Senior Notes
Pride
of place goes to the Senior team who won the Sean Connolly Cup for the first
time since 1958 and a fifth time in total last Sunday week against Longford
Slashers. It was a fantastic performance from start to finish and we ran out
winners on a score line 0-13 to 0-7. Declan C Reilly picked up Man of the Match
for a fantastic performance at midfield but overall it was great achievement by
every member of the 27 man panel who dusted themselves down after last year’s
final defeat to come back even stronger in 2008.
The huge crowds that had assembled
to welcome the victorious Colmcille senior team at Molly Cross – where there
was a gigantic bonfire – the community centre and finally at the cross with the
Sean Connolly Memorial Cup in tow on Sunday 28th September is a scene that will
never fade from their memories. They were overwhelmed by the massive turn-out
and show of solidarity. Certainly it was a great lift for the players, their
manager, selectors, executive committee and club members to win the county
final after 50 years of heartbreak. Fans of the green and red have enjoyed a
remarkable Summer and I cannot remember another year when so many supporters
got behind the team. Could it be that it was last year’s defeat that spurred
them on! Anyhow at the final in Pearse Park the Colmcille supporters in the
5000 strong crowd far outnumbered their opponents. The tremendous vocal
encouragement to the players was just a measure of how badly the victory was
needed in Colmcille. Congratulations and every good wish to this fabulous group
of young players who have warmed the hearts of Colmcille folk not only at home
but in distant lands and restored honour and pride to this historic parish. I
was down in Mayo on Tuesday week last and it felt good to hear the people
talking about our small rural parish team outplaying the Longford town based
team. Suddenly we are no longer small. The parish needed this group of players
to give us hope once more and allow our dreams to flourish again. These boys
did that and more. The conveyor belt is running, the talent is plain to see.
Colmcille have the lads with the bottle to fight the big fight on the big stage
when they take the field on 9th November against the Carlow or Wicklow title
winners in the Leinster club championship. Who can foretell they could be in
for greater things come the dawn of 2009. Returning to the lead up to the Co
Final the whole landscape was a sea of green and red with even cars sporting
the team’s colours. There were good wishes at every cross roads – flags flying
at every home. All with genuine expressions of support. Finally on behalf of
the club we wish to return our sincere thanks to our loyal supporters who
travelled long distances to be there on final day (some from the UK and the
USA) and the many others who couldn’t make it in person but sent messages,
support and contributions. They can be assured that their confidence in the
team will not go unfilled and this united effort will spur the team on to many
more honours in the not too distant future. Celebrations continued well into
the week with the team bringing the Sean Connolly Cup to St Colmcille’s NS as
well as visiting the senior citizens in the Dolmen Room. They also went to
schools in the adjoining parishes as well as visiting pubs in Arva, Colmcille,
Bunlahy, Ballinalee and many other places including Loch Gowna. Tremendous
welcomes and applause was accorded them everywhere. The players, management and
executive committee would like to thank Longford Slashers for a good clean
sporting game. Many thanks to all who contributed to our Church gate collection
at Purth on Saturday 27th and at Colmcille on Sunday 28th September and
amounted to 2,347 euro. Peter Reilly, Smear Hill says that if there is
sufficient demand he will place an order for replica jerseys on Monday 20th
October. Email him at Colmcillefc@yahoo.com
or phone 086-2238435.
For the record
the team lined out as follows.
COLMCILLE LINE OUT:
G Tonra; Padraig Murtagh, N Farrell, O McGivney; B Brady, G Murtagh, F
Kavanagh; E Farrell, DC Reilly; JP Reilly, DS Reilly, Paul Murtagh; T Doyle, D
Farrell, D McKeon. Subs: A Gormley for Paul Murtagh (ht), P McKeon for Doyle
(55).
Great credit
must also go to the team management of Ciaran Brady, Cathal Lee, Padraig
Mulligan and Ali McGauran. The team retured to crowds never witnesed before in
Aughnacliffe and the celebrations continued for the following days after.
You can visit our Club Website for links to full match
reports and photos. We now look forward to the Leinster Championship Quarter
Final where we play the winners of the Carlow and Wicklow champions. This game
is scheduled for Nov 9th.
On Sunday last it was back into action and it was
Longford Slashers who provided the opposition again in the final league game in
Div 1. The match finished all square which was enough to secure a Leader Cup
Semi Final against Clonguish on Sunday next. The game finished on a score line
of 1-7 to 0-10. We were without the services of Donie McKeon (away) and Noel
Farrell (injured) while Slashers were without a few of their own team that
lined out the previous week. We now play Clonguish at Allen Park at 2pm on
Sunday next.
COLMCILLE
LINE OUT:
G Tonra; Padraig Murtagh, P Kennedy, O McGivney; B Brady, G Murtagh, F
Kavanagh; E Farrell, DC Reilly; JP Reilly, DS Reilly, Paul Murtagh; T Doyle, D
Farrell, P McKeon. Subs Used: A Gormley, B McCabe, D Murtagh, P Brady, N Brady.
Off the field, the club is getting ready to
launch its Monster Draw. We
send our congratulations to Declan Farrell and Edel McKeon who announced their
engagement recently and we wish them the best of luck for the future
Minor Notes
Oct 6th
Our
U12’s lost out to Killoe in the shield final on Saturday last when
they played in Pearse Park in extremely wet conditions. Hard luck to our
lads. Our minor amalgamation Colmcille/Clonbroney beat
Granard/Ballymore in the Division 1B league shield quarter final on Sunday last
in the park. They now meet Carrick/Sarsfields in the semi final of
this competition and this is scheduled for Sunday next. Players please
check fixtures for confirmation of this game. Our seniors drew with
Longford Slashers in the league on Sunday last and they now meet Clonguish in
the Leader Cup semi-final and we wish them the best of luck in this game.
This is scheduled for Sunday next also.
Sept
28th
Our
minor amalgamation Colmcille/Clonbroney lost out to Clonguish on Saturday last
in the minor league division 1B play off. They are now due to play
Granard/Ballymore in the Shield. This game is scheduled for Saturday next
4th October, players please check fixtures for confirmation of this game.
Our seniors had their big game on Sunday last against Longford Slashers and we
congratulate them on winning the Senior Championship and well done to all
involved. We wish them the best of luck when they will now be
representing their Club and County in the Leinster Senior Club Championships in
November. For the moment it’s back to the League where they play Longford
Slashers on Sunday next, and we wish them the best of luck and hopefully
they can repat the same performance as they did in the championship final on
Sunday last.
Finally
we wish to extend our sympathy to Liam Higgins, Rathmore on the death of his
uncle recently. R.I.P.
