club’s side-board.

“We can go further but we will take itone step at a time. We will enjoy this andthat’s important,” said the st Thomas man-ager.

“a local derby like that is going to be a

hard one and Gort are a super team. Theywon two in the last four years, it couldhave gone any way we just hurled a littlebit better on the day.

“It’s a great win, absolutely unbeliev-able. That bunch of players, I knew it wasin them to come again. It was our first daytoday to have a full panel of players to pickfrom. I knew if we got a performance outof them they were good enough to win it.

“They are so passionate, it’s like onebig family, and that’s the way they are.They are all like brothers out there. Theyare wonderful young lads and I am de-lighted for them, absolutely thrilled forthem.”

skehill was the goal scoring hero, butthe match winner could well have comefrom the other side, had Michael Mullins’goal not have been ruled out less than 60seconds earlier due to a square ball.

Eventually, the umpires crossed theirflags to indicate the score was ruled out,and seconds later David Burke picked outskehill, who flicked past Gavin Lally to thenet.

Lally had earlier denied skehill midwaythrough the first-half with a super save, butthe first-half was all about the free takers,as Conor Cooney and aiden Helebert keptthe scoreboard ticking over.

James Regan and Bernard Burkepointed well from play for Thomas’ in the

GALWAY CLUB SENIOR HURLING CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL

St Thomas’ back on top after tense Galway final

The St Thomas squad that won the Galwaysenior club hurling final against Gort atPearse Stadium. Photo: David Maher/Sportsfile

Fintan Burke and Bernard Burke ofSt Thomas celebrate at the end ofthe county final.

Photo: David Maher/Sportsfile

first-half, while a couple of Paul Killileascores just before the interval meant Gortled 0-7 to 0-6.

a Conor Cooney free from his own 65,wide on the right, got st Thomas levelearly in the second-half and after he gavethem the lead a couple of minutes laterwith another tough free Thomas’ nevertrailed again.

Helebert missed three crucial frees forGort around that time as he struggledplaying into the teeth of the wind, but onceBernard Burke landed his second after agood interception, and skehill followed itup with the goal there was no way back.

Helebert managed to find his rangewith three late frees for Gort, but stThomas held out easily for an historic win.

SCORERS – St Thomas: C Cooney 0-6 (6f), SSkehill 1-0, B Burke 0-2, Darragh Burke 0-1, JRegan 0-1, B Farrell 0-1.Gort: A Helebert 0-8 (6f), P Killilea 0-2ST THOMAS’: P Skehill; F Burke, C Burke, EBurke; J Regan, S Cooney, D Cooney; B Burke,David Burke; C Cooney, Darragh Burke, DSherry; B Farrell, S Skehill, K Burke.Subs: G Kelly for Darragh Burke (52); DarraghBurke for Sherry (54); A Kelly for S Skehill(58); C Fallon for K Burke (64).GORT: Gavin Lally; T Linnane, M McMahon, MCummins; P Lally, G Lally, A Harte; S Og Lin-nane, Jack Grealish; P Killilea, A Mullins, AHelebert; R Cummins, M Mullins, Jason Greal-ish. Subs: G O’Donoghue for A Mullins (36); WWalsh for G Lally (48).REFEREE: Leonard Fay (Athenry).

GALWAY CLUB SENIOR HURLING CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL

St Thomas’ back on top after tense Galway final

Patrick Skehill captain ofSt Thomas' lifts the cup on behalf of his team. Photo: David Maher/Sportsfile

Tourlestrane ........1-14St Mary's ...............1-7

By JESSICA FARRYSligo Champion

ToURLEsTRanE are the championsof the Belfry senior Football Cham-pionship for the first time since 2013

following a 1-14 to 1-7 victory over stMary's at Markievicz Park.

super substitute John Kelly netted inthe 43rd minute to confirm a hard foughttitle for Tourlestrane, the favourites to winfrom the outset.

Following a very tight opening half,Tourlestrane, under the reign of Eamonno'Hara and Gerry McGowan, were leadingby two points.

But, a dominant second-half perform-ance saw them deservedly earn champi-ons status, confirming the south sligo sideas the best in the county this year.

Brian Egan's six points also proved

vital to Tourlestrane's victory, as Mary'sfought to the bitter end, almost literally, asthe game saw four red cards dished out byreferee John Gilmartin.

Pat Harte hit over the first score of thegame with two minutes played, as captainJames Leonard doubled that lead secondslater.

Glenn young's st Mary's respondedwell, however, with both Kyle Cawley andnathan Rooney sending the ball betweenthe posts to level the score.

Brian Egan got his day up and runningafter five minutes as he scored directlyfrom a free-kick, with Mark Breheny mir-roring that with his score from a freeshortly afterwards.

It was certainly going to take some-thing special to separate these two sides,and Kyle Cawley's ninth minute goal lit upthe early stages of the first-half.

Cawley's goal-scoring prowess has re-ceived plaudits from pundits and fansacross the county since his emergenceonto the scene, and he showed just whyhe is so highly rated as he collected aRooney ball, coolly striking past PadraicMcVeigh in the Tourlestrane goal.

now trailing 1-3 to 0-3, Tourlestranewould need to bring their a game in

order to overcome their op-ponents, but they knew

there was no needto panic.

alanDunnebrought thesides to

within two points ofone another, with an excel-

lent score from LiamGaughan taking the deficitto one, before Brian Egan

brought the sides level onceagain.

But Tourlestrane were de-termined, and noel Gaughandispossessed nathan Rooney

after 20 minutes, and after patientbuild-up play his brother Liam set-up Cathal Henry whose score putTourlestrane ahead by one point

with 21 played.Rory Guinan's 23rd minute point

allowed Tourlestrane a small bit ofbreathing room, as they now held a two

point lead. But just minutes later, a nastylooking injury to Gerard o'Kelly Lynch de-layed play by minutes, but that break did-n't appear to interrupt the game'smomentum.

His replacement Cian Breheny, almostmade an immediate impact, instead hisshot from distance was well wide of themark.

Brian Egan's score made it 0-9 to 1-4at the break, the last action of the first-half.

Both sides knew they needed a lotmore in the second-half, and it was thesouth sligo side who looked hungriest fol-lowing the break.

Brian Egan and Cathal Henry were firstoff the mark after the re-start, with RoryGuinan responding to some extent bysending his free-kick between the posts ofMcVeigh.

stephen Henry could well have put thegame to bed on 36 minutes, but his shot atgoal was wide of the target, although itcertainly should have served as a warningsignal to the sligo town side.

Brian Egan forced a brilliant save fromgoalkeeper Ruddy as he went for goal, the

BELFRY SLIGO FOOTBALL SFC FINAL

County title resides in the south as Kelly goals for Tourlestrane

The Tourlestrane squad that won the Sligo senior football championsip 2016. Photo: Eamonn McMunn

Liam Gaughan in mid-air as he shakes off a StMary’s defender. Photo: Eamonn McMunn

Brian Egan’s six-point haul helpedTourlestrane to thecounty title. Photo: Piaras Ó Mídheach /SPORTSFILE

Tourlestrane man almost making amendswith his point three minutes later to makeit 0-11 to 1-5.

But the best from Tourlestrane was yetto come. on the pitch mere seconds, JohnKelly (who spent the summer in america),surged forward covering a distance of al-most 30 metres, and struck past the im-posing Ruddy in goal to give Tourlestranea comfortable lead of 1-12 to 1-5.

Both sides exchanged wides, beforeMark Breheny hit two points from frees.again, Tourlestrane were not deterred bytheir opponents' late burst of energy, andsub John Quinn restored a six point leadfor his side as the game neared its conclu-sion.

There was drama yet to come, how-ever, as the referee brandished four redcards in the dying minutes, following some

ugly and unnecessary scenes as emotionsboiled over.

Fintan Ruddy and Pat Harte were bothsent for an early shower following a com-ing together on the hour mark.

John Quinn hit over in added time, toconfirm Tourlestrane as champions. Thatwas before, however, the handbags cameout and a mass melee involving a numberof players from each club threatened todampen the spirits at this late stage.

noel Gaughan was next to receive hismarching orders with seven minutes ofextra-time played, before youngster KyleCawley also saw red at the final whistle.

The scoreline may suggest a comfort-able victory for Tourlestrane, but st Mary'swere more than worth opponents on theday. SCORERS – Tourlestrane: B Egan 0-6 (4fs), JKelly 1-0, C Henry, J Quinn (1f) 0-2, L Gaughan,A Dunne, P Harte, James Leonard 0-1 each. St Mary's: K Cawley 1-1, M Breheny 0-3 (3fs), RGuinan 0-2 (1f), N Rooney 0-1.TOURLESTRANE: P McVeigh, C Neary, NGaughan, B Kennedy, JF Carr, S Dunne, JLeonard (c), S Henry, A McIntyre; P Harte, GGaughan, A Dunne, L Gaughan, C Henry, BEgan. Subs: J Kelly for L Gaughan (43), J Quinnfor Dunne (46), N Egan for B Egan (55).ST MARY'S: F Ruddy, K Coen, L Nicholson, LHenry, C O'Grady, J Davey, J Lynch (c), P Kil-coyne, N McManus; R Guinan, M Breheny, GO'Kelly-Lynch, K Cawley, M McGoldrick, NRooney. Subs: C Breheny for O'Kelly-Lynch(26), S Henry for O'Grady (32), C Kelly forGuinan (36), D Kilgallon for M McGoldrick (42),D Corcoran for Lynch (52).REFEREE: J Gilmartin (Curry).

BELFRY SLIGO FOOTBALL SFC FINAL

County title resides in the south as Kelly goals for Tourlestrane

The Tourlestrane squad that won the Sligo senior football championsip 2016. Photo: Eamonn McMunn

Tourlestrane captain James Leonard is presented the Owen B Hunt Cup by Sligo GAA chairman,Joe Taaffe. Photo: Eamonn McMunn

FOCUS ON SLIGO • FOCUS ON SLIGO • FOCUS ON SLIGO


CaLRy/sT JosEPH's are the sligosenior hurling champions for thesixth consecutive year following a

comfortable 20-point win overCoolera/strandhill at Markievicz Park

Calry, who would have been heavyfavourites for the title, failed to hit theground running, but with a 1-5 to 0-4 leadat half-time, they would have felt the gamewas in their hands.

It appeared as though Henry Cox'smen were not going to need to leave thirdgear, but excellent defending from Coolerain the first-half meant that they wereforced to up their game somewhat afterthe re-start.

Coolera had registered four points after19 minutes, but the failed to score a singlepoint after the 20 minute mark, and weresecond best throughout the second-half.

Tom Brennan's side did take the leadwith seconds on the clock, and were de-fending well, particularly when a crucialblock from niall Cadden prevented Calryfrom hitting the back of the night. But theycould only withstand the pressure for solong and Calry hit the back of the net afterfive minutes through Michael Gilmartin.

Cormac Behan's wide started a seriesof poor kicking from both sides, with KevinBanks' effort suffering the same fate be-fore Keith Raymond and Eoin Comerfordwere guilty of similar.

Raymond made amends for his earliermiss by hitting over on 12 minutes, his firstin a busy day for the county hurler.

Coolera did continue to plug away, andwhile they would regret the large numberof wides, they did make some use of theirearly possession.

Comerford hit over Coolera's secondpoint of the day after 12 minutes, but Calrywere quick to respond each time, withDavid Collery responding minutes later torestore his side's three point lead.

Captain niall Cadden reduced Cool-era's deficit to make it 1-2 to 0-3, with theirfourth point of the day coming from niallMurphy.

But that was all that Coolera couldmuster for the afternoon, but they de-fended well to their credit, although it wasalways going to be a challenge facing aCalry side who have been utterly dominantthroughout the year.

Raymond's 20th minute point gaveCalry a two point lead, and wides fromMurphy and Conor Gillen were punishedwith Collery hitting over.

again, Coolera were just struggling tosend efforts between the posts with furtherwides following for Cadden and Banks.

Kevin Gilmartin was first to receive abooking from referee Ciaran o'Donnell,while Conor Gillen was booked just min-utes later for Coolera.

Collery's wide before half-time wouldcertainly have been rued by Coolera, asCalry hit over just before the interval, nowwith a lead of 1-5 to 0-4. Calry captain Liam Reidy receiving the cup .

Calry/St Joseph's .....................2-18 Coolera/Strandhill ....................0-4

Calry/St Joseph’s Sligo senior hurling champions

Six of the best for Calryin Sligo senior decider

FOCUS ON SLIGO •Michael o'Callaghan, who was enjoy-

ing a splendid display in the middle of thefield for Calry, got their scoring up andrunning after the interval with his first pointof the afternoon.

Henry Cox's side hit two wides earlyon, but it had no real impact on the out-come as Keith Raymond's free kick meantthat they held a 1-7 to 0-4 lead beforethey put the game to bed.

Michael Gilmartin did excellent downthe left hand side and almost scoredCalry's second goal of the evening, onlyto see it blocked by Coolera's adam Kerri-gan. However, o'Callaghan was alert andhe pounced on the clearance, smashing itinto the back of the net meaning therewas going to be no way back for Coolera.

Raymond hit two further points, whichwere added to by Kevin Gilmartin and o'-Callaghan before they were reduced to 14in somewhat farcical circumstances.

Kevin Gilmartin was adjudged to havecommitted a foul by referee o'Donnell andwas handed a second yellow card, theCalry man had his head in his hands hav-ing realised he was off.

But, the referee did not initially realisehe had already booked Gilmartin, andcontinued play. It was only when Gilmartinleft the field himself, that o'Donnell wasprompted to his error three minutes later,before he eventually brandished the red.

In reality, a red card had very little im-pact on the game, and Coolera were notgoing to be able to make use of the extraman heading into the last ten minutes/

Calry's stopper Chris Madden pulledoff an excellent save on 50 minutes, whena free-kick from Cadden was almost sentinto the net by Troy Hickey.

But Madden was on hand to stretch tokeep the ball out.

Keith Raymond continued his pointscoring, with a tally of 0-7 for the day.substitute Darragh Cox got his name onthe scoresheet shortly after his introduc-tion, before Collery and Danny Keownrounded off a wonderful day for the club,winning 2-18 to 0-4.

This was Calry's third win of the day,with the club's U-16 girls winning thechampionship and the U-14 boys whowon the Feile final.

CALRY/ST JOSEPH'S: Chris Madden, ThomasKelly, Cormac Behan, James Kerwin, FiachraCoyne, Liam Reidy, Niall McDermott, KeithRaymond, Michael O'Callaghan (Jamie Kenny,58), Kevin Gilmartin, David Collery, MichaelLarkin (Darragh Cox, 25), Eolan McCarthy(Eamon Kelly, 40), Michael Gilmartin (DaithiHand, 56), Danny Keown.COOLERA/STRANDHILL: Colm Scanlon,Thomas Moran, Niall Cadden, Adam Kerrigan,Eoin Comerford, Donal Tobin, Diarmuid Mulc-ahy, Conor Gillen, Kevin Banks, Fionn Morris-sey (Sean Kelly, 44), Niall Murphy, MarcComerford, Sean Callaghan (Adam Murphy,44), Brian Tobin, Troy Hickey.REFEREE: Ciaran O'Donnell

By JOHN CONNOLLYLeitrim Observer

CLUAININ Iomaint are top ofthe pile once more after theyshocked favourites Carrick-

on-Shannon to win the 2016 LeitrimSenior Hurling Championship title.

The Manorhamilton team de-feated Carrick on a 0-14 to 1-6scoreline with Man of the MatchGavin O'Hagan leading the way withten points in Pairc Sean Mac Diar-mada.

There were poignant scenes asCluainin captain Niall McLoughlinpaid tribute to the late Mick Galvinwho had led the Manor men to theirfirst title.

A delighted TerryMcManus praised notonly his Cluaininteam who won thetitle, but opponentsCarrick-on-Shannon.

Cluainin regained theStephen Dorrigan Memo-rial Cup last Sundaywhen they upsetfavourites Carrick-on-Shannon 0-14 to 1-6and went on to repre-sent Leitrim in theConnacht hurling juniorclub championship.

Terry was quick topraise his players andhad a word for the los-ing camp too - “Theplayers are just a fan-tastic group of lads. Ijust have to mentionCarrick as well, I justthought it was a fan-tastic game, Icouldn’t say anythingelse.

“It was just two teams throwingeverything at each other. Both sides

are a credit to our clubs but I’m veryhappy for our men to win it.”

Terry also highlighted the role ofkeeper Karl McDermott in Cluainin’svictory after he saved a penalty -“One of the things we tried to do isbuild our team strong from the back.Karl McDermott would be known asa very strong forward so we made adecision to put him in goals and itpaid off.

“He saved a penalty and it wasthe turning point in the game, itgave us a foot in the game. If thepenalty had gone in, it would havebeen a very tense finish.”

Cluainin takeLeitrim seniorhurling title

Cluainin Iomaint ........................0-14Carrick-on-Shannon .....................1-6

LEITRIM SENIOR HURLING CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP

Cluainin captain Niall McLoughlin led hisside to victory over Carrick in the Leitrimdecider. Photo: Oliver McVeigh / SPORTSFILE


aUGHaWILan are the ConnachtGold Leitrim senior championsonce more, but only after a dra-

matic injury time winner from a monsterMark Plunkett 45 saw them pip a valiantGlencar/Manorhamilton.

after one of the best finals in recentyears in Pairc sean Mac Diarmada, Plun-kett’s pressure kick over a minute intoadded time saw aughawilan go back infront after a one-time six point lead hadbeen wiped out by Glencar/Manorhamil-ton.

Led by the outstanding free-taking ofConor Dolan who scored six frees andtwo more from play, the north Leitrim menhad recovered from a six point deficitseven minutes into the second-half todraw level with five minutes of normaltime left.

But despite having the momentum be-hind them, Glencar/Manorhamilton cru-cially were unable to get in front withDolan missing a free before aughawilan

surged forward once more, Plunkettpointing the 45 after Rory McTague wasdenied a scoring chance by a brilliantblock from Brian McDonald.

Glencar/Manorhamilton incredibly al-most won the game with one late chancebut James Glancy’s fisted effort flew justwide of the post as aughawilan cele-brated with wild abandon when the finalwhistle finally sounded.

aughawilan’s victory was, however,forged in the first two minutes of an excit-ing Final as they hit a stunnedGlencar/Manorhamilton for 1-2 and it wasthis blast that ensured the Fenagh Cupwent back to aughawillan.

sean Flanagan fired over a long rangepoint after just 20 seconds and less thana minute later, Pearse Dolan found an un-marked sean Quinn uncommonly far for-ward, his pass finding Morgan Quinn foran expertly taken goal.

To compound matters, Mark Plunkettthen fired over a massive long rangepoint and despite a wide for Evansweeney, aughawilan continued to domi-nate but had a few costly wides.

Conor Dolan did openGlencar/Manor’s account with a seventh

minute free after a foul on James Glancybut he saw a free hit the post whilePearse Dolan and Mark Plunkett missedchances for aughawilan.

Gary Hickey also did well to palmaway a high ball under pressure beforeDolan put over a second Manor free butthe score was negated by a lovely longrange sean Quinn point, quickly followedby a Ciaran Gilheany free on 19 minutes.

James Glancy scored a super pointfrom the corner but Gilheaney took a longrange pass to fire over a lovely point be-fore the Dolans swapped points, Conorfor Manor and Pearse for aughawilan.The half ended with another Dolan freeas aughawillan led 1-6 to 0-5 at thebreak.

The second half started slowly withboth sides making changes while thegame was held up for an injury to GerardMcGovern and his replacement, stephenGilheany, immediately tapped over apoint after a fifty dropped short and wasworked to him.

subs adrian Croal also scored a su-perb effort with his first score while Mor-gan Quinn pointed after good work fromGary Plunkett who then got on the score-sheet himself to stretch the lead to 1-9 to

CONNACHT GOLD LEITRIM SENIOR FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

Mark Plunkett was Aughawilian’s hero withhis late 45 to clinch the win overGlencar/Monorhamilton.

Photo: Seb Daly / SPORTSFILE

Plunkett sealslate win forAughawilian

Aughawilan ..............................1-10Glencar/Manorhamilton ...........0-12

Ciaran Gilheany was on form for Aughawilan.Photo: David Maher / SPORTSFILE

Morgan Quinn celebrates Aughawillan’s 2014 Connacht championship win over Tubbercurrywith his father Tyrone and sister Maeve. Photo: David Maher / SPORTSFILE

Oran claim replayvictory after mammothextra-time triumphOran ....................2-15Four Roads ..........1-12

AFTER EXTRA-TIME

By Michael O’BrienRoscommon Herald

IT was almost a foregone conclusion thatwhen oran would end their wait for asixth county title, there would be a Kelly

involved.For the previous five wins — 1989,

1990, 1992, 1998 and 2004 — MichaelKelly was manager. His sons Colm andadrian were on all five teams.

on saturday, it was the turn of Colm tomanage oran to a county title. CaptainMike Dwyer remarked in his speech afterthe game that Colm “mustn’t have slept awink for the last two weeks.” Plotting andplanning. True to form.

after the game, the handshakes andpats on the back for the players and man-agement were endless. after the cup waspresented, oran’s manager reflected onwhat was a great victory.

“The club had four finals in the monthof october, and they weren’t going to die.It’s just fantastic,” remarked Colm.

“I had a feeling Jerry (Fallon) would getthe free late on because he was playingbrilliantly. If anyone was going to hit it, itwas going to be Jerry,” he added.

The notion that oran had blown theirchance didn’t enter the heads of the man-agement after the drawn game. They sim-ply worked hard on ensuring that theplayers’ belief was spot on for the replay.

“We tried to work on things mentallysince the draw. What we said to the play-ers was that Four Roads win replays butthey had never played oran in a replayedcounty final.

“after the first final, we knew that weneeded the game and it was going to bringus along. We did improve, and that gamedid stand to us.

“Everybody played their part. Francie(Quine) and Harry (Crowley) gave aspeech in the dressing room. We told theplayers at half time that we’d do betterthan them. I’m 44, Harry is 60, but I thinkwhen Harry told them he’d put a jersey onand would do better, it put the fear of God

into them!,” he smiled.Jerry Fallon delivered a huge display

for oran, which included a wonderful lateequalising free. He was overjoyed after thegame.

“We fought and fought until the lastminute. We got the score in the last minuteof full-time and drove on from there.

“There was no one surprised I put it(the late free) over the bar, I’m doing itsince I was U-16. It doesn’t matter if it’s onthe 13 or the 100-yard line, they all have togo over. another day it wouldn’t go overand we’d be at home looking at a pintglass,” said Jerry.

The ace free-taker felt his side were ina brilliant position once they got back onlevel terms.

“We thought that going into extra-timethat we were in the better position. FourRoads were two points up with a few min-utes to go but we just kept battling andbattling. We sprung a few lads off thebench and they did absolutely mighty,” feltthe Man of the Match.

The wait for oran has been longer thanexpected. Few would have guessed aftertheir 2004 victory that they wouldn’t winanother until this year.

“The first year I togged out for oran wegot to a county final and I was sure we’dbe there every year but this is our first in12 years and hopefully it won’t be the lastone for a while,” he concluded.

SCORERS – Oran: Jerry Fallon 1-9, ThomasFetherston 1-1, Cathal Kenny 0-2, MichaelDwyer, Enda Morris, Colm Mahon 0-1 each.Four Roads: Johnni Coyne 1-4, David Dolan 0-4, Shane Curley 0-4.

KEPAK ROSCOMMON SENIOR HURLING FINAL REPLAY

Jerry Fallon was the scoring hero for Oran asthey end a 12-year wait for glory.

Photo: Oliver McVeigh / SPORTSFILE

0-6 after just seven minutes of thesecond half.

Manor brought on Darrensweeney and Paddy Maguire’sstrong run set up Conor Dolan for afisted point before sweeney showedgood experience, running across thefield before turning to fire over withhis good foot on 11 minutes.

another Dolan free left the gap atthree points but time was Manor’senemy, the score coming on 18 min-utes but aughawilan were hittingpoor wides as Glencar/Manorhamil-ton were now gathering speed,Conor Dolan pointing after a longball found Ronan Flynn and theyoungster kicked a great point.

Dolan left a point in it after a foulon Flynn and after two poor missesfor aughawilan, James Glancyscored a wonder point from the leftcorner to tie the scores.

Glencar/Manorhamilton had allthe momentum but crucially, theynever got in front as Conor Dolan’saccuracy deserted him from longrange with a free going wide.

With the game up for grabs,aughawilan did the grabbing - RoryMcTague surged forward and sawhis shot blocked. From the resultingfifty, Mark Plunkett thumped a mon-ster effort over the bar to regain thelead.

Glencar/Manorhamilton had onelast chance to earn a draw butJames Glancy’s fisted effort from ahuge aaron Hickey ball flew incheswide as aughawilan held on for vic-tory.

SCORERS – Aughawilan: Morgan Quinn1-1; Mark Plunkett & Ciaran Gilheany 0-2each; Stephen Gilheany, Sean Flanagan,Sean Quinn, Gary Plunkett & PearseDolan 0-1 each. Glencar/Manorhamilton: Conor Dolan0-8; James Glancy 0-2; Adrian Croal &Darren Sweeney 0-1 eachAUGHAWILAN: Colin Maguire, DeclanMcGovern, Noel Plunkett, MichaelQuinn, Rory McTague, Barry Prior, SeanQuinn, Pierce Dolan, Sean Flanagan,Mark Plunkett, Niall Beirne, Gary Plun-kett, Gerard McGovern, Morgan Quinn,Ciaran Gilheany. Subs: StephenGilheany for G. McGovern (32), Sean Foxfor G. Plunkett (60).GLENCAR/MANORHAMILTON: GaryHickey, Thomas McDonald, PatGilmartin, Ferghal Rooney, ShaneLoughlin, Paddy Maguire, Killian Mc-Griskin, Aaron Hickey, Thomas Coyle,Evan Sweeney, Conor Dolan, JamesRooney, Brian McDonald, James Glancy,Anthony McDonald. Subs: Gary Hickeyfor McGriskin (23), Adrian Croal &Ronan Flynn for A. McDonald and E.Sweeney (32), Darren Sweeney forCoyle (37)REFEREE: Eamon O’Grady.

St Brigid’s ...........2-14 Padraig Pearses ....2-7


Ian Kilbride and Darragh Donnelly werethe heroes for 2013 all-Ireland champi-ons st Brigid’s as they claimed another

Roscommon sFC title at Kiltoom.It was a sensational finish as Padraig

Pearses fought back to the tie the gameup late on but two late strikes from Kilbrideand Donnelly saved the day and a 15thFahey Cup for st Brigid’s.

st Brigid’s took a 0-8 to 1-2 half-timelead but that was cancelled out by the47th minute when Hubert Darcy scoredthe goal to the tie the game up, only for st

Brigid’s experience to tell out in the end.The victory was st Brigids’ ninth title at

the level since 2005, and theybegan the game well but theyshould have been further aheadat half-time had they not shoteight wides in the opening 30minutes.

Darren Dolan put them ahead with thefirst point of the game in the secondminute and experienced campaigner KarolMannion slotted the second.

Conor Murray added a third beforeBrian stack nearly goaled, but his shotwent over, and Garvan Dolan gave them acomfortable five-point lead.

Pearses had to wait until the 16thminute before sean Fahy got their firstscore but that was cancelled out, and fur-ther points from Darragh sheehy andKarol Mannion had st Brigid’s in com-mand.

HODSON BAY HOTEL ROSCOMMON SENIOR CLUB FOOTBALL FINAL

St Brigid's players celebrate following their victory. Photo: Seb Daly/Sportsfile

Brigid’s stave off latecomeback

Darragh Donnelly of St Brigid’s celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during the Roscommon county final against Padraig Pearses in Kiltoom. Photo: Seb Daly/Sportsfile

By Ian CooneyRoscommon Herald

EDDIE Lohan knows all about savouringthe sweetest of victories on county finalday. Back in 2000, Kilbride defied all the

odds to upset St. Brigid’s and capture theFahey Cup for the first time. This year, Brigid’scalled on Lohan’s expertise to join forces withFrankie Dolan in an effort to prove thatBrigid’s demise was way off the mark. As a re-sult, the celebrations that greeted the club’sninth senior championship success since 2005were as vociferous as a maiden triumph.“I think that we deserved it in the end,” felt

Lohan. We should have been more up at halftime. Pearses came at us very strongly in thesecond half. It wasn’t looking hectic with fiveminutes remaining but, thankfully, our moreexperienced players stood up and we got therein the end.“Pearses were filtering players back in the

first half but we were taking the wrong shot se-lection. We just rushed things a bit. We playedthat bit better against the breeze.“We didn’t deal with those high balls in on

top of our full-back line and, as a result,

Pearses had the run on us for 20 minutes or so.But thankfully Ian (Kilbride) and Darragh (Don-nelly) came up with those two killer goals,” hereflected.While Pearses must wait for a first senior

success, Brigid’s understandably greeted its15th triumph at this level with great gusto.“This is probably the sweetest one for the

club. It’s huge for Brigid’s. Everyone was writ-ing them off after the Clann na nGael matchlast year but the scenes here at the moment islike the club has just won a Connacht or All-Ire-land title.“Pearses are a serious team and their day

will come. They probably should have won itlast year. It could have gone either way whenthe teams were level today but we just man-aged to pull through,” he felt.Lohan’s partner in crime Frankie Dolan felt

that his side should have put the match to bedin the first half but the efforts from everyonein the club ensured that Brigid’s were back atthe top of the pile.“It was a great win but it should have been

over at half time. We probably should have hit1-12 or 1-13 in that first half. We have away asloppy 1-2 that we weren’t happy with. It keptthem in the game.

“We missed chance after chance again in thesecond half. Our composure wasn’t the best.Fair dues to Pearses, they kept fighting andfighting. They came back to draw the game,and even had a chance to go one up but RonanDaly pulled it wide.“We steadied the ship in the end. We were

disappointed with our defence during the mid-section of the second half. We were very loose.In fairness to Ian (Kilbride) and Darragh Don-nelly, they injected that bit of pace we werelooking for to break the Pearses line.“I’m just delighted. I suppose I’m more de-

lighted for the like of Mike McDonnell andTomás Beades, people behind the scenes likePat Regan. I suppose I better mention the fa-ther-in-law. He’s been trying to get balls out ofthe hedges since last January. I’m delighted forthem — Ger Tiernan, James Murray and An-thony Jinks, all those lads in the backroomteam. People don’t probably realise thatthey’re here every night when we’re training.“More, importantly, I’m delighted for the

players. We were very low last year when wewere deservedly beaten by Clann na nGael. Theeffort everyone has put in — you hear peopletalk about effort, what the lads have put in hasbeen incredible,” he remarked.

But then a quick-fire point and a goalfrom Fahy ensured that Pearses wereright in touch, however Darren Dolan’spoint gave st Brigid’s the three point inter-val lead.

Pearses needed a fast start to the sec-ond-half and they got it – Cathal McHughextended st Brigid’s lead. But scores fromTom Butler, Darcy (two) and shane Dolan

tied the game up.Darren Dolan, Garvan Dolan and Brian

stack gave st Brigid’s a cushion, but thenDarcy found the net for Pearses before stBrigid’s saw it out with their two latestrikes.

ST BRIGID’S: S Mannion; D Donnelly (1-0), NMcInerney, D Sheehy (0-1); R Stack, I Kilbride(1-0), E Sheehy; G Dolan (0-2), M Daly; B Stack(0-2), D Dolan (0-3), C Murray (0-1); C McHugh(0-1), S Kilbride, K Mannion (0-3, two frees, 1pen). Subs: P Kelly for Daly (40), F Dolan forMcHugh (58), D Cunniffe (0-1) for D Dolan (59),N Grehan for E Sheehy (59), J McDonnell forMannion (60).

PADRIAG PEARSES: A McManus; N Carty, AButler, D Murray; C Óg Sullivan, C Daly, MRichardson; T Butler (0-1), E Donoghue; NDaly, S Carty, S Dolan (0-1); H Darcy (1-2, 2 f), RDaly, S Fahy (1-3, two frees)Subs: A Mannion for Donoghue (49, blackcard), C Payne for S Dolan (49), D Glynn for C.Óg Sullivan (58), P Kelly for Carty (59).REFEREE: P Daly.

Lohan: We deserved to win it

Captains Darragh Donnelly, left, and CathalMcHugh of St Brigid’s lift the cup.

Photo: Seb Daly/Sportsfile

HODSON BAY HOTEL ROSCOMMON SENIOR CLUB FOOTBALL FINAL

By JOHN FALLONMedia West Ireland

Mayo teams are no strangers tohaving to bounce back from all-Ire-land final defeats and Castlebar

Mitchels put their st Patrick’s Day disap-pointment behind them to claim their 30thcounty title under the lights at MacHalePark.

Their 13-point loss to Ballyboden stEnda’s last March came two years afteralso losing the all-Ireland final to st Vin-cent’s, but Castlebar regrouped and ranout easy winners against a Knockmoreside looking for their first title since 1997.

Their victory, which takes them to sixshort of the haul achieved by Ballinastephenites, was achieved despite tenchanges to the panel since last season.

and joint manager Declan o’Reilly saidit is their intention to stay on top in Mayo,having now won three of the last four andbeen runners-up in three other deciders inthe past seven seasons.

“We were all disappointed after the all-Ireland final, but we said the only way wecould come back from that was to see ifwe could go on, learn from the experience,and win the Moclair Cup again.

