News

Castlewellan GAC Weekly Notes

November 8, 2018

The rescheduled Castlewellan GAC’s secondAnnual Spring Lake Challenge will take place this Sunday 28 April 2013. We arehoping for the same weather as last year. Hopefully the weather will be a weebit more spring like! A visit to the gallery on www.castlewellangac.com will confirmhow the weather was a blessing at last year’s 10K event. You can registeron-line for the race at www.athleticsni.orgor on the day of the event. The run will commence at 1.00pm. Registration will take place at theClub and will end 15 minutes before the start of the race. The cost of entry tothe 10K will be £9.00.

* Burren & County star KevinMcKernan visited Castlewellan on Sunday as part of his “Keep ‘Er Lit” campaignto raise funds for his cousin Mark who was diagnosed with a brain tumour fiveyears ago. This was part of his visit to all 44 clubs in Down to take a penaltyat each ground. Michael Cunningham was the barrier in Kevin’s way to scoring inon this ground. Kevin is in a goal scoring vein with the County at the minute.Michael has travelled with Kevin from early Saturday morning and the last thingMichael wanted to concede was a goal from Kevin. Well folks! Michael savedbrilliantly from Kevin. We hope he doesn’t get too many more opportunities to putone past Michael. In all seriousness Castlewellan GAc and all our members wouldlike to congratulate Kevin and everyone who has supported him over the weekendfor what they are doing for Kevin’s cousin Mark. This is the true face of theGAA and the sense of community County wide and how everyone at all our clubshave come together to give great support. Well done to Kevin.

* The Senior Camogie team had their firstgame last Monday night away to Ballygalget and played very well. The game was blownup 12 minutes to go due to bad light. It is expected the points will be awardedto Castlewellan as the score was 3.7 to 1.0 and the Town girls were pretty muchon top.  There was some great displays byDebra Croskery and Aisling Connolly in the back line whilst Aoife Keown run thelegs of her markers sending long balls into Anna Rogan who connected with quitea few of those passes and some of which ended up in the net. Ciara Gibson andClare Cleland were in top form and allowed little to pass with some greatdefending by The Town. They kept the Ballygalget scoreless for the first halfthough there was a strong wind in The Towns favour. The second half the defencecame in to their own breaking down attack after attack before the game wasbrought to a premature close.

* The Under 14 Camogs travelled toBallygalget on the Same night and unfortunately came up against a very skilfulteam who used the wind in the first half to totally dominate the game.Castlewellan fought hard and did not give up so credit to the girls nexttraining session Thursday evening at 5pm.

* Last Sunday of last week was not sucha good day for the ladies Under 16 team. We ended up on the wrong side of thescore line against Bredagh. Maybe this was what was needed as a different teamtook the field on Sunday past and unfortunately for Bosco they took thebacklash of a team smarting from a defeat. Three of this team had lined out forthe seniors the night before and though they had maybe tired legs you would nothave thought that from the display of great kick passing running off theshoulder and blocking. It was the same team just different attitude. Some greatdefensive displays with Aisling Burns Caitlin Small Amy McCourt, Laoise Keaveney,Aisling Connolly Nicola McCabe and Tierna Moorehead. They worked as a greatunit closing down Newry Bosco at every turn. Anna Rogan and Catriona Caldwell hadan excellent hour in midfield constantly running, working and scoring. Theforward line had some excellent moved and finished well working hard to linkwith midfield Nadine McAleenan, Clare Owens and Kate McAleenan were excellentin attack. The full-forward line of Becky Lenaghan Blaithin Hardy and CourtneySteele made great runs and tackling to win back lost possession final score10.17 to 0.02 subs Emma Rice Bria McKee and Amy Barr. Football trainingWednesday and Friday 5pm Bann Road

* The Under 16boys footballers suffered a home defeat to Ballyholland in St Malachy’s Park onThursday night last. In a poor first half performance the town boys conceded 2soft goals in the first 2 minutes and never really recovered going in 0-5 to5-7 at the break. However after some hard half time talking the boys ralliedand gave a completely different performance tying the second half and eventuallygoing down 0-9 to 6-8. They just need to bring that second half performanceinto the game earlier which will bring the lads a lot of confidence. Best for TheTown Keelan Burns, Ryan Lundy, Gareth McKibben and Donagh Cairns where always athreat. The Town’s man of the match was Sean O’Boyle.

* The latest County Hurling Blitz took place on Saturday pastin Carryduff with a great turnout of players and parents alike attending. Bothteams played six games and there were some tired and sore limbs at the end. Once again the boys excelled with great striking, blocking and mostimportantly scoring. The next hurling blitz will be at home on Saturday 18thMay. Under 14 Hurling training will take place at the Bann Road on Thursdayat 6.15pm. There will be a match on Friday at home to Warrenpoint.

*The Activ8 programme proved to be very successful. Part of the money raisedfrom the programme was donated to The Limbless Support Group NI. On Sunday lastvice chairman Kevin Sweeney handed over a cheque for £150 to Sheila Murdock whoreceived it on behalf of the group.

* The Under 8Camogs took part in a Blitz in Mayobridge on Sunday past. You will see from thejoyful smiles on their faces that they enjoyed their day out. They also playedvery well   in all their games against Mayobridge, Kilcoo, Ballyhollandand An Riocht.

* The Senior Footballers won theirsecond league game of the season last Friday night with a hard fought win inKilcoo. This Thursday night Mayobridge visit St Malachy’s Park for what will beagain a tough match. The Bridge may not have any points on the board but thatfact makes them a dangerous opposition to play against. They won in the Townlast year and will want to continue this trend. The throw in will be at 7.15pm.Kilcoo reversed the senior result in the All County Premiere Division 1 matchwith a three point victory over The Town. This was the second team’s firstdefeat of the season.

* Juvenile training continues this week.Tuesday 23rd April 6.30pm -7.30pm Bann Road P3 – P6 Boys. Thursday 25thApril 6.30pm – 7.30pm Bann Road P3 – P5 Hurling. Friday April 26thUnder 12 Boys Football training 6.30pm to 7.30pm at St Malachy’s Park. SaturdayApril 27th all the following juvenile coaching will take place at the Bann Roadat the following times10.00am – 10.45am Hurling & Camogie for Nursery, P1and P2. P3 – P7 Camogie. 10.00am – 11.00am Under 12 boys Hurling. 10.45am – 11.30amNursery, P1 and P2 Boys Football and Girls Football.The times for the P3/P4 Football Blitz and the P5/P6 Football Blitz will beconfirmed later in the week. We would welcome all existing and new members toall our coaching sessions.

*Under 12 girls training continues in St Malachy’s Primary School on Mondaynights at 6.15pm to 7.15pm. Under 10 and under 8 age groups.

* The under 14footballers will train at the Bann Road on Wednesday night at 6.30pm.