ARAGLIN G.A.A.

- Meeting on Monday night -

A meeting of Araglin GAA Club takes place upstairs in the racquetball court on Monday night next (31st August) at 9pm. All officers and as many members as possible are requested to attend. The parents of children involved in juvenile training are especially welcome. A number of important items need to be discussed and everyone’s contribution is valuable.

DIVISION 3 FOOTBALLERS BOW OUT

Football activity for 2009 came to an end in Ballygiblin last Friday evening, the final score was Araglin 1-10 Mitchelstown 2-08. Even allowing for the fact that hurling had taken precedence in recent weeks this was still a disappointing performance.

Mitchelstown weren’t hectic but they played the more constructive football and 2 goals close to the end of the game decided the matter. Our first half scores came from Sean Allen (a goal), Vincent O’Donoghue (2 points), Gus (a point) and Kevin Fitzgerald (a point). The score at half time was 1-04 to 0-03 in our favour.

The standard of football served up by both sides was mediocre, however, the closeness of the match ensured the result was in doubt right to the end. Kevin Condon and John Condon were introduced for Sean Allen and Seamus Condon.

Two frees (Gus and Dooner) made it 1-06 to 0-08 and in the final quarter Cain O’Mahony and Gus added points, Kevin Condon also got on the scoresheet and our 10th point from Gus (a free) finished proceedings. Mitchelstown advance to the final where they’ll play either Fermoy or Milford.

There may still be a division 2 hurling play off match to be played, we should know for certain by the end of the week. It’s been a long season for the players and they all are looking forward to good break from the demands of the playing field. Panel and scorers: Shane O’Keeffe, PJ Ahern, Sean O’Doherty, Paul Hickey, Paddy Kenneally, Shay Russell, Tom Kenneally (0-01 free) Vincent O’Donoghue (0-02), Tom Lyons, Sean Allen (1-00), Kevin Fitzgerald (0-01), Cain O’Mahony (0-01), James Kearney (0-04, 2 frees), Dave Browne and Seamus Condon. Subs: John Condon for Sean Allen and Kevin Condon (0-01) for Seamus Condon. Other subs: Paddy O’Donoghue, Laurence Lomasney and Stephen Drislane and Tom Feeney. Referee: Nelius O’Donoghue (Charleville)

ALL-IRELAND HURLING TICKETS

The club is receiving 4 All-Ireland hurling tickets. As is most likely demand will exceed supply resulting in a draw for these tickets. This draw will be confined to paid up members of Araglin GAA Club for 2009. Those interested in being in the draw should give their names to the secretary as soon as possible, the weekend at the latest.

CLUB LOTTO

Ticket sellers and supporters were on duty last Thursday night for the weekly lotto. Numbers drawn: 09, 13, 20 and 22. 3 people matched 3 numbers but no one matched 4. The consolation prizes went to: Sean O’Brien, Glenduff (€50); Ava Hegarty, Barnahown (€50), Dave Ahern, Doon (€25) and Joan Quirke, Araglin (€25). Tonight’s jackpot is worth €9,700. Tickets priced at €2 each are available locally.

LOTTO CARD SPONSOR

The club is grateful to Anthony Brackett for sponsoring the latest batch of lotto tickets, any individual or company interested in sponsoring tickets in the near future should contact the club secretary on 087-7710971, it’s an effective way of promoting your business over a wide area.

WEDDINGS

Congratulation to Mairead Rice (Araglin) and John Mullins who were married last Saturday. All the best to Peter O’Loughlin and Anne O’Donoghue who are getting married this weekend.

ALL-IRELAND SUCCESS

Well done to Mike Lyons on his involvement with the Cork junior footballers who were crowned All-Ireland champions last week when they overcame Roscommon. Mike has been a selector with a variety of Cork junior teams for the last number of years and has enjoyed great success.

UNIQUE PARTY AT CHRISTY'S

The Swallow Inn (Christy’s Bar) in Araglin continues to do a very good trade. Proprietor, Christy Aherne is very supportive of clubs and associations and in turn locals support this popular public house.