“We looked around Connacht and wesaw the likes of Corofin in Galway and stBrigid’s in Roscommon. They dominatethe championship in their counties and weasked ourselves whether we could westart to do that in Mayo, even though thecompetition is fierce here. so it is a goodachievement to win it again and we areabsolutely delighted with that.

“We lost ten players from last seasonfor one reason or another but the injectionof new blood has been great,” saido’Reilly.

Two players dominated this final. neilDouglas, on and off Mayo squads over theyears, was superb in landing 1-6, while thesheer class of Paddy Durcan was evidentwhen the game was still in the balance inthe opening half.

He was given the job of marking hiscounty teammate Kevin McLoughlin but,continuing the form which saw himemerge as such a key figure for Mayo thisyear, he achieved that while still going for-ward to shoot 1-3.

However, he faces a race to be fit for

next saturday’s Connacht club sFC quar-ter-final against sligo championsTourlestrane.

“He has a hamstring twinge so we willhave to assess that and see how he isfixed but we took him off as a precaution,”added o’Reilly.

Tourlestrane manager Eamonn o’Harawas an interested spectator in the crowdof 5,375 as Castlebar Mitchels lived up totheir tag as favourites, leading by 0-6 to 0-4 at the interval, having played against thewind.

Knockmore, looking for their ninthMayo title, started encouragingly with thewind and points from sean Rutledge,Peter naughton and Colm Reape pushedthem 0-3 to 0-1 after just nine minutes.ButDurcan and Douglas punctured theirhopes with five points and a speculativeeffort from distance from the impressiveaidan Walsh bounced over the bar beforeMcLoughlin gave Knockmore some hopewith a point before the interval.

But that was as close as they got. Dur-can combined twice with niall Lydon toshoot a superb 36th minute goal and

TREANLAUR CATERING MAYO SENIOR FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL

Castlebar Mitchels ...................3-13Knockmore .............................0-10

Mighty Mitchels reign again

The Castlebar Mitchels squad who were crowned Mayo senior club football champions bybeating Knockmore at Elverys MacHale Park. Photo: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

Mitchels pulled away from there withthe win being crowned in the closingstages when Douglas and then BarryMoran found the net, with Knockmoreonly managing one point from play inthe second-half.CASTLEBAR MITCHELS: R Byrne; S Irwin,G McDonagh, D Newcombe; R O’Malley, EO’Reilly, P Durcan (1-03); A Walsh (0-02),B Moran (1-00); F Durkan, C Costello, JDurcan; N Lydon, N Douglas (1-06, 0-04f), S Hopkins.Subs: D Stenson (0-02, 0-01f) for J Dur-can (44), R Burke for P Durcan (47), DKirby for Lydon (51), J Gannon forCostello (53), C Kyne for Douglas (53), JMaughan for Newcombe (53).KNOCKMORE: A Kilcoyne; M Park, SMcHale, D Walsh; J Rice, A Keane, NHardy; T Clarke, K McLoughlin (0-01); DMcHale, C Reape, K Rutledge (0-02, 0-01f); S Rutledge (0-01), K Langan, PNaughton (0-05, 0-04f).Subs: B Gibbons for Clarke (38), F O’Neillfor S Rutledge (50), J Brogan for Park(55), A Loftus for Reape (57), C Canningfor Walsh (58).REFEREE: J Glavey (Aghamore).


MAYOmidfielder Barry Moran saysthat he hasn’t had time to dwell ontheir All-Ireland final defeat to

Dublin because he has been so busy playingclub football.

The backlog in the Mayo SFC title meantthat Stephen Rochford’s men were straightback into club action following the All-Ire-land final replay.

“We have had four games in four weeksstraight after the All-Ireland final defeat toDublin and it has been tough enough,” saidMoran after playing a key role as CastlebarMitchels won their 30th Mayo SFC title. Butevery other footballer in Mayo would be de-lighted to be in our shoes at this stage.”

The 3-13 to 0-10 win over Knockmore en-sured a third county medal in four years forMoran and he crowned the victory by scor-ing their third goal.

The loss to Dublin in September was thesecond All-Ireland final disappointment forMoran this year after Castlebar Mitchelswere defeated by Ballyboden St Enda’s inthe club decider back in March.

But they regrouped and the infusion ofunderage talent saw them retain theircounty title for the first time since 1970.

“We had a turnover after the All-Irelanddefeat with the club and we lost three orfour key lads but it shows the great workthat’s going on in the club here we have mi-nors and U-21s.

“The minors won a county title this yearas well so the future is good. They joinedinto the panel, the team there, and they re-ally added something different which is im-portant. So we are just delighted, we justwent out there today and back-to-back it’sthe first time since the 1970s that Castlebarhave done.”

Moran said they would now turn their at-tention to the Connacht club quarter-finalagainst Sligo champions Tourlestrane nextSaturday.

“We know Eamonn O’Hara is over themand they have been going well. It’s going tobe a tough battle and it’s in Sligo as well. Wewill have a good look at Tourlestrane andsee what we have,” added Moran.

TREANLAUR CATERING MAYO SENIOR FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL

Castlebar Mitchels captain Rory Byrne liftsthe Moclair Cup after the club’s latest win.

Photo: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

Mighty Mitchels reign again Mayo's Moran hasn't had time to dwellon All-Ireland because of hectic club schedule

By RONAN O’NEILLMedia West Ireland

DUaL-sTaR Keith Hig-gins was the main manfor Ballyhaunis once

again as he shot an incredible1-9 and they got the better ofTooreen in the Mayo sHC finalreplay at Ballyhaunis.

Higgins, who starred in thefirst game where it was his late

scores that forced a replay,came good late on for Bally-haunis and shot the crucialgoal that separated the sidesat full-time here.

It was Ballyhaunis’ thirdconsecutive Mayo sHC titleand their third final victory in arow against Tooreen.

The hosts led 1-7 to 0-8 athalf-time, the first-half goalcame from Ballyhaunis andstephen Hoban after 14 min-utes, when he pounced on amistake from the Tooreen goal-keeper.

But it was all about Higginsand Kenny Feeney in the first-half, and both players scoredfour frees each as neither sidegave an inch before the inter-val.

But the tide was graduallyturning in Tooreen’s favourafter half-time and the momen-tum swung completely in an in-stance.

Tooreen missed two penal-ties in the space of a minuteearly in the second-half butwhen the ball was workedback into the danger area,David Harrison pounced to findthe net.

That helped them into a 1-12 to 1-9 lead as they lookedset to cruise to victory with

Ballyhaunis finding it difficult togain a foothold.

However just as Tooreenhad put themselves in the as-cendency, Ballyhaunis used allof their experience and kepttheir composure to ease theirway back into the game withHiggins to the fore once again.

He scored his goal in the50th minute and he followedthat up with three furtherpoints as Ballyhaunis securedtheir third TJ Tyrell Cup in asmany years, against theirgreatest rivals.

BALLYHAUNIS: D O'Brien; ABrennan, A Lyons, B Hunt; K Kiely,D Keadin, F Lyons; K Higgins (1-9),E Collin; A Phillips (0-2), K McDer-mott (0-2), P Kiely; P Higgins, TBuckley, S Hoban (1-0). Subs: JLyons, J Coyne, L Cribben.TOOREEN: D Freyne; D Huane, SMorley, A Henry; G Nolan (0-2), SLenehan, J Freyne; C Freeman, DKenny (0-1); F Boland (0-2), DHarrison (1-0), S Boland; KFeeney (0-5), S Regan (0-2), SKenny (0-1).Subs: C Charlton, J Henry, S Hunt.REFEREE: C Collins (Lacken).

MAYO SENIOR CLUB HURLING FINAL REPLAY

Ballyhaunis hurling captain Donall O'Brien receiving the Tyrell Cupfrom hurling chairman John Hopkins

Higgins the hero once more

The Ballyhaunis squad.

Man of the match from the Mayosenior hurling final replay KeithHiggins receiving his award fromsponsor Jim Hogan

Ballyhaunis .................2-13 Tooreen .......................1-13

AROUND THE PROVINCE • AROUND THE PROVINCE • AROUND THE PROVINCE


GALWAY GAA’s Frank Burke hasconfirmed his candidacy for theposition of President of the GAA

A native of Ardrahan, Burke has adistinguished record of service to theGAA at Club, County, Provincial andNational levels.

A press release issued by GalwayGAA reads: “Having served as Sec-retary of CLG Ardrahan, FrankBurke was elected as Secretaryof Coiste Iomána na nÓg andFéile na nGael before taking upthe position of Secretary andthen Chairman of the GalwayCounty Board. At Provincial

level, Frank was elected President ofConnacht Council (2012-2015) duringwhich time he represented Connachton the GAA National ManagementCommittee.

“Frank Burke’s achievements at Na-tional level include Chairman of theNational Referee’s Committee, Chair-

man of the Central Review Committee,a Member of the National FinanceCommittee, Chairman of the HurlingDevelopment Committee and he cur-rently holds the office of Chairman ofthe National Coaching and Games De-velopment Committee.

“In addition to all of these positionsFrank Burke’s leadership and drivewas instrumental in the fundraising for,and the successful redevelopment, ofPearse Stadium.”

The President of the Associationwill be formally elected at the GAA An-

nual Congress on 24th/25th February2017 in Croke Park.

The last Galway man to holdthe highest office in the associa-tion was the late Joe McDonaghwho served as president from1997 to 1999.

Burke goes for candidancy

Pictured is Frank Burke whose name has been put forward for the President of the GAA. Photo: Barry Cregg / SPORTSFILE.


Regional Drug & Alcohol Task Force Conferencediscusses Ireland’s relationship with alcohol

Pictured from (L to R): T Daly, Chair-person SRDATF, M Durcan, Co-ordi-nator WRDATF, T Dunne, ChairpersonECRDATF, J Mullery, ChairpersonNERDATF, S O’Connor, Co-ordinatorNWRDATF, P McEvoy, ChairpersonMRDATF, G Prendergast, Co-ordina-tor, MWRDATF, C Purnell, Co-ordina-tor SERDATF, R O’Grady, ChairpersonNWRDATF, A Kinsella, Co-ordinatorMRDATF, L Baggott, Co-ordinatorSWRDATF, B Walsh, Co-ordinator,NDRDATF, D Hurney, ChairpersonWRDATF

Pictured from (L to R): Professor JBarry, Chair of Population HealthMedicine, Trinity College Dublin, MsS Costello, Acting HSE Alcohol Pro-gramme Lead, Dr S Butler, AssociateProfessor at School of Social Workand Social Policy, Trinity CollegeDublin, Dr A Winstock, ConsultantPsychiatrist & Addiction MedicineSpecialist, Mr J O’Shea, Director ofNurse Education (Mental Health), DrS Lyons, Senior Researcher, HealthResearch Board, Ms S Scally, Princi-pal, Drugs Policy Unit, Departmentof Health.

Pictured from (L to R): A Ogle, Co-ordinator, NERDATF, Dr S Butler, Associate Professor at School of Social Work and Social Policy, Trinity CollegeDublin, Dr A Winstock, Consultant Psychiatrist & Addiction Medicine Specialist, G Prendergast, Co-ordinator MWRDATF, M Corcoran Kennedy, T.D.,Minister for Health Promotion, B Walsh, Co-ordinator, NDRDATF, L Baggott, Co-ordinator SWRDATF, P McEvoy, Chairperson MRDATF, S O’Connor,Co-ordinator NWRDATF, Professor J Barry, Chair of Population Health Medicine, Trinity College Dublin, A Kinsella, Co-ordinator MRDAT



MInIsTER for Health PromotionMarcella Corcoran Kennedy saidthe government will do all in their

power to end the culture of excess alcoholconsumption in Ireland.

service providers, community stake-holders and staff from the 10 RegionalDrug & alcohol Task Forces met today inCo Laois to discuss Ireland’s relationshipwith alcohol on october 6.

The aim of the event was to createawareness and to build the capacity ofDrug and alcohol Task Forces to meaning-fully respond to alcohol misuse in theircommunities.

organised by the combined RegionalDrug & alcohol Task Forces, and fundedby PoBaL, the conference was officiallyopened by Minister Corcoran Kennedy.

she said that the government are atthe advanced stages of dealing with theproblem, which affects a huge amount ofgeneral public in this country.

“The Government is committed to tack-ling alcohol misuse in Ireland and thewidespread harm and pain it causes,” saidMinister Corcoran Kennedy.

“The Public Health (alcohol) Bill is ameasured and evidence based responseto deal with the very real harms caused byalcohol. The Bill completed second stagein the seanad on 17 December 2015 and Iexpect that it will commence Committeestage shortly.”

The Minister acknowledged the centralrole that Regional Drug and alcohol TaskForces play in coordinating the responseto substance misuse at a local level andencouraged individuals to engage in thenew national Drugs strategy Public Con-sultation which ended on october 18.

The event was chaired by ProfessorJoe Barry, Head of Population Health atTrinity College Dublin who said alcoholmisuse is massive problem and needs tobe treated accordingly.

“alcohol treatment responses havelagged very much behind responses for il-licit drugs and this conference has beenorganised to highlight the extent of theproblem and to discuss treatment options,”said Professor Barry.

“a report from the Health ResearchBoard in 2013 estimated that there werebetween 150,000 and 200,000 people withalcohol dependence in Ireland. addressingthis must be a priority for the new nationalDrugs strategy.”

Pictured are from (L to R): L Gormley, S Hansberry, D Loftus, M Ryan from Skehanain Galway who were runners-up at the event.

Pictured from (L to R): J Ryan, S Canning, C Mooney, C Harley, A McGreal of PadraigPearses, Roscommon who won the Connacht Skillstar Challenge.

Regional Drug & Alcohol Task Force Conferencediscusses Ireland’s relationship with alcohol


THERE were over 600 applicants, butjust 200 lucky Gaa youngster werepicked to travel to Croke Park on

october 29 for the annual youth forum atthe Gaa headquarters.

The #Gaayouth Forum was organisedby the national youth Committee in part-nership with an Cumann Camógaíochta,the Ladies Gaelic Football association(LGFa) and the Department of Children &youth affairs.

The Medical, scientific & Welfare Com-mittee and the Games Development Com-mittee also played a key role in ensuring

that all of the activities and informationprovided at the Forum reflected Gaa Pol-icy and best practice.

It was a fabulous day out for all in-volved, and encompassed young mem-bers of the organisation aged between12-21 and from all four corners of the is-land.

The youth forum educated and in-formed the youngsters on the Gaa andthe welfare side of things, along with someinspirational speeches from a number ofhigh profile speakers associated with thegame.

David Gough, oisín McConville, JustinCampbell, Rory o’Connor, alan o’Mara,Julie Davis and Joey Boland were justsome of the big names on show that day,and they received a great reception fromthe youth forum attendees.

They spoke about a range of issuesfrom respect and sportsmanship to injuryprevention and recovery.

There was also a free-taking master-class where Conor Cooney, Corastaunton, Kate Kelly and DiarmuidMurtagh imparted their advice and wis-dom.

GAA Youth Forum 2016

Pictured from (L to R) are Galway hurler Conor Cooney as he talks about free-taking along with Mayo footballer Cora Staunton, Wexford camogieplayer Kate Kelly and Roscommon footballer Diarmuid Murtagh at the GAA Youth Forum 2016 at Croke Park in Dublin.

Photo: Cody Glenn / Sportsfile.

Pictured are some of the youngsters listening to a discussion on ‘Respect and Sportsmanship’ led by senior inter-county football referee DavidGough, during the GAA Youth Forum 2016 at Croke Park. Photo: Cody Glenn / Sportsfile.


UaCHTaRán Chumann LúthchleasGael aogan o Fearghail is delightedwith the new initiative that sees Gaa

clubs nationwide set to make huge savings.Electric Ireland have created a new

Gaa Purchase Power deal that enableclubs to get more value for their money.

Ireland’s leading energy supplier andsponsor of the Gaa all-Ireland MinorChampionships, Electric Ireland will putmore money in pockets and free up whichwill allow clubs to invest in other areas byoffering competitive energy rates for thenext 3 years that will provide annual sav-ings of nine percent or more on electricitybills.

“We are delighted Electric Ireland will bea part of this Gaa initiative as a nominatedsupplier and in doing so will help bring newand improved rates for the provision of en-

ergy to our 1,600 strong club network,” saido Fearghail.

“our relationship with Electric Ireland isa strong and long one and this is part of ournew Purchase Power programme whichhas been established to assist our clubs intheir efforts to find the most competitiverates across a number of different cate-gories and we wish all concerned everysuccess with its roll-out.”

The Purchase Power deal will allow forcompetitive rates, for an extensive range ofproducts and services for the Gaa and allof its units including clubs and CountyBoards. It uses the buying power of the en-tire Gaa to secure bulk discounts on com-mon products and services from nominatedsuppliers.

Electric Ireland were chosen as thenominated supplier. The clubs can now

source all of their electricity needs fromElectric Ireland and make savings over thenext three years.

