UNDER 21 HURLERS:
After watching Limerick beat Galway in the national league, it was straight back to Clarina for the big game of the day which was of course the City U21B final between Crecora Manister and Ballybrown.
The conditions were good for this time of year and Ballybrown started at a fierce pace and raced into an early lead with a goal and 3 points scored before Crecora Manister had a chance to settle down.
Indeed Ballybrown would also finish the game with a late brace of goals but for the 50 minutes in between Crecora Manister dominated their opponents.  During this time Edwin Wixted and Conor Kirby got the vital goals that brought us back into the game and James Conheady kept slotting dead balls over the crossbar to keep the scoreboard ticking over.
This was Crecora Manister’s first time in a few years being able to field at this level without amalgamating with other clubs and that in itself was a great achievement, but winning the cup was the icing on the cake.  The game was played in a very competitive manner and was a battle to the end but at all times it was a tough but sporting encounter and a score line of 3-15 to 3-14 was a credit to both teams.
Crecora Manister were leading by 6 points as the game went into added time but 2 late goals by Ballybrown had the crowd on their feet but a Brendan Power point in the dying seconds was the differance on the scoreboard as the referee blew the final whistle.
We lined out as follows: Tomás Connolly; Pádraig Byrnes, Páraic O’Neill, Cian Enright; Tom Shanahan, Barry Fitzgibbon, Cian Leahy; Richard Murphy, James Conheady; Michael Fitzgerald, Shane O’Connor, Jake Loughran; Conor Kirby, Ciarán Humphries, Edwin Wixted. Brendan Power, Colin Hagney.

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JUNIOR HURLING:
The first round of the County Junior Hurling League will take place this Sunday 18th at 12 noon where we host our neighbours Mungret. All support welcome.

JUNIOR FOOTBALLERS:
Our Junior Footballers opened their All-County League campaign with a 3-7 to 0-10 win over Cappagh. Their next game is down for Saturday 7th April when they meet our near neighbours Fedamore.

Limerick Greyhound Stadium launched one of the world’s richest juvenile races, the Con & Annie Kirby Memorial 2018 which now enters its sixth running at the Limerick venue.

The first round heats kick off at the Limerick venue on 24 March 2018 and will run over four weeks, culminating in the final on Saturday 21 April.

Sponsored by Noreen and JP McManus in honour of her parents, Con & Annie Kirby – the competition has the biggest prize fund in Ireland after the Irish Greyhound Derby, with a total fund of €160,000.

Limerick GAA clubs also share in the event fund with an opportunity to compete for their share in €20,000, as all clubs will be nominated to a greyhound as they progress in the competition. The winning greyhound’s assigned GAA club will win a nominator prize of €10,000 and a free benefit night at Limerick Greyhound Stadium. Over the past five years, Limerick GAA clubs will have benefitted from €100,000 in funding.

Ahane GAA took home the €10,000 prize in 2017 and the club’s secretary Maire Ní Riain described the memorial as a ‘remarkable event’ and wished to thank Noreen & J.P McManus for their kind sponsorship. The club has since embarked on investing in new dressing rooms.

The competition has grown in recent years to include a Banner Competition for the participating Limerick GAA Clubs, an Easter Family Fun Event and a Poc Fada Competition.

Since its inception, many of the great track champions of the past five years have been involved in the Con & Annie Kirby Memorial. These include the winners from four out of the last five Irish Greyhound Derbys; Rural Hawaii, Ballymac Matt, Laughil Blake and Slippery Robert – all who commenced their racing careers with the event.

Chairman of the Irish Greyhound Board (IGB) Phil Meaney added “The Con & Annie Kirby is a wonderful highlight of the racing calendar. The kind support of Noreen & JP McManus cannot be underestimated. The juvenile race acts as a stepping stone for Ireland’s young and rising greyhound stars. The support for Limerick GAA creates a County full of winners.”

Chairman of Limerick County Board John Cregan said “The Con and Annie Kirby is certainly one of the highlights of Limerick’s sporting year, and its staging provides much needed support to our GAA Clubs, our greyhound industry and to Limerick greyhound stadium and is of course a fitting tribute to the memory of the parents of Noreen Mc Manus.” John continued, “This event affords our Clubs the opportunity to participate for very valuable prize money and brings communities together as they anticipate victory. Limerick GAA have a long and proud association with the Mc Manus family and greatly appreciate their ongoing support and unwavering generosity to our County teams through our new sponsors Adare Manor Hotel and to our Clubs through the Con & Annie Kirby.

For more information on the Con & Annie Kirby Memorial Stake, please visit www.LimerickGreyhoundStadium.ie or follow the competition on social media using #Kirby2018.

UNDER 21 Hurlers
Our under 21 hurlers played the second round of the City championship against Southside Gaels (Claughaun & Old Christians).in Crecora on Saturday 24^th February. Despite a battling first half display, Southside proved too strong in the second half and eventually ran out 3-21 to 1-8 winners.

Next up for our lads is a city ‘B’ final against Ballybrown next weekend with time, date and venue to be confirmed.

Team: Tomás Connolly, Cian Enright, Cian Leahy, Pádraig Byrnes; Páraic O’Neill, Karl Moloney, Tom Shanahan; Mark Shanahan, Richard Murphy; James Conheady, Edwin Wixted, Barry Fitzgibbon; Ciarán Humphreys, Jake Loughran, Donnacha Connolly; Shane O’Connor, Michael Bateman, Colin Heagney.

UNDER 14
Our under 14 team were narrowly beaten by Patrickswell in the opening round of the county Féile na nGael on a scoreline of 1-2 to 0-2. This is a young team that will now focus their attention on the league and championship.

Our U14 football team had a great 1 point win against a fancied Claughan team in the opening round of Péil na nÓg on Sunday 25^th February. Throughout the game there was no more than a score between the teams and in the last 5 minutes the lead changed 3 or 4 times. They showed great heart to see the game out and set up a quarter final game against Ahane. Best of luck to the team and mentors in the next round.

HARTY CUP
Congratulations to our own Cathal O’Neill who was a member of the victorious Ardscoil Rís team who defeated Midleton CBS by 3-18 to 2-10 in the final. Cathal contributed 1-3 to the winning tally and he and his teammates will look forward to an All-Ireland semi-final on the 19th March with the opposition still unknown as of yet.