*The U-16 Footballers were defeated by 6 points away to An Riocht. In a closely fought contest the Town lad’sbattled hard and at times played some great football. If they keep up the levelof commitment results will surely come. Best for The Town on the night were Ronan Barr, Sean Conlon, ConorMagorrian and Sean O’Boyle.
*Sascha Distel and BJ Thomas sang about ‘Rain Drops Keeping Falling On My Head’.For a long while on Sunday morning it looked like the weather man would beplaying that tune. But happily enough the rain only visited for a short timeand did not interfere with the 2nd Annual Castlewellan GAC Spring LakeChallenge. The race was put back to Sunday past due to the poor weather beforeEaster that forced us to move the date of the race. The large number of hardyrunners were not put off by the prospect of the rain. There were many goodperformances where runners improved on their performance from last year despitethe blustery conditions. That said the conditions were also cooler and moreconducive to running. Still you cannot have it all your own way. From an earlypoint in the race it was clear that that one man was going to dominate the racewhich start at the club and snaked its way up around Castlewellan Forest Park,around the Lake, up past the Cypress Pond, through the Spring Gardens and finallyfinishing in front of the Lake. Brendan Teer from East Down AC who on Saturdaytook the honours at the Ballynahinch 10K romped home well ahead of the field towin this year’s race in convincing style. In second place was Paul Carlin fromSt John’s GAC. The first Over 40 male home was Alan Johnston from Murlough AC.First Over 45 male home was John ‘Hen’ Kelly from Newcastle AC. Hen, you arestill a Town Man! There was an audition as part of the revival of the TV series’Lost’. The other John Kelly from the Newcastle AC competed very well for thepart. John will know what we mean! He then found himself again and was thefirst Over 50 male home. In the Ladiesrace Catherine O’Connor made it an EastDown AC double by being first home followed by Patricia McKibbin from theBryansford Club who was close behind. First Over 40 home was Amanda Perry fromNorth Belfast Harriers. Castlewellan AC had its first success with Linda Roganbeing the first Over 45 Female home. Finally the first Over 50 home was Maura King from the Murlough AC club.From the competitive athlete to those taking part in the 5K or 10K fun run fora better time to those who just wanted to finish the run and have thesatisfaction of saying they did it, we’ll done! The hill at the Cypress Pond wasa tester for all and everyone worked up that hill. Thank you to all thestewards and those who worked tirelessly at registration and in the kitchen.Everyone made it a great day.
* On Saturdayalmost 50 of our under 8 & 10 footballers took part in a juvenile blitz inSt Malachys Park. Thankfully the weather stayed sunny and all the childrenenjoyed the day’s football. Thank you to all the parents whom assisted withproviding and serving refreshments in the club for the players and visitingteams. We raised £36 from donations for the sandwiches/buns/cakes kindlyprovided by our parents. This money was donated to the Anderson/Ranaghan familytowards the Marie Curie appeal. Photographs of the blitz are now up on the clubwebsite. Thank you to Brian Cunningham for the photos. Special mention tojuvenile player’s Mark McAleenan & Hugh Rice.
* Last weekend there was a veryspecial Charity Night for Marie Curie in the club to mark what would have beenthe 40th birthday of Michelle Ranaghan (nee Anderson). Michelle died of cancerat the age of 32. This was a lovely way for the family to remember Michelle andto also highlight the work that cancer charities do. Our community like so manyothers have been affected by cancer illnesses. The local community and thosefurther afield came in and supported the family in their fundraising. Thekaraoke was fun. The scribe of this column refused to damage the ears and thesensibilities of the masses by not allowing his ‘dulcet tones’ to wreak havoc.However, than cannot be said of a few others! Still everyone sang and laughedfor this great cause. Thank you to the Anderson family and all Michelle’sfriends for the night they put on in her memory. It was a special night.
* The Senior footballers playedout a draw with Mayobridge last Thursday night in the third outing of theseason. There are no easy games in Division 1 and with Michael Walsh’s chargescoming to the Bann Road venue looking for their first points of the year, theywere always going to be dangerous. And so it proved to be. The first score ofthe game was a goal for the visitors after five minutes which put the Townimmediately on the back foot. Play was even enough for the first 15 minuteswith the game being tight and The Bridge keeping ahead. In the next 10 minutesthey completely dominated the game scoring at will with some excellent scores.At this stage there was only one winner. The lads hung in there taking a coupleof great goaling chances from Fintan McGreevy and a great finish by Aidy Burnsfollowing a quick Luke Toner free. The goals brought the lads back into thegame going in at half time with a two point deficit. The Town soon wiped outthat deficit and were soon in a commanding three point lead. At this point thelads should have pushed on having rode out the first half storm. But back camethe Bridge and carve out three points to come level with five minutes to go.The Town forged ahead again with a Collie Flanagan point but again the Bridgehung in and levelled with three minutes to go. It was a frantic final threeminutes with The Town not putting away the chances we had in that at time. In the end both sides would settle for a draw.It was a fast moving game with both teams playing their part and providing anentertaining game that produced some quality football.
* Juvenile training schedule forthe week is as follows; Thursday 2nd May 6.30-7.30 Bann Road P3-P5Hurling. Friday May 3rd 5.00-6.00 St Malachys Park U12 Boys Football. Saturday 4thMay Note, there will be no coaching or blitzes. Tuesday 7th May 6.30-7.30Bann Road P3-P6 Boys Football. The under 14 footballers willtrain at the Bann Road on Wednesday night at 6.30pm.
*Following on from Activ8, there will be Attack Fitness Circuits every ThursdayNight in the Club at 7.00pm. The cost of the circuits is £3.00 per head. This isanother great collective way to top up your fitness.
