PEIL FAOI 7: More enjoyable football for the U7s next Sunday morning (7th) in Caherslee at 11am. All new footballers welcome.
PEIL FAOI 9: (i) Our U9s will be in action again on Sunday next (7ú Bealtaine) at 11am in Caherslee. (ii) Our young stars will play v the John Mitchel Club U9s in our opening round of GoGames on Sunday week (May 14th at 11am) in Connolly Park. Bainigí súp go cluas as an bpeil!
PEIL FAOI 11: (i) Following another very enjoyable GoGames mini-festival on Thursday last in Connolly Park v Rathmore, we face into more football this Thursday (4th) at 6pm when we’ll play in three simultaneous matches. Sponsors: Lee Strand. Up The Rock! (ii) And, of course, Football-For-Fun for this group continues at 10.50am every Sunday in Caherslee. Fáilte roimh an domhan is a mháthair. (Colm Ó Mongáin)
SCÓR na bPÁISTÍ: ‘Well done’ to all who took part in the county finals of Scór na bPáistí on Sunday last (30th) i nGleann Beithe.
ALL-STARS: The fun continued last Sunday morning at the All Stars’ training session and the youngsters really enjoyed their PE exercises…. warm up, jumping, hopping, bouncing, handpassing, kicking high, kicking low, cool down, etc, gan stad gan staonadh agus bhí an-spórt ag gach éinne. Thanks to everybody. If your child wants to be part of our group, or if you want any more information or just to see the action, come along for next Sunday’s 10am session at The Rock Club in Connolly Park. New members always welcome. (Cathal Ó Sé)
PEIL FAOI 13: Both our A and B teams have concluded Phase 1 of their County League campaigns last week. Congratulations to our U13 B team that has secured the top spot in Division 9 of the County League. Well done, boys! We have a few weeks to regroup, to recharge our batteries, to build up our energies and to be ready for Phase 2 in mid-May.
(i) U13 County League Division 9….John Mitchel Club B: 3-2; Austin Stack Club B: 2-10. Following last Sunday’s narrow loss, our boys bounced back in style to gain a great victory against a previously unbeaten John Mitchel Club side. I’m not sure if it has ever happened before in an U13 game but for the first 21 minutes of the game no score was recorded; both sides defended resolutely and both sides had a couple of wides. But we, The Rock, burst into life in the last 4 minutes of the first half and rattled in 2-3….that provided the platform from which we won the game. Half-time score…Na Mistéalaigh: 0-0; Na Stacaigh: 2-3. Our lads knew that the Green‘n’Golds were going to come out fighting in the 2nd half and they weren’t wrong. Our opposition banged in a goal to get the scoreboard going and to kick-start themselves into life. It was a real contest then with every Stack Club player working hard for possession and straining every muscle to keep the determined Mitchel Club players at bay. The Bóthar Buí boys never gave up and slotted in a couple of goals to tighten up the numbers on the scoreboard but, at the other end of páirc na himeartha, our Black‘n’Amber side, having learned a dearly-bought lesson from the previous week’s game, picked off some crucial points rather than going for goals…ciall cheannaithe…bought sence! Ultimately, those scores were the scores that won the game! Scór: 2-10 to 3-2. A nice victory! We thank to the Ballyseedy coaches and players for an excellent sporting game. Congratulations to our team! Our boys showed great maturity in bouncing back from last weekend’s defeat and in playing some excellent team-football and in securing a victory that perches them on the top their group. The coaches and every player can be proud of their efforts and can look forward with confidence to the rest of the summer….they’ve certainly improved with each game. Sea, thugamar féin an samhradh linn!
(ii) U13 County League Phase1 League Div 1….Na Gaeil A: 2-10 (16); AdeS A: 1-9 (12). Our U13 A team made the short trip to Killeen on Sunday 23rd April to play near neighbours Na Gaeil. Wow…tús tobann! The home team broke through for a goal within the 1st minute. Our lads replied immediately with a goal and a point of their own. The opening exchanges continued at a frenetic pace and the score stood at 2-1 to 1-2 in favour of Na Gaeil after 10 minutes. In contrast, the rest of the half only saw three further points and the hosts lead by a goal at half-time…2-3 to 1-3. The second half continued to be a right royal tussle in which no quarter was asked or given. Neither defence gave scores easily and, while both teams enjoyed periods of ascendancy over the 25 minutes, we entered the closing moments of the encounter with the result still in the balance. Our men drove forward relentlessly in search of the scores that would earn a satisfactory Rock result! However, Na Gaeil broke upfield in the closing minutes and secured the victory for buachaillí an Chillín. Our thanks to Na Gaeil for a keen contest and to the referee for his handling of the game. Austin Stack Club Player-of-the-Match: Jayden O’Dowd….for another solid goalkeeping performance between the sticks, including a couple of fine saves at key stages in the game.