On Saturday night last a Fermoy couple, Frances Foley and Neville Howard had a joint hen and stag party in the bar. Music was by the Butterfly Band and the event was a great success.

CLUB REGEREE

Our club referee John Ahern will officiate at a division 3 hurling league play off game between Kildorrery and Shanballymore on Friday evening (28th) in Castletownroche at 6.45pm sharp. Any assistance would be appreciated.

MITCHELSTOWN BADMINTON CLUB

- Badminton is back -

September is almost upon us and the kids are back in school, so that can only mean one thing, Badminton is back! Tuesday, 1st of September will be the opening club night of the new season.

We have a host of exciting events lined up for this season including club tournaments, our first ever open tournament, coaching, leagues, cups, socials, table quiz and much more throughout the season. We’ll keep you up to date throughout the season through our usual media i.e. The Avondhu and our internal club notice board and also this year we intend to launch a club website (coming soon!).

Club nights, as always, will be on Tuesday and Thursday nights from 8pm in the CBS hall. For anyone who is interested in playing on teams, there will be training on Wednesday nights.

New member are always welcome at the club and in order to cater for them our resident coaches will be running a beginners and improvers night on Monday nights. This is suitable for those who have never played before, those who haven’t played in some years and those who want to brush up on their skills and improve their game.

The time is yet to be confirmed for the Monday night sessions, however we are taking names for all those interested.

If you are interested in playing or just want to find out more you can contact Marie Therese on 087-9047485. So in order to whet the appetite for the new season let me present to you 5 reasons why you should play badminton with the Mitchelstown Badminton Club:

1. Did you know that badminton is one of the most popular sports in Ireland? And that it’s a sport that you can play throughout your life, both socially and competitively? Badminton is a great sport for all-round fitness.

2. Badminton is not only fun but is extremely beneficial to your health. Participating in badminton gives a huge number of health benefits and promotes a long, healthy life. Playing badminton keeps you feeling well, strong and motivated. It can help in coping with anxiety and stress and offers a release from the pressures of everyday life.

3. Another important benefit of the game is the hand eye co-ordination that you build using it and the numerous positions that you have to twist into build a strong spine. It is a skilful and intelligent game. Tactics and mental stamina are skills that will be developed

4. At Mitchelstown Badminton Club we have something to offer everybody, from total novice to county player. We have 3 resident coaches in the club who are always willing to impart their knowledge. Our membership rates are very reasonable with, adult, student and family membership rates.

5. Perhaps the most important factor of all is the Badminton Community; badminton is a very social sport and club nights and matches alike always include the opportunities to meet new people and catch up with old friends.

Mitchelstown Badminton Club has a hectic social calendar with club fun nights, fundraisers and Christmas parties, table quizzes and much much more! So why not come along on Tuesday, 1st and see what we are all about!

 

FANAHAN McSWEENEY ATHLETIC CLUB

- All-Ireland joy! -

Club athletes competed with aplomb last weekend representing Cork in the National Community Games athletic finals at Athlone IT stadium. The midland town proved to be an excellent site for competition, fun games, disco dancing and massive entertainment, accommodation, food from Friday to Sunday.

On Saturday, Caragh Moher pucked the sliothar with style over 63 metres in the U14 long puck. Aoife Fitzgerald Kerry took the title here. James McCarthy a young Kilwoth guy in the discus U16 threw the 2.5kg disc over 30 metres to gain a top six place. Westmeath’s Paul Collins won out on his last throw.

Rachel Connolly, despite very wet conditions, competed well in the U16 high jump performing a stylish Fosbury flop. Louth’s Emily Rodgers sailed over the highest. Sarah Connolly in 900m walk U13 had a comfortable 2nd place finish in 5 minutes 13 secs in the semi-final behind Edel Glennon from Westmeath.

In the final the antie was upped a step or two and she romped home in the top seven behind winner Sinead Burke from Kildare. Sarah has a hero and role model in Olive Loughnane world championship walk silver medallist. These 4 athletes are individual county winners in the CMP Dairy sponsored finals.