Electric Ireland services many clubs andare now offering this deal to all 1,600 clubsright across the 32 counties.

“We are very pleased to be appointedas the nominated Energy supplier for thisPurchase Power initiative,” said Dollard.

“EsB and Electric Ireland have a longstanding partnership with the Gaa througha number of innovative sponsorships overthe last 12 years including title sponsor ofthe Gaa Minor Championships and it isgreat to expand the partnership throughthis fantastic programme.

“We want to help clubs in any way pos-sible and we really hope that the savingsmade through this deal will go back intogrowing the game at grassroots.”

Pictured from (L to R) are Uachtarán Chumann Lúthchleas Gael Aogán Ó Fearghail and Jim Dollard, Director of Electric Ireland at the launch of GAAPurchase Power at Croke Park, Dublin. Photo: Sam Barnes / Sportsfile

O Fearghail commends new sponsorship deal

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THE reconvened Green & RedGolfing Society’s tournamenttook place at Ballina Golf

Club, on Saturday, 15th October, inideal conditions. It was originallyscheduled for the week before theAll-Ireland Final replay againstDublin but because of inclementweather conditions the tourna-ment had to be postponed.

Johnny Carey, Secretary, wasthe master of ceremonies on thisoccasion, and got proceedings un-derway. Johnny continued by wel-coming all to the Captain’s Prize,delayed a little bit, but eventuallywe got the weather right! Hethought the Sam Maguire Cupwould be present and opined thatwe got very close. He concludedby thanking P. J. King for histremendous contribution and lead-ership as Captain of the society,and said the society had a greatyear on the whole. Apologies werereceived for Willie McGee andJohnny Farragher who couldn’t bepresent.

P. J. King, Captain, Green &Red Golding Society, welcomed allpresent to Ballina Golf Club on thiswonderful day and occasion de-spite all the postponements. Heespecially thanked Noel Dee, Cap-tain, Ballina Golf Club, and hisstaff for being very patient withthem and having the golf course insuch a splendid condition. P. J.thanked Archers of Ballina and es-pecially Liam Casey, who repre-sented Archers, for theirsponsorship. He also thankedJohn Finn who was instrumentalin getting the sponsorship on bothoccasions in Claremorris and Bal-

lina. P. J. then said he would like toecho all the words of JohnnyCarey and Noel Dee on behalf ofthe Green & Red Golding Societyand said they were all disap-pointed in losing an All-Ireland, butwe had a tremendous run andhopefully, someday, in the verynear future, we would get over thatline. He said he would also like tothank Johnny Carey and Jim Flem-ing, great workers for the society,and commented that because ofthem, the society will continue togo from strength-to-strength. Thenext outing is in Mulranny on Sat-urday, 19th November.

P. J. then called on the Captainof Ballina Golf Club, Noel Dee, tosay a few words. Noel went on towelcome everyone and especiallyall the heroes of the Green & Red,past and present, and in his esti-mation they were all ten foot talland heroes to the last one. He re-membered the first football matchhe listened to, that was in 1969,All-Ireland semi-final, when JoeCorcoran played in it. For somereason that semi-final againstKerry, sticks out in his mind. Hewent on to say he hoped all en-joyed the course and he was de-lighted to welcome everyone toBallina, and especially thanked P.J. King.

Results: Visitor, NickyMcLoughlin, 40 pts, last 9; TommyCronin, 40s pts; Pat Armstrong, 39pts; Pat Guiry, 36 pts., back 9.

Red & Green: 1, Ger Conroy, 43pts; 2, Gerry Connor, 36 pts; BartCrowley, 35 pts; John Finn, 34 pts;Seán Smyth, 33 pts; Seán Con-nolly, 32 pts; Jim Fleming, 31 pts.

Successful Green & RedGolfing Society outing

P. J. King, Captain, Green & Red Golfing Society, picturedpresenting Ger Conroy, competition winner on 42 pts., withhis prize, a replica of the Sam Maguire Cup, at Ballina GolfClub, on Saturday, 15th October. Also pictured on right isJohnny Carey, Secretary, Green & Red Golfing Society.

P. J. King, Captain, Green & Red Golfing Society (left) pictured with Bart Crow-ley (centre) third place winner on 35 pts., with his prize at Ballina Golf Club,and Johnny Carey, Secretary, Green & Red Golfing Society.

P. J. King, Captain, Green & Red Golfing Society (left) picturedpresenting Jim Fleming, Treasurer, Green & Red Golfing Soci-ety (centre) with his prize on 31 pts.; and Johnny Carey, Secre-tary, Green & Red Golfing Society (right).

Pictured at the Green & Red Golfing Society's golf outing inBallina Golf Club, were, left to right: Joe Clarke, Joe Corco-ran, P. J. King, Captain, Green & Red Golfing Society and PatArmstrong



Top: Ballinasloe team who defeated Dunmore in Coiste Peil na nÓg U-15 Div.2 ‘A’ League Final Cup, back: Tom Fitzpatrick, Adam O’Connor, Oisín Duffy,Odhrán Dooley, Oisín McCormack, Stuart Madden, Conor Coleman, FintanDonnellan, Mark Poland, Phelim O’Reilly, Shane Jennings. Front: AndyNaessans, Craig Potter, Niall Kelly, Cian Poland, Matthew Devine, JackMitchell, Shane Carrig, Josh Hanney, Naoise Murphy, Cian Reynolds (Capt.).Ballinasloe trainers and managers – Aidan Dooley, Des Jennings, Pat Potter,Cathal Coleman & John Mitchell

Cemtre: Peter Bane (Coiste Peil na nÓg) presenting the U-15 Div. 2A LeagueFinal Cup to Cian Reynolds, Captain of Ballinasloe.

Bottom: Dunmore, back: Michael Gildea, Jack Burke, Seán Glynn, Shane Mc-Grath, Declan Forde, Jamie Bowens, Jack Neenan, Thomas Kilgarrif, SeánMurray (Capt), Darragh Mannion, Colin Comer, Seán Ryan, Shane Davis,Brendan Carr, Sam Glynn, Shane Brady. Front: Brendan Gildea, Alex Donnel-lan, Aryn Kenny, Conor Mitchell, Thomas Cronin, Jake Slattery, Seán Walkin,Conor Naughton, Darragh Keely, J.J. Glynn, Timmy Forde, Dylan Brady.Trainers and managers: Aidan Dooley, Des Jennings, pat Potter, CathalColeman & John Mitchell

Photographs By Joan Madden

Ballinasloe triumph


Easkey/Enniscrone/Kilglass Minor ‘A’ Champions.

St Johns – Sligo Junior ‘B’ champions 2016.

Mikey Gordon receiving Cup from Gerry O Connor. Fergal Kelly receiving Cup from Joe Taaffe.

By EMMA GALLAGHERSligo Champion

TOURLESTRANE'S co-manager EamonnO'Hara said their Belfry Senior FootballChampionship victory over St Mary's was

'special'.Tourlestrane were favourites for the title

from the very start of the Championship, andO'Hara and his co-manager Gerry McGowanhave demanded the best from their playersthroughout the competition.Impressive victories over Coolaney Mul-

linabreena in the quarter-final, and EasternHarps in the semi-final would have preparedthe South Sligo side well for a plucky Mary'sside.But ultimately, Tourlestrane had too much

for their opponents on the day.O'Hara, who was visibly emotional during

periods of the game, said it can be difficult toadjust to being on the other side."It's so hard to describe. When you're man-

aging your club it's different."I was managing Ballaghaderreen last year

but there's a different feeling when you'remanaging your own club. We won county finalswith Tourlestrane down the years and it's a dif-ferent perspective and you can take control ofwhat's happening when you're on the field."When you're the manager you feel so far

away from it and you're kicking every ball. Allyear myself and Gerry were trying to train our-selves into being a little more calm but thecounty final takes a life of it's own and you getcaught up in small things but at the same time

to be winning and in control of the game it's avery good feeling."Winning one for your club is just special,"

he added.Capping off a good year for the club, the

Senior Championship title is the pinnacle forclubs in the county.And O'Hara knows that it is hugely impor-

tant to the club."For the club to be successful, that's what

we all strive for. The club this year has beengoing very well. We've won a lot of underagestuff. It's just rewards for all the hard work."Tourlestrane did trail at one point following

a Kyle Cawley goal in the early stages of thegame, but that wasn't a surprise to O'Hara andMcGowan's side, who patiently fought to takecontrol of the scoring once again."Credit to Mary's, we knew they had it in

them. We said if we could keep them to 2-05that was our plan, and we felt we could scoremore than that."We made it hard for them and they proba-

bly didn't take advantage of the wind in thefirst-half. It was a great goal from Kyle Cawley,we wouldn't expect anything less. Our ladsweren't rattled by it. It was the way the ladsresponded, I was very pleased. We went in athalf-time and we knew there was a few thingswe needed to tweak and we put the two men inthe edge of the square," he said.Substitute Johnny Kelly has had to make do

with a spot on the bench since his return fromAmerica, but what a wonderful sub to bring on.O'Hara accepts that he is fortunate enough

to have a strong bench."Johnny's chomping at the bit, he wants to

be playing. Since he's come home from Amer-ica he's been really good. John Quinn has been

so unfortunate."He's been an impact sub for us and he's

scored 1-04, 1-03 respectively in games."I don't want to give him that label. We're

lucky we have that type of player to come on,"he said.Two red cards in the final mean that

changes will be required for Sunday's leaguefinal against St Molaise Gaels."We have two red cards we have to deal with

so that's going to open up spots for two otherfellas," said O'Hara.Many have argued that Mary's would not

have the same hunger to win it this year con-sidering the fact they were champions lastyear.And O'Hara says that hunger, or a lack of,

can certainly have an impact on a game."We won it eight times as a player and I can

put it down to when you're going for that50/50 ball it (the hunger) just wasn't there thefollowing year. Just missing. All the thingsyou're trying to do, that bit of hunger is just sohard to get back. Mary's played very well. The50/50 balls we were excellent."Tourlestrane will give Connacht a good go of

it, although they will have to make do withouttwo of their better players following Sunday'sred cards.Noel Gaughan and Pat Harte were both sent

off during the game, and O'Hara knows thosetwo are not replaceable."Noel Gaughan is a top class footballer, Pat

Harte is a top class footballer. You don't havereplacements. They would get on to any teamin Mayo or Sligo. Not to have them is a hugeloss. We've got players who can come onthough, they may have less experience but wehave top deal with that."


Tourlestrane – Sligo Senior County Champions 2016.

‘Winning the County championshipwith your club is special’

GAA PRESIDENT VISITS SLIGO SCHOOLS


The Gaeil Scoil pupilswith GAA PresidentAogan O Fearghail

and teachers

UaCHTaRán CumannLuthchleas Gael, aogainÓ Fearghail, was in

sligo recently to help scoil Ur-sula celebrate their 50th an-niversary and st. Mary’s GaaClub their 40th. He also madetime to visit summerhill Col-lege where he paid tribute tothe Connacht final winningteam. The invitation to thePresident was extended by hisneighbour Tony Gallagher,Principal of scoil Ursula, andthe schedule also includedcalls to Gaelscoil Chnoc na Réand the Centre of Excellenceat scarden . . . photographyEamon McMunn.

starting his tour in KentPark the President met theprincipal of st. John’s nationalschool, Bernard Mulhern andhis school team. young hurlers

and footballers were goingthrough their paces and weredelighted to meet the distin-guished visitor who took timeto speak with everyone pres-ent.

The Gaelscoil Chnoc na Répupils were attired in a varietyof County jerseys with aCavan top in particular takingan tUachtarán’s attention. Inscoil Ursula, Kyle Cawley, apast pupil, was also a guest attheir celebrations and therewas no doubt that he was the‘main man’ for the presentcrop of pupils. again a varietyof tops were on display but itwas Eli Rooney’s new ‘hair do’that stole the show.

In the Centre of excellencean tUas Ó Fearghail made apresentation to Tom Rodgers,who recently retired from his

position as Rúnaí Cumann naMeanscoil. The guests werejoined for a meal in Teachscardán by members of theExecutive, Gaa Coaching staffand Ciarán Hayes; CEo sligoCounty Council as well asCathaoirleach Hubert Keaneyand Cllr. Paul Taylor. Tom ex-plained that there had beenbig changes since he startedout as secretary; the biggestbeing the fact that, today, allPost Primary schools partici-pate in the same competition.Rules and regulations havealso tightened up considerablyas some teams in the past hadone or two players who had a

vague sense of their surround-ings even in buildings wherethey were supposed to be‘studying’ every day. Whilerules regarding age grades didexist there was a certainamount of flexibility regardingtheir Implementation.

addressing a group ofsummerhill students, which in-cluded some of the Connachtfinal winning team, the GaaPresident pointed out that themore successful Gaa Coun-ties had strong ties with theirlocal colleges. He noted thattwo sligo teams, st.attracta’sand summerhill, had com-peted in the Connacht final ofthe Post Primary competitionwith summerhill coming ago-nisingly close to an all-Irelandfinal. an tUas Ó Fearghailthanked Principal Paul Keoghfor facilitating his visit to thecollege. He paid tribute to oneof the teachers ‘Mr Breheny’who is one of the longest serv-ing Gaa inter-County playerson the scene at the moment.He wished the boys well forthe future and was full of admi-ration for their modern schoolbuilding.

In the st.Mary’s club houseCathal o’Donnell outlined theclub’s history in which thenames of Kent and Eamesloomed large. an tUachtaránemphasised the value to thecommunity of a well-run GaaClub. He stressed that themore successful clubs had asmany people as possible in-

PRESIDENT, AOGAIN Ó FEARGHAIL’S VISIT SLIGO SCHOOLS

SchoolsandScarden:a President’s visit

A special presentation was made to President of the G.A.A., Aogain ÓFearghail, by Marian Moore, Scoil Ursula, on the occasion of his visit tothe school.

From left to right: Liam Óg Gormley, Joe Taaffe, President of the G.A.A., Aogain Ó Fearghail; Paul Kehoe, andGearoid Ó Conchubhair, Rúnaí, Shligigh.

volved in them as they pro-vided an outlet for all codes inthe association including scorand ladies football. Mothers toa great extent influence wherechildren receive their recre-ation from age nine onwardsand the Club that is well-runand caters for children in asafe environment is whatthese parents are looking for.

While an tUachtarán ad-dressed a variety of audiencesin what was a very busyschedule there was a constantemphasis in his addresses, toyoung and old, of the largepercentage of the populationthat are engaged in Gaa activ-ities.

Uachtarán Ó Fear-ghailwas accompanied throughoutthe day by seosamh Ó Taift,Cathaoirleach Coiste Chontaeshligigh agus Gearoid ÓConchubhair Rúnaí.

THE former principal of St. Macartan’sCollege, Monaghan, was the guest of ho-nour recently at the Sligo GrammarSchool prize-giving celebrations. PáraicDuffy is, of course, better-known todayas the Director General of the GAA.Telling his young audience that their po-

tential was limitless he advised themnever to stop striving to be better atwhatever it is they are passionate about.Ard Stiúrthóir Ó Dufaigh also spoke ofthe importance of fostering “spirit” in allgroups including teams and indeedschools.

Back to schoolLeft to right: MichaelHall, Principal, SligoGrammar School;Paraic Duffy, JimmyStaunton, Vice-Princi-pal, Sligo GrammarSchool and Rev. NoelRegan, Chairman ofthe Board of Manage-ment of Sligo Gram-mar School.

President of the GAA, Aogain Ó Fearghail, pictured with Naomh Eoinhurlers and coaches on the occasion of his visit to Sligo.

President of the GAA, Aogain Ó Fearghail, pictured with young ladiesfrom Scoil Ursula (above) and bottom Our Lady of Mercy Primary School.

FOCUS ON SLIGO


Pictured is everyone involved at the Sligo GAA Centre of Excellence.

Pictured are the St Mary’s Feile winning team with GAA President Aogan O Fearghail.

Pictured is GAA President Aogan O Fearghail addressing Summerhill College students.


Barry Convey and Keelan Watters speaking with GAA President Aogan O Fearghail at Summerhill College.

Seamus Cronin, Chairman of St Mary’s makes the presentation to GAAPresident Aogan O Fearghail.

Pictured is GAA President Aogan O Fearghail with Sligo’s Mark Breheny.

Some of the actionfrom Super GamesCentre at SummerillCollege.

Mark Quinn receiving Cup from Joe Taaffe

St Molaise Gaels – Sligo Intermediate champions 2016.

St Molaise Gaels ..0-24Geevagh ..............1-04


sT MoLaIsE GaELs will be playingsenior football in 2017 thanks totheir 0-24 to 1-04 victory over Gee-

vagh in the Kennedy's IntermediateChampionship final at Markievicz Park.

Just 49 weeks and one day after theywere relegated to Intermediate football,Jimmy Langan's side saw the fruits of theirhard work since that dark day in 2015,cruising to victory over their opponents.

