Harsh decisions to drive U16 on to greater victories!
Our U16 team suffered disappointment when losing by a point to Thomastown in the hurling championship.
For two teams who had played well in the league this was always going to be a close game. With both defences in good form, scoring chances were hard to take with conditions very greasy due to heavy rain as the match started. We went in at half time three points behind. A big effort in the last quarter saw our lads turn the game in our favour, from being five points down to score one goal and four points without reply to lead by two points deep into injury time. With five minutes of injury time played a free was awarded to Thomastown in front of the goal, which was converted to a goal and we lost the game on a score line of 3-8 to 2-10.
U16 Panel:
Ciarán Brennan
Loughlin Hogan John Joe Kelly Tommy Downey
Conor Dowling Robert Reid Eoin Murphy
Brandon Sheehan Brian Coady
Finn Dowling Paddy Heffernan Jack Manning
Tommy Quirke Colm O’Neill Sean Maher
Adam Kelly, Ciarán Coady, Evan Stapleton, Padraig Buggy, Jack Nolan, Adam Comerford.
U14 Hurling update.
Kevin Kealy Memorial Cup Final
After a draw in the final three weeks ago, St Martin’s went into battle against Cloneen in Muckalee. With a full panel to pick from this time and a good work rate, the St. Martin’s boys took some nice scores to lead at half time 1 : 4 to 0 : 1. In the second half with our backs well on top, our centre field lads gave a good supply of ball to our forwards who took nice scores from frees & play to win on a scoreline of 2 : 12 to 1 : 2. Special thanks to Imelda & the Kealy family for presenting the trophy & to the parents who provided refreshments on the day. Well done to all !
Panel : Robin Smith, Conor Moloney, Patrick Darcy, Liam Brennan, Jason Comerford, Jack Nolan, Ciaran Fitzpatrick, Dean Farrell, Adam Comerford, Robert Dowling, Matthew Cullen, Richard O’Shea, Colm Kealy, Ciaran Brennan, John Murphy, Harry Kealy, Shane Brennan, Darragh O’Shea, Marcus Smith, Darragh Coughlan, Donal Coughlan, Darragh Quinlan, Ronan Shore, Daniel Comerford, Adam Agar.
U14 lose out in close game : St. Martin’s played St. Fiacre’s in Roinn B shield in Muckalee. With two evenly matched teams , scores were hard to get and we went in at half time 7 points to 4 points down. A great battle took place in the second half with some great scores. Our players worked hard to the finish but ended up behind on a scoreline of 3 : 12 to 3 : 6. Well done to all involved.
Panel : Robin Smith, Conor Moloney, Patrick Darcy, Liam Brennan, Jason Comerford, Jack Nolan, Ciaran Fitzpatrick, Dean Farrell, Adam Comerford, Robert Dowling, Matthew Cullen, Richard O’Shea, Colm Kealy, Ciaran Brennan, John Murphy, Harry Kealy, Shane Brennan, Darragh O’Shea, Marcus Smith, Darragh Coughlan, Donal Coughlan, Darragh Quinlan, Ronan Shore, Daniel Comerford, Adam Agar.
St. Martin’s minors struggle in championship.
St Martins crashed out of the minor hurling championship on a night where they never really fired.
They led at the break 1-7 to 1-5 but missed a number of chances and it finished level in normal time.
Despite leading in extra time they got caught in the dying embers of the game.
Minors in championship action against Clara
St Martins: Jason Shore, Conor Dowling, Robert Reid, Alan Kelly, Richard Teehan, Patrick Brennan, Steven Walsh, Shane Kinsella, Donal Shore, Mark Cody, Brandon Sheehan, Brian Cody, Mark Dowling, Adrian Farrell & Shane Dowling.
Subs: John Joe Kelly, Colm O’Neill, David Walsh & Jack Manning (all used) Damien Egan, Paddy Heffernan, Aidan Egan, William Trousdell, Conor Dowling, Eoin Murphy, Tommy Quirke, Ciaran Cody.
Ronan Tynan(inj), Finn Dowling (inj), David Healy (inj)
Cyril Farrell coaches St. Martin’s U16 & U18 for one night only.
Thursday night 5th September saw the appearance of a special coach coming through the gate in the Muckalee Field to give the St. Martins U16 and U18 a very special training session. On the inviatation of our Bord na nÓg chairman Patrick O’Flynn, Cyril Farrell who was the manager of the Galway senior hurling team in the 1980s and 1990s that led Galway to four consecutive All Ireland finals appearances from 1985 through 1988 made himself available to give our players a very unique, insightful and encouraging night of hurling excellence.
A big thank you to Cyril for the night and also to all involved in arranging the night which turned out to be a great success indeed. The field was in excellent condition and was extremely well turned out as commented on by Cyril and he also praised the great work being done in the Club and the excellent quality of the lights.
Well done to all involved.
Cyril getting some pointers from Patrick
Kevin Kealy Tournament
The Kevin Kealy tournamanet will take place on Saturday morning 7th September in Muckalee at 11:15 am.