They truly enjoyed their endeavours. Jenny Connolly, Laura Connolly, Jennifer Connolly, Seamus Fox and Finbarr McCarthy helped out Cork and national committees to run the expansive weekend programme where 2,600 youths competed.

Well done, folks Any remaining participants are invited to pay the sponsored walk monies/contribution to help with the costs of national weekends. This event concludes a massive activity season in the area.

McCARTHY WINS GOLD AND SILVER IN NATIONAL MASTERS

Finbarr McCarthy, club chairman and coach, competed excellently last Sunday in the national master’s championships in Tullamore stadium. He won discus and hammer gold with throws over 40 metres and shot putt silver with a putt over 10 metres. Well done, Finbarr. The oldies can still show the youths winning ways.

KAY WINS ON PATTERN DAY

Exuberant Kay O’Sullivan won a sprint gold at the Pattern Day sports on Saturday last at Ballylanders. Her sister Nora took 80 metre silver.

TRAINING CEASED AT ST. FANAHAN’S

Track and field outdoor training at St Fanahan’s has ceased for the season. New season indoor training will recommence in October. Cross country starts now and if there is sufficient interest in the event coaching will be considered.

Contact chairman Finbarr McCarthy, Seamus Fox 086-2534427. On road runs contact John O’Sullivan 086-2759248.

WORLD ATHLETIC CHAMPIONSHIPS

The Irish, with Olive Loughnane, David Gillick, Derval O’Rourke and Paul Hession, in Berlin done us proud. What about Bolt and co.

EVENING ECHO

Women’s Mini Marathon Monsters premier 4 mile road race Sunday, September 27th, 2009, Cork City Centre, 1pm. Enter online at:www.corkminimarathon.com. Race Office opens Monday, September 14th in Debenhams Patrick Street, Cork. For further details see the Evening Echo or log on to www.corkminimarathon.com.

KILWORTH SQUASH CLUB

- Court upgrades at squash club -

Some of you may have noticed that the court is a lot brighter in recent weeks. On the back of recent light replacements, the courts have also been recently painted which has made a huge improvement to how it looks. This shows the commitment the Sports Complex committee has in our club. Let us return the favour by using this facility as much as possible. Thanks to the Sports Complex committee for their input here.

WEBSITE

We are currently constructing our own website which hopefully should be online by mid September. This will be a very simple website providing weekly notes, details of the ladders, internal and external tournaments among other useful information. If anyone has any ideas or would like to assist, then please send in your suggestions.

CLUB TOURNAMENT – AUTUMN LEAGUE

In order to encourage players to get back into the swing of things, we will be formulating an autumn league in the forthcoming weeks. We will be sending out more details on this shortly.

MUNSTER SQUASH OPEN

It’s time to get cracking on improving your shots with the impending Munster Squash Open. This is due to take place on the weekend 16th-18th October in Cork city, which is only 7 weeks away.

We would like to encourage all players to participate, as this can be a great opportunity to play some new players and a good experience for your squash. Hopefully, someone from our club may emulate the exploits of our club chairman when he won the D section last year. As winner, he now moves into section C.

COACHING

The 45 minute coaching sessions will be starting again shortly and will be for newcomers, beginners and advanced. These will more than likely take place on Wednesday and/or Thursday evenings. Watch this space for more details.

We will also be getting the juveniles involved although this may take place on Saturday mornings. Again, this is to be confirmed.

If you are interested, please feel free to tag along. Just bring your tracksuit, runners and squash racquet.

MUNSTER SQUASH LEAGUES

Following on from the success of winning the men’s division 4 league last year, Kilworth will be looking at stiffer competition when competing in the division 3 leagues. While this is a big step up, we should be well placed with some notable additions to our club, which include Garth Littlejohn all the way from New Zealand and Derek Slattery, both of whom will be aiming to make their mark this season.

In addition, it is hoped that we will continue to have the same interest in the division 4 league also. Last year we had a panel of 14 players, with 8 players used over the course of the tournament. With this large panel of players available, we would like to think that we will be able to field two men’s teams this season.

