Vol 3 Dec 2015 - County Senior Hurling Champions 2015

SARSFIELDS GAA CLUB

Newsletter Volume 3, December 2015

SARSFIELDS

COUNTY SENIOR HURLING

CHAMPIONS 2015

Round-Up of all Sarsfields Teams’ Performances in 2015

Up-Coming Events

Sarsfields G.A.A. Club Newsletter

Dear Club Member,

These are very exciting times for Sarsfields G.A.A. Club. 2016 marks the 50^th Anniversary of the Club’s formation. Twelve months ago we were at the end of a very busy year. There was a renewed sense of optimism and expectation arising from the Pitch Development Project which at that time was gaining a great deal of momentum following our Launch Night. What we were hoping to achieve in 2015 has now been achieved. The huge progress made was outlined in our previous newsletter. The club is delighted that all 400 plots have now been sold. It is an enormous achievement reaching our target inside 12 months in challenging financial times and is a huge tribute to the generosity and support of the people of our parish and beyond, who bought plots. A special word of thanks to the Pitch Development Committee for working so tirelessly to make this a reality.

This Newsletter is a testament to the enormous amount of work that has gone on within the club throughout 2015. A sincere word of thanks to all the players, coaches, management teams, officers and sponsors for their work, dedication and generosity.

The central objective of our club is the development, promotion and betterment of hurling within our parish. The scenes we witnessed in Pearse Stadium on November 22nd when we won our first County Senior hurling title in 18 years have given us a great signal that we are journeying in the right direction with honesty and determination. We will never forget that night coming through Bullaun and passing the many bonfires dotted along the roads throughout the parish. The arrival and reception at New Inn Community Centre will be forever etched in our minds! The optimism and expectation of twelve months ago has been fulfilled. On many levels it has been exceeded.

We as a club are deeply grateful to the members of this senior panel and their management team for bringing Galway Club Hurling’s greatest honour to our club once more.

We would like to wish the team and their management the very best of luck in the weeks ahead as they prepare for the All-Ireland Club Semi-final against Ulster Champions Ruairí Óg on February 6th.

Go n-eirí an t-ádh libh go léir.

Finally, on behalf of the Club Executive I would like to wish you all a Happy and Peaceful Christmas and a Prosperous and Healthy 2016.

Le gach dea ghuí. Is mise le meas,

Seán Fahy

(Chairman Sarsfields G.A.A. Club)

PITCH DEVELOPMENT

We are currently engraving the commemorative Stone/Wall that will now be filled to capacity with the names of all the donors. The cut limestone Stone/Wall will be positioned just inside the entrance to the grounds and will be a fitting tribute to everybody that contributed towards the Development of the Sarsfields Club’s Grounds.

The pitch surface is coming along nicely and our engineer Joe Keane is paying regular visits to ensure that all is progressing as planned. A huge thanks must go to Joe and our Contractor Michael Finnerty for the excellent work carried out which has seen the pitch stand up amazingly well to the recent downpours. The continued cooperation from Coillte has been of enormous value and they have been more than amenable and supportive to work with, particular thanks to Aiden McGuire, Padraic O hUallacháin, and Mike Donnellan.

It will be "all systems go" again in spring with works on boundary fencing, spectator railing, foot-paths, ball stops, goal posts etc. due to recommence. Weather permitting we hope to have a lot of this work carried out in early summer. We are currently looking into the possibility of erecting a Spectator Stand which would be a great addition to our new grounds also.

REVIEW OF YEAR – G.A.A. CLUB

2015 has been a very successful year fielding teams at Senior, Junior A, Junior C, U21, Minor A and Junior A football.

The highlight of the year was the Senior hurling team winning the County Final for the first time in 18 years.

Our Senior team had an excellent campaign culminating in our first senior hurling title in eighteen years. Defeating Beagh in the first group game set a benchmark. A good victory over Cappataggle in the second round meant we faced into a crucial group game against Tynagh Abbey Duniry at which stage John Hardiman had joined the management team as hurling trainer since July. He was an extremely valuable addition to our great management team. Tynagh Abbey Duniry built up a lead in the second half but the ‘never say die’ attitude of our players shone through and we recorded a valuable one point victory. The final group game against Loughrea was our only defeat in this championship, but we had already qualified for the quarter final stages. The quarter final saw us play Pearses where two first half goals were crucial in ensuring victory.

The semi-final saw us draw reigning champions Gort. On the day excellent teamwork and movement around the pitch saw us emerge victorious which set us up for a county final appearance against Craughwell.

Our first county final appearance since 2002 arrived and there was great excitement among young and old around the parish. The final was played in Kenny Park, Athenry and drew a large crowd of supporters. In a hard fought match we had a five point lead at half time. However Craughwell had breeze advantage in the second half and drew level as the game approached the final quarter. Craughwell took the lead but a Niall Morrissey free equalised matters in the fifty fifth minute ensuring another day out for both teams.

