AUSTIN STACKS IRELAND LIGHTS UP WALK: The Final Walk (for the time being) takes place on this Tuesday (14th Feb) at 7pm, starting at the Club House. Irish Life have a new initiative commencing on the 1st March for a one month period where individuals are asked to participate in a one daily target of 10,000 steps per day. All participants that reach the 300K steps in the month are then entered into a draw for holiday vouchers. Further details to follow closer to the start date.
CLUB MEMBERSHIP: This season’s Club Membership, which is now due, may be purchased online via your Club Foireann Account or pay online via Clubforce (https://austinstacks.ie/club-rockies-membership/), or sign up for a monthly DD payment, or pay by cash by contacting Club Registrar, Bernie Mannix at 086 0767415.
CLOTHES RECYCLING: Our Club Fundraising Clothes Recycling collection goes ahead on Saturday week, 25th Feb. from 11.30am to1pm. Mens, Womens and Childrens Clothing – Household Textiles ie. Curtains &Towels, soft toys, shoes, handbags and belts will be accepted. However we cannot accept duvets or pillows. All items must be clean and dry. We are asking parents of Juvenile Club Players in particular to bag separately any Boys or Girls Austin Stacks Club Merchandise or old football boots – the plan is to hold a previously give-away gear day for these items at the Juvenile Academy on Sunday morning once we are back outdoors.
ROCK ST. PO. LOTTO COMPETITION; Please support the Rock St. Post Office Club Lotto Competition. The winning Club will have exclusive sales on their Club Lotto tickets in the Rock St. Post Office for the next 3 years. Club supporters will get (please ask) one token for each transaction completed at Rock St. Post Office between now and 31st March. Put it into the Austin Stacks Collection Bucket in the Post Office. By the end of March all the tokens will be counted and the Club with the most tokens will be deemed to be the winner. A single postage stamp doesn’t count as transaction, but everything else does. A €4 TV Licence Saving Stamp counts as a transaction as does registered letters, parcel postage, bill payments, phone top-ups, phone sales, a dog licence, foreign exchange and withdrawals.
MINOR FOOTBALL: Austin Stacks 3-11; Ardfert 3-8.
After a three points win (1-9 to 1-6) in the opening round against Ballymac our Minors had a similar winning margin in round 2 of the Tralee/St. Brendans League, played in Caherslee on last Saturday (11th Feb). The sides were level on four points each at the end of the first quarter with Cormac Bastible on target twice (his first from a free inside the first minute) and one each from play by David Lucid and Alex Tuohy. Ardfert just shaded the second quarter scoring a goal and two points to a goal and a point for our boys – our point coming from another Cormac Bastible free and a well-taken goal by Oliver Lata following good work by Thomas Deregee (1-6 to1-5 at half time in favour of Ardfert).
We had a brilliant start to the second half, scoring a goal and four points without reply inside the opening eleven minutes. Alex Tuohy was our goal scorer just after the throw-in and all our four points coming from Cormac Bastible – three of them from frees. This left us ahead by two clear goals at that stage (2-9 to 1-6). But in the space of three minutes – the 44th and 47th – Ardfert had wiped out that lead with two well-taken goals. Then in the 49th minute Cormac was again on target for our third goal of the game and that was the difference between the sides at the final whistle with both sides scoring a further two points each in the closing minutes – ours by Tomás O’Connell and Cormac Bastible to bring his tally to a whopping 1-8 for the afternoon.
Team: Steven Conway, James Fisher (Capt), Pádraig O’Halloran, Tomás O’Connell (0-1), Alex Tuohy (1-1), Seán Heaslip, Ciarán Kavanagh, David Lucid (0-1), Fionán Ryan, Jack Barrett, Thomas Deregee, Liam O’Connell, Cormac Bastible (1-8 – six frees), Oliver Lata (1-0), Ryan McMahon.
Subs used: Rory Lynch, Max Maszorek, Jake O’Connor, Bao Foley.
