* This has been a sad week for Castlewellan Gaels with the passing away of parents of our members. Rosanne O’Prey passed away last week. Rosanne was the mother of our esteemed member and juvenile football & camogie coach Noreen Keown. She was also grandmother of our players Noeleen, Kelly, Cahal, Aoife and Sean. On Sunday our esteemed life member Pauline Burns, wife of Patsy died suddenly. Pauline was the mother of the Senior Ladies Team Manager Jim, life members Anne, Mark, John and former player Michael. She was also the grandmother of our players Rory and Aisling. The Executive Committee and members wish to extend our deepest sympathy to the Keown/O’Prey and Burns families on their loss. Ar dheis de go raibh a anam dilis.
* Many years ago Meatloaf sang a song called ‘Two out of Three aint bad’. Castlewellan qualified for three finals at the Feis on Sunday. The Senior Hurlers beat Carryduff 5-8 to 2-3 in a great game played in the wide open spaces of St Malachys Park. Great performances up front from Cahal Keown and Tony Ferris. Jason Croskery and Aidan Keown had a great spell in the middle of the park with Michael Keown outstanding in goals. Collie McCann and Ray Cunningham were solid at the back. A great performance also from Pairic Hardy. Well done to the lads who have worked hard this year and deserve a bit of silverware for all their efforts. The Senior Footballers also took home the Football Sevens title beating An Riocht 1-16 to 1-13 in the high scoring final. Well done to Colm Og Crilly on his man of the match performance. This now qualifies the Senior Team with automatic entry into the Kilmacud Crokes All-Ireland Sevens Tournament in September. Whilst we had success in those games sadly it was not to be for the Minor Camogs who came unstuck against the Liatriom Fontenoys going down 6-02 to 2-05. Our coaches and the girls have done a lot of hard work over the years so to be at the point where they are starting to appear in finals. It is a testament to the great efforts being made. Talking point was the choice of referee for this game. New Club member Darren McCauley stepped up to the plate as the man in the middle and did a great job except Castlewellan didn’t win! Not a good start Darren!
* On Saturday our Under 8 & Under10 footballer’s took part in a blitz hosted in Kilcoo. Both our team’s competed well and enjoyed the day’s football in the glorious weather. The last game of the tournament was a game between the host club Kilcoo and our own Under 8 team. This was the game of the day with some great play from both sides. On the showing of the performances from all our boys who took part in the blitz we will have a lot of stars for the future. Keep up the good work. * The under 8 team had a great tussle with Bryansford on Friday Night. The cheers for the young stars of tomorrow were greater than for those of today. They give great honest endeavour and the large home and away crowd were appreciative of their efforts. Well done lads.
Football training will continue at the Bann Road complex on Tuesday evening at 6.15pm.
* This Saturday some of our youngest hurlers will be taking part in an Under 6 & Under 8 hurling blitz in Portaferry. Further details will be provided during training on Thursday night at St. Malachy’s Park. A note for your diary we will be hosting the all county Under 10 hurling blitz on Saturday 09th June. The All Ireland Hurling Club champions Loughgiel Shamrocks will be sending two juvenile teams and also have kindly confirmed they will be bringing along the trophy. It is hoped that a number of the winning panel will also be in attendance and will provide the children with a short training session. This promises to be a great event. More details to follow.
* Last Friday fantastic weather and 23 degrees heat was the stifling background to the seniors recording a good victory 0-19 to 0-11 over our rivals and neighbour’s Bryansford. A good all-round performance and work rate from the lads. Next up will be Loughinisland in the Championship in a fortnight’s time which will be a difficult game. They have beaten Rostrevor in the league this week so we know that they will be tough opponents.
*Well done to the ladies who run in the Race for Life lat Stormont last Sunday. Our very Senior Camogie Star Betty ‘Black & Blue’ crawled over the finish line in the blistