De La Salle GAA Live

• County U-21 Hurling Final

De La Salle 2-17  Abbeyside 1-14

Well done to our U-21 hurlers sponsored by John Kelly Opel who retained the county title after a hard fought win over Abbeyside in Fraher Field last Sunday. This was a game in which we knew we were going up against a side that would be highly motivated to bring home the Tony Mansfield Memorial Cup, named after one of their club greats. It is fair to say we struggled somewhat in the first half and were fortunate enough to be ahead at half time but in the second half our lads played very well and despite a late Abbeyside fight back we ran out deserving winners. There was great delight after the game when county board chairman Paddy Joe Ryan presented the cup to our outstanding captain Adam Farrell who was also selected as the man of the match.

Congratulations to our lads, manager Bryan Phelan, selectors Ian Flynn, Stevie Brenner, Barry Murphy and Martin Doyle, Joe Kenny on first aid and the rest of the backroom members. Commiserations also to a gallant Abbeyside team.

We opened the scoring in the second minute when the excellent Stephen Dalton took a pass from Thomas Douglas and pointed. A foul on Dylan Foley saw Shane Ryan point a minute later before Abbeyside got on the board in the fourth minute. Shane Ryan stretched our lead from another free in the seventh minute after Thomas Douglas was fouled but three points between the 10th and 12th minutes saw Abbeyside lead 0-4 to 0-3. Jack Fagan pointed in the 13th minute but Abbeyside went back in front in the 18th minute. We were level again a minute later when Stephen Dalton tapped down the sliotar to Adam Farrell who sent over from the half way line. Two points in the 20th and 24th minutes gave Abbeyside a two point lead. An exchange of frees involving Shane Ryan after he was fouled himself had Abbeyside ahead 0-8 to 0-6 after twenty eight minutes.The turning point in the game came in the 29th minute when Brian Cunningham got on the end of Adam Farrell’s delivery and finished to the net. We added two points when first Adam Farrell took a pass from Mikey Costigan to send over and then Shane Ryan pointed after he was fouled himself before Abbeyside pointed a late free to see us ahead 1-8 to 0-9 at half time. Abbeyside began the second half with a point in the second minute but Adam Farrell replied immediately. Shane Ryan pointed a free in the fifth minute after Jack Fagan was fouled but Abbeyside hit back from the puck out. Powered on by senior players Tom Moran and Stephen Dalton in the half back line we took control and when at this stage we introduced Cormac McCann, as he did in both previous games he made a significant impact when in the ninth minute he got on the end of Jack Fagan’s knock down to crash the sliotar to the net. Shane Ryan pointed a free in the 13th minute after Dylan Foley was fouled to make it 2-11 to 0-11. Brian Cunningham pointed in the 19th minute after more good work by Jack Fagan and Abbeyside sent over a free in the 21st minute. Shane Ryan pointed in the 22nd minute after being set up by Adam Farrell. Shane then pointed a sixty five after Abbeyside had saved a goal bound effort from Cormac McCann and he won the resultant puck out and sent it straight over the bar. Further excellent points followed from Stephen Dalton and Jack Fagan to make it 2-17 to 0-12 with a minute of normal time left. Credit to Abbeyside they kept on going and added 1-2 to their tally before the final whistle sounded.

Scorers: Shane Ryan 0-9 (0-6 frees, 0-1 ’65), Brian Cunningham 1-1, Adam Farrell 0-3, Cormac McCann 1-0, Stephen Dalton and Jack Fagan 0-2 each.

Panel: Shaun O’Brien, Lee Wall, Jack McCarthy, Adam Doyle, Gavin Coppinger, Tom Moran, Stephen Dalton, Mikey Costigan, Adam Farrell, Jack Fagan, Dylan Foley, Thomas Douglas,  Brian Cunningham, Shane Ryan, Eddie Meaney, Cormac McCann, Ryan Duke. Evan Whelan, Darragh Fitzpatrick, Donal Carey, James Stone, Thomas Kenny, Ian Condon, Sean Carton, Chris Kong, Sean Power, Kieran O’Donohoe, Jack O’Donohoe, Michael Roche Jeff Cahill (injured), Conor Giles-Doran (injured).

• Inter Provincial Hurling Final

Well done to John Mullane who was a selector on the Munster hurling team who defeated Leinster in the final of the Inter Provincial championship/Railway Cup last Thursday night.

• New Arrival

Congratulations to senior hurler Paidi Nevin and Michelle McGrath on the birth of a baby girl Eva last week.

• Christmas Greetings

Finally we would like to take this opportunity to wish a Happy Christmas to all our players, members, supporters and former members now domiciled abroad. Also to the staff of the various local media organisations who cover our games and who print our notes. Enjoy the festivities.