PARS ADOPTED INTO RULES

The new Rules of Squash have adopted Point-A-Rally (PAR) as the official scoring system for squash. So it looks like that’s the system that will apply throughout the squash world for the foreseeable future.

CASTLETOWNROCHE G.A.A.

- All square in Doneraile -

PREMIER JUNIOR HURLING CHAMPIONSHIP SEMI-FINAL

At the time of writing, our semi-final joust with Clyda Rovers has been fixed for Saturday night in Ballyclough at 6.30pm.

I say at the time of writing because Cork’s victory over Tyrone on Sunday last may cast a doubt over the availability of Clyda’s Ray Carey and Paudie Kissane for our hurling match, so it would be advisable to stay in touch with team or club officials for accurate updates.

We have already met Clyda in the championship this year, in the first round and it is a night that we quickly wanted to forget afterwards, as we were on the wrong end of a 12 point defeat.

However, we have made steady progress since, beating Mallow by 5 points and Churchtown by 2 points after leading by 13 points at one stage. It would be fair to say that our form has been erratic this year, but if we play to our potential on Saturday night, there is no reason why we can’t redeem ourselves against this talented Clyda outfit.

Saying that, we have qualified ourselves for the semi-final of the league also, in which we have drawn with no less a team than Charleville on Wednesday night week last, so we are optimistic about our chances on Saturday night.

It would be encouraging to see a large contingent of supporters in Ballyclough on Saturday, so we are appealing for you to travel in numbers and get behind the lads in their quest for another North Cork final appearance.

DIVISON 1 HURLING LEAGUE SEMI-FINAL

Castletownroche 1-15 Charleville 3-9
As mentioned above, the lads played out a thrilling draw with Charleville in the semi-final of the Cavanagh’s sponsored division 1 hurling league in Doneraile recently.

On a night not conducive to good hurling, both sides served up some wonderful passages, and though we squandered a 6 point interval lead, a draw was a fair result in the end, with both sides deserving a second chance.

The first quarter of this match was very lifeless, with both teams not showing much appetite for the battle.

But as the half limped on, our guys started to hurl with abandon, with Mark O’Callaghan, Donal Relihan and Jonathan O’Callaghan very much to the fore in attack. Mick Browne and Derek Noonan held the reins at midfield and David Relihan, Billy Norris and Richie Relihan were commanding figures against tricky opponents in defence.

The concession of a fortuitous long-range goal in the 20th minutes was a bit of belly-blow but we still went in at the break 6 points to the good 1-10 to 1-04, our goal coming from Philip Murphy after unselfish approach work from Maurice Madden.

As expected, Charleville, dethroned North Cork champions, came out for the second half in bullish form and took the game to us from the off. The loss of young star Mark O’Callaghan, with a nasty head injury early in the half, had a detrimental effect on our scoring prowess up front.

Charleville banged in two more goals in this half and the writing seemed to be on the wall for us. Donal and Jonathan seized the game by the scruff of the neck again though and scored a couple of glorious points to keep us in the hunt. In the dying moments Jonathan pointed a free from the middle of the field to give us what looked like the winning score.

But, resilient Charleville came knocking on the door again and despite valiant attempts to repel them they eventually got their equaliser and the final whistle sounded immediately after. Extra time was to be played, but failing light prohibited this course of action, so both teams lived to fight another day.

An excellent game in preparation for our tie with Clyda on Saturday, although a victory would have been the desired result. Team: Mick O’Farrell, Wes Walshe, Rich Relihan, Billy Norris, Harry O’Farrell, John Batterberry, Dave Relihan, Mick Browne, Derek Noonan, Jonathan O’Callaghan, Donal Relihan, Philip Murphy, Mark O’Callaghan, Maurice Madden and Alan O’Driscoll. Subs used: Will Madden and Dave Butler.

FIXTURES

Junior hurling semi-final v Clyda Rovers in Ballyclough on Saturday, 29th August at 6.30pm. Please travel and support.