Leading by a mere two points at half-time, the north sligo side went on therampage after the interval, only allowingPeter Bolger's side to record one score inthe second-half, while they hit over 16

points in the same period.Molaise took control of proceedings

early on, and despite Kenneth sweeneyhitting the back of the net from a penalty,they never looked like they were going toback off.

Few would disagree with the opinionthat Molaise were too good to suffer rele-gation to Intermediate football last year,but they have not once felt sorry for them-selves, and their swift return to senior foot-ball was well deserved.

Early points from Gerard Brady andPeter Wilson took Molaise into the lead,with Pat Cawley mustering up one point inresponse for Geevagh.

Molaise then hit three unansweredpoints courtesy of man of the matchBrady, alan McLoughlin and Conor Wat-ters.

Geevagh were struggling to keep holdof the ball in the middle of the field, andperhaps nerves plaed a part as the hitthree wides in three minutes with Pat

Hughes, Cawley and Kevin Henry all miss-ing the target.

Molaise's Keelan Waters lookedthrough on goal after 19 minutes as hemuscled his way down the field, but awonderful block from Geevagh's arthurWall, staying true to his name, preventedhim from extending the lead.

Geevagh soon pulled themselves backlevel with Molaise, although it was to beshort lived.

Kenneth sweeney's point from playbrought them within three points of theiropponents, and referee Barry Judgehanded them a golden opportunity to levelmatters on 24 minutes.

sweeney was taken down in the areaas he approached John Gilsenan's goal,and he knocked the penalty past the Mo-laise stopper to make it 1-02 to 0-05points.

It would take more than that to put Mo-laise off their game, however, and alanMcLoughlin put his side in the lead once

KENNEDY'S INTERMEDIATE CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL

Back where they belong

• FOCUS ON SLIGO • FOCUS ON SLIGO •

THE Irish Masters Interna-tional Rules side enjoyeda 2-0 series win over thetouring australian Wom-bats side with three sligostars at the heart of it. Itwas the first time the sideshad met since australiawon the series in australiain 2009.

Tourlestrane's Eamonno'Hara (vice-captain) andDavid Durkin, and Cool-era-strandhill's Cono'Meara all played bigparts in the Irish win.o'Hara, Ireland's vice-cap-tain, operated in the full-forward line and was aperfect target man.

His 1-02 (12 points ininternational rules) early inthe first test inKilkerrin/Clonberne set thetone for the series and hewas voted Player of theseries. Durkin, playing inthe half-forward line was aconstant menace with hisincisive running and helanded 13 points in thesecond test. o'Meara'swinning of marks in mid-field saw him win Man-of-the-Match in the secondtest in Cavan.

The side, containingmany inter-county stars ofthe past like Declan Mee-han (Galway), Roy Maloneand John Kenny (offaly),and Cavan's Jason Reilly,were captained by Ty-rone's Damian Gormley.The management team ofJimmy Galligan (Cavan),Joe Leonard and EugeneBradley (Tyrone), and Gal-way's John Davin, hadtheir side well-prepared forthe australian challenge.

Ireland won back thePaddy Gaffney Cup, a tro-phy named after the Dennclubman, Cavan, who rep-resented Ireland Mastersin International Rules. atour to australia is now inthe pipeline.

Eamonn, who alongwith Declan Meehan andJohn Kenny, became oneof three who has repre-sented Ireland in Interna-tional Rules at senior and

Masters level, said after-wards "obviously it's anhonour to represent yourcountry at any stage.We're delighted with thewin and it's great to havea strong sligo presence inan Irish side. The aus-tralians brought greatphysicality, especially tothe second test. Whiletheir problems with theround ball made it difficultfor them, they competedfiercely throughout.

It's huge to have anoutlet for guys who stilllove to compete. The Mas-ters provides that and tohave an international di-mension to that is fantastictoo.'

sligo competed in theMasters all-Ireland seriesthis year for the first timein over a decade. They willhave learnt a lot from theexperience and with play-ers of the calibre ofMichael Moyles and GerryMcGowan qualifying to

play next year, they canlook forward to being verycompetitive.

Sligo trio help Ireland mastersto victory over Australia

again as he hit over on 26 minutes.sweeney again levelled the score-

line, but Darren Gilsenan and CathalHerron hit over to give Molaise a pointlead at the break, although the latter willbe disappointed his shot smacked thecrossbar and went over, instead of justslipping in underneath.

Molaise went on the attack from theoff, and capitalised on every single errorof Geevagh's from the very start.

Darren Kearns' kick-out fell straightinto the hands of Molaise's Darren Gilse-nan, and following a lovely spell of buildup play from the north sligo outfit,Conor Watters hit over, before KeelanWaters, Cathal Burns, alan McLoughlinand niall McLoughlin gave Molaise aseven point lead with 25 minutes left onthe clock.

Molaise were not done yet, and theyadded four further scores with two fromalan McLoughlin and one each fromBrady and niall McLoughlin.

Geevagh's only successful attack ofthe second half came on 48 minuteswhen Jodie o'Reilly hit over, but thatwas the only opportunity the Molaise de-fence gave their opponents.

Captain Mark Quinn and JamesBrennan extended the lead to 0-19 to 1-04, before alan McLaughlin's score froma free marked their 20th point of the day.

sweeney endured a busy minutes asthe full-time whistle approached.

Receiving a booking on 52 minutes,he then hit a wide on 54 before beinghanded a second yellow card on 56 min-utes with Molaise's Jason Brennan alsogetting in the referee's book following acoming together.

Molaise did miss a glorious opportu-nity to score a goal, as two stunningsaves from Darren Kearns in the Gee-vagh goal prevented both Brady andniall McLoughlin hitting the back of thenet.

McLoughlin hit over his side's 23rdpoint of the day, with Daragh Fallon get-ting on the scoresheet for the day withMolaise's 24th point on 64 minutes.

a tough day for Geevagh against avery strong intermediate side, but Mo-laise will feel that promotion was just re-wards for a year full of hard work.

GEEVAGH: Darren Kearns, Shane Har-gadon, George Wall, Barry Sweeney, DavidO'Reilly, Enda McManus (Shane Tighe, 31),Arthur Wall, Pat Hughes, Kevin Henry,Thomas O'Reilly, Pat Cawley, DominicKearns, Jimmy O'Reilly, Kenneth Sweeney,Jodie O'Reilly.ST MOLAISE GAELS: John Gilsenan (Di-armuid Feeney, 60), Jason Brennan (DanielKeaney, 60), Gavin Gilsenan, Liam Kennedy,Conor Watters (James Brennan, 47), MarkQuinn, Daragh Fallon, Cathal Burns, PeterWilson, Keelan Waters (Colm Clancy, 61),Gerard Brady, Alan McLoughlin, NiallMcLoughlin, Darren Gilsenan, Cathal Herron.REFEREE: Barry Judge.

KENNEDY'S INTERMEDIATE CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL

Back where they belong

David Durkin starred in the re-cent Irish Masters InternationalRules side as they beat the Australian Wombats.

Photo: Brian Lawless / SPORTSFILE.

Pictured is Sligo’s Eamonn O’Hara who was one of the starsfor Ireland when they clashed with Australia in the 2001 In-ternational Rules Series. Photo: Brian Lawless / SPORTSFILE.

St Michael's .........4-12 Tourlestrane .........2-5


sT MICHaEL's are sligo Junior aChampionship winners following acomprehensive 4-12 to 2-5 victory

over Tourlestrane at Markievicz Park.st Michael's were 1-4 to 0-0 ahead

after 14 minutes, but Tourlestrane man-aged to fight back, with the scoreline at 2-9 to 2-3 in favour of the East sligo side atthe half-time mark.

Eamonn o'Hara, co manager of theTourlestrane senior side, hit 2-1 for hisside in the first-half, but the south sligoside were struggling to keep up with theiropponents, although Jack Haran's side hitfive wides in the early stages, which couldwell have seen them storm into a furtherlead at that stage.

Dwayne Kelly's 1-1, Peter Murray'sthree points and alan Taaffe's goal allowedst Michael's to ease off slightly, with GavinWalsh, Brian Taaffe, Gavin McGowan and

LOLA MONTEZ SLIGO JUNIOR ‘A’ CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP

Brian Taaffe and Paul McTiernan receiving Cup from Joe Taaffe.

St Michael’s – Sligo Junior ‘A’ champions 2016.

St Michael’s ease to victoryto claim junior title

St Joseph’s School tripto Croke Park

Flying the Sligo flag in Belgium

THE St Joseph’s School boys and girls from Bal-lytivnan, Sligo headed to Croke Park on Mon-day, October 26, at 7am, to play in the

inaugural Martin Donnelly ‘GAA Football for All-In-terprovincial tournament, led and directed bySchool Principal Carmel Wynne. The St Joseph’s players represented Connacht

and wore the Connacht jerseys with distinction andpride. This was a historic occasion as the GAAopened its magnificent stadium to the children fromspecial schools from across Ireland to play in thehollowed and revered grounds where dreams are re-alised for many inter-county players. The pupils arrived in Croke Park at 10.30am and

were greeted by Croke Park volunteers who directedthem to their dressing rooms to prepare for theirgames. The boys were in dressing room No 3 and thegirls were in dressing room No 4 and were briefedon the game schedule by National Chairperson ofIrish Special Schools Sports Council (ISSSC), RichieDoran. The boys and girls team took the field and played

their first game at 11.30am against Munster andnarrowly lost, but it was not about winning, it wasabout participation, enjoying the moment, meetingnew friends and above all representing their fami-lies, school, county and province. The second game was against Leinster and the

girls won their game and the boys drew their gameas they played with more composure and team workafter the excitement of the first game. After the game all the players were addressed by

GAA President Aogán Ó Fearghaíl who compli-

mented the players on their tremendous achieve-ments in representing their schools and provincesby playing Gaelic football in Croke Park. He thanked the teachers and club coaches who

made this historic occasion happen and it will onlyimprove in the future. All players said they would bewatching the All-Ireland football replay betweenMayo and Dublin as they are now familiar with thepitch. There were many photographs taken as every-one marvelled at this magnificent stadium. This was the culmination of a coaching pro-

gramme delivered by members of Calry St Joseph’sGAA Club to have players prepared in the skills ofGaelic Games. Sincere thanks to the pupils and their parents for

their wholehearted cooperation and enthusiasm inthe preparation for this momentous occasion. Alsothanks to School Principal Carmel Wynne who coor-dinated this trip and the teachers who travelled toCroke Park and managed the girls’ team. Thanks to Gerry Tuohy the Calry St Joseph’s GAA

Clubs ‘Inclusion / Games for All’ Officer and coachesBrian Maguire and Tim Hynes who managed theboys’ team in Croke Park. Finally, thanks to Denis O Boyle from Ballyhaunis

the Connacht ‘Inclusion / Games for All’ chairmanwho assisted the team in every way to make the oc-casion more enjoyable. Lastly, thanks to Feehily Bus hire and driver who

took them to Croke Park and back to Sligo safely.This is a great initiative in reaching out to peoplewith a disability and including them in GAA gamesat school, club and in Croke Park.

By EMMA GALLAGHER Sligo Champion�

sLIGo hurling is well and truly alive inBelgium, as three sligo nativeshelped Belgium Gaa to the Euro-

pean Hurling Championship title.Brothers Darragh and Pádraic Burke

(Coolera/strandhill) and Tomás Baynes(naomh Eoin) were all part of the Belgiumside who claimed the Championship re-cently.

Hurling manager and Cork native DaveBarrett said: "It's been a ground-¬breakingyear for hurling in Europe. a lot of thatcredit goes to the county board who madesome brave decisions in the winter to growthe game.

"Having so many teams in Dresden atthe weekend endorses those moves. ForBelgium,it's been a breakthrough year,fielding two teams at every tournament for

the first time."Winning the championship after such a

close final against Luxembourg was theperfect ending for us."

The championship was run over fivetournaments in Luxembourg, Darmstadt,Brussels, the Hague, and lastly Dresden onsaturday.

Belgium Gaa won four of the five tour-naments including the last and the Euro-pean Championship as a result.

Established in 2003, Belgium Gaa hasteams in all four codes, hurling, camogie,gaelic football and ladies football and isgrowing rapidly with players hailing fromDublin, Limerick, Kilkenny, antrim, sligo,Tipperary, Cork, Carlow, Westmeath, Clare,Waterford, Wicklow, Wexford, Galway,France, serbia, Estonia, spain, Colombia,Belgium and many more among its ranks.

Belgium's camogie team was alsocrowned European champions last week-end.

Ross McLoughlin all gettingon the scoresheet in the firsthalf.

Michael's, who wouldhave been favourites headinginto this game, extended theirlead further five minutes intothe second half, with DwayneKelly once again hitting theback of the net.

alan Taaffe scored afourth goal of the afternoonfor Michael's on 40 minutesto give Haran's side a 4-9 to2-3 lead with twenty minutesleft on the clock, a rathersteep hill for the south sligoside, whose senior side hadearlier claimed the Furey'sCoaches senior Division 1title.

Tourlestrane did plugaway, with Barry Kirrane hit-ting over on 44, before alanTaaffe hit over FintanKennedy's posts to restoretheir twelve point lead.

Eamonn o'Hara, who wasone of Tourlestrane's brightersparks on the day, played inEnda Kelly who was handeda wonderful opportunity to hitthe back of the net, but hecould only hit his low effortstraight at Enda McLoughlinin the Michael's goals.

o'Hara pointed on 53, butMichael's had an answer withPeter Murray responding witha point of his own.

substitute James Mackeyrounded off a good day forMichael's with his 58thminute point. Enda Kellyagain looked through on goaldeep into injury time, butBrian Taaffe got his body inthe way to prevent a thirdgoal for the south sligo side.

ST MICHAEL'S: EndaMcLoughlin, Gavin Walsh (JasonBoles, 43), Colm McTiernan,Paul Flanagan, Jack Haran,Gavin McGowan, Paddy Kelly(James Mackey, 53), Paul Mc-Tiernan, Brian Taaffe, RossMcLoughlin (Mark Kelly, 58),Dwayne Kelly (Niall Clancy, 53),Stephen Clerkin (Kyle Carty, 31),Oisin Gilmartin, Peter Murray,Alan Taaffe.

TOURLESTRANE: FintanKennedy, Shane Neary, ColmMcVeigh, Niall Durkin, John PaulLang, Barry Kirrane, RichieLang, James Curley(Ruairi Bren-nan, 48), Kenny Gavigan, DarrenO'Hara, Gerry McGowan, CiaranWalsh, Enda Kelly, EamonnO'Hara, David Durkin.


FOCUS ON GALWAY • FOCUS ON GALWAY • FOCUS ON GALWAY

AHASCRAGH CALTRA U-14 GIRLS. Back row, from left: A O’Brien, S Keane, N Mocklair, A Glynn, E Keane, S McDonnell, L Buchan, M Madden, C Murray,L Kirwan, M Higgins. Front row, from left: E Bartle, E McGrath, E Glynn, J Higgins, E Finnerty, K Fitzgerald, E Mockler, R Kelly.

CALTRA U-12 LADIES FOOTBALL COUNTY CHAMPIONS who won the club’s first-ever title at age grade. They beat Ballygar 1-5 to 1-4 in the final. Theteam were: S Glynn, A Kelly, K Delaney, E Fleming, M A Jordan, J Higgins, K Adamajtys, M Mulryan, K Kilgannon, L Kelly, H Lawlor, K Mockler, A Hig-gins, A Glynn, A Donoghue, M Murray, E Glynn, O Keane, L Noone, S Lawlor, R Murray, M Kilgannon with their mentors S O’Reilly-Mulryan and man-ager Niall Kelly.

THERE were 13 teams from all overIreland in the U-13 Girls Feile onJune 26, the competition was hosted

by the Heath Gaa Club, in County Laois.athenry were drawn in Group a along

with Easkey of sligo and Limekiln, Dublin.athenry claimed a clean sweep of wins inthe group stages to progress into the nextphase of group matches

athenry were again drawn in Group aalong with Limekiln and Carlow’s Cúchu-lainn. again athenry claimed a cleansweep of wins in the group and qualifiedas winners of Group a to play the runners-up in Group B, Bagenalstown from Car-low.

In the semi-final athenry ran out clearwinners with an innings to spare over

Bagenalstown to qualify for their first U-13Feile final against The Heath.

The Feile final was fixed for saturdayseptember 3 in Kilbeggan shamrocksGaa Grounds in Westmeath. athenrywere informed the day before the final thatThe Heath had withdrawn from the com-petition, and athenry were declared 2016Feile Champions.


Pictured back row, from left: C Kelly, S Healey, K Moran, E Coffey, S Rabbitte, C Mullen. Front row, from left: M Fitzgerald, A Treacy, C Quirke, KCollins, C Joyce, K MacCullagh.

