St John’s Seniors completed their league campaign with a “walkover” victory against Newry Bosco. They finish the season in sixth place with 20 points out of a maximum 30. They were 8 points behind league winners Warrenpoint and 5 behind runners up Clann na Banna who are both promoted. We were 4 points behind An Riocht in third who now go into a promotion/relegation playoff against Liatroim writes Eugene O’Boyle.

On Thursday night they face Atticall in the quarter finals of the Trocaire Intermediate Football Championship at Pairc Esler in Newry at 7.00pm.
The Reserves game against Teconnaught was called off with St John’s securing the points. On Sunday 7 September they travel to face Drumaness at 6.00pm and are at home to Liatroim 7 days later.
The Under-14’s hosted Teconnaught last Monday and won on a scoreline of 6-12 to 6-4. On Monday 1 September they travelled to face Bright. Score details in next weeks notes.
St John’s Under-12’s had a busy weekend playing in the Gerry Burns Tournament on Saturday and travelling to Bredagh on Sunday playing in a game that was as exciting as the All-Ireland semi-finals at the weekend. The Johnnies ran out winners against Bredagh with goals from Ryan Morgan and a superb performance from captain Oran O’Connor and all of the squad. Oisin Hastings, Shea Murray and Shane Doran are showing to be great additions to the team. This team is proving to be one to watch for the future.  Keep up the hard work. Their game away to Dundrum has again been rescheduled to Wednesday 3 September at 6.45pm.
The Masters travelled to An Riocht on Saturday for their annual Recreational Sevens. They were forced to field with a squad of only seven players due to a number of late withdrawals and the unavailability of a number of players. Despite this they battled through each game in the group stages but lost each game narrowly. They progressed to the playoffs in the Shield competition and secured a win over Dromara which set them up for a semi-final appearance against Carrickcruppen but the legs were tired by this stage and the Armagh side won the semi in convincing fashion. Well done to the squad and they will be back in action in 2 weeks when they play in Aughlisnafin’s tournament.
Check out the fixtures section of the club website at:
for up to date details of upcoming fixtures and recent results.
Pairc Naomh Eoin hosted the annual Gerry Burns Tournament on Saturday and history repeated itself as Downpatrick and Aughlisnafin took home the silverware after a great day of football. Reigning Cup holders Bredagh looked brightest in the opening round of the group stages as they disposed of the hosts without any difficulty. They continued their winning run with a narrower victory over Saul before drawing with Shamrocks B. They still topped their group. At the end of the group stages the smart money would have been on Bredagh to meet Newry Shamrocks A in the Cup final. The Shamrocks had topped their group with a 100% record, although they only had a point to spare against Downpatrick in their opener. The hosts meanwhile were making some progress through the group games as they posted progressively higher scores with each game. Still they were to go through to the Shield competition. The form book was overturned at the semi-final stage of the Cup competition as Bredagh lost to Downpatrick by three points (0-06 v 0-03) and Shamrocks A fell to Saul by the narrowest margin (1-02 v 0-04). That latter tie was particularly close with Saul’s winner coming with virtually the last kick of the game. Meanwhile, in the Shield semi-finals Baileghlas (Ballymartin & Glasdrumman combine) advanced at the expense of Shamrocks B and Aughlisnafin overcame St John’s even though the Johnnies continued improvement was reflected in the fact that they posted their highest total of the day in that game. The Shield final therefore saw Aughlisnafin pitted against Baileghlas. These sides had already met in their first group game – a game that had been drawn at 2-03 apiece. The first half of their second meeting was more one-sided with the ‘Fin establishing a seven point advantage. Baileghlas battled back in the second period but were only able to reduce the margin to four points. So Aughlisnafin had repeated their 2011 achievement on the back of a 3-05 to 3-01 victory. The Cup final represented a local derby between Saul and Downpatrick and was a very close encounter with the sides cancelling each other out. The sides couldn’t be separated at the interval at one score each, nor was there much between them in the second, but Downpatrick managed a couple of scores to make the difference. The final score was 0-03 v 0-01 and Downpatrick had also repeated their achievement of three years previously. Many thanks to Hales Fruit Sales and French’s Mace in Clough – our Healthy Nutrition and Hydration partners. Also many thanks to those who helped provide hospitality on the day – I know it was well received by the visiting teams. Check out the Photo Gallery on the club website for photos from the tournament.
Calling Action Men – St John’s and Action Cancer will be delivering an “Action Man” programme over the next number of weeks. This is a 12 week programme where participants receive individual health checks at the start and are given a motivational lifestyle package from Action Cancer’s Health Promotion staff. During the programme participants will receive weekly advice on healthy eating, exercise, maintaining motivation and cancer prevention. At the end of the period the health checks are repeated so that participants can quantify the benefits they have achieved. There will be a short introduction on Wednesday 10th September in the club at 7.30pm with the first health checks on Saturday 20th September. If you wish to join the Action Man programme please contact Kevin McGlynn at secretary.stjohns.down@gaa.ie or on 078 3596 0804, or just come along to the introduction session to find out more.
Calling all budding Jamies and Nigellas – Action Cancer will be running their popular “Cook It” programme at St John’s over a six week period starting on Tuesday 30th September and running each Tuesday until 4th November. “Cook It” is a practical information based programme designed to increase knowledge and skills to cook healthy food on a budget. Each week focuses on and prepares dishes based on the eatwell plate. If you wish to join the Cook It programme please contact Kevin McGlynn at secretary.stjohns.down@gaa.ie or on 078 3596 0804.
The Camp JMac Kevin O’Hare Memorial Cup is scheduled to take place on Sunday 7 September with players from the East Down camp facing those from the South Down camp. The game gets underway at 1.00pm. The latest edition of the St John’s monthly newsletter, Naomh Eoin News, is now available to download from the club website.
Congratulations to Brendan and Claire Burns on the birth of their son Darragh Thomas Burns.
Lotto numbers were 2, 4, 22 and 25. There were no £10 winners. The jackpot next week is £3,800.
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