On Sunday the 17th of September our Intermediate Footballers lined out against Meanus FC in honour of Gary O’Connell who passed away in July last year.

Gary was a member of both teams while also playing hurling with the club for a large part of his sporting career.
He won numerous county titles with the club in both codes and is sorely missed by all.

As expected Meanus FC started the brighter with our lads taking time to adjust to the rules of this unfamiliar game.
It also did not help having our teammate Conor Burke togging out for the opposition in the first half.
He duly punished us with a strike from outside the box half way through the first half which gave our trust worthy keeper Darach Skelly no chance.

Our lads grew into the game after this with David Macken unlucky to convert a well worked move which was stopped on the line by Meanus’ Shane O’Connell.
At half time we were a goal down.

A decision was made to bring on the ‘bomb squad’ that included Richard Murphy, Conor Kirby and Shane O’Connor.
We started promisingly in the second half with good link up play between Mark Shanahan and Colm Cassidy giving us a foothold in the opposition half.

Against the run of play however we conceded a goal on the counter attack.
Disappointing as this was, it seemed to galvanise our lads who replied with a well worked goal from Killian Scanlon.

Continued pressure led to our equalising goal scored by Conor Kirby who unleashed a left footed shot from outside the box that left the opposition keeper rooted to the floor.

The stage was set at 2 all and with time running out another member of the aforementioned ‘bomb squad’ duly answered.
A lovely through ball was played past the Meanus defence which allowed Richard Murphy to run onto and emphatically finish to the roof of the net.
With our backs to the wall in the closing minutes we held on through resolute defending from Tim and Evan Moloney.

Our Football Captain Tim Moloney collected the cup on behalf of the team from Gary’s father Anthony.

He thanked the opposition for a very sporting game which was played in good spirit.

He also paid tribute to Gary’s family – Anthony, Bernie, Robert, Alison and Shane & looked forward to the continuation of this tradition for years to come.

Panel: Darach Skelly, Evan Moloney, Tim Moloney, Killian Scanlon, Cormac Flanagan, Jack Dalton, Colm Cassidy, Mark Shanahan, Richard Murphy, John MacManus, Shane O’Connor, David Macken, Donnacha Connolly, Ciaran Humphries, Conor Kirby and Peter Boohan

Management team: Mossy Fitzgerald, Padraig Byrnes, Micheál O’Neill and Mike McCormack

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After 2 weeks of football, the hurling championship resumed with 2 games on the bounce against Tournafulla and Templeglantine.
Both games were high quality high scoring encounters with the outcome in doubt up to the end.

First up for us were Tournafulla, on Saturday 2nd September, a game which was played in Quaid Park Coolyroe in ideal conditions.
We held the upper hand in the first half and with points from Shane Moloney, Richard Murphy, David Power, Cathal O’Neill and Conor Kirby we established a half time lead with a scoreline of 0-18 to 0-11.
Tournafulla came back in the game early in the second half with a succession of scores.

Scores at crucial times from Mark Shanahan, Conor, Rian and Cathal enabled us to keep our noses in front but the lead was reduced to a point with time almost up.
One of the Tournafulla forwards broke through and bore down on goal.
He struck his shot well but Ger Kennedy pulled off a magnificent save to preserve our lead.

The final whistle blew shortly afterwards and we had secured our second win of the campaign.
Final score was 0-24 to 0-23.

Second up was Templeglantine on Saturday 9th September, which again was played in excellent conditions at the Bog Garden, Rathkeale.
One factor which had to be managed was the sweltering heat on what seemed like one of the hottest days of the year.
There was a flurry of scores at both ends at the start of the game with Templeglantine having the slightly better of the exchanges and they established an early 2 point lead.

The game was keenly contested with both teams knowing a win was vital to stay in championship race.
We were unfortunate to lose a man to a red card midway the first half.

However, it inspired our lads to step up a gear and with Cathal O’Neill unerring from frees, a couple of points each from Chris Shanahan and David Power and a goal from Cormac Flanagan when he pulled first time on a ball on the ground, we reached the half way stage in the lead on a scoreline of 1-11 to 0-12.

Despite playing with 14 men, we continued to set the pace in the second half and pushed the lead out to 6 points by midway stage with points from Cathal, David, Rian O’Byrne and the hard working Shane Moloney.
Our defence was holding firm with Darach Skelly, Evan Moloney and Jack Dalton to the fore but Templeglantine gave themselves a lifeline with a goal which went in via a deflection.

The lead was now reduced to 3 points. Again, credit to our lads who stepped up their efforts.

The introduction of Brendan Power and Damien Kearney helped us to re-establish a foothold in the game and we finished strongly with points from Cathal, Cormac and Paraic O’Neill enabling us to close out the game on a scoreline of 1-27 to 1-19.

With one round of league matches to be played, we are in second place in the table on 6 points.
The top 2 teams qualify from each group.
We would like to take this opportunity to wish Ciaran Heagney the very best on his departure to Australia.

Squad : Gerard Kennedy, David Power, Jack Dalton, Tim Moloney, Paraic O’Neill, Richard Murphy, Darach Skelly, Shane Moloney, Rian O’Byrne, Cathal O’Neill, Chris Shanahan, Conor Kirby, Rob Henehan, Cormac Flanagan, Rory Hannan, Brendan Power, James Conheady, Donnacha Connolly, Damien Kearney, Ciaran Heagney, Ciaran Kennedy, Fergal Egan, Evan Moloney, Ciaran Humphreys, Shane O’Connor, Sean Malone, Sean Keyes, Ciaran Cusack.