(iii) Under 13 County League Phase 1 League Division 1: John Mitchel Club A: 3-14 (23); Austin Stack Club A: 2-7 (13). Our U13 A team concluded Phase 1 of their County League campaign in Ballyseedy on Friday 28th April. The home team made a fast start and scored five unanswered points in as many minutes. Once again, the Austin Stack boys rose to the challenge and got 1-1 in quick succession. Na Mistéalaigh responded with 2-3 and, yet again, the Rock boys stood up and scored 1-2 of their own without reply; that halved the deficit before the break. Scór ag am sosa…JM: 2-8; AdeS: 2-3. The opening exchanges of the 2nd half were even enough; then we scored 0-4 between the 30th and 40th minutes and that left just two points separating the combatants with 10 minutes left on the clock. The next score was crucial and, faraor, it was scored by Na Mistéalaigh…their 3rd goal of the game! To our boys’ credit they continued to battle to save the day but, ochón ó, the home team kicked the remaining scores and ran out deserved winners in the end. ‘Thanks’ to the John Mitchel Club team for a good game and to the referee for his handling of the game. Austin Stack Club Player-of-the-Match: Tadhg O’Regan….another performance high in skill and energy. Foireann A: David Ahern, Michael Carmody, Diarmuid Hennessy, Oisín Horan, Shea Horan, Luke Kavanagh, Billy Kirby, Karol Kowalczyk, Danny Lane, Tadhg Lucey, Conor Maguire, Dylan McEvoy, Conor Murphy, Jayden O’Dowd, Ryan O’Flaherty, Tadhg O’Regan, Noah Reidy, Mark Riordan, Liam Swords, Ediart Topali. (Dan Ahern)
GAELCHOLÁISTE: Another successful outing for Gaiscígh na Chéad Bhliana! The presence of Stacaigh Joe de Barra (ar an ngort) agus Gavin Ó Cathasaigh (ar an taobhlíne) contributed to a skilful win against Coláiste na Sceilge i gCathair Sailí. Final score in the notebook read 2-22 to 2-8 in favour of our laochra. Onwards and upwards, a bhuachaillí! A hero’s welcome was given when they next appeared in the state-of-the-art new campus ar an gCluain Mhór, no doubt! (D.Ó Loingsigh)
AN FHAICHE…CBS: Sympathies to the Rock boys on the unlucky Green team that was pipped in the Dunloe Cup (Faoi 16½) final v The Sem….Fionnán Ryan (5), Seán Óg Ó Brosnacháin (6), Ronan Carroll (11) (1-2), Ryan Ó Driscoll (14) (1-0), Olivier Lata (16). (Tadhg Mac Mathúna)
FAOI 15: (i) On Wednesday (26th) our B team hosted Fossa in the 3rd round of Division 9A of the County League. Once again we faced a team with only 13 players and that in turn added to the number of subs on the sideline by us. Fossa started well and scored the first point of the game. Our boys settled well quite quickly and got the scoreboard moving. Even though the Fossa boys tried very hard we proved to be too strong and won the tie on a final scoreline of 7-18 to 1-6. The most encouraging observations from this game relate to the improvement in a few of our boys….fitness getting better, improvement in their skills, work rate and commitment….an-shásúil ar fad ar fad!
(ii) Training will continue on Friday evening for both teams in preparation for a busy day on Sunday.
