Ballymore Ladies GFC

Challenge Match vs Donard
Ballymore Ladies were invited to play Donard to celebrate the opening of their new pitch. Well done to all the new players who did themselves proud in their first game. Aoife O’Toole played well in the half back line but prefers her more stationary role in the goals! Thanks to Siobhan Murphy for keeping the scores.

Donard 1-5 Ballymore 3-5

Challenge Match vs Robert Emmets
Ballymore travelled to the Eire Og pitch near Mondello on Tuesday 9th June. I think all we can say about this one is that the sun kept shining!

Scorers for Ballymore
Aisling Hubbard 4-0
Dawn Murray 0-1

Robert Emmets 3-12 Ballymore 4-1


Challenge Match vs Castledermot
A much better display by Ballymore saw a great game of football the following night (Wed 10th). Castledermot travelled to the pitch without a full 15 so a number of the ladies switched between the 2 teams over the 60 minutes. Ballymore dominated much of the game and the visitors only really got going in the last third of the game when Ballymore allowed a number of their backs to play up front.
It was great to see the new girls gaining confidence on the pitch and the old stalwarts relished the opportunity to play in different positions. Fran Burke scored her first point for Castledermot and is hoping to get an invitation to their dinner dance!
Stacey Balfe and Aisling Hubbard again put in strong performances and Karen Archibald was unlucky not to get her first score for the ladies.

Scorers for Ballymore
Lesley Tutty 0-4
Dawn Murray 0-3
Aisling Hubbard 0-2
Michelle Hubbard 0-1
Teresa Gorman 0-1
Fran Burke 0-1 (for Castledermot)

Ballymore 0-11 Castledermot 2-5








Bungee Jump
The ‘Jump for the Juveniles’ raised a massive €2,000 for the Feile. Well done to all involved.

Last Man Standing Competition
Last man standing was jointly won by Darren Whelan and Fergus Aspell. Both survivors graciously decided to split the winnings in the fear of coming away empty handed. We hope to see you all in the competition next season!!!

Lesley’s progress with the Lilywhites
Following an injury Lesley is now back training with the county. She was given the all clear for her first game on Sunday 7th June against Longford and was delighted to play for the last 15 minutes.
While the men’s team are out in Carlow in the championship the Ladies have challenge games against Leitrim and Kerry on the weekend of the 13th\14th.
The next game for the B group is June 21st away to Cork in the Aisling McGing Cup. Good luck to Lesley and Kildare from the team.

Paint Balling
Dawn organised a team outing to go paint balling. 13 girls got up early on a cold damp Saturday to travel to Bray. It was a busy place with many other groups of people also there. The girls made the decision to divide into 2 teams that were playing against each other. A bit of rivalry never hurt anyone! The girls played 3 games and the result was 2-1. Everyone got into the spirit of things with some teams becoming very tactical! Others aimed at anything that was moving including their own team. We won’t mention the people who enjoyed aiming for and hitting the people who were retreating having already been hit-an easy target doesn’t count! By the end of the morning many of the girls had quite an impressive array of bruises and it was discovered that hits on the helmet resulted in coloured hair and scalps! A good day was had by all and practice makes perfect for any future outings.

Notes
The team and club’s thoughts and prayers are with the Byrne and Hudson families during this tough time.

We forgot to say Good Luck last month but hope that the Leaving Cert exams went well for Marilena Norton, Sheena Hubbard, Stephanie Harney and Michelle Nolan.


