Three of our club footballers celebrated Connacht title success with Sligo ladies in Castlebar last Sunday. Rachel Monaghan, Sinéad Regan and Michelle McNamara were part of the Sligo ladies squad which lifted the Connacht Intermediate football title for 2017 thanks to a 3-15 to 2-13 success over Leitrim at McHale Park. Another club member – Aisling Power – is also part of Paddy Henry’s management team. That’s two-in-a-row for Sligo ladies. Congrats to all involved.

The Sligo ladies Intermediate footballers – Connacht Champions 2017

There was disappointment for Aisling’s brother Neil (Ewing) in Navan on Saturday evening as Sligo bowed out of this year’s All-Ireland senior football championship after.a narrow defeat to Meath in the qualifiers. Good luck to the Sligo minor team who take on Galway in the Connacht minor final this Sunday in Salthill at 12pm.

DRP minor football captain Hugh Kisby in possession during last Friday’s Division 3 league match against St John’s in Oxfield.

Our boys minor footballers completed their Division 3 league campaign with a spirited 3-12 to 3-12 draw against St John’s at Oxfield last Friday. The team will be amalgamating with Calry/St Joseph’s for the Championship.

We have entered a team into this year’s U21 B football championship. It will be managed by our senior boss Fergal O’Flaherty.

Our boys U16 footballers play Owenmore Gaels in their league semi-final on Monday evening in Oxfield at 7pm.

A little piece of history will be made this Thursday evening when the first ever Benbulben Gaels U18 team contests the Sligo minor club hurling championship. The team will travel to Tourlestrane to play Tourlestrane/Curry at 7 o’clock. This marks an important milestone in the development of club hurling and we wish all the players and management involved the best of luck. There are six clubs contesting the Sligo minor hurling championship for 2017 and the competition is played on a round-robin basis.

Benbulben Gaels U14 hurling captain Evin Ballantine receives teh silverway from Joe Murphy of Sligo GAA.

It’s been a hectic seven days for our U14 hurlers. They lifted the league title at Markievicz Park last Thursday evening with a comprehensive win over Naomh Eoin in the final.

The Benbulben Gaels U14 league winning team, pictured at Markievicz Park last Thursday.

The following day, a depleted Benbulben Gaels squad travelled to Bekan to take part in a very enjoyable Connacht GAA Club hurling U14 Féile, which saw 12 teams from across the Province (including a visiting New York team) participating. The lads won one group game (against Glencar/Manorhamilton) and lost two. Our thanks to all the parents who travelled to support the team. The same goes for the parents of our new U8 and U10 nursery hurlers who took part in a fun blitz last week win Scarden. Nursery hurling coaching for U8s and U10s continues on Saturdays in Oxfield at 1pm.

Seán Deacy and his dad John were in Castlebar on Saturday evening to watch Mayo’s All-Ireland football qualifier win over Derry after extra time.

Saturday morning football nursery coaching (U6 to U10) will continue up to and including Saturday 15th before taking a summer break. We will resume again towards the end of August. The U8 footballers have another fun blitz this Wednesday, July 5th, at St Mary’s GAA Club in Kent Park, starting at 7pm.

Our boys U12 footballers played Shamrock Gaels last week in the league with both our Division 1 and 3 teams getting a very useful workout. They are scheduled to play Eastern Harps on Tuesday 11th at 7pm in Oxfield.

The girls U14 footballers’ run in the league came to an end last Wednesday evening when they were beaten by an impressive Calry/St Joseph’s team in the semi-final. Our girls performed admirably and produced a fine second-half performance. It’s been a very encouraging league campaign.

Well done to our boys footballers who were part of the Sligo county development U14 and U15 teams who played matches in Carrick-on-Shannon and Longford at the weekend.

Tickets for our new 2017/18 Club Lotto are now on sale at €50 which includes entry to 12 monthly draws as well as an All-Ireland ticket final draw. The tickets are available from any club officer.

The club extends sympathy to the family of Matt Wheeler (Coolaney) following his passing last week. The Wheelers formerly lived in Finnid, Carney and were a very well known and popular family in the Drumcliffe community for many years. May he rest in peace.