(iii) Both teams had County League games (away) on Sunday (30th) last. (a) The A team headed to Churchill for a lunchtime throw in; unfortunately there was a delay of over an hour due to the unavailability of a referee. However, the game (when it eventually got going!) turned out to be a great contest! Good hard football from both teams….agus sár-imirt! With the slight aid of the breeze in the first half, we pushed on as best we could and led at the break…0-2 to 0-8. Churchill made the better start to the second half and brought the score difference down to two points. Thankfully, our mighty Austin Stack Club stalwarts clicked again and a well-worked goal settled us. Good confident play by all our lads (starters and subs) had us gain our first victory in the County League. And what a fine victory! Final score…Churchill: 1-6; AdeS: 2-11. (b) Kilcummin was the venue for an evening throw-in for the B team in Division 9A of the County League. They won the toss and took the opportunity to play with the strong wind in the first half. We gave instructions to our boys and advised them that the wind never won a game for anyone and what was required was plenty of hard work and support for each other when in possession of the ball. Kilcummin started strongly and quickly scored 4 unanswered points. The alarm bells weren’t quite ringing for us yet but their tingling sounds weren’t too far away! Thankfully, we settled, got into our stride and picked off some well-worked scores. Due to the unavailability of a number of regular players we had to change our midfield options and strategy. In a break from the tradition of big physical players i lár na páirce we went with a combination of agility and work rate and this proved to be the foundation on which we were able to use our ability to put up scores. Something to look at again….bíonn na pleananna ann ach smaoineamh orthu! As the game progressed we scored two goals (in the first half) and cancelled out Kilcummin’s points tally. Kilcummin were reduced to 14 players at half-time due to injury and we acted sportingly and also reduced our numbers. A strong second half performance by all our outstanding outfield players and a brilliant goalkeeping performance throughout the game by Conor O’Regan ensured that we took our 3rd win of the league. Final score…Kilcummin: 1-9; AdeS: 5-12. An-bhua! This now leaves three teams on 6 points at the top of the Division 9A table and only two teams can progress directly to the Division 9 semi-finals. Unfortunately, it seems that our scoring difference will see us in 3rd place….mór an trua…a great pity! So, we must now wait and see what our next competitive games will be. (Ger Hobbert)
FAOI 17: Comhghairdeachas arís to our minors who travelled to Mid-Kerry and who defeated Keel/Listry by 4 points….1-17 to 2-10…..on Monday last (1st). Well done, men!! An fhoireann bhuacach: Steven Conway; Tomás Ó Conaill, Donnacha Horgan (captaen), James Fisher; Ciarán Kavanagh, Pádraig O’Halloran, Seán Heaslip; Fionnán Ryan, David Lucid; Thomas Deregee, Gavin Ó Cathasaigh, Jake O’Connor; Cormac Bastible, Olivier Lata, Jack Barrett; Barry Nagle, Ryan McMahon, Leon O’Connor. Next game: they’ll travel again on Monday next (8th) and take on Milltown/Castlemaine. Up The Rock! (Richie Conway)
FAOI 17 ~ SCÓR na nÓG: Best wishes to the Kerry Scór na nÓg competitors, especially to the quiz team representing the Tralee/St Brendan Boards, in the All-Ireland Finals which will take place in the INEC, Killarney, on Saturday (6th).
PAUL LUCEY RUN: ‘Well done’ to all who took part in The Paul Lucey Walk/Run on Monday last. It was great to see so many participating. And the newly-arrived visitors from South Africa (na fáinleoga) enjoyed a good view of the walkers/runners….from the air!
CLUB LOTTO: Thanks to all who support and/or promote our club lotto.
CLUB SHOP: Club merchandise is available to order on www.oneills.com
THE GREEN‘n’GOLD: (i) Good wishes to the Kerry Minors as they get ready for their first outing in the Munster Minor Football Championship (quarter-final) v Cork on Thursday 11th May i bPáirc Uí Chaoimh. Gach ádh ar bhuachaillí na Carraige: Ben Murphy, Daniel Kirby, Paddy Lane, Ronan Carroll, Ryan O Driscoll agus Seán Óg Ó Brosnacháin. (ii) Good luck to the Kerry senior hurlers in their next Joe McDonagh Cup game. (iii) Good luck to the Kerry U20 footballers i leathchraobh na hÉireann v Sligeach i Staid an Phiarsaigh, Gaillimh, ar an Satharn beag seo, 6ú Bealtaine! Tune in to TG4 at 4.45pm on Saturday to see our county stars in action. Best wishes to Joey Nagle, Armin Heinrich, Michael Tansley and Jordan Kissane. (iv) Good luck to our senior footballers in their Munster final v Clare.
