CHAMPIONSHIP. St. Marys, Asdee have just five days to go; (This
Sunday October 9th, 2-30pm, Dowling Park, Coolard, E. T.) before their
first round outing in the McMunns Bar and Restaurant, Ballybunion
Sponsored Bernard O Callaghan Memorial North Kerry Senior Football
Championship where all Clubs Management will be putting the final
adjustments to their respective squads for the upcoming games; some
with genuine aspirations of doing well while others will be hoping for
a rub of the green in their efforts to proceed.
I suppose one would be putting their money on last years champions Listowel Emmets to progress and they will be hoping to put back to back titles together and who were the last team to achieve this feat. Certainly they will start as favourites but there are a number of other teams out there
who will also feel they can lift the Eamon O Donoghue Cup and one team
in particular, Ballydonoghue comes to mind; they have a wealth of
talent and who must fancy their chances of outright victory. It was
back in 1992 when they last won a North Kerry Senior Championship
title and last year were unlucky to go down to Ballyduff at the
quarter final; in fairness this is a game they threw away.
They will begin their quest for glory with a home tie against Asdee on this
Sunday on home soil. The Villagers would be regarded as complete
outsiders and in their 12 attempts they have only reached the second
round on two occasions. One of these was incidently against
Ballydonoghue back in 1997 played at Brosnan Park, Moyvane with Asdee
coming out at the right side of a cracking contest by a single point.
However in fairness the majority of our recent tussels with
Ballydonoghue im afraid have been all one way traffic except on very
few occasions.
This team in Green and White have come on in leaps and
bounds in recent times with the wealth of talent at their disposal
been tremendous. At under age and especially at Minor level they have
been very successful; winning County titles at different grades and in
fact recently they were very unlucky to loose to Division 1
opposition Glenbeigh/Glencar in the County Premier Junior semi final.
Promotion from Division 5 to Division 3 for the seniors in a two year
spell just tells of the talent in the club at the minute. With players
of the quality of the calibre of Jason Foley a member of the present
Kerry senior squad along with Brian O Seanachain have both won All
Ireland medals recently at Minor and Junior, Darragh O Shea another
All Ireland Junior medal holder along with Micheal Foley recent All
Ireland Minor winner. Colin O Mahony, All Ireland Under 21 medal
holder,Paul Kennelly, Diarmuid Behan, Martin O Mahony, Eamon Walsh are
some others to wear the green and gold of their County; so one can see
the huge task facing Asdee.
No doubt John Kennedy and his backroom staff of Dan Dalton and John Doran will be leaving no stone unturned to try and put one over on their opponents; in fact both John Kennedy and John Doran as players played a huge part in that historic win back in 1997 but on this occasion they will be operating from the sideline and who will be trying to plot the downfall of many observers choice of a team that could go all the way and bridge a 24 year gap. During the various competitions played during the year at County League Division 5 finishing mid table and McCarthys Insurance Brokers North Kerry League Division 2 going down to Ballyduff at the semi final
stage; Asdee have been struggling due to a number of various reasons;
immigration and in particular a long list of long term injuries so
numbers are really tight; however it is expected that the squad will
be a little bit stronger for the North Kerry Championship with a few
players coming back.
All through the season its in the scoring department we are struggling so this is an area we will have to improve on if we hope to advance; so hopefully Eoin Tydings, Eoin Kennedy and Mike Breen can show the way this time round. Our midfielders of John Doran and Darragh Keane form a great partnership at midfield and can hold their own in any company while in defence Eoin O Carroll who is having a tremendous season at corner back can inspire his fellow defenders to new heights. Still many of the so
called G A A experts will give Asdee little chance of reaching the
second round; not to mind lifting the Eamon O Donoghue Cup; but thats
the beauty about North Kerry Championship football; nobody knows whats
around the corner and even the so called minnows like Asdee could
create a surprise. Lets live and hope.
GOLDEN GOAL. Last week due to the demand for tickets for the televised
Mayo v Dublin, All Ireland Senior Football Championship Final Replay
the club had a double round of tickets sold and the winners for week
34 of the Golden Goal were; David Walsh, Lahesrough, Ballybunion and
Aidan McElligott, Craughdarrig, Asdee. This was the final Golden Goal
Fundraiser for 2016 which was a huge success for the Club and which
will commence once again for the televised National football and
hurling Leagues in February and continuing into the championship
games.
On behalf of the club we would like to take this opportunity to
thank everybody who contributed to the fundraiser and certainly great
credit is due to all our tickets sellers and in particular Kevin
Mulvihill and Patsy Coughlan for their trojan work each week.
CUMANN Na BUNSCOIL
The Cumann Na Bunscoil games for 3 Teacher Schools took place at
Brosnan Park, Moyvane on Friday last September 30th. The 4 teams
involved were Moyvane, Asdee, Ballylongford and Bouleenshere.
Game One:
Asdee took on Moyvane. It was a good game and in the first half Asdee
dominated which the score at half time Asdee 4-3 to Moyvane 1-1. The
second half Asdee took their foot off of the pedal. They only scored 1
point while Moyvane scored 1-2. The final result was Asdee 4-4 to 2-3.
The scorers for Asdee were:
Patrick Mulvihill: 4-2
Oisin Healy: 2 points
Game Two:
Asdee took on our neighbours Ballylongford. This was a one sided game
with Asdee dominating both halves. Half time score was 2-3 to 0-1. The
second half was much the same with the Asdee scoring an additional
1-3. Which left the final score Asdee 3-6 to Ballylongford 0-1. The
scorers for Asdee were:
Oisin Healy: 1-2
Daragh Healy 2 goals
Patrick Mulvihill: 2 points
Michael Hannon: 2 points
Game 3:
Asdee took on Booulenshere (Ballyheighue). This was a one sided game
in the first half with Bouleenshere dominating the first half and
Asdee did not score. The half time score was 1-3 to 1 point. In the
second half Asdee came fighting back but unfortunately couldn’t make
it count on the scoreboard. They game ended with Bouleenshere 3-6 to
1-2. The scorers for Asdee were:
Patrick Mulvihill: 1 point
Oisin Healy: 1 goal and 1 point
The Asdee Panel who finished in second place consisted of:
Pauric Fogarty,John Daly, Michael Hannon, Patrick Mulvihill, Oisin
Healy, John Collins, Darragh Healy, Leanne Lynch, Eamon O Connor,
Ebhda Doyle, Samantha O Sullivan.
On behalf of the Asdee G.A.A we would like to thank the Asdee National
School principal Michelle Sheehy and teachers Cathy O’Reagan and
Bridin Reen for their support of the Bunscoil games; It is greatly
appreciated. We would also like to thank Conor Coughlan for all the
hard work he has put in for these school games.
Referees were Tom Sullivan and Shane O’Sullivan from Clounmacon
WEBSITES. Asdee G A A website is now up and running once again so for
all our activities and match reports; just log on to www.asdeegaa.com.