Castlewellan GAC Notes

Martin Trainor. Martin was part of the Castlewellan Minor Team who won the Championship back in 1968. Noel had lived in England for some time. The Club Executive Committee and members extend their deepest sympathy to the Trainor family at this sad time. Ar dheis de go raibh a anam dilis. All the Club members are proud of Sean Patrick Carville who represented his Club and County at this year’s All-Ireland Feile in Galway. Sean has been very committed to his hurling and has been putting in all the hard work since qualifying for the event. His coaches are pleased with his attitude and commitment. His parents are rightly proud of him as are all our members. Another week and another cracking Hurling match in St Malachy’s Park. Unfortunately another glorious defeat on Monday Night of last week. The Town Senior hurlers lost by the narrowest of margins to an equally committed Clonduff Team whose overall physical strength and a wee bit more pace saw them over the line. With both sides level at the interval at 0-09 each both teams served up a fast and furious second half. Scores were exchanged freely. Clonduff were ahead with a fantastic 70 yard strike to lead by two points. A Cyril Daly point followed by a goal from Jason Croskery who pulled on a high ball in the 43^rd minute should have set The Town up in the last quarter. The Town did not register anymore scores until injury time. In between times Clonduff notched up 1-03 between 47^th and 51^st minute. With time running out the Town were unable to bridge a three point gap. The Town will take no comfort in falling short in another great game in the Park. Martin Keown and his Management Team continue to do a good job with a committed bunch of lads. The noticeable feature of the night was the vibrancy around St Malachy’s Park. There were loads of kids with their hurling sticks and footballs enjoying the good long summer’s night. It’s what makes a Club tick. The Castlewellan GAC VHI Cul Camp supported by Club Down will take place from 25th July to 29th July 2011. Forms containing all the information will be circulated round local primary schools. Parents are advised to book early. The nursery camp for children in P1 – P2 runs from 10.00 – 12.30. Please note that you cannot book this part of the Camp on the Internet. The camp for children in P3 – 13 year old runs from 10.00 – 2.30. Discounts are available if more than 1 child per family attends. Places may also be booked through the official website www.vhiculcamps.gaa.ie. For more information contact Ronan King 07788591740. The Senior Footballers have followed up their win at Clan Na Banna with a home win against Warrenpoint. They probably took their foot off the pedal near the end when leading by nine points. Despite ‘The Point’ fight back The Town held on to win by 0-15 to 1-10. St Malachys Park was alive last Saturday when almost 500 spectators were present for the Primary Schools Football Finals. St Mary’s Aughlisnafin were represented in two finals. Well done to the boys who beat Saul in an exciting 9 –a-side final by 2-05 to 1-03. Special mention to our club players Eoin Travers, Adam Garland (captain), Daire McVeigh, Daragh Fitzpatrick and Daragh Tumelty who along with all their team mates have all worked all year to get this success. Unfortunately it was not to be a double when the girls were defeated narrowly by Ballyholland by 1-04 to 0-05. These girls put their heart and soul into it. The disappointment in losing was evident. This tells you it matters. The girls showed great character and celebrated with the boys on their success. Great efforts from our club players Brittany McFadden, Emma Croskery, Ciara Cunningham, Brea McKee (captain), Sorcha McCartan, Shannon Maguire, Niamh Gibney and Erainn McVeigh. Well done to Paddy Hardy who coached both the sides from St Marys. The Under-8 Football Team travelled to Kilkeel recently to play in the annual An Ríocht blitz. The young town team competed well losing by the minimum against the host club. In their second game they fought hard against a very strong Rossa team with the Belfast boys coming out on top. In their third game they defeated Drumaness ensuring a knockout game against Gort na móna. Despite a battling performance they lost by a point. Well done to all the boys who played. Dont forget training for u/8 Football is on every Tuesday at 6.15 in the meadow while under 8 Hurling continues in the meadow at 6.15 each Thursday. The Under-10 Hurling Team competed well recently at the blitz in Kilclief. They recorded wins against Warrenpoint and Bredagh B but lost against the host club and narrowly against Bredagh A. Well done boys on a very good performance. * The McFarland Cup Ulster Colleges Year 10 Hurling Final has taken place St Patrick’s Downpatrick played St Colman’s Newry. This was a bitter/sweet experience for Castlewellan Gaels with players from the Club on both sides. It is congratulations to Joe Cunningham who starred in defence and his team mates who were victorious for the Violet Hill team. The final score was 2-10 to 3-05 to the Newry boys. The other big Castlewellan interest is the manager of St Colmans Aidan Rodgers who of course is one of our club coaches in both Hurling and Football. Well done to Aidan also. Commiserations to Sean Hardy who scored 1-03 and Jake Carville who worked tirelessly in the St Pats defence. Both Sean and Jake gave it their all. Also on the Downpatrick panel were Kristian Keown, Liam Anderson and James McAleenan.  It was great to see all the Castlewellan boys involved in an Ulster Final and giving a great account of themselves. Castlewellan U-12’s lost away to a strong Carryduff side last Sunday.  Despite scoring an early goal from Ruairi McGuinness, Castlewellan found further scores hard to come by.  Good performances from Jordan Valentine, Matthew Muldoon, Adam McAleese, Matthew Carville, Ruairi McGuinness, Daniel Cunningham and Sean Keown, * The  Under-14  girls Football Team defeated Bredagh last Sunday. Another good win for the girls. The Under-14 Camogie team lost narrowly to Portaferry but did put up a great display. *On Friday past Castlewellan GAC presented “Style in the Town”. This was a Fashion Show by Bella Dress Hire in aid of Marie Curie Cancer and The Royal Victoria Hospital for Sick Children. Top models from the fashion world who strutted their stuff on the night included Aine “Heidi Klum” Keown, Paula “Kate Moss” Cleland, Leanne “Cindy Crawford” Owens and Nina “Eva Herzigova” Cairns to name but a few. The sum raised so far is in the region of £1300. This is an absolutely fantastic sum raised to date. Thank you to all the sponsors and helpers on the night. There are too many people to thank but everyone will agree that the effort put in by Lorna Cunningham in organising the event was colossal and commendable. At last week’s meeting an emergency item was placed on the agenda – Francie McAlinden needed a partner for the Currach Boat Race on The Lake. Much debate ensued. Rory “he would slow the boat down” Focus “he’s blind” The Doc “no sense of direction”.  We were in despair when wise old Trixie mentioned “The Hen”. Will he come over from the “Dark Side (Bryansford!)”? we all wondered. The call was made and John Kelly reported for duty. The race was won by the lads in front of 300 spectators on a lovely summers evening at the lake. This was part of the G Day festival by TG4 who filmed it for coverage later in the Summer. Well done to Francie and John. Best wishes to our Club President Teddy Rice who had an unfortunate fall which has resulted in him having to wear a plaster cast. All the Club members wish him a speedy recovery. Thankfully it has not diminished his quick wit and humour. In the Club last Thursday Night he was greeted with the usually banter he enjoys. “I’m not asking or seeking sympathy” Teddy stated – so he didn’t get any! He did manage to outplay the other veterans in the skittles match with one wing! – you just can’t keep Teddy down! The clothes collection will continue on in an on-going effort to raise club funds. Can we ask that you to bag up what you have and let Noreen Keown or any of the club committee know and we will arrange to get it to the club for safe storage. The Castlewellan GAC Running Club continue with their runs on Tuesday and Thursday nights meeting at the club at 6.45pm to commence running at 7.00pm. The tote numbers for the 19/06/11 were 2, 5 17 and 18. There were no jackpot winners and one £20 winner – Brendan Brannigan – Jackpot next week £6450.]]>