GAA Notes
O'KEEFFE’S LATE POINT
DENIES LIBERTIES
County Minor A Hurling Championship semi-final
Granagh-Ballingarry/Rathkeale…3-12
South Liberties…3-12
A point from a 40 metre placed ball two minutes into added time by Cathal O'Keeffe earned Granagh-Ballingarry/Rathkeale a deserved draw with South Liberties in a thrilling six-goal County Minor Hurling Championship semi-final in front of a big crowd in ideal conditions at Clarina on Sunday morning. The Ballybrown officials had the pitch in top class condition for this county semi-final between two fine sporting sides who produced over 60 minutes of exciting hurling with a draw a fair result at John Paul Kiely’s final whistle.
South Liberties hit four wides to one for Granagh-Ballingarry/Rathkeale in the first four minutes before Conor O'Donoghue of Granagh-Ballingarry/Rathkeale opened the scoring with a cracking goal on 5 minutes. The next four minutes were close and exciting with points traded by Niall Gannon and Mike Morrissey and from placed balls by Brian Ryan and Cathal O'Keeffe to leave it Granagh-Ballingarry/Rathkeale 1-2 South Liberties 0-2 on 9 minutes.
South Liberties now began to u their game with points by John Noonan from play on 11 minutes and Brian Ryan from placed balls on 13 and 15 minutes to leave the sides level, Granagh-Ballingarry/Rathkeale 1-2 South Liberties 0-5. A couple of wides were exchanged before points from placed balls by Cathal O'Keeffe on 17, 19 and 21 minutes were followed two minutes later by a smashing Seán O'Connor goal after a good solo run to leave Granagh-Ballingarry/Rathkeale six ahead 2-5 to 0-5. South Liberties far from being overawed, had a white flag from a placed ball by Brian Ryan on 25 minutes, followed two minutes later by a goal by Seán King to reduce the gap to two, Granagh-Ballingarry/Rathkeale 2-5 South Liberties 1-6 on 27 minutes. the last three minutes of this exciting first half saw points traded by Cathal O'Keeffe from play and Brian Ryan from a placed ball to leave Granagh-Ballingarry/Rathkeale two up at the interval, 2-6 to 1-7.
Granagh-Ballingarry/Rathkeale made a good start to the second half when a long delivery from Seamus Keating was finished past South Liberties keeper Ciarán Kennedy by his brother Brian to increase the West champions’ lead to five, 3-6 to 1-7 on 32 minutes. a couple of wides were exchanged before Cathal O'Keeffe pointed from a 65 on 36 minutes to leave six between the sides. Brian Ryan closed the gap to three with a cracking goal following a good solo run before points were traded from placed balls by Cathal O'Keeffe on 39 minutes and Brian Ryan on 41 to leave Granagh-Ballingarry/Rathkeale still three ahead 3-8 to 2-8. Then after four scoreless minutes Brian Keating of Granagh-Ballingarry/Rathkeale pointed before Brian Ryan from a placed ball on 48 minutes and Shane Brosnahan on 51 won points back for South Liberties to make it Granagh-Ballingarry/Rathkeale 3-9 South Liberties 2-10.
The next six minutes saw points exchanged by Mike Morrissey on 54 minutes and Seán Keane on 55, Brendan Lynch on 56 and Seán Keane on 57, before Brian Ryan finished past Granagh-Ballingarry /Rathkeale keeper Eoin Kelly to put South Liberties ahead 3-12 to 3-11 on 59 minutes. The excitement rose when Cathal O'Keeffe of Granagh-Ballingarry/Rathkeale sent a 65 left and wide before he split the uprights with a 40 metre placed ball on 32 minutes to take this enthralling 30-score contest to a replay, denying South Liberties a county final against old Christians of Claughaun. One of the many highlights of this thrilling contest was the four top-class saves made by the Granagh-Ballingarry/Rathkeale keeper, Eoin Kelly, to keep his side in the game. Granagh-Ballingarry/Rathkeale scored 3-5 from play, 0-5 from frees and 0-2 from a 65; South Liberties scored 3-5 from play and 0-7 from frees.
The replay is on Sunday 25th October in Clarina at 11am.
Granagh-Ballingarry/Rathkeale: Eoin Kelly, Paudie Power, Gearóid Mulcaire, Edward Sheehy, Andrew White, Brendan Lynch 0-1, Aaron Smith, Mike Morrissey 0-2, Seamus Keating, Seán O'Connor 1-0, Cathal O'Keeffe 0-8, Barry Coleman, Conor O'Donoghue 1-0, Richie O'Keeffe, Brian Keating 0-1. Sub used: Cormac Snow.