Athenry U-13 girls win Féile Rounders title


KILKERRIN-CLONBERNE INTERMEDIATE FINALISTS. Back row, from left: D Murphy, B Walsh, B Walsh, C Fahy, S Walsh, T Brennan, F McEntee, O McGann, T McDermott, C Rabbitte, D Dunleavy, M Shaughnessy, E Daly, S Brennan. Front row: F Heverin, D Ryan, B Miskell, J Miskell, T Rabbitte, K West, J Ryan, S Collins, C Moran, M Costello, A Ward, C Heverin, C Glynn, J King.

MONIVEA-ABBEY INTERMEDIATE COUNTY CHAMPIONS. Back row, from left: D Mullins, D Finnerty, P Flaherty, T Mullins, D Reilly, D Farragher, B McDonagh, M Cosgrove, S King, J Flaherty, P Cooley, S Joyce, K Divilly, E Blade, C Kennedy. Front row: D Moran, J Mannion, C Mulry, C Maher, B O’Donnell, C Treacy, B Flaherty, B McDonagh, S Walsh, F Garvey, L Kenny, E Lally, L Laheen, E Roche, C Coleman, L Coleman. Inset: P Mullins and C McDaid.

Pictured is Seamus O’Grady, Galway Football Secretary, as he presentsthe intermediate cup to Monivea-Abbey captain, Brian Flaherty.

Craigh Kennedy of Monivea-Abbey presented with the man of thematch award from Tadhg Ó Conghaile, Galway Football Chairman.


ST GABRIELS NORTH GPC JUNIOR CHAMPIONS. Back row, from left: R Malone, K McDonagh, S Larkin, E Leonard, L O’Connor, B Quinn, R Garvey, DFinn, E Quinn, R Barrett, J Egan, M Loughnane, B Shea, M Costello, D Kenny, C Donnellan, D Malone. Front row: E Ward, E Malone, I Goode, L Brogan,B Coughlan, J Kenny, M O’Rourke, G Conneely, R Kelly, E Quinn, N Coughlan, G Donnellan, P Egan, G Lohan, S Creaven.

ORANMORE-MAREE WEST JUNIOR CHAMPIONS. Back row, from left: E Stenson, D Conway, C Allen, S Geoghan, P Fitzgerald (Children Edward andPatrick), S Finn, A O’Connell, P Munnelly, S Stenson, C Noone , D Greaney, P Pende , K Hanley, T Hamilton, C Greaney, E Whelan, E Neary, D Carney, JKelleher , C Crowley, N Sheehan, N Qualter, D Quinn, B Rudden. Front row: P Stenson, B Tarpey, J Fearon, N Geoghan, S McInerney, A Barrett, EWalsh, S Flanagan, J Costello, S Dunne, D Devlin, M Black, R Heffernan, C Tarpey, C Reddington, M Farrell.

Mairtain Ó Curraoin West GPC Chairman presents the Sean Lawless Memorial Cup toOranmore captain Enda Walsh.

Liam Challoner presents the man of thematch award to Gerard Donnellan StGabriel’s.

Pictured is Andrea O'Neill as she presents theMichael O'Neill Memorial Cup to St Gabriel’scaptain Eoin Quinn.


CAHERLISTRANE NORTH MINOR A FINALISTS. Back row, from left: J Reynolds, D McNicholas, C Darcy, B Walsh, G O’Neill, L Donnellan, D O’Shaughnessy, A Fahy, P McCabe, L Judge, K Nally. Front row: D Quinn, J Monaghan, B O’Neill, M Kavanagh, J Glynn, P Monaghan, L Judge, C Han-ley, C O’Shaughnessy, J Walsh.

CLAREGALWAY NORTH MINOR A CHAMPIONS. Back row, from left: J Keating (Coach), E McKenna, A Moran, D Buckley, L Roche, S Moylan, M Cullina, TCoyle, B Connolly, C Campbell, E Gallagher, D Connell, D Loftus, M Kilgannon, S Moylan (Manager). Front row: S Kilmartin, S Lyons, P Commins, BCallanan, B Goldrick, M Fahy, O Connolly, J Hansberry, M King, A Molly, I Keating, J Reilly, J Glynn.

Pictured isPadraic KellyNorth GPC Secretary whopresents theMinor A JackieCoyle MemorialCup to ThomasCoyle and BarryGoldrick of Claregalway.

Pictured is Barry Goldrick of Claregalway who is pre-sented with the Man of the Match award by Austin Boyle,GPC Vice-Chairman.

By DARAGH SMALL Media West Ireland

TEn-TIME all-Ireland U-21 hurlingchampions, Galway, made it to an-other decider in 2016 but were

comprehensively beaten Waterford insemple stadium, Thurles.

However it was another impressivecampaign at the age-grade for Galwayas they continue to produce some of thehighest quality youngsters in the game.

Galway won titles in 2005, 2007 and2011 and coupled with their recent suc-cesses at minor level the future looksbright for hurling in the county.

But Waterford were unstoppable thisterm, with a 5-15 to 0-14 victory overGalway in the final, by a team back-boned by many of Waterford’s seniorstars.

They had eight players picked in the2016 Bord Gáis Energy Team of theyear, while Dublin had two, with Eoghano’Donnell and shane Barrett selected.

Limerick, Tipperary and Westmeathall had one each while Galway had twoselected.

Dan nevin from Cappataggle andBrian Molloy of Kilnadeema/Leitrim bothmade the final 15 after stellar cam-paigns.


(Above)WEST MINOR A CHAMPIONSSALTHILL-KNOCKNACARRA. Back row,from left: J Tinney, S Kelly, A Halloran, E Deely, R Finnerty, E McFadden, E Hernan, D Connaughton, J Maher, F Lally, D Patton, C Heapes, D Knight, E Bennett, C Hartnett, E Heapes, A Finnerty, JJ Burke. Front row: R Walzer, J Cullinane-Quinn,D Ward, K Cahalan, T Morris, E Kelly, RGaffney, K Gleeson, C Crowe, R Heaney, J Dwyer.

(Right) Pictured is John Connolly as hepresents the Minor A Cup to Salthill-Knocknacarra captain, John Maher.

BORD GÁIS ENERGY ALL-IRELAND GAA HURLING U-21 TEAM OF THE YEAR AWARD

Brian Molloy, with hisparents Kevin and AnnMolloy after he is pre-sented with the BordGáis Energy All IrelandGAA Hurling U-21 Teamof the Year Award byGer Cunningham at theMansion House.

Photo: Brendan Moran /SPORTSFILE.

Pictured is Dan Nevinwith Tony and CarmelNevin after he gets hisBord Gáis Energy All-Ire-land GAA Hurling U-21Team of the Year Awardfrom Ger Cunningham inthe Mansion House,Dublin.

Photo: Brendan Moran /SPORTSFILE.

RosCoMMon Gaa are delighted that thecaptain of the Roscommon hurling teamMichéal Kelly has been named as one of

the 15 recipients of a Champions 15 for theChristy Ring Cup for the 2016 season.

The awards winners were presented withtheir awards at the recent gala in the ConventionCentre in Dublin on the occasion of the GaaGPa all-stars sponsored by opel.

Christy McDermott, Chairman of the Roscom-mon Hurling Committee said that Micheal wasselected on the back of his performances duringthe year and is fully deserving of the award.

“I suppose we were unlucky not to havemaybe one or two more recipients howeverMicheal’s class has been apparent for quite awhile. The Four Roads Club man was previ-ously recognised last year and also in 2009 and2006.”

Uachtarán Chumann Lúthchleas Gael aogánÓ Fearghail said: “I congratulate all recipients ofthese awards following their stellar perform-ances during the summer.

“These players and the teams they play fordo not always attract the attention or the credittheir skills and contribution to hurling deserveand these awards are a tacit recognition of thestandards they have set for themselves.

“I laud the displays and the efforts of all ofthose named and hope this acknowledgementwill further bolster their desire for future hon-ours.”

FOCUS ON ROSCOMMON • FOCUS ON ROSCOMMON • FOCUS ON ROSCOMMON

Roscommon hurling captain winsa Christy Ring Champions 15

Pictured is Roscommon hurler Micheal Kelly as he receives his Nicky Rackard Champions15 Award from Uachtarán Chumann Lúthchleas Gael Aogán Ó Fearghail (left), in the com-pany of Dermot Earley, GPA President (right), at the GAA GPA All-Star Awards last year.

Photo: Piaras O Midheach / SPORTSFILE.

RosCoMMon Gaa isaware there is consid-erable interest in the

status of the Roscommonsenior football panel for theseason 2017. you will beaware Kevin Mcstay wasrecently appointed seniorteam manager and is joinedby Liam McHale, who willcoach the team. Roscom-mon Gaa can now confirmthat Ger Dowd of theCreggs Gaa Club is thethird member of the man-agement team.

Ciaráin Murtagh will con-tinue as captain of the Roscommon sen-ior footballers. a vice-captain will benamed after the completion of the FBDConnacht League.

The size of the playing panel andbackroom team is significantly reduced

for 2017.Managementhas spoken toall 38 mem-bers of the2016 paneland all play-ers contactedindicated adesire to playfor Roscom-mon in 2017.subsequently,each memberof the 2017FBD panelhas confirmed

they intend to play with Roscommon forthe complete league and championshipseason.

Due to representing Roscommon inthe club championships, no member ofthe st Brigid’s panel (senior) or Creggs

panel (Junior) is currentlyavailable to the county squad.This situation will be reviewedon completion of their respec-tive club campaign.

a Development Panel,made up of players in the 19 –23 years’ age group, has beenestablished. It is also antici-pated that other club playerswill partake in in house gamesduring December and FBDConnacht League games dur-ing January with a view tomaking the nFL panel.

a complete panel list will bemade available in the coming

weeks once management has fullybriefed officers of Roscommon CountyBoard and has met with all members ofthe various panel/ back room teams anddiscussed the 2016 season just past andlook forward to the 2017 season ahead

McStay names backroom team

Kevin McStay Ciaran Murtagh

CLUB Rossie recently heldan event to publicly thanktheir Club Rossie Bus driv-

ers. The host for the evening wasJohn Doorly (bus caretaker) andalso in attendance was bus coordi-nator, nuala Diffley, bus transportmanager, Paul Gillespie, and otherbus drivers Enda Beirne, Tom oConnor, Mal Keogh, Tim nolan,Damian Regan, Tom Corcoran andTommy Beirne.

Club Rossie were also de-lighted to have present two of thetravel partners involved in the busproject, Tomas and seamusCarthy.

sean Mannion represented thesocial Initiative group at the event.Roscommon County Board wasrepresented on the night by FrankEgan, minor football board chair-

man, and seamus sweeney thechairman of the county board.

on the night seamus thankedall the drivers for their time and co-operation, doing so on a voluntarybasis to support Roscommon Gaa.

The drivers on the night spokeof how teams, schools, social initia-tive trips, and other clubs that trav-elled on the bus did so with pride.They also commented on the factthat no matter where the bus goes,Roscommon people come up andtake photos of it with their families.

The bus has been used by allcodes over the past three yearsand continues to be a fantasticmarketing tool for Club Rossie andRoscommon Gaa to promote allteams, when they travel outsidethe County.


CLUB RossIE would like to thank the following travelpartners:

Dermot Hughes CarsSeamus Carthy REA Auctioneers�Scania Westward�O’Neills�Roscommon Herald�Ballymore�Leydon Bros London�BNP Paribas �Hodson Bay Hotel��

Without the financial support of the travel partnersand the volunteer services of the drivers the ClubRossie bus would not be viable. Club Rossie andRoscommon Gaa would like to sincerely thank all in-volved with the project.

Thanks to sean in The Peppermill for providing thefood on the night and to Tom Carthy who sponsoredthe event.

Club Rossie honoursbus drivers

By IAN COONEYRoscommon Herald

WHEn a club is relegated fromsenior football, it can sometimespoint to some barren years

ahead. But Kilmore weren’t reading thescript, and their manager stephen Coyhighlighted the importance of the northRoscommon club making an immediatereturn to the top flight after being relegated12 months ago.

“It’s a big thing, and the players proba-bly won’t realise the enormity of whatthey’ve achieved until further down theline. If they didn’t win it this year, theycould be at intermediate level for a longtime,” he opined.

Despite a poor start, Coy felt that his

side never deviated from their gameplanand delved deep into their reservoir of ad-mirable traits that have served Kilmorewell down through the years.

“It’s crazy the way it went. We talkedabout getting a good start during the weekbut it didn’t happen. But one thing aboutKilmore is that they’ll never die, and theyshowed that today. They stuck at it. Theynever lost patience and they drove on.

“We tried to isolate Derek (Connellan)inside. We knew we’d kick frees. It lookedas if that was the only way we’d get scoresfor long periods. But we came up trumps,”he explained.

The Longford native had words of con-solation for oran and predicted that theywould make the breakthrough soonerrather than later.

“oran are a very young team. They’vehad a few tough weeks with hurling and

everything, and that has to be taken intoaccount alongside extra time today. ourlads were a little bit fresher and probablyhad a little bit more experience. But oranwill be playing senior level very soon,” heassured.

Joint-captain Jack sharkey felt that hisside’s never-say-die attitude nourished Kil-more’s ambitions.

“I’m just ecstatic at the moment. all thehard effort we put in all year counted forsomething at the end. We dug deep. Wehad a bad start but we showed our truecharacter. We’re never beaten and thatwill always stand to us.

“our experience also stood to us. Wehave a good range from 19 all the waythrough to 38 years of age. We knew thatwe could win it if we kept at it.

“It’s a remarkableachievement for theclub. We’re a proud

club. We felt at thestart of the yearthat we were a

senior club andthat’s where wewanted to be,” he

enthused.Faced with a Con-

nacht Club Champi-onship match a day

later, sharkey indi-cated that Kilmore

wouldn’t be post-poning their cele-brations and were

ready to take theridiculous demands

of playing two cham-pionship games within

the space of 20 hours intheir stride.“We’re going to enjoy tonight.

We’ll worry about tomorrow in themorning,” he concluded.

ROSCOMMON INTERMEDIATE CLUB FOOTBALL FINAL

Kilmore joint-captain JackSharkey in action for Roscom-mon against Mayo’s AndyMoran in their FBD Leagueclash at Ballinlough, CoRoscommon in 2012. Photo: Pat Murphy / SPORTSFILE.

Kilmore delve deep intoreservoir of admirable traits

By NOEL FALLONRoscommon Herald

Everybody in Creggs seems to be join-ing in the celebrations. In the middle of thestrokestown pitch, family and friends haveswarmed around the players. Mere metresaway the Kilglass Gaels players gatherwith club officials and supporters. Theirs isa quieter gathering as they await the pres-entation with a dignified demeanour, Kil-glass have time to dwell on the bane ofany sportsperson’s career, the ‘might-havebeens’. Their regrets will more likely focuson the drawn match than the game justfinished but they will be part of the post-match conversation around Roosky.Refer-ring to their last junior triumph somebodyremarks that “it’s a long time since 1983”and Ger Dowd agrees readily. Dowd, joint-manager with Jonathan Conroy of theCreggs team who have bridged the longgap, is sought out by everyone. amongthose offering congratulations are team-mates of Ger and his brother Kieran whenthey last won the junior title.Ger handlesthe attention with his customary calm.Dowd has deftly juggled managerial dutieswith Creggs and st. Brigid’s this year andthis was the weekend when all that workbore fruit. He knows that his team havedone what every manager dreams of —

they have delivered on the big day.“Weplayed well today. We are a good foot-balling team and having played well allyear we would have been disappointed ifwe hadn’t won the county title,” Ger said.“Iam delighted, this is a great day forCreggs football. We showed moreworkrate and more intensity that we didthe last day. We learned a lot from thedrawn match and I thought we got ourmatch-ups right today. We gave a muchbetter team display than we did in thedrawn game. Kilglass Gaels started wellbut we showed good application and goodworkrate,” he noted.

The joint-manager felt that the successwould have a very positive impact on theplayers, management and the Creggs clubarea in general.

“People had to stand up today and theydid. all the young lads stood up, a playerlike Conor Gore was outstanding. DavidBrandon and Colin Canny were excellent,you couldn’t fault anyone. The influence ofJames McKeague and Colin Canny, twoplayers who have all-Ireland minormedals, was important. This is a greatboost for our area and a reward for a lot ofhard work. The st. Ciaran’s underageteams have benefitted both Creggs andFuerty. These players have competed at ahigh level at minor and U-21. That experi-ence helped to get us over the line today,”

Dowd outlined.“We knew we had a teamgood enough to win the junior title. Wehad a good team for the last couple ofyears but this year we had good younglads coming through. I suppose theyounger guys like shane (Dowd) are usedto winning underage titles and being partof county development squads. That hasgiven us an impetus and helped goodplayers like Enda o’Rourke and TomFleming who hadn’t experienced underagesuccess,” he maintained.“We tired nearthe end but strokestown is a big pitch. Kil-glass showed great courage. They haveresilience and steel, and great commit-ment. To beat a team as good as Kilglassmakes this victory all the sweeter for us,”Dowd concluded.