Deirdre & Sharon
Ballymore Ladies GFC PROs


Ballymore Eustace GAA Club
Juvenile Football & Hurling
an Baile Mor
News
We have arranged with Colgan’s Sports in Monread, Naas
to sell the Ballymore club jerseys. They will be available
in all sizes from Under 6 up to adult and will be on sale
from the end of June. Club shorts, socks and hoodies will
also be available.
This years Cul Camp will run from Monday 6th July to
10th July (10.00am to 2.30pm), for children from Senior
Infants to Sixth class only. We need people to help out
during the week so anybody interested please put your
name forward to any member of the Juvenile committee.
There was great celebrations in the Kelleher household
this month, with Martin and Madeleine's 40th birthdays
and the Senior School team winning the final in Lexlip.
Football News
The Girls.
Feile Team news
The girl's played in the Feile blitz in Ballymore on 23
May. The score Ballymore 2:01 Sarsfield (2) 4:03.
Ballymore 0:03 Rathangan 3:03, they then played a full
match in league on 27 May Ballymore 3:01 Castledermot
6:07.We played in a very wet and blustery Sarsfield on 6
June. The girl's tried very hard in the conditions and were
unlucky in both game's. Ballymore 0:00 Sarsfield 1:01
Ballymore 0:00 Round Towers 0:01. We also had a
challenge game against Dunlavin on 11th of June, it was
a very exciting match with Dunlavin by a score of 3:02 to
2:02.
Remaining matches 13th of June blitz in Carbury, 17th of
June League match at home against Castledermot and
then we have on 20th June a blitz in Carbury.
U12 Team News
The under 12's played two game's in division 5,
Ballymore 6:17 Athgarvan 0:00 and Ballymore 7:08
Robert Emmets 0:03.They play Confey on Monday 15th
at home with both team's needing a win to progress to the
final.
Féile Peil na nÓg
The Féile Peil na nÓg is finally here and we would like to
welcome the girls from New York and the boys from
Clonmel to Ballymore. The boys and girls will be staying
in Ballymore with local families who have volunteered to
host them and we hope they enjoy their stay in our
village. The serious business of the competition will take
place over the weekend of 3rd to 5th of July:
Friday July 3rd
2:00 Girls Round 1: BME V’s New York
2:45 Boys Round 1: BME V’s Clonmel Commercials
Saturday July 4th
9:30 – 14:30: Boys Round 2 and 3 in Ballymore Eustace
9:30 – 14:30: Girls Round 2 and 3 in Castledermot
16:30: Boys and Girls Semi-Final (venue yet to be
decided)
Sunday July 5th
Finals in County Grounds and Moorefield.
This should be a great event and everybody is welcome
to come along and enjoy the games on both days. All of
the teams competing would be delighted to receive your
support either in Ballymore or Castledermot.
Boys Football Update
The Under 10 team have played 2 matches to date.
Unfortunately the team has lost both games narrowly to
Two-Mile-House and Ballykelly. This is the first
competitive competition for most of these lads and its
great to see new talent such as Jordan Deegan, Eoin
Murphy, Glen Rooney and Luke Maguire emerging.
The Under 12 team have played 3 matches in their
league to date. The campaign started with a loss away to
Kildangan on a very hot evening and has been followed
by victories over Moorefield and Milltown.
The Under 14 football team have played 5 games in their
league to date and so far have a 100% record after wins
against Clane, Maynooth, St Edwards, Nurney and Naas,
they have now qualified for the league playoff stages.
Hurling News
We started of the Biltz's in Dunlavin on the 16th May, a
horrible wet and windy day ! We had a full team for the
Under 8's but for the Under 10's we only had 3 ! As
Blessingtons numbers were like ours, our sporting lads
help Blessington out with great success. The clubs that
togged out were Strafford, Blessington Dunlavin and
Ballymore.
Well doe to Cian Duggan, Caolan Halpin and Robbie
Noone for “helping” Blessington out !
Coaching motto: Children first, winning second
Ballymore Eustace GAA Club
Juvenile Football & Hurling
an Baile Mor
We had another Hurling Blitz in Nurney for the Under 12
on Saturday 6th of June, again, another horrible day but
the lads did themselves proud. We played teams from
Nurney, St. Laurences and Castledermot and won all our
matches.
School Hurling Team
Congratulations to the Boys school team on winning the
Cumann na mBunscoil senior boys Division 4 hurling
competition for the first time on Thursday 11th of June.
We believe this is an historic event in that this is the first
hurling title ever won by a Ballymore team.
The final, against Straffan, was played in Confey grounds
on a pitch that was ideal for hurling and the lads made the
most of it by starting as they meant to go on, chasing and
tackling everything but also showing their skills. The first
half was a tight affair with Ballymore leading 2-1 to 1-0
at half time. An early goal in the second half settled the
nerves of the lads (and supporters) and they ran out
winners by 6-6 to 1-0 in the end. Captain Darragh
Kelleher collected the cup on behalf of the team. On the
day, where everybody played their part, there were fine
performances from Darragh Kelleher, Dylan Waters, Niall
O’Neill, Shane Barrett Craig Byrne.
We would like to thank Martin Kelleher, James Noone
and Mairead O’Flynn for their efforts in coaching and
encouraging the lads over the last number of years, it’s
great to see the years of hard work paying off.
Darragh Kelleher, Harry Murphy, Niall O’Neill, David
Mc Atamaney, Dylan Waters, Joshua Burke-Hayes. Craig
Byrne, Declan Davis, Adam Murphy, Thomas McGuirk,
Shane Barrett, Tadhg Dooley, Rossa Doyle, Tom
Murphy, Stephen Doyle, Robbie Noone
Our Under 8's in Dunlavin
Daire Clarke, Kevin Kelleher, Dillion Smith, Colm Daly,
Jake McNulty.
Keelin Clarke, Dara Gilroy, Conor Gilroy, Ben Noone and
Tadgh Barrett.
Well Done Darragh and the rest of the team
Coaching motto: Children first, winning second
Ballymore Eustace GAA Club
Juvenile Football & Hurling
an Baile Mor
Coaching motto: Children first, winning second


