Congratulations to our club and county captain Neil Ewing who led Sligo to a 0-22 to 3-7 win over Antrim in Round 1A of the All-Ireland football qualifiers at Markievicz Park last Saturday evening.
The Sligo ladies footballers are through to the 2017 Connacht Intermediate Championship final on July 2nd despite losing to Roscommon by a point in Tubbercurry last Saturday evening. Sligo reach the decider by virtue of a better scoring difference from the round-robin series. We have three club players on the Sligo panel – Michelle McNamara, Sinéad Regan and Rachel Monaghan. Sligo will play Leitrim in that final in Castlebar on July 2nd at 2pm.
Benbulben Gaels U14 hurlers may have returned from last weekend’s All-Ireland Féile na nGael in Wexford without a win but they took home some terrific memories from a fabulous few days in the sunny South East. Our exemplary hosts Horeswood GAA Club added immensely to the occasion and we were delighted to see them reached the Féile Shield final – an illustration of the calibre of opponent our U14 team was up against. We want to commend the fighting spirit of our players who battled throughout against strong opposition in our three group games. We also performed admirably in the Shield quarter-final against Dunnamaggin of Kilkenny. Special mention to team captain Ciaran O’Reilly who was playing in his fourth Feile and has now played in every minute of every match in Féile for Benbulben Gaels over the last four years. His team-mate Luke Casserly was part of the Sligo-Leitirm Youth Soccer Kennedy Cup team who, after Friday’s final in Limerick, made the journey to Waterford to link up with the hurlers and played very well. All the players were a credit to the club and the future for hurling is very bright.
The club is very grateful to Damien Davis and Davis’s Restaurant for their sponsorsjhip of the team’s Féile tops for the weekend.
The travelling panel was: Conor Donaghy, Eoin Kerrigan, Evin Ballantine, Colm Ryan, Thomas Davis, Nathan McArdle, Dara Foy, Augustine Watters, Danny Cronin, Ciarán O’Reilly (C), Daniel O’Connor, Paul O’Brien, Luke Casserly, Cathal McGowan, Donnchadh O’Brien, Ruairi O’Connor, Conor White, Joe Campbell. Well done our ‘dual’ players who made the trek back to Sligo in time for their Cumann na mBunscol final on Sunday afternoon.
Attention now turns to the All-Ireland Féile U14 Peile na nÓg this weekend in Sligo. Drumcliffe/Rosses Point will be hosting Douglas GAA Club from Cork. Oxfield will be the venue for matches with Douglas and Corofin of Galway on Saturday 24th, from 11am to 3pm. We are organising food for the visiting players, coaches and families and are looking for volunteers who can help prepare sandwiches/home bakes etc. in advance of this special event. For more info, see our Facebook page or contact Club Registrar Jimmy O’Brien.
Our junior footballers made it five wins out five in Division 4 with yet another one-point win (2-11 to 3-7) against Owenmore Gaels at Oxfield last Friday evening. The game marked a welcome return to club colours for Rosses Point’s Conor Kenny, recently back from his overseas work with Médecins Sans Frontières work. Conor was also invited to give a talk to the Sligo senior footballers in advance of their All-Ireland football qualifier against Antrim. His words of wisdom obviously did the trick! The juniors travel to Hazelwood on Friday evening to play Calry/St Joseph’s at 8pm.
Our senior men’s footballers resume their Kiernan Cup campaign on Sunday afternoon with a home match against St Mary’s at 1pm.
Well done to the girls U14 footballers who recorded a 4-9 to 2-11 success over Shamrock Gaels in their league play-off last Friday to qualify for the ‘A’ quarter-final this Tuesday evening against CT Gaels in Cloonacool at 7pm.
The boys U14 footballers play Ballymote/Bunninadden in Bunninadden this Monday evening in their ‘A’ league semi-final. Throw-in: 7pm.
Our boys U12 footballers played two very enjoyable matches with St Molaise Gaels last Tuesday evening. The Division 1 side won by 21 pts to 10 while our Division 3 team also put in a spirited display before going down by 16 pts to 11.
Benbulben Gaels U12 hurlers travel to Castleconnor on Tuesday evening for a league match. Throw-in: 7pm.
Well done to the Rathcormac NS football team on reaching the Sligo Cumann na mBunscol final last Sunday at Markieivcz Park. Our congrats to Ransboro NS who were narrow victors at the end of what was a very entertaining and enjoyable match between two fine teams.
Our Under 8 and Under 10 nursery footballers spent a fabulous morning in Carrick-on-Shannon last Saturday as we took part in a fun blitz with host club St Mary’s and Clonguish of Longford. Our thanks to all the coaches and parents who travelled, and also to our own Colin Slevin, currently ‘on loan’ to the St Mary’s club for oganising this lovely event.
The U8s & U10s travel to Kent Park this Wednesday, June 21st for a fun blitz with St Mary’s (Sligo) at 7pm. All players are asked to assemble in Kent Park by 6:45pm.
The club’s monthly meeting for June will take place on Monday evening (26th) in Oxfield at 9pm.