* “Ah, breaker one-nine, this here’s the James Mac. You gotta copy on me, Big Aidan, c’mon? Ah, yeah, 10-4, Big Aidan here, for sure, for sure. 10-4, is that what you scored James Mac?” The younger generation won’t understand the etiquette involved in Citizen Band (CB) radio that was in place many years ago! Anyway the explanation is too long winded for this column. The younger generation will understand score lines GAA style. 10-4 is a score that was racked up and the story of the game with the remarkable individual performance of James McAleenan who bagged this last Friday night against Ballyvarley when along with his team mates got their Under 14 Hurling season up and running. On a perfect night for hurling the boys were quickly into their stride and had registered 3-3 in the first five minutes and as they say the rest is history. Well done James and to his team mates who worked hard to create the scores. Matthew Muldoon, Sean Keown dominated midfield while Eoin Maginn pitched in with 2-1. Morgan Croskery was assured in goals and his puck outs were excellent. Dara McVeigh, Cillian Mc Cay and Ruairi Mc Guinness were on top in the backline. Not to be outdone Míceál óg McVeigh was in great form scoring 4 goals for the Under 12 Hurlers v Ballela the night before which was excellent form from young Míceál. By the way 10-4 means “received and understood”.
* Almost forty of our youngest footballers made the short trip to Drumaness to take part in a football blitz on Saturday. The boy’s performed brilliantly from start to finish. The hard work the boys have put in during training sessions is obvious to see and was commented upon by the opposing managers. Well done to every member of the panel. For some goal scoring comes naturally but, imagine, your first goal for your club. It’s not like in training where the onion bag can get rattled often. You are in your first Under 8 Football tournament in Drumaness and everybody wants the ball. You are seven years old and all of a sudden the ball is there, the goal is in sight and the keeper who is the same age as you is advancing towards you and the ball. Senan Cunningham didn’t have to ask the question to himself re what he should do. With all the panache, guile and know how, he slipped it past the keeper. He will always remember his first goal! These are traits he got from his mother as his dad would have had a nose bleed that far up the field and quite often got one! Well done Senan and all the lads who performed so well on Saturday. The coaches were really impressed with you all. Keep up the good work.
* The Mr & Mrs. competition that was due to be held in the Club this Saturday night has been put back to Saturday 8 June. It will start at 9.00pm. There will be further details in next week’s notes of the night and the contestants.
* The Senior Ladies Footballers and the Seconds Footballers enjoyed good wins this week over Kilcoo and An Riocht respectively.
* Sunday saw the Feis being held in Castlewellan. As predicted by the weatherman the sun shone gloriously for the hurling and football. We found ourselves fortunate enough to be in four finals. We came out tops in three of them. The Minor footballers fell to a very good Mayobridge seven by four points. The lads put in a real good shift and with a wee bit of luck and perhaps a better placed pass here and there the result may have been different. The Senior Ladies Footballers beat Annaclone by seven points. The ladies dominated the game but this was not reflected on the scoreboard. They did play a very attractive brand of football and deservedly took the title. The winning team was Aisleen Burns, Ciara Gibson, Orla Boyle, Mairead Hardy, Cara Cunningham, Sarah McArdle, Kyla Trainor, Aine Keown and Anna Rogan. Next up and probably one of the finest displays of the day was our Senior Hurlers. In Sevens irrespective of whether it is football, hurling or camogie you need to keep the boot to the board. This was precisely what the lads did and went flat out to retain the title with quite a bit to spare at the expense of Clonduff. The team was; Tony Ferris, Aidan Keown, Cahal keown, Colum McCann, Jake Carville, Jason Croskery, Joe Lennon, Shane Smyth, Aidan Caldwell, and Paul King. A special mention to “our Jasey” who scored a hat-trick. He just loves sevens hurling! Last but by no means least our Senior Footballers. They retained their title at the expense of Clonduff by seven points. This was a tight enough affair with the lads staying in front throughout the game. It wasn’t until Dan Morgan hit the net for the second time that the result was in no doubt. Congratulations to big Finty on getting the Man of the Match award. The photos will show him balancing two trophies a medal and his two children Orla and Niamh. Is this him being multi-talented! Well done to Fintan McGreevy, Rory Burns, Conal Corrigan, Dan Morgan, Barry Travers, Liam McKibben, Donal McKibben, Collie Flanagan, Shane McCann and Caolam Brogan.
* The training Schedule for the week is as follows; Thursday May 30th 6.3pm0-7.30pm Bann Road P3-P5 Hurling. Friday May 31st 5.00pm-6.00pm St Malachy’s Park U12 Boys Football. Saturday June 1st 10.00am-10.45am St Malachy’s Park Nursery, P1 & P2 Hurling and Camogie. 10.00am-10.45am St Malachy’s Park P3-P7 Camogie. 10.00am-11.00am St Malachy’s Park U12 Boys Hurling. 10.45am-11.30am St Malachy’s Park Nursery, P1 and P2 Boys Football and Girls Football. TBC St Malachy’s Park P5/P6 Hurling Blitz
* The Attack Fitness Circuits will continue in The Club on Thursday evenings at 7.00pm.
* The new club gear is due to arrive and will be distributed in week commencing 3rd June. The training tops ordered will take a little while longer and will be distributed separately. As stated previously there have been a few enquiries about the new club gear and availability for collection. When the order arrives and is sorted we will let everyone know when they can collect their orders.
* The numbers in this week’s lotto were 10, 13, 17 & 24. There were no jackpot winners and three £20 winners this week; Vincent Brannigan, Clare Dougherty and Brian Dougherty. Next week’s jackpot is £3950.