South Liberties: Ciarán Kennedy, Seán O'Brien, Brendan Aherne, Joe Gannon, John Noonan 0-1, Brian Nash, Jack Fitzpatrick, Brian Ryan 2-7, Seán Keane 1-2, Shane Brosnahan 0-1, Niall Gannon 0-1, Eoghan Godfrey, Stephen Kilcoyne, Cillian Reynolds, Mark Walsh. Subs used: Matthew Gaule, Brian Geary.
Referee: John Paul Kiely, Fedamore.
SECOND-HALF GOALS VITAL TO WIN
Barry Quaid memorial Cup final
Croagh-Kilfinny…3-20
Granagh-Ballingarry…1-15
Croagh-Kilfinny came from four points down to beat West Junior B champions Granagh-Ballingarry by 11 points courtesy of three second-half goals by Stephen Casey, Eamon Hanley and John Casey to win the inaugural Barry Quaid Memorial Junior Hurling Tournament in ideal conditions at Croagh on Saturday. A good crowd turned up to watch this game played on a top class pitch with Michael O'Flaherty in charge.
Declan Mullane and Marcus Moore exchanged points in the first two minutes but the next five minutes belonged to John O'Grady of Granagh-Ballingarry with four points, from play on 3 minutes, a 65 on 5 minutes and placed balls on 5 and 7 minutes to leave it 0-5 to 0-1. The next ten minutes were tense and exciting with points exchanged by Declan Mullane on 8 minutes and John O'Grady from a placed ball on 10, John Casey on 12 minutes and John O'Grady from a placed ball on 14, Mark Storan on 15 ins and John O'Grady from a placed ball on 17 to leave Granagh-Ballingarry still four ahead 0-8 to 0-4. Points by John Casey of Croagh-Kilfinny on 18 and 20 minutes closed the gap to two before a well taken point from play after a good solo run by John O'Grady was followed by a cracking Kevin Forde goal to increase Granagh-Ballingarry’s advantage to six, 1-9 to 0-6 on 23 minutes. then John Casey of Croagh-Kilfinny closed the gap to four with points on 24 minutes and from a placed ball on 27. The teams went in for half-time with Granagh-Ballingarry leading 1-9 to 0-8.
The first six minutes after the restart were exciting with points by Mark Snow of Granagh-Ballingarry on 32 and 34 minutescancelled out from placed balls by Stephen Casey on 35 and 36 minutes to leave Granagh-Ballingarry still four ahead 1-11 to 0-10. Then Mark Mullane on 38 minutes and Stephen Casey from a placed ball on 39 won points back for Croagh-Kilfinny before points were traded by John O'Grady from ap laced ball on 40 minutes and Stephen Casey on 41 to leave two between the sides, Granagh-Ballingarry 1-12 Croagh-Kilfinny 0-13 on 41 minutes.
The hurling in the next four minutes was poor as both sides found it hard to create scoring chances. Then the game turned in favour of Croagh-Kilfinny with goals by Stephen Casey on 46 minutes and Eamonn Hanley on 47 followed by a well taken point by Stephen Casey on 48 minutes to leave it 2-14 to 1-12 in favour of Croagh-Kilfinny.
Then points were traded by Brian Fitzgerald on 49 minutes and Stephen Casey on 50 and from placed balls by Stephen Casey on 51 minutes and John O'Grady on 53 to leave Croagh-Kilfinny still eight ahead 2-16 to 1-14 on 53 ins. Then Eamonn Hanley on 54 minutes and Brian Hannon on 55 and 57 minutes had points for Croagh-Kilfinny before Granagh-Ballingarry captain Mark Tierney pointed from a 65 on 58 minutes: Croagh-Kilfinny 2-19 Granagh-Ballingarry 1-15. Croagh-Kilfinny rounded off a strong all-round second-half display with 1-1 from the stick of John Casey in the last two minutes to leave the home side worthy winners of the first ever Barry Quaid memorial Junior Hurling Tournament by 3-20 to 1-15. Granagh-Ballingarry were sporting in defeat and stayed on the pitch for the presentation of the Cup by John Quaid, father of the late Barry, to Croagh-Kilfinny captain Bryan McHugh. Croagh-Kilfinny scored 3-15 from play and 0-5 from frees; Granagh-Ballingarry scored 1-6 from play, 0-7 from frees and 0-2 from 65s.