• County U-21 Hurling Final

The county U-21 hurling final v Abbeyside has been fixed for next Sunday 18th December at 1.30pm in Fraher Field. This is a championship that seems to produce some of the best and most exciting games and our last encounter with next Sunday’s opponents at this level was the 2007 county final in which Abbeyside emerged winners by a point after extra time. Even though it is very close to Christmas we would ask all our supporters to come out and cheer on the lads as we bid to retain the title we won just a few months ago.

• De La Salle GAA and Camogie Clubs Dinner Dance

For the first time we are holding a joint dinner dance between the GAA and camogie clubs. It is taking place in the Granville Hotel on Saturday 18th February 2017 with music by The Bottle Brothers. Tickets are priced at €35 each and go on sale from Monday the 19th December at 7.30pm in Gracedieu. With both clubs winning county titles there will be limited availability of tickets and it will be first come first served. Any queries contact either Rose Madigan, Alan Duke or Ricky Grogan.

• Inter Provincial Championship

Well done to John Mullane who was a selector on the Munster hurling team who defeated Ulster in the semi final of the Inter Provincial championship or what used to be known as the Railway Cup. They now play Leinster in the final.

• Lotto

There was no winner of our Lotto jackpot last Monday night and it now stands at €16,000. The next draw, which will be the final draw before Christmas, takes place on Monday 19th December. Numbers drawn were 16, 22, 23, 27. There were five winners of €20 each.

Winners: Linda Kealy c/o Seller Rose Madigan, Helen Flynn c/o Seller Billy Flynn, Stevie Brenner, Tony Quinlan c/o Seller Gerry McNulty, Eddie O’Donnell c/o Seller Yvonne Kearney.

• Clubify

The club are now up and running on the Clubify app. Please check the home page of our website for details on how to register. This app will send live fixtures and results as well as newsletters and important club updates directly to your phone/tablet. Our thanks to Tommy Ryan once again for his work on this so please don’t delay and register today

• East Junior Football ‘Intermediate Attached’ Final

Kill 1-9 De La Salle 1-6

Our junior footballers went down to Kill in this eastern final played in Dunhill last Saturday. Unfortunately, the loss through injury and unavailability of Conor O’Toole, Martin Sheehan, Alan Fitzgerald, Adam Deegan, Keith Cooney, Adam Doyle and Jeff Cahill proved too much and on the day Kill were deserving winners. Credit to our lads for never giving up and also to Barry Twomey, Diarmuid Carey and Conor Bohane for lining out despite carrying injuries. Congratulations to Kill on their victory and we wish them well in the county final.

Playing with the wind we got off to the worst possible start when we conceded, from our point of view, a poor goal in the fourth minute. Ben O’Dwyer opened our account in the seventh minute with a point and Kill replied likewise in the 12th minute. Barry Twomey pointed in the 17th minute but Kill responded inside a minute. We then hit three excellent points in a row between the 20th and 25th minutes from Robert Daniels and Joey Twomey (2) to level matters before Kill pointed a free in the 28th minute to lead 1-3 to 0-5 at half time. The second half began with our lads missing a great chance of a goal when the keeper was beaten but the ball went just outside the post and we paid the price with Kill taking over to score six unanswered points between the third and twenty fifth minutes. We got our first score of the second half in the 27th minute when Lee Hayes, making a return after a six months injury lay off, scored a trademark point and within a minute Joey Twomey scored a superb individual goal to make it a three point game. However, that was as close as we got and Kill held on to claim the honours.

Scorers: Joey Twomey 1-2, Ben O’Dwyer, Barry Twomey, Robert Daniels and Lee Hayes 0-1 each.

Panel: Eamonn Dalton, James Coad, Shane Quinlan, Ronan O’Connor, Peter O’Hagan, Darragh Fitzpatrick, Evan Whelan, Eoin Casey, Eamonn Fitzgerald (captain), Joey Twomey, Robert Daniels, Diarmuid Carey, Conor Bohane, Barry Twomey, Ben O’Dwyer, Adam O’Sullivan, Lee Hayes, Shane Barry, Philip Burke, Graham Drennan.

• Club Officers

Following the recent AGM the list of club officers elected has been finalised and is as follows: President Br. Killian, Chairman: Seamus Quirke, Vice-Chairman Alan Duke, Secretary: Eoin Casey, Assistant Secretary: Ellen Doyle, Treasurer: Tom O’Leary, P.R.O: John Sheehan, Games Administration Committee Chairman: Alan Duke, Field Committee Chairman: Billy O’Neill, Players Representative: Thomas Kearney, County Board Delegate: Seamus Quirke, East Board Delegate: Billy O‘Neill, Juvenile Chairman: Paudie Brosnan, Camogie Club Chairman: Joey Carton, Children’s Welfare Officer: Brendan Lawton, Insurance Officer: Leanne Sheehan, Health and Wellbeing Officer: Lorraine Duke, Irish Officer: Megan Duke.

• Provincial Club Championship

Congratulations to our clubman Mark Cooney who was part of the backroom team with Cuala from Dublin who won the Leinster senior club hurling championship last Sunday.