Creggs finally deliveron the big day

Creggs – Roscommon Junior Football Champions, 2016

Creggs captain, James McKeague.


aUGHaVas claimed the lastadult championship title of2016 when they proved far

too strong for Ballinamoresean o'Heslin's second stringin the Pyramid BookmakersJunior a Championship Finalin Pairc sean Mac Diarmada.

as the only first stringteam in the grade, aughavas

were heavy favourites goinginto the game and they livedup to the billing as they led 0-6 to 0-2 at the halftime break.and they replicated thatscoreline in the second half,again scoring six points toBallinamore's two.

aughavas appeared tohave hit a stumbling blockwhen adrian Charles was redcarded for a striking offence

12 minutes into the secondhalf along with the loss of theinfluential David Charles butthe Ray McBrien coachedteam had just too muchhunger and experience for adisjointed and lacklustre Balli-namore side.

Captain Kieran Moranlifted the Cup with midfielderMichael Fitzpatrick taking theman of the match honours.


LEITRIM duo Colm Moreton andZac Moradi have been selectedon the Gaa Lory’s Meagher

Champions 15 after impressing withthe County Hurlers during the pastyear.

Leitrim Gaels and Carrick-on-shan-non Hurling clubman Colm Moretonand Thomas Davis and former st.Mary’s clubman Zac Moradi areLeitrim’s two selections on a team thatare selected on the back of their per-formances during the Lory MeagherCup.

The awards winners were pre-sented with their awards in the Con-vention Centre in Dublin on theoccasion of the Gaa GPa all-starsalong with the award winners in the

Christy Ring & nicky Rackard Cham-pion 15. a Player of the year will alsobe selected on the evening for eachcompetition.

Gaa President aogán Ó Fearghailsaid “I congratulate all recipients ofthese awards following their stellar per-formances during the summer. Theseplayers and the teams they play for donot always attract the attention or thecredit their skills and contribution tohurling deserve and these awards area tacit recognition of the standardsthey have set for themselves.

“I laud the displays and the effortsof all of those named and hope this ac-knowledgement will further bolster theirdesire for future honours.”LORY MEAGHER CHAMPION 15: AndrewMackin (Louth), Diarmuid Murphy (Louth),Andrew McCrave (Louth), Shane Callan(Louth), Mark Wallace (Louth), BrianO'Loughlin (Sligo), Liam Reidy (Sligo), Cor-mac Behan (Sligo), Keith Raymond (Sligo),

Colm Moreton (Leitrim), Zak Moradi(Leitrim), Shane Morrissey (Warwickshire),Padraic Crehan (Warwickshire), SeamusRichardson, David Cahillane (Lancashire).

NICKY RACKARD CHAMPION 15: BrianHunt (Mayo), Kenny Feeney (Mayo), CathalFreeman (Mayo), Joseph McManus (Mayo),Cahal Carvill (Armagh), Ciaran Clifford (Ar-magh), Declan Coulter (Armagh), PatrickSheridan (Fingal) Killian O'Flynn (Fingal),Danny Cullen (Donegal), Pádraig Doherty(Donegal), Damian Casey (Tyrone), RyanBogue (Fermanagh), Patrick Farrington(Longford), Connor McKenna (Monaghan).

CHRISTY RING CHAMPION 15: DamienHealy (Meath), Adam Gannon (Meath),James Toher (Meath), Shane McGann(Meath), Simon McCrory (Antrim), EoghanCampbell (Antrim), Ciaran Clarke (Antrim),John Doran (Kildare), Gerry Keegan (Kil-dare), John McManus (Down), Caolan Tag-gart (Down), Oisin McCloskey (Derry),Luke Maloney (Wicklow), Tomás Lawrence(London), Micheál Kelly (Roscommon).

PYRAMID BOOKMAKERS LEITRIM JUNIOR ‘A’ FOOTBALL FINAL

Aughavas GAA, Leintrim Junior A champions 2016. Photo: Aughavas GAA Facebook

Dominant Aughavas storm to Junior ‘A’ crownAughavas ...............................0-12Ballinamore Sean O’Heslins .....0-4

Leitrim duo honoured on Lory Meagher 15

MARK ROONEY was one of thosepeople who made a lasting impres-sion on everyone he met.

The officers, players and membersof the Glencar/Manorhamilton Clubjoin with the wider GAA family in ex-pressed their sincere and heartfeltsympathy to his heartbroken family;wife Natalie, sons Zach and Oscar,mother Dympna, brother Aidan, sisterRosaleen, brother in law Camillus,sister in law Denise, father andmother in law Tony and Patricia,nephews and nieces Nathan, Edenand Eli, his uncles, aunts, cousins,extended family and many friends.

Hopefully their grief and pain willbe lessened in some way in theknowledge that Mark has certainlyleft his footprints in the sands oftime.

As a very young boy, Mark was al-ready noted for his prowess in sport,being one of the stars ofGlencar/Manorhamilton teams allthrough his juvenile years and thengoing on to represent the club withgreat distinction at adult level.

His footballing ability was recog-nised at county level also and he rep-resented Leitrim with great pride atU-16, minor and U-21 levels, alwaysgiving of his best in training, teampreparation and on the field of play.

His skills were very much honedon the same style as those of his un-cles, Micheál and James Kearins,both of whom were on the Sligo team

that won the county’s second everConnacht Senior Championship in1975, with Micheál also being a GAAAll-Star, a constant on the ConnachtRailway Cup teams and national topscorer on numerous occasions.

Mark, of course, also developedhis footballing talents while practis-ing and playing impromtu gamesaround his home in Glencar with hisolder brother, Aidan, who was thesharpshooter on the Leitrim Con-nacht Championship team of 1994, aswell as participating to the full in thetraining sessions with his club. Itwas little wonder that Mark showedcomplete loyalty to the saffron androyal blue, as his late father, Frank,was one of the bed-rocks of Glen-car/Manorhamilton, serving as Chair-man for a number of years, as well asteam selector, a role he also held withthe Leitrim Minor team that won theConnacht Championship title in 1998.

Mark made his own impression onclub affairs, not only as a dedicatedand loyal member, but also in his ex-ample of team spirit and loyalty andwas immensely proud to have wonthe Leitrim U-21 Championship withGlenmanor Gaels, the Leitrim SeniorChampionship in 2009 as a playerand selector, but pride of place forMark was winning the County Cham-pionship of 1999, playing in the for-

ward line, alongside his brotherAidan, who, incidentally is the cur-rent Manager of theGlencar/Manorhamilton team.

Gaelic football was just one ofMark’s sporting abilities, as he was avery skilled soccer player and spenttime with Sligo Rovers, another teamvery close to his heart.

As a golfer, Mark again displayedhis remarkable prowess, as a mem-ber of the Rosses Point Golf Club,holding a very low handicap andbeing a constant on the club's side ininter-club, provincial and nationalcompetitions.

His sporting life was but one rea-son that Mark was held in such highesteem. He was most of all a familyman, a loving husband and father, adevoted son and brother, extremelyhighly regarded and much loved byhis very wide family circle and manyfriends.

His warm, affectionate and bubblypersonality endeared him to all whohad the privilege of knowing him.

He has touched many lives, notleast in the dignified and brave man-ner in which he coped with his seri-ous illness.

The club and community has lostsomebody really, really special.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anamuasal, dílis.

FOCUS ON LEITRIM • FOCUS ON LEITRIM • FOCUS ON LEITRIM

Mark RooneyGLENCAR/MANORHAMILTONA P P R E C I A T I O N

Mark Rooney (left), his father, Francie Rooney, and brother, Aidan Rooney, taken in 1999,when Glencar/Manorhamilton won the Leitrim Senior Football Championship for the secondtime bridging a 22-year gap from its previous and first-ever title recorded in 1977.


Pictured are the Glencar/Manorhamilton U-12 girls team, who won the Leitrim final on September 4th with a 2-9 to 0-4 win over Allen Gaels. It wasan historic six-in-a-row for them at that age group.

The Glencar/Manorhamilton U-12 team captain Bronwyn Kirwan is presented with the cup by Evelyn Moyles of the Leitrim Ladies Board.


Pictured are the Glencar/Manorhamilton minor girls team, who became the first ladies’ team from the club to win a Leitrim minor 15-a-side cham-pionship. They defeated Fenagh/Kiltubrid in the final played in Kiltubrid by 8-10 to 3-6.

The Glencar/Manorhamilton ladies team, who bridged a nine-year gap when crowned Leitrim Ladies Junior Champions on September 4th in LeitrimVillage. They defeated Annaduff in the final on a 5-10 to 4-6 scoreline.

The Glencar/Manorhamilton minor cap-tain Rebecca Rooney with the cup.

Pitctured is theLeitrim JuniorChampionshipCup being presented toGlencar/Manorhamiltonjoint captainsAoife Feeney andAisling Faulknerby Eugene Cox,CompetitionSponsor – Cox’sSteakhouse Dromod.

By RONAN O’BRIENMedia West Ireland

THE second and final weekend ofthe national Community Games fi-nals were held in athlone aIT in au-

gust where over 7000 athletes from allover Ireland competed in a myriad ofsports and in doing so followed in thefootsteps of many famous sports starssuch as sonia o’sullivan, Tommy Boweand Ronan o’Gara who competed inCommunity Games in the past.

There were high hopes for theManorhamilton area U-14 girls they wereprevious gold medal winners at the na-tional finals two years ago at U-12 leveland had graduated from the Connacht fi-nals with relative ease beating st Brigid’s,3-8 to 0-2, in the semi-final and Breaffy,10-5 to 2-4, in July’s Connacht final.

The all Ireland semi-final against theUlster champions sheelin of Cavan wasno place for the faint-hearted as this wasa bruising affair where a battle had to befought before any football could beplayed. Muireann Devaney led the teamand was in excellent form notching up sixfirst-quarter points in addition to a goaland a point from Leah Fox to sheelin'stwo points.

sheelin however started the secondquarter very strong and scored a goal andfour points to just three points to thenorth-Leitrim girls. The game was in themix but the resilience shown by the fourbacks Hannah Gallagher, Hannah John-ston, Emma McMorrow, Clodagh McGeeand sweeper sarah McGloin provided theplatform which limited the Cavan girls toonly four further scores in the remainingtwo quarters.

In contrast from the accuracy of goal-keepers aine McCann’s and Kelly Gal-lagher’s kick-outs, the Leitrim girls werekeeping possession better and scoresduly came from Rachel Conlon, MuireannDevaney, Leah Fox and an excellent in-terplay between the latter two resulted ina goal at the end of the third-quarter thathad the Leitrim girls ahead by eightpoints.

The Cavan team’s cause was nothelped with a sin-binning of a sheelinplayer for dangerous play preventing acertain goal. The Leitrim girls held out in

the final quarter as the Cavan girls wentfor long balls in search of further goalsthat did not come leaving the final score-line of Leitrim 2-17 to 2-8 for Cavan.

The final against Dublin and Leinsterchampions Knocklyon of Dublin was apurists free-flowing and quick gamewhere both sides were intent on playingfootball and moving the ball fast.

Knocklyon encompassed some of theBallyboden st Enda’s club and had theLeitrim girls on the back foot from the be-ginning scoring a lightening quick goaland point in the first two scores.

The Leitrim girls regrouped and com-posed themselves with their openingscore coming from the boot of MuireannDevaney followed by an excellent amyFowley point. The Leitrim team were nowstarting to settle and Muireann Devaneyand Emily Conlon steadied the ship withtwo excellent team goals followed by awell-taken Rachel Conlon point.

This left the Manorhamilton area girlswith a 2-3 to 1-2 first-quarter lead. In the

second-quarter forwards sarah Bradyand shona sheridan began to stretch theDublin girls backline and with MaireadClancy always an outlet in midfield bothsides began to search for opportunitiesfor critical scores but these were few andfar between with two points for Leitrim’sMuireann Devaney to one point forKnocklyon the only scores in the second-quarter.

scores were hard come by for bothteams again in the third-quarter with LeahFox netting for the Leitrim girls and theDublin champions adding a point to theirtally.

The deciding moments came in thelast quarter with two quick fire goals fromCaptain Leah Fox leaving the Dublin girlstrailing 5-5 to 1-4. The back line was hold-ing firm and further points from EmilyConlon, Muireann Devaney, Leah Foxand an outstanding goal from Roisin Kellyleft the final scoreline of 6-8 to to 1-6 infavour of Manorhamilton.


Pictured is Leah Fox of the Manorhamilton Area U-14 girls’ team, who captained theLeitrim/Connacht champions in the Community Games Finals in Athlone in August when theteam were crowned All-Ireland Champions. Leah (left) is with the referee and the Knocklyon(Dublin/Leinster) captain before the throw in.

Manorhamilton AreaCommunity Games U-14sclaim All-Ireland title


Pictured are the Manorhamilton Area U-12 girls football team after the national finals in Athlone in August. They got off to a bad start on theSaturday morning against Monaghan, but played some fantastic football in the last 20 minutes and showed real heart and determinationthroughout the match but just fell short. It was a very early start on the Sunday against Tipperary and the result didn't go their way either. Although the results didn't go their way over the weekend these girls played great football and gave their all on the pitch. It was a great experi-ence for such a young team and they came fourth at the All-Ireland festival.

Pictured is the Manorhamilton Area Community Games U-14 girls’ football team who won gold at the national finals in Athlone in August.

Louisburgh .........0-10Balla ....................0-9

By MIKE FINNERTY Mayo News

In so many ways this was a differentworld to Croke Park but, ultimately, it stillcame down to the same thing. Fine mar-

gins. one point either way.Louisburgh were the first to admit after-

wards that they snatched this County Jun-ior title from the jaws of defeat, as twopoints in injury-time from their captainKevin Gibbons left Balla broken-heartedand empty-handed.

The winner from Gibbons will go downin Louisburgh Gaa folklore, struck like anarrow from long-range three minutes intoinjury-time to deliver a first adult countytitle since 2003. The final whistle triggeredemotional scenes among the Louisburghcontingent as supporters and familiesshared in the moment with their team.

Balla, meanwhile, were trying to makesense of how they lost a game theyseemed destined to win for the majority ofthe second half. a string of late wides letLouisburgh off the hook, and Balla weremade to pay a heavy price in the end.

Pat Fallon’s team of young tyros andturks took the lead twice in the last tenminutes, but each time they were reeledback in by Louisburgh. Then, with the sec-onds ticking down, Kevin Gibbons took apass from towering midfielder PadraicPrendergast in the shadow of the standand proceeded to land the winning scorewith the outside of his right boot from 45yards.

and that was all she wrote.This wasn’t a classic County Junior

Final, but it had enough drama, intensityand tactical intrigue to keep us all inter-ested and guessing.

Balla set up in a remarkably similarfashion to Tyrone, but Louisburgh wereahead at half-time by 0-7 to 0-4 as threelate scores from Kevin Gibbons, stephenCorrigan and alan Moran saw them short-circuit Balla’s defensive system.

Balla flooded their own half with bodiesin that first period, trying to play on thecounter-attack, with Mattie Flanagan oftenasked to lead the line up front on his own.

The Mayo under 21 goalkeeper didwell in the ‘lone ranger’ role and hit threeof his team’s first half points, including a‘45 and a huge free from 50 yards, to keepthe scoreboard ticking over.

His brother, Ger, also landed a monsterscore from centre-back although it tookthe intervention of the linesman to overrulethe umpire and get it chalked down.

Heading into the second half Louis-burgh looked to be in control, but Ballatweaked things at the break and heldthem scoreless for almost 25 minutes.

The introduction of midfielder shaneConway at the break proved to be a mas-terstroke, as Balla built a platform in themiddle third and got some support up andaround Mattie Flanagan.

The nett result was three points withoutreply during the third quarter from Conwayand Eoin o’neill (two frees) to level thegame for the third time.

now it was all Balla, and with Louis-burgh missing chances to beat the band,they surged forward time and again beforeveteran sub’ Declan sweeney drovethrough to fire over the lead score on 51minutes.

Louisburgh were struggling to make in-roads against Balla’s organised and heavydefence, and they seemed to have lost

their way completely.Then Michael Gibbons popped up with

Louisburgh’s first score in an age for theequaliser, and it was game on again.

an outrageous 50 yard free from MattieFlanagan then edged Balla ahead oncemore with the finish line in sight, and 55minutes on the watch.

But there was still plenty of time formore drama as a tug on the arm of alanMoran resulted in a debatable free forLouisburgh two minutes into added time.

Kevin Gibbons duly did the needful,and it was deadlock once more with a re-play on the cards.

a draw looked nailed-on at that stage,and it probably would have been the fairresult, but Louisburgh stuck to their game-plan and Kevin Gibbons showed his qual-ity and his composure to settle the issuethere and then.

Balla tried one last time to dig out anequaliser but were unable to find a way,and so Louisburgh hung on for their fourthCounty Junior title and a ticket back to In-termediate football.