The date for the 3rd and final round at home to St. Pats/O’Rahillys has yet to be confirmed as we write. In the meantime the Co. League gets underway next weekend. We are due to play Killarney Legion in Connolly Park on Saturday (18th Feb) at 3pm.
SENIOR FOOTBALL; Austin Stacks 1-22 (25); Na Gaeil 2-6 (12):
Like our Minors a few weeks ago our Seniors also opened their three-round Tralee/St/ Brendans League with a winning start in Connolly on last Sunday afternoon (12th Feb). Seán Quilter won the throw-in and raced up-field to score the opening point after jus ten seconds. Na Gaeil responded quickly with their opener a minute later. We then added six more points to two for the opposition by the end of the first quarter to leave us ahead at that stage by four points (0-7 to 0-3). We had an even better second quarter adding a further eight points to one for the visitors to give us an eleven points lead at half time (0-15 to 0-4).
Na Gaeil started the second half with two very well-taken goals inside the opening four minutes to reduce the deficit to just five points. But a brilliant goal by Seán Quilter a minute later got us back on the road to victory and we were never in danger after that. With Billy Lee and colleagues using the bench we went on to dominate again with nine of our starting 15 getting on the score sheet during the course of the hour.
Our two remaining games are now away – to John Mitchels next Sunday (19th Feb) and Ardfert the following Sunday (26th Feb), both with 12 noon start.
Team: Ben Quilter, Luke Chester, Barry Walsh, Ruairí O’Connell, Ronan Shanahan, Ciarán O’Connell, Eoghan Carroll (0-1), Michael O’Donnell (0-1 free), Seán Quilter (1-4 – 3 frees), Seán Ryan (0-1), Adam Curran (0-1), Shane Bastible (0-2), Donagh McKivergan (0-7), Shane O’Callaghan (0-3), Conor Myers (0-2).
Subs used: Jack Murphy, Shane Carroll, Dean Rusk, John Murphy, Noah Townsend, Greg Scanlon, Dean Scanlon.
THE C TEAM: Fixtures have just come to hand for this season’s Development League which involves the C Team. We will have four games to play, two away and two at home. In round 1 we are away to Fossa (26th March), we have a bye in round 2. In round 3 we are at home to Rathmore (6th May), round 4is away to Kerins O’Rahillys (28th May) and in round 5 we are at home to Laune Rangers (18th June).
KERRY FC: Congratulations and best wishes to Kerry FC as they begin their campaign for the first time in the SSE Airtricity League in Mounthawk Park on this Friday evening (17th Feb) with Cobh Ramblers the opposition. Great to see two former Rockies very much involved in the occasion – Billy Dennehy and James Sugrue.
CLUB CARDS: Our Card sessions continue in the Clubhouse on Mondays and Thursdays with the starting time of 9pm sharp.
CLUB LOTTO: This week’s (13th Feb.) Jackpot worth €3,250 was not won. The winning numbers were 1, 3, 26, 28. The €20 winners were John C. Slattery, c/o The Club; Mandy Furey, c/o On Line; Kevin O’Carroll, c/o The C Team; Caoimhe Barry Walsh, c/o The Ladies; and Patsy Griffin, c/o Richard Healy.
Next week’s Jackpot will be worth €3,250.
Continued thanks to the following businesses for selling our Lotto tickets on a weekly basis – Kevin Barrys Shop, Commane’s Book Shop (PC Books), O’Flynns Interiors; Hussey’s, Princes St., The Burger Shack, Monavally; Maguire’s Butchers and Kirby’s Brogue Inn and continued thanks to everyone who purchases tickets week-in, week-out.
SYMPATHY: Sincere sympathy is offered to the families of the following who died recently: Michael Brosnan, Kerins Park and formerly Lixnaw (grandfather of Club Footballer Gearóid Kilgallon); Mary Daly (nee Murphy), Ballyard and formerly Headford; Kay Duggan (nee O’Leary), Cork and formerly Mitchel’s Avenue; Denis Switzer, Lisdara, Oakpark; Tom Long, Killareny and Ventry (one of the great Kerry Footballers of the late fifties and early sixties).