Monthly Draw

The club are holding a monthly draw starting from July. Only 100 tickets are available and the first two months will feature 2 All-Ireland hurling tickets for one month and 2 All-Ireland Football for the other, with €50 for second and third and a signed Kildare jersey for third. The following month’s prizes will be 1st €150, 2nd and 3rd €50 and 4th a signed Kildare jersey.

Sponsorship

The club wish to thank John Holland for his recent donation to the club. It is very much appreciated.

Kildare Star!!

Well done to our own county star James Kavanagh for his efforts with the Kildare Senior team this year. James has been in scintillating championship form and after a super display against Offaly James won the ‘RTE Man of the Match’ for his superb performance against Wexford which included 1-03 from play. We also all enjoyed the goal celebration!! Best of luck to James and the lads against Laois in the Leinster semi.

Summer Camp

The annual kid’s summer camp is taking place this year from the 6th-10th of July.

Féile 2009

Club members are currently cleaning up the grounds in preparation for the Féile 09 taking place in Ballymore. Ballymore will be entering two teams (check juvenile notes) and it runs on the second and third of July.

Training

Despite so many injuries the senior team is experiencing at the moment training is still going strong in preparation for the 1st round of the championship against Eadestown which has been fixed for the weekend of July 17th-19th.




Senior League Division 2

Ballymore 3-08 Straffan 0-6

Ballymore recorded a comfortable victory over a gutsy Straffan side in terrible conditions on Saturday evening. The home side got off to a flyer playing with the breeze with Tommie Archibald pointing in the first minute curling over from thirty yards. It wasn’t until the tenth minute for the next score to come and it was to be a goal for the home side with full forward Mark McCarville blasting home after interchanges between Eoin Kavanagh, Gareth Clarke and Tommie Archibald. Eoin Kavanagh scored a pointed free on fifteen minutes followed soon after by a good point from Tadhg Grace under pressure to leave the score 1-03 to no score. It took Straffan until the twenty sixth minute to open their account with a free from Séan McAlwaynne. Eoin Kavanagh then responded with a free to keep the momentum with the home team. Austin Allen scored to keep Straffan in touch but on the stroke of half time Gareth Clarke scored a goal to leave Straffan facing a mountain to climb in the second half, the goal coming after great work from Olly O’ Neill, Eoin Kavanagh and Steven Dwyer. Half time score 2-04 to 0-2.
Straffan started the second half brightly and Scott Neville pointed from an acute angle to reduce the deficit. Eoin Kavanagh then pointed a free for the home team to keep the gap at eight points. Steven Dwyer then got the score of the game drilling the ball into the top corner from twenty one yards after being set up by Tommie Archibald. Straffan never gave up and Austin Allen raised a white flag in an effort to get back into the game. It wasn’t to come however as Ballymore hit three in a row on fifteen, eighteen and nineteen minutes, the scores coming from Eoin Kavanagh (free), Mark McCarville and Tommie Archibald to kill off the game. Straffan to their credit never gave up and finished with two points from centre forward Kenny Byrne. Best for the winners were Eoin Kavanagh, Jamie Balfe and Tadhg Grace while for Straffan Scott Neville, James Devane and Rob Fagan tried hard.