LOUISBURGH: D O’Malley; E O’Malley, M O’-Malley, P O’Grady; S Corrigan (0-1), P O’Malley,A Moran (0-1); P Prendergast, T Dawson; J Gib-bons (0-1), K Gibbons (0-5, 3fs), P McDonnell(0-1); J Dowd, A O’Malley, M Gibbons (0-1).Subs: O Lally for Dowd; P Prendergast for O’-Grady; E Ball for McDonnell, S O’Grady forDawson; J Gibbons for E O’Malley.BALLA: M O’Connor; G Holian, J Dempsey, SBurke; B Freyne, G Flanagan (0-1), E O’Neill (0-2, 2fs); B Duffy, C Walsh; D Giblin, G McHale, VRoughneen; C Connor, M Flanagan (0-4, ’45,2fs), E Earley. Subs: S Conway (0-1) for Con-nor, D Sweeney (0-1) for Earley, O Earley forWalsh, C Murphy for Giblin; C Kilkenny forDuffy.REFEREE: J Walker (Cill Chomáin)

MAYO JUNIOR CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL

Louisburgh – Mayo county junior champions 2016.

Louisburgh edge a thriller

By GER FLANAGANMayo News

THE biggest question thatwas lingering over thisWestport team heading

into last saturday’s Mayo In-termediate Championship finalwas how much of an effect thatgruelling three-day turnaroundwould have on their perform-ance. and they answered it.Emphatically.

This young Westport sidedisplayed no signs of a teamthat were playing in their thirdchampionship game in onlyseven days. They dictatedterms for the vast majority ofthe game, and in reality, neverreally looked in danger of los-ing.

Indeed, the margin couldhave been greater had theynot kicked 13 wides. no doubtit’s something managerDamien Loftus will be hopingto improve on for next week-end’s provincial semi-final, butfor now, it can be forgiven.

Kiltimagh, meanwhile, willbe wondering why they neverreally got going to the pace weexpected them to bring. Theystruggled to break down West-port’s finely organised defen-sive system, which onlyconceded a single point fromplay.

Much of this was down to anumber of key match-upsacross the field. Mayo’s resi-dent man-marker, Lee Kee-gan, nullified the attackingthreat of Ciaran Charlton,whilst his county team-mateKevin Keane put in an impres-sive performance, dominatinga physical battle with Mayo U-21 panellist TJ Byrne. Kil-timagh captain Ronan Maleebattled hard, but was very wellmarshalled by the Westportfull-back line.

In the end, Westport’s su-

perior firepower was the differ-ence. a man-of-the-match dis-play from wing forward FionnMcDonagh – which includedfour second-half points – waspivotal in ensuring his side aticket back up to the seniorranks of Mayo football.

It wasn’t a final to remem-ber, but it was one that show-cased plenty of talentnonetheless.

Donovan Cosgrove, theMayo minor captain in 2016,was kept busy trying to keeptabs on his county team-matePaul Lambert early on, but theKiltimagh defender turned at-tacker to register the game’sfirst score after four minutes,putting an impressive end to apenetrating run. Malee addeda free three minutes later, butthat would be it for Kiltimagh inthe first half.

It took nearly 15 minutes forWestport’s first score, but fourin just over five minutes –three (including two frees)from Lewis Cawley and an-other from McDonagh – gavethem a commanding lead theywould never relinquish.

a goal looked inevitable forthe impressive Cawley aftersome good work on the wing,but the tricky forward lookedcaught between two minds ashe fired wide after 24 minutes.Colm Moran, another Mayominor, added a superb pointon the stroke of injury time toleave his side with a 5-2 leadat the break, a scoreline thatboth sides would match in thesecond.

a minute after the restart,the extremely hard-workingMcDonagh started as hemeant to go on, landing a diffi-cult free. Westport goalkeeperPatrick o’Malley added a mon-ster free from all of 50 yardssoon after, with Ronan Maleereplying with a brace of dead-balls for Kiltimagh.

The East Mayo side battledheroically and contested

everything up until the last kickof the game, even when allhope looked to be lost. Theyproduced a couple of open-ings, but just couldn’t orches-trate that killer strike that theyneeded so desperately. How-ever, youth is on their side andthey are certainly a team towatch.

That man McDonaghadded three more points to histally (two frees) before the finalwhistle sounded, and jubilantscenes soon followed.

WESTPORT: P O’Malley (0-1, 1f);N McManamon, K Keane, L Kett-erick; K Dever, L Keegan, J Walsh;B McDermott, S Scott; F McDon-agh (0-5, 3f), P Keegan, L

Staunton; C Moran (0-1), P Lam-bert, L Cawley (0-3, 2f).Subs: C Higgins for Staunton (49mins); O McLaughlin for Lambert(51 mins); D Horan for Moran (59mins).KILTIMAGH: D Gallagher; M Cum-mins, K Mulderrig, D Cosgrove (0-1); J Forkan, S Moran, CHeneghan; P Kelly, S Walsh; B Gal-lagher, C Charlton, S McDonnell;D Lydon, TJ Byrne, R Malee (0-3,3f). Subs: S Forkan for Moran (38mins); J Carroll for Cosgrove (38mins); L Lydon for McDonnell (41mins); J Mulhern for Heneghan(53 mins); C Finn for Mulhern (55mins, temp); P McDonnell forByrne (58 mins, black card).REFEREE: E McAndrew (Clare-morris)

EGAN JEWELERS MAYO INTERMEDIATE CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL

Pictured is Mayo star Lee Keegan as he lifts the intermediate cup fol-lowing Westport’s victory over Kiltimagh at MacHale Park in Castlebar.Photo: Piaras O Midheach / SPORTSFILE.

Westport ..................0-10Kiltimagh ..................0-4

Westport step up to seniorafter convincing win

FOCUS ON MAYO • FOCUS ON MAYO • FOCUS ON MAYO

Rice College (Westport) first year colleges hurling team, with the Nicky Rackard Cup, at the Connacht Supertouch Blitz in Bekan recently.

Pictured is Mayo GAA Hurling Secretary Eugene Connolly as he presents the Mayo GAA U-21 Hurling Cupto John Judge, from Tooreen, after his sides 1-14 to 1-11

win over Castlebar Mitchels in Tooreen recently.

Pictured are the Tooreen U-21 hurling team who claimed the MayoGAA U-21 Championship title recently with a hard fought 1-14 to 1-11win over Castlebar Mitchels. Back row from left: N Boles, J Henry, ABoyle, D Cunnane, S Crinnegan, N Robinson, D Harrison, F Boland, BDouglas, D Huane. Front row, from left: S Freyne, J Cassidy, D Freyne,D Kenny, J Judge, A Henry, S Kenny, D Freeman, M Freyne.

Tooreen win Mayo GAAU-21 Hurling Cup

CONNACHT LADIES GAELIC FOOTBALLSENIOR CLUB FINAL

Carnacon (Mayo) ....8-20

Kiltubrid (Leitrim) .....1-9


KILTUBRID Ladies representedLeitrim for the second year in a rowwhen they competed in the Con-

nacht Ladies Gaelic Football associationClub Championship Final in Charelstown.

Unfortunately for the Leitrim championsthey found Mayo's Carnacon to be in fineform as they triumphed on a scoreline of8-20 to 1-9.

Cora staunton shone for Carnaconwith a personal haul on 2-11 but she wasassisted by a number of excellent perform-

ances from the likes of Martha Carter,Fiona McHale, amy Dowling and MichelleMcGing.

although they spent much of the gamedefending there were impressive perform-ances from Kiltubrid's Michelle Guckian,aoife McWeeney, Miranda Foley andEmma Guckian. Kiltubrid captain aineTighe was influential in midfield but wasalways well marshalled when she ven-tured forward, the Carnacon players wellaware of the need to contain her threat.

CONNACHT LADIES CLUB INTERMEDIATECHAMPIONSHIP

Annaghadown......8-23Fenagh ..................0-1 FEnaGH Ladies endured a chastening af-ternoon in the Connacht Gaa Centre ofExcellence as they were outclassed byGalway's annaghadown in the ConnachtLadies club intermediate championshipsemi-finals.

Leitrim clubs have being badly out-classed when they have come up againstteams from Galway, Mayo and Roscom-mon in recent years and unfortunately thetrend continued when Fenagh came upagainst a very strong and very motivatedannaghadown.

Led by the outstanding niamh Duggan,Grainne Barrett and nicola Burke, an-naghadown were simply in a differentclass to the Leitrim champions as they setout their stall early, scoring 4-10 in thefirst-half as they camped at times in theFenagh half.

The Leitrim team put up strong resist-ance early on and the Galway team didn'treally start to pull away until the Galwayteam struck for a second goal ten minutesin. Fenagh's cause was not helped by aharsh sin-binning for captain KathyReynolds in the ten minutes before half-time as they led 4-10 to 0-1 at the break.

annaghadown never let up and were itnot for a series of good saves from Fe-nagh keeper Elizabeth Honeyman in thesecond half, the fearful scoreline wouldhave looked a hell of a lot worse.

FOCUS ON LADIES GAA • FOCUS ON LADIES GAA • FOCUS ON LADIES GAA

Pictured are Carnacon’sMichelle McGing (cen-tre) and Cora Staunton(right) after their vic-tory over Donaghmoynefrom Monaghan in the2013 All-Ireland clubfinal.

Photo: David Maher /SPORTSFILE.

Carnacon prove too strong for Kiltubrid in final

Annaghadown crush outclassed Fenagh

Annaghdown’s Nicola Burke in league actionfor Galway against Dublin at Parnell Park inDublin. Photo: Sam Barnes / SPORTSFILE.

EaRLIER this year theLadies Gaelic Footballassociation announced

a pilot programme that was setto help clubs put together thestructures to secure their fu-ture and in some cases avoidbeing wound up. The initialpilot of the programme will getunderway in november andwill continue throughout 2017.

The ten clubs that will takepart in the programme havenow been confirmed. all 4provinces will be representedamongst the 10 participantscoming from Cavan, Tyrone,Galway, Kerry, Limerick, Tip-perary, Cork, Dublin, Kildareand Meath.

The 10 clubs that will takepart in the new programmeare; Butlerstown (Cavan),Craobh Chiarain (Dublin),Kerins o’Rahilly’s (Kerry), st.Kevin’s (Kildare), GranaghBallingarry (Limerick), Miltown(Galway), st. Mary’sDonore/Rosnaree (Meath),Clonmel Commercials (Tipper-ary), an Charraig naomhPadraig (Tyrone) and st. Col-man’s (Cork)

all 10 clubs will now havethe opportunity to take part inthe LGFa club developmentinitiative aimed at strengthen-ing club structures. This initia-tive focuses on developing

areas such as volunteer re-cruitment and retention, gover-nance & officer training,sponsorship and fundraising,games development as well asplanning for the future to en-sure sustainable structures arein place going forward.

The club will now avail offree training for their club offi-cers and coaches, resourceswill also be provided to theclub to assist with building sus-

tainable structures, a basic 2year plan will be put in placewith the aim of increasing theretention rates of volunteerswith the overall effect beingthat clubs can become a morevibrant and active part of thelocal community.

speaking at the announce-ment LGFa national Develop-ment Manager, Paula Pruntysaid ‘this is a great opportunityfor clubs to develop their struc-

tures both on the field and offit. It will assist struggling clubsor clubs that want to build solidfoundations for the future byproviding high quality role spe-cific training for role adminis-trators and coaches in theclubs. We are very excitedabout piloting this programmeand we believe that all 10 ofthe participating clubs will ben-efit hugely from being part ofthis initiative.’

FOCUS ON LADIES GAA • FOCUS ON LADIES GAA • FOCUS ON LADIES GAA

Pictured are the Caltra Cuans U-14 girls who won the B2 Shield final in Caltra. They defeated Menlough/Skehana 6-7 to 1-7, and they also won theDivision 2 Feile in May. They are managed by Mike Mockler, Mary Flaherty, Rebecca Jacob, Mary Kilcommins and the first aid was done by AnnFleming and Mary Keane. Back row, from left. A Jacob, L Kenny, M McDonnell, S Gilmore, E McGrath, T Kilgannon, S McDonnell, F Fleming, K Fla-herty, A Kelly, K Delaney, K Kilgannon, N Moclair and MA Jordan. Front row: K O Connor, S Keane, A Kenny, E Mockler, J Higgins, M Higgins, L Kir-wan, C Murray, E Keane, M Mulryan and K Mockler.

Pictured are the Milltown ladies after they finished runners-up in the intermediate shield cup in the 2012Tesco All-Ireland Ladies Football Club Sevens at the Naomh Mearnóg GAA Club in Dublin.

Photo: Paul Mohan / SPORTSFILE.

Milltown Ladies to take part in Club2Gether Pilot

FOCUS ON CAMOGIE • FOCUS ON CAMOGIE • FOCUS ON CAMOGIE

SligoCumman namBunscol Camogie

Blitz


Sligo Camogie Blitz

Pictured are first class in Boyle Primary School who enjoyed a Camogie and hurling session in their fancy dress costume.

MAYO SECONDARY SCHOOLS SENIOR CAMOGIE FINAL

Wesport lost to Ballyhaunis in the final which was played on October 26 at the Connacht Centre of Excellence.

Ballyhaunis captain Grainne Delaney holds the cup a loft and celebrates with her teammates after their victory in the final.


Pictured are the Scared Heart, Westport who came second in the Mayo Junior Secondary School Competition on October 26.

Ballyhaunis Community School won the competition at Connacht Centre of Excellence after the beat Wesport in the final.

Louisburg Secondary School took part in the Mayo Junior Secondary School Competition at the Connacht Centre of Excellence on October 26.

This year’s 60x30 inter-varsitytournament kicked off what issure to be an exciting year of

third level handball. The tournamentsaw 8 colleges, both far and near,being represented as 49 competitorstravelled to compete in alleys through-out Kilkenny. The courts in questionincluded Talbots Inch, Mullinavat, Gar-ryhill, Clogh, Kilfane, and Kilmyshalland the ICHa would like to thankthose in question for providing their fa-cilities and helping this weekend runsmoothly.

Given the absence of high profileplayers like defending inter-varsitieschampion, Martin Mulkerrins, it wasleft to the women to fly the Connachtflag.

The women’s open final saw a re-peat of last year’s encounter withTCD’s Ciara Mahon and UL’s Ciananí Churraoin battling it out for the title.It was ní Churraoin who claimed thespoils in last year’s final but Mahonwas determined to recapture the tittleshe won in 2014 and 2013. Both play-ers reached the final in flying form asní Churraoin saw off DCU’s aishlingo’Keeffe and Mahon saw off the chal-lenge of UL’s niamh Dunne.

Last year’s champion, ní Chur-raoin, took an early 6-2 lead butMahon then took entire control of thegame and completely outplayed herUL opponent, managing to take thefirst game 21-7. Mahon had one handon the proverbial cup at this stage andcarried her momentum into the sec-ond game in taking an early lead. níChurraoin battled on in an effort toforce a tiebreaker but in the end it wastoo little, too late, as the TCD womanwon her Third 60x30 inter-varsity tittleon a score line of 21-7, 21-14.

GALWAY star Niamh Heffernanwas the leading light from Con-nacht at the 2016 60x30 Juvenile

Championship Finals which were heldin Ulster venues in October.

The 2016 Myclubshop.ie All Irelandfinals were in the softball code and in-volved 13 counties in all with Wexfordthe highest achievers as they tookhome four titles over the weekend.

Kilkenny and Tyrone won two eachwhile Galway were among the group offive along with Cork, Kildare, Tipperaryand Waterford who claimed a title each.

Heffernan won her crown in thegirls U-16 division, where she got thebetter of Kilkenny’s Dearbhail O'Keeffeby 21-9 and 21-6 in the decider atLoughmacrory, Tyrone on October 16.

Elsewhere there were a number ofConnacht youngster who went closewith Galway’s Enda Collins and JamesCummins Kilkenny losing their U-14doubles clash with Kilkenny’s PadhraicFoley and Jack Doyle also at Lough-macrory.

Paul Conneely and Fiachra Mulker-rins, from Galway, also lost their match

in Tyrone against Cork duo ConorWalsh and Cian O’Driscoll in the U-16division.

In Kingscourt, Cavan, Mayo’s ClaireReynolds lost against Cliodhna O’Con-nell. Mayo double’s team HeatherBurke and Cuileann Bourke lostagainst Ciara Parnell and LeanneBoland.

While Roscommon’s KhalidYakhyaev was beaten by Kavan O’Ke-effe. And Roscommon pair Fionn Cu-sack and Oisin Cusack lost to AidanBarry and Cathal Barry.

FOCUS ON HANDBALL • FOCUS ON HANDBALL • FOCUS ON HANDBALL

Ciana Ní Churraoin wins the women’s final

Ní Churraoin wins again

Heffernan steals the show

vol 7. issue 4 november 2016 club glory...finals and semi-finals played in all of the counties....

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