The game will be between St. Martin’s and Cloneen and all are most welcome so please come out and support the teams.
Minors take on challenge in Palmerstown.
On a lovely morning for hurling St Martins Minors faced the challenge of one of the favourites for the minor a championship the shape of Dicksboro.
The higher standard of hurling caught out St Martins early on and they trailed 4-10 to 0-4 at the break having played against the breeze.
They adapted much better to the pace in the second half and bossed proceedings winning the half 1-9 to 0-4.
Final score, St Martins 1-13 4-14 Dicksboro
Team: Jason Shore, Loughlin Hogan, Alan Kelly, Conor Dowling, Richard Teehan, Patrick Brennan, Steven Walsh, Shane Kinsella, Donal Shore, Mark Cody, Robert Reid, Finn Dowling, Mark Dowling, Shane Dowling, Adrian Farrell, Mark Dowling.
Subs: John Joe Kelly, Brian Cody, Eoin Murphy, Colm O’Neill, Tommy Quirke, Damien Egan, Aidan Egan, Paddy Heffernan.
St. Martin’s underage shine at County level.
On a day where Kilkenny had teams playing at U-14, U-15, U-16 & U-17, St Martins had players involved on two teams.
In Wexford with the Kilkenny U-15’s St Martins had representatives in the shape of Brian Cody, Conor Dowling & Jack Manning. They all contributed in the run to the final where Brian started and Conor came on in a tight affair where they landed the spoils 3-3 to 0-9 v Dublin to win the trophy for the first time since 2008. The side was managed by a St Martins man- Patrick O’Flynn.
Jason Shore was with the county U-17’s who lost out to Cork in the All Ireland final by five points.
Well done to all concerned.
St. Martin’s well represented at County level.
St. Martin’s GAA would like to wish Jason Shore, Brian Coady, Conor Dowling and Jack Manning all the best as they join the County U15 and U17 teams in the All-Ireland Hurling championships this weekend.
St. Martin’s minors drive for goals.
St Martins minors gained a win over Young Irelands where their ability to get goals proved to be decisive on 18th August last.
They will be very disappointed with the number of missed chances they had during the hour as at times they misfired. Final score St Martins 4-10 2-12 Young Irelands
St Martins: Loughlin Hogan, Conor Dowling, Steven Walsh, Tommy Downey, Richard Teehan, Patrick Brennan, Eoin Murphy, Brian Cody, Adrian Farrell, Mark Cody, Brandon Sheehan, Colm O’Neill, Shane Dowling, Tommy Quirke, Mark Dowling.
Subs: Damien Egan, Aidan Egan, Sean Maher, Ronan Tynan ( All used)
Ref: Ger Grady
U12 Dowling Cup 2013.
Danesfort were the visitors for the 2013 Dowling Cup held on Saturday evening in Coon. The players and large crowd got lucky with the weather as it remained dry for the start of the match as Mikey Somers threw in the ball. Danesfort got off to the better start as a long range effort snuck in to the St Martins net. The young Coon-Muckalee-Ballyfoyle lads did not let this deter them and they got back in to the game when Dan Doyle’s bullet like ground shot from an extremely tight angle hit the back of the net. Two pointed frees from Daragh Quinlan, a point from play by Bill Dowling and another goal from Donal Coughlan saw St Martins go in at half time in front on a scoreline of 2-3 to 1-2 after a very evenly contested half. Shane Brennan made three excellent saves and got great support from the full back line of Paul Murphy, Adam Agar and Mathew Shorthall to keep Danesfort’s scores to a minimum.
Dowling Cup U12 Team
The first score of the second half was going to be crucial and when Shane Fahy finished the ball to the net in a goalmouth scramble, the host team were on the way to victory. St Martins were becoming dominant in their halfback line with Justin Manning, Tristan Roche and Darragh Coughlan clearing ball after ball. Their teamwork was evident when the ball was fed to Daragh Quinlan midway through the second half who sprinted clear of the Danesfort defense only to see his shot canon back off the crossbar.
The captains with Mick Somers
Harry Kealy, James Dowling and Jack Murphy all worked hard through the match to make sure that St Martins remained on top. Daragh Quinlan made up for his misfortune earlier with two goals, one from play and one from a 21 yard free. The scoring was complete with points from Harry Kealy and Ronan Shore and a goal from Josh Dempsey. The full panel got a run out and it was great to see Tommy Butler, Joe Reid, Andrew Buggy, Jack Farrell, Conor Mulhall, Shane O Neill, Thomas Lawlor, Cillian Bryan, Lorcan Agar and Willem Smith contribute to the victory. The final score was St Martins 6-5 Danesfort 1-4
After the match Liam Dowling presented medals to both teams and Tom Dowling presented the Dowling Cup to his grandsons, captain Daragh Quinlan and vice captain Bill Dowling. Everybody then enjoyed tea and refreshments in the dressing room to finish off a great day.
The hand shakes.
Great credit must go to the Coon field committee who had the pitch and grounds in fantastic condition for the game.
Awarding the Cup
