On Saturday 14^th October in Caherconlish our Minors played Knockainey in the Football Championship Final. Having to play against a strong wind during the first half we decided to play an extra player around midfield. Patrick Dolphin played this part and he did an excellent job. He was well assisted by Karl Moloney and Donnacha Connolly.

With some lovely passing movements from midfield and the running off the ball by Phillip O’Toole and Richard Murphy we created a number of scoring opportunities and got some quality points which were scored by Killian Scanlon, Shane O’Connor, Philip O’Toole and Richard Murphy. Eoin Feeney and Shane O’Connor also put away two unstoppable goals. After a lot of hard work during the first half we were ahead at the break by 2 – 5 to 0 – 8.

We knew that Knockainey would come back at us in the second half and during the first 15 minutes they picked off very good points. So much that they went one point ahead of us. During this period John Bourke our goalkeeper made a couple of great saves. Our full back line Tom Shanahan and Darragh O’Keeffe defended very well and they made sure the ball was carried out of the danger zone as quick as they could.

It takes a good team to get back to winning ways and get some momentum going. Michael Fitzgerald grabbed a couple of great balls in the air and we began to build from the back. Michael was well assisted by Philip O’Toole and Ciaran Humphries who won two frees at a vital stage of the game. From these Karl and Donnacha notched on another couple of points.

Just like in the semi-final we finished strongly with Padraig Byrnes and Matthew Stenson keeping the Knockainey defence under pressure it paid dividends as Karl and Peter Boohan scored a couple of excellent points. With just a couple of minutes remaining a quick ball was played in from midfield which Peter ran on to and with one touch he tucked just inside the left post for a great goal. It was like something that you would see at the Markets Field. We went on to win the game with a full time score of Crecora Manister  3 – 11         Knockainey 0 – 12

It was great to see the smile and delight on Donnacha Connolly’s face as he accepted the cup and the nice words he spoke on this win.

These are a brilliant bunch of lads to work with and the club is in a very good position going forward with these players at the helm.

Panel:   John Bourke, Tom Shanahan, Darragh O’Keeffe, Phillip O’Toole, Michael Fitzgerald, Ciaran Humphries, Karl Moloney, Donnacha Connolly(captain), Killian Scanlon, Richard Murphy, Shane O’Connor, Patrick Dolphin, Eoin Feeney, Peter Boohan, Padraig Byrnes, Matthew Stenson.

The Crecora Manister Under 10 squad played in the na Piarsaigh organised annual Tommy Burtchaell Tournament on Saturday October 14^th, 2017 at the  na Piarsaigh GAA grounds.

Game 1 : Kilnadema, Co. Leitrim

We played our first game against Kilnadema from Co. Leitrim and playing against a strong wind in the first half, we struggled to get to grips with the power and hurling skills of Kilnadema and trailed at half time by ten points. On the change of ends, Crecora Manister took the game to their opponents and narrowed the deficit to four points at the full time whistle. All the players responded well to the coaches half time talk and the encouragement from the parents on the side-line.

Game 2 : Blarney, Co. Cork

Our second game saw our players continue the excellent progress from previous games and while playing against a strong breeze, we trailed Blarney on a scoreline of 1-2 to 1-1. The Crecora goal being scored by Niall Conheady from a powerful close in free. The second half showed the Crecora/Manister boys take the game to their opponents and some superb play from the inside forward line of Jack Lane, Daniel Woods  and Brian Maher, supported by the  excellent hurling of Cian Dillon, Evan O’Byrne  and Matthew McInerney in the half forward saw us take the lead with a minute to play on the scorline of 2-4 to 2-2. The last minutes were nail biting but the superb defending by Daryl Hedderman, Tommy Gore, Mark O’Keeffe, David Holmes,  Oisin Foster, Brendan Hassett ,Cillian Ryan, and goalkeeper Harry Buckley, supplemented by the free scoring Niall Conheady and Liam Mulqueen in midfield ensured we held on to win on a scoreline of 2-6 – 2-4.

Game 3 : Na Piarsaigh, Limerick

Our third and final group game saw our players continue the good performance in the previous games and on this occasion we began by playing with the wind and scored three early goals from Evan O’Byrne, Brian Maher and Niall Conheady and several long range points from Cian Dillon and Matthew McInerney. Daryl Hedderman and Mark O’Keeffe dominated the Na Piarsaigh forwards and Oisin Foster and David Holmes played some lovely diagonal balls into our foward and this resulted in Crecora/Manister leading at half time by 3-5 to 1-2. The opposition came at us strongly in the second half and the performances by Liam Mulqueen, Jack Lane, Tommy Gore and Daniel Woods in defence, Cillian Ryan and Brendan Hassett in midfield and Harry Buckley in goals saw us hold on for a comfortable win at full time on a scoreline of 5-7 to 3-6.

Feature of this game was the hat-trick scored by the ever-improving Evan O’Byrne.

Game 4: Cappamore, Limerick.

Our final game saw us meet the second placed team in Group 2, Cappamore.

This game was much more physical than the previous group games and it was no place for the faint hearted. After a slow start, we began to come to terms with the direct running of this Cappamore side and we went in at half time level at 1-1 apiece.

The second half developed into a no- nonsense battle and a late injury to the inspirational Niall Conheady affected the performance of the Crecora/Manister boys. Cappamore scored a crucial late goal to lead by 2-2 to 1-3, and despite a heroic effort from all the players, we ran out of time despite three late attempts at the Cappamore goal.

In summary, the excellent performances from all the Crecora Manister players augurs well for the future of this squad. The coaches urged all the players to continue working on their skills over the winter period in order to continue the huge progress by this group since April this year.

Thanks to all our boys for their massive effort in the four games, some great commitment and skill shown.

And thanks to all the parents for your support on the day at the tournament and throughout the year.

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On Saturday 7^th October our under 12 hurlers visited Ballincurra Gaels pitch to take part in their inaugural Seamus O’ Ceallaigh hurling tournament. Seamus O’ Ceallaigh was instrumental in setting up Ballinacurra Gaels and was a very active club member through the years.

The tournament started on time with teams from South Liberties, Ballinacurra Gaels (x2) and Crecora Manister competing.

In our first match we played a Ballinacurra Gaels team and we competed well. We were unlucky not to convert some more of our scoring opportunities but our boys showed great spirit, getting stuck in, working together and playing right to the final whistle.

With a spring in our step from our good performance in the first match we played the other Ballinacurra Gaels team following their loss to South Liberties.

In this game we were stronger than our opposition and had the unfamiliar but very welcome experience of winning plenty ball and attacking the opposition’s goal. We had plenty of chances and took some lovely scores. It was great to see our boys pick the ball, run with it and pass it in amoung the forwards.

We only had 12 players available on the day so every one of the players had to step up and play, they did that, took a few knocks and carried on…. see the photo below, Cillian is missing as he had to leave a few minutes before the end of the second match.

It was a very enjoyable day for our players, parents and coaches as our boys did themselves justice, showing their skills on the field, had more confidence, fought for the ball and worked together as a team.

The Ballinacurra Gaels Bord na nÓg Secretary made a short speech congratulating all the players on their efforts and acknowledging the contribution Seamus O’ Ceallaigh made to the Ballinacurra Gaels club. He then presented the Seamus O’Ceallaigh Cup to the joint captains from South Liberties and medals were presented to the Winners and runners up.

Following that all players enjoyed refreshments in the clubhouse.

A big thank you to Eoin Buckley for organising the Tournament & for inviting Crecora Manister and well done on a very well run tournament.