All-Star Nomination

Congrats to our own James Kavanagh on his nomination for an All-Star after a very impressive year with Kildare. James was in formidable form with the county and is Ballymore’s first All-Star nominee. Well done again James.

Table Quiz

The club is holding a table quiz on Friday 23rd October at 9.30pm in Paddy Murphy’s. Tables are €20. There are plenty of spot prizes to be won along with a raffle so support for the club is welcome. Also James Kavanagh and some of the county stars will be attending if you want to see them in the flesh!!

Monthly Draw

The monthly draw takes place on the last Thursday of this month. Only 100 tickets are available. This month’s prizes will be 1st €150, 2nd and 3rd €50. Tickets are €10 each so don’t be shy!! Winners for September were 1st Tommie Archibald 2nd Mary Clarke 3rd Paul O’ Donoghue and 4th Paddy Nolan.

Flag Day

The Club will be holding a Flag Day on the weekend of the 7th-8th of November so be prepared!!

Website

Don’t forget to check out the club website on:
http://www.kildare.ie/ballymoreeustacegaa

Championship News

Intermediate Football Championship semi-final

Ballymore 2-07 Maynooth 3-10

Ballymore’s championship ambitions came to a disappointing end with a defeat to a strong and fancied Maynooth side. It was the winners who kicked on late with the game in the balance until the last few minutes. Ballymore opened the scoring with Tommie Archibald pointing after 16 seconds but parity was soon returned when Pierre Ennis converted a free. The first goal of the game soon followed with Mark McCarville’s clever pass found Archibald who made no mistake. Steven Dwyer then extended the lead to four but Maynooth rallied back with 1-01 in quick succession to leave the score 1-2 a piece. Pieere Ennis then pointed twice to put Maynooth two up but Keith Conway somehow found himself with only the keeper to beat and he slotted home as the lead switched once more. Ballymore then took over and in a five minute spell points from Mark McCarville James and Eoin Kavanagh had Ballymore 2-05 to 1-04 as the game went into first half injury time. A good run from Karl Ennis resulted in a goal right at the end of the half to leave one between the teams 2-05 to 2-04 at half time.
After the turnaround Ballymore extended their lead to two when Eoin Kavanagh fired over seconds in but it took Ballymore 23 minutes to register their next score. Hugh Purcell burst through the Ballymore defence before firing to the back of the net and from then until the end Maynooth never fell behind. Karl Ennis pointed twice and along with points from his brother Pierre and Bennett the winners had some breathing space with Ballymore only able to respond with a Tommie Archiblad effort. As the game petered out Pieere Ennis pointed twice to give Maynooth a six point win. Best for Ballymore on a disappointing day were James Kavanagh, Tommie Archibald and William O’ Donoghue.
Ballymore: Maurice Murray, Keith Fennell, Pat Browne, Jamie Balfe, Gerry Fennell, Colin Clarke, William O’ Donoghue, Tadhg Grace, James Kavanagh, Steven Dwyer, Peter Lawlor, Keith Conway, Tommie Archibald, Eoin Kavanagh, Mark McCarville. Subs: Shane Kavanagh, Kieran Doyle

Senior Reserve C Championship semi-final

Ballymore 0-6 St Kevins 2-6

Two goals in a golden ten minute spell for St. Kevins put paid to Ballymore’s challenge for the Championship title of 2009. The scoreline however disguises an excellent display by Ballymore who really pushed St. Kevins right up to the finish-line. Considering that St. Kevins already beat Ballymore by a scoreline of 0-17 to 0-1 in the league, they were correctly quoted as red hot favourites. Kevins started the brighter and with two frees went into an early lead. Ballymore were defending well against an onslaught and Paul Browne brought some hope with an excellently taken long range point from near the right sideline. St. Kevins responded and repeatedly attacked the Ballymore goal with little return however apart from a string of wides and a further point from a free. At this stage the standard of tackling by the Ballymore backs was extremely high with no St. Kevins player being allowed a free shot on goal. Séamus Browne then attacked from deep with a mazy solo-run and point before another long-range point from Paul Browne made it 0-3 each at half time.
Ballymore introduced Hugh Keogh at half time and he made an immediate impact. Ballymore were gaining the upper hand in midfield where Alan Rooney was a tower of strength. Paul Browne got two further points and Ballymore went into a two point lead with ten minutes of the second half gone.
Cracks however were starting to appear in the defence as Kevins had a goal bound shot deflected narrowly wide of the upright. This spurred them on and when their corner forward found himself one on one with Kevin McNally the Ballymore keeper, he chipped the ball nicely over the top for the first goal of the match.
St. Kevins were spurred on by this and a nicely weighted pass left 2 St. Kevins forwards facing one defender and they duly converted for the second goal.
Ballymore rallied, but time was running out and they concentrated in getting an all important goal. St. Kevins retreated, bringing all their players into their own half and Ballymore added a Jarlath Gilroy point before a daisy cutter heading for the corner was stopped by the goalie. At this stage, the chance was gone and the ref blew up the game to end another championship campaign for Ballymore.
It has been a stirring championship performance this year by the Ballymore second team. Ballymore team was:
Kevin McNally, Stephen Fisher, Alan Gilroy, Brian Moore, Darren Gorman, Ciarán Doyle, Ciarán Conway, Alan Rooney, Kevin Murphy, Dean Fisher, Paul Browne, Ódhrán Kennedy, Séamus Browne, Brian Fisher, Glen Browne. Subs: Christy Browne, Jarleth Gilroy, Hugh Keogh and T.J Gilroy


Player Profile


This month we have the honour of interviewing the man of the moment, a man who men look up to, women fantasies about and kids want to be: YE RIGHT!! Step up James Kavanagh:

Favourite Player: Like watching Daniel Goulding for Cork.
Player you would most like to have on BME team: Timmy Gorman!
Best Player ever played against: Mark O’ Shea (Kerry)
Career High: Winning the Hogan Cup.
Best advice ever given or received: Practice with both feet (Dad)
The biggest influence on you as a player: Geezer
The best Kildare player you played with: Dermot Earley
Favourite meal before a match: Beans and scrambled eggs
Worst dressed on the team: Nobody really stands out; Timmy’s jeans can be Gippo-esk!
Laziest trainer on the team: the man that prepared these questions Woddy (What a Lie)
Biggest poser on the team: Don’t even have to answer this! We all know and so do you; Timmy
Who would you most like to go on a date with: Linda Mullahy (She’s sitting right beside me!)
If you could be anyone for a day: Cristiano Ronaldo playing against Barcelona.
What you would like to see in your lifetime: Kildare winning the All Ireland.
If you couldn’t play football what would you do? I’d be travelling the world... with Linda (still sitting beside me!)
Favourite Drink: Guinness, if you mean alcoholic drink.
Favourite Film: Gladiators
Favourite song: Caledonia.
Who eats the most around the Kavanagh dinner table? Contrasting figures but its close between Dad and me.
Hopes for next year: The dream has to be the Sam Maguire.
Do you like signing autographs: Of Course!!