Granagh-Ballingarry: Conor Mulqueen, Mickie O'Keeffe, Eoin Cahill, Stephen Hickey, Kieran Condron, Michael Walsh, Michael O'Rourke, Brian Fitzgerald 0-1, Eoin Casey, Mark Snow 0-2, Kevin Forde 1-0, John O'Grady 0-10, Padraig Lynch, Marcus Moore 0-1, Kevin O'Kelly. Subs used: Mark Tierney 0-1, Patrick Potter, Patrick Shelton, Niall Carroll, Brian Noonan, Neil Dunworth, Brian Healy.
Croagh-Kilfinny: Tomás O'Connor, Liam Collins, Bryan McHugh, Denis Lenihan, Liam Lenihan, Brendan O'Connor, Mark Mullane 0-1, Brian Hannon 0-2, Ryan McCarthy, Mark Storan 0-1, John Casey 1-5, Declan Mullane 0-2, Joseph Hannon, Stephen Casey 1-8, Michael White, James Quaid, Eamonn Hanley 1-1.
Referee: Michael O'Flaherty, Rathkeale.
U15 county hurling final
Claughaun at 1.15pm is the venue this Sunday 18th October for the meeting of Granagh-Ballingarry and Shamrock Gaels representing Dromina Athlacca and Banogue in the county U15 hurling final. Please support if possible.
22nd camogie crown
At sunny Newcastle West on Sunday Granagh-Ballingarry were crowned Limerick county senior camogie champions for the 22nd time with a hard fought 1-4 to 1-3 win over gallant Killeedy. Granagh-Ballingarry now play the Clare champions in the Munster Championship semi-final on Saturday 24th October in Ballingarry at 2.30pm.
Junior B hurling semi-final
Granagh-Ballingarry will bid to reach their first county Junior B Hurling Championship final since they lost to Bruree in 2008 when they clash with holders and All-Ireland champions Doon on Sunday 18th October in Bruff at 11am. so Bruff is the placefor all Granagh-Ballingarry Gaels on Sunday to cheer on the boys in black and green and their management team of Conor O'Keeffe, Liam Carroll, Andrew Holmes and Stephen Stapleton.
Lottery
The numbers drawn on Monday 12th October in Barrett’s bar Ballingarry were 8, 13, 15 and 28. The jackpot was not won. Lucky dips of €20 each: Angelina O'Grady, John Bennett, Wesley and Niamh O'Grady and Mary Chawke. The next draw is on Monday 19th October for a jackpot of €9,900. We thank all our punters for their continued support.
Club diary
Friday 16th October
County 13-a-side Minor Hurling Championship semi-final, Crecora v Glenroe in Kilbreedy at 8pm
Saturday 17th October
County Senior Football Championship relegation final, Adare v Rathkeale in Askeaton at 1pm
County Premier Intermediate Hurling Championship semi-final replay, Bruree v Monaleen, Fitzgerald Park Kilmallock, 2.15pm
County Intermediate Hurling Championship semi-final replay, Feohanagh-Castlemahon v Glenroe, Fitzgerald Park Kilmallock, 3.45pm
County Premier Minor Hurling Championship semi-final, Doon v Na Piarsaigh in Bruff 3.45pm
County Junior B Football Championship quarter-final, Camogue Rovers v St. Senan's, Mick Neville Park Rathkeale 6pm
Sunday 18th October
County Junior B Hurling Championship quarter-finals, Granagh-Ballingarry v Doon in Bruff 11am, Feohanagh-Castlemahon v Monaleen in Clarina 11am
City/East Minor A Hurling Championship final, South Liberties v Old Christians or Claughaun, Caherconlish 11am
County U15 Hurling Championship final, Granagh-Ballingarry v Shamrock Gaels in Claughaun at 1.15pm
County 13-a-side Minor Football Championship final, Athea v Ballylanders in Ballyagran at 11am
County Premier Minor Football Championship final, Fr. Casey’s v Newcastle West, Fitzgerald Park Kilmallock 2.15pm
County Senior Football Championship final, Dromcollogher-Broadford v Newcastle West, Fitzgerald Park Kilmallock 4pm
Tuesday 20th October
County Junior a Hurling Championship semi-final, Doon v Na Piarsaigh, Gaelic Grounds, 8pm
Sunday 25th October
County Minor A Hurling Championship semi-final replay, South Liberties v Granagh-Ballingarry/Rathkeale in Clarina 11am