Ballymore 1-04 Raheens 0-9

Raheens travelled to Ballymore on Sunday evening and continued their impressive league form by taking all the points on offer. It was the home side who started brighter with Eoin Kavanagh opening the scoring on two minutes followed soon after by a point from Tommie Archibald. Keelan Noone then hit two in a row for the visitors on eight and ten minutes to level up the scores as Raheens started to come into the game. The visitors then took the lead with a free from the reliable Ross McMahon and full forward Shane Cook added one soon after to put some day-light between the teams. The home team then put together a quick counter attack and after good link up play between Brian Moore and Tommie Archibald it was Eoin Kavanagh who dispatched the ball to the net to put Ballymore one point up. The goal did not deter the Raheens team however and they finished the half the stronger of the two with two frees, one a piece from Ross McMahon and Shane Cook to leave the interval score 0-06 to 1-02 in favour of Raheens. In what was turning out to be a close tight encounter with low scoring it was Eoin Kavanagh who levelled the score five minutes into the second half with a brilliant effort on the outside of the boot from thirty-five yards. Shane Cook who was impressive throughout hit two in quick succession, one on either foot as Raheens started to get on top. Steven Dwyer then put the minimum between the teams with ten minutes remaining as he drove over from thirty yards after good work from Colin Clarke and Pat Browne. Both sides then missed great chances to finish the game off with Ballymore keeper ‘Moggy’ Murray pulling off a spectacular save during this spell and in the end a free from Ross McMahon was enough to ensure the visitors went home happiest. Final score Ballymore 1-04 Raheens 0-9. Best for the winners were Noel Byrne, Shane Cook and Shane Power while Ballymore had good displays from Eoin Kavanagh, Jamie Balfe and keeper Maurice Murray.

Upcoming Fixtures

Senior League Division 2
Sat 27th June Eadestown (home)
Sat 11th July Two Mile House (home)
The championship first round vs Eadestown is fixed for the weekend of July 17th-19th

Ballymore Junior Team

The Junior team are starting to put together some good performances after an indifferent start to the league. With more players togging out the lads had narrow defeats against Suncroft and St. Kevins and a brilliant seven point win over Maynooth.

Player Profile

This month it’s the turn of Colin Clarke who wants to set the record straight after recent criticism of his dress sense.

Favourite Player: Maurice Fitzgerald
Player you would most like to have on the BME team: Séan Cavanagh
Best Player ever played against: Tommy O’ Neill (St. Laurances)
Career High: Winning Leinster with Kildare Juniors
Career Low: Losing the All- Ireland semi to Leitrim and losing the intermediate final.
Biggest influence on you as a player: Vinnie Kavanagh
Best BME player ever played with: In the backs Pat Browne, midfield Andy Dooley and forward would be Jarleth Gilroy.
Best BME player ever: Used to love watching Paul Murphy when I was younger
Best Manager ever played under: Won Leinster with Jarleth at the helm and won the Kildare u20 championship with BME with Jarleth as manager so he mnust know something.
Worst dressed on the team: Photo-finish, Shane Kavanagh wears tights to training and Brian Moore wears some ridiculously pink t-shirts
Worst trainer on the team: Keith Conway, it’s as if he’s deaf
Who spends the longest getting ready after training: Timmy Gorman, the routine usually involves some body lotion, a tub of brylcream and a can of deodorant
Gretta Clarkes cooking out of ten: 9 because if I gave her full marks she would get complacent
Who would you most like to go on a date with: Hayley from Home and Away
What you would like to see in your lifetime: Kildare for Sam
Favourite Drink: Heineken
Favourite Film: Remember the Titans
Favourite Song: She’s a vision by All Eyes with Owen Clarke in his boy band days
Who eats the most at the Clarke dinner table: Gazza has been known to eat a six person Lasagne on his own
Worst Dancer: Tadhg Grace. Always gets some funny looks but that could be because he always wears jeans that are too short
Most intelligent on the team: Tommie Archibald is a genius at ‘Who Wants to Be A Millionaire’