The replay was played in Pearse Stadium and again a large crowd turned out. Two first half goals were pivotal in this victory. We went in leading 2-6 to 0-8 at half time.

Craughwell came back in the second half but our excellent teamwork and hardworking players were to the fore in ensuring victory. Joesph Cooney earned the man of the match award for his outstanding display.

Our Junior A team qualified for a preliminary quarter final out of a difficult group. The team worked very well together in securing four group match victories. They were unlucky to lose out in the preliminary quarter final by one point to eventual county finalists Ardrahan.

The Junior C’s had an excellent run which ended in a quarter final defeat to eventual County Finalists Mullagh. A number of Junior C players progressed to Junior A throughout the year. The team recorded five group game victories and competed competitively in a tough competition.

This year our U21s had a short campaign where they received a walkover from Kiltormer in the first round of the championship. This meant they faced into the second round against Kilconieron without any championship game. The lads put up an excellent performance but lost out on a scoreline of 1-14 to 0-12 to a Kilconieron team who went on to win the championship.

Our Minor team competed in the A competition this year. They were competitive in all games and recorded impressive victories over Castlegar and Loughrea in the group stages. They have qualified for the shield final which is due to played. It is of great benefit to players to be playing at the highest grade.

Our Junior A football team have progressed immensely over the last few years and competed in Junior A grade this year. They competed competitively in the league and recorded two wins and a draw in a very competitive group. In the championship they were unfortunate not to record a victory over Athenry in a close match losing out by a point.

CAMOGIE CLUB REVIEW

We had a very successful year with wins from our Junior C`s in the league Final v Mullagh, our Minors pulled off a very entertaining win in the final v Craughwell on a big weekend for the Parish, the Under 16 girls won 3 in a row A titles v Ardrahan, the under 14 girls won out the A shield v Ardrahan, our under 10`s were very successful winning the under 9 summer league, under 10 and under 10 Bernie Tierney tournament and we had 38 new under 8/6`s registered in the club, so the future looks promising for Sarsfields Camogie Club.

We had 34 girls registered U.6/U. 8’s and the numbers remained steady all year. We played in 4 blitzes away and hosted a very successful one ourselves in early July. All girls really enjoyed the year and are looking forward to 2016 already!

We entered 2 teams in the U.10 competition due to the high numbers. All girls got lots of playing time which will be of great benefit to them. Our 1st team had some great matches in their group and were unlucky to lose against a very strong Ardrahan team in the quarterfinal. The 2nd team reached the final and beat Moycullen on a score line of Sarsfields 1-02 to Moycullen 1 goal. We also won the Bernie Tierney Tournament in New Inn in late August. Our U.9 team beat Gort in the Summer League final.

We had 20 girls playing U.12 this year. We had only one defeat in our 7 group matches against a very strong Davitts team. We played Athenry in the quarterfinal and were narrowly beaten.

The U.13 Summer League began on the 24th August with a win over Cappataggle. We had further victories over St. Thomas’, Portumna and Clarinbridge. We had one loss to Ardrahan. We had a rousing victory over Shamrocks in the quarter final, (remember they had beaten us twice this year in U14) scoring 7-6 to their 3-6. The semi-final against Carnmore was a tough encounter and we lost to them 3-2 to 1-1. Carnmore went on to win this competition out.

The U.14 team lost out on qualification for the Féile semi-final on score difference. We qualified for the Shield semi-final and had a good win over Mullagh in that. On April 24th, we met Ardrahan in the final. This was a thrilling game, each player gave it their all, and we came away victorious on a score line of 4-5 to 4-1.

Our U.16 team were in a group of Killimor, St Coleman’s, Ardrahan and Carnmore. We defeated all 4 teams and topped the group. We beat Craughwell in the semfinal and were up against Ardrahan in the final again. We were down 1-06 to 1-03 at half time but in a great second half display we beat them by 1-12 to 1-07.

The Minor team avenged their defeat of the previous year beating Craughwell in a great final in Loughrea. All of the games of the minor championship were very even and this team seemed to be able to fight to the bitter end to hold out for victory in all their matches.

The Juniors had a great year winning out the League and reaching the Championship semi-final. We met Mullagh in the final having been defeated in an earlier group game by them and in an exciting game, we came out on top by one point. We were unlucky to be defeated by Craughwell in the championship semi-final.

The Senior team were in group with Castlegar, Davitts, Killimor, Mullagh and Ardrahan. As the draw was not seeded we ended up in a tough group, over the last 5 years Killimor, Mullagh and Ardrahan would be the top 3 teams in Galway camogie. In all 3 games against these teams I think we acquitted ourselves well.

Congratulations to all our players who played for Galway this year winning the League title and unfortunately losing out to Cork in the All-Ireland final. Also to all the U.16 players on winning the All-Ireland. Well done to Niamh McGrath on winning another All-Star – Well deserved!

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