*All Ireland wins as we all know come round rarely. It’s not like in Kerry and Dublin and places like it where you get the proverbial all-Ireland medal in your change in a bar, a bookies or a shop! They are to be savoured and remembered. Saturday saw the Minor County Camogs achieve a fantastic All-Ireland win. The scoreline of 1-6 to 0-6 will tell its own story in that it was not easy achieved. Congratulations to An Dun on winning the All Ireland B title, beating Roscommon in an exciting final. The Town was represented by Caitriona Caldwell, Nicola McCabe and Amy Barr. Making this an even more special and proud moment for her parents, family and the club was Caitriona being deservedly awarded ‘player of the match’ for her outstanding performance. This was a performance where she worked tirelessly and determinedly throughout the whole game! For the girls’ coaches it was a very special moment with many of them being there to encourage and support. It all starts in the club, the Sunday mornings, the Tuesday nights, the good performances and the bad ones. The bad ones are those you learn from. An All-Ireland success starts miles away from an All-Ireland final day, it starts in your club with your team mates doing the basics. Ask anyone who has ever one an All-Ireland – they will tell you. We now have three more to ask!
*Well done to the Under 14 ORahillys on an excellent days hurling at Féile na nGael in Portaferry on Saturday past. The ORahillys lived up to the name with a courageous battling display at Féile na nGael 2016 superbly hosted by Portaferry. A narrow 2 point defeat to Ballycran was followed by a win against Portaferry. The lads backed this up with comfortable enough wins against Shamrocks and Ballyvarley. Ballygalget were next up in the semi-final who proved just too strong. Well done to all the players from both clubs. Keep working on those hurling skills. Thanks to the many parents who came over and supported the team. Well done to Joe O Boyle who represented the club at the Féile skillstar competition in Portaferry on Friday night. Next up Bredagh at home on Friday in the league.
*Congratulations to St Malachys Primary School Hurling Team on regaining the Féile na nGael division 2 title winning against St Dallans Warrenpoint in the final. Well done to clubman and Coach Cormac McCabe. We appreciate the work you do in promoting Gaelic games!
*There will be no coaching in the High School next Saturday morning April 30th. Coaching will recommence in St Malachys Park at 10am on Saturday May 7th. Thanks to St Malachy’s High School for the use of their excellent facilities over the last three weeks and to all the children, coaches and parents/guardians for their participation and support. You will find some photos on our website and Facebook
*A big thank you to all coaches who took part in the recent Child Protection course and to Conor O’Toole for running an informative and enjoyable evening.
* The senior footballers suffered their first defeat of the year away to Kilcoo last Friday night. Our goalkeeper Michael Cunningham suffered a serious accidental knee injury. We wish to thank everyone from the Town and Kilcoo who assisted Michael on the night. We wish Michael a speedy recovery from his injury.
* The Under 12 footballers had another good win on Sunday against neighbours Liatroim.Scorers: Cormac McKibben 2-2, Mark Holbrook 1-0, Tiernan Connolly 0-6, Tiern Doran 0-3, Cormac Barr 0-2 and Conor McVeigh 0-1.
*Juvenile sponsored walk and sports will take place on Sunday May 8th (La na gclub) at 1pm. Sponsorship forms will be circulated by the coaches. If you haven’t received your sponsorship form yet please email John O’Neill on oneilljohnj@yahoo.co.uk. We would encourage all children from nursery to Under12 to take part in the walk and help raise funds for the Club and a local charity. The walk will be followed by food and plenty of activities and we invite all families in the community to participate.
*The under 17 girls faced a strong Clonduff side at home on Sunday. The girls were down by 11 points at half time. A different show in the second half however where the girls came out showing a bit character and spirit, making Clonduff work hard. Unfortunately, the town girls were eventually beaten by 4 points. Best for Castlewellan were Emma Rice, Aislinn Hawkins, Jade Hammond and Amy Barr. Training continues on Thursday evening.
*Well done to Aislinn Hawkins who was representing the Club for Under 16 county ladies development squad, she scored a point in a 6 point win over Antrim on Saturday.
*Last week’s lotto numbers were 9, 13, 17 and 22. There were no Jackpot winners and one £20 winner – Brian McLaughlin. Next week’s jackpot will be £1800.
