* The County Minors had a good win last Friday Night against Cavan. It was good to see Rory Burns and Sean Dornan featuring well on the night in a tight 2 point win for the lads. Keep it up fellas!
* Best of luck to Paddy Boyle and his Under 21 colleagues tonight in the Ulster Semi Final against Tyrone at Casement Park.
* Castlewellan is renowned for being a place where there are many sports played so indeed many opportunities for young and the not so young people. One sport is Motor Rallying. Some of our ‘older’ members who are in the photography fraternity have been seen at many rallying events capturing the live action in stills which is fascinating stuff and an area which captures not only great action but great skill from those photographers This year they will be able to capture one of their own. Young Mickey Gilmore will take part in this year’s Circuit of Ireland Rally which begins on Good Friday. We all wish Mickey every success in this event. PS Mickey, please transfer the speed of rallying to your football! Best of luck from us all.
*The Under 12 Camog’s had their first outing on Saturday past in An Riocht. The girls played brilliantly with two wins and a draw. This is a great start to the new season girls. Well done. The Under 8 and Under 10 Squads are playing in a blitz in the St Malachys Park this Saturday morning meeting at 10.30am.
* Two squads of juvenile hurlers made the long journey over the water to Ballycran on Saturday for the first outdoor blitz of the year. The under 10 squad began strongly with good wins against both Bredagh selections. The boys were understandably a little rusty to begin with but soon settled to play some good hurling. Despite losing to the home side they again took some good scores and competed well. In the last match they were unlucky lose by a point to Portaferry in a keenly contested game. Good performances from Joe O Boyle, Cuan Rodgers, Sé King, Morgan Croskery, Michael Magorrian, Matthew McCabe, Lorcan Cairns, Ciaran O Halloran, Jack Maginn, Alex Mc Alinden, Michael óg Mc Veigh and Dara Rodgers. The Under 8 squad battled hard in their first two games against Ballycran and Ballygalget drawing both games. The bumpy pitch made life difficult at times and scores were hard to come by. In the third match they won well scoring four to Bredagh’s one in reply and finished with a hard fought 2 all draw against Portaferry. Well done to all the wee hurlers on this team that included Shea Connolly, Luke Mc Cabe, Daniel Rice, Tiernan Connolly, Shea Stratton, Jay Dornan, Tieran Dornan, Coran Cairns and Brogan Mc Cay. Next week the Under 10 squad go to Liatroim for a hurling blitz. Players to meet at the club for 12.15. Under 8 & Under 10 hurling training is now out-door in St Malachy’s Park at 6.15 on Thursday.
* Under 8 & Under 10 football training will be at 6.15 on Mondays in St Malachys.
* There will be an under 10 football blitz on Saturday 14th April – venue to be confirmed.
* Our Seconds team did not have a good week this week losing out to local rivals Kilcoo and Bryansford. Conor Kelly sustained a serious injury in the game with the Ford. We all wish Conor a very quick recovery from this injury.
* The Under 12 Football Training commences in St Malachys Park this Friday evening at 5.00pm. Full attendance is required from all the lads.
* The season begins to get into full swing for our ladies in the Football and Camogie codes. The under 16 girls will have played their first game on Tuesday night past. The Under 14 Camogs will go to Portaferry this Saturday morning. All players meet at the club for 10.30am. Please remember to bring along £2.00 each for the cost of the bus trip.
* Ladies under age football continues on Tuesdays and Thursdays evenings from 5.30pm to 6.30pm at the Bann Road.
* This Easter Monday sees the Down Minor Camogie Team take on Derry in the Ulster Championship semi-final in St Malachys Park at 1.30pm. As it is the holiday period this is an opportunity for our members to come out and support the young ladies in their quest to reach the Ulster Final. Noreen Keown is the assistant manager of the team and we will have club Camogs Claire Cleland, Anna Rogan, Aoife Keown and Ciara Gibson playing their part for their County. We wish them the best of luck. The four girls were also part of the Down Under 16 Camogie Team which qualified for the Ulster Final last week which was captained by our own Aoife Keown. Well done ladies. This final will be played at the beginning of May.
* Training continues at the Bann Road Complex on Wednesday evening from 5.30pm for under 14 and under 16 Camogs and at 6.30pm to 7.30pm for the junior Camogs. Training for Under 14, Under 16 and Minor Camogs will commence this Friday at 5.30pm at the Bann Road.
*There were no Jackpot winners and two £20 winners; The Tiler and Patricia Cunningham in this week’s club lotto. The numbers were 2, 6, 13 & 24. Next week’s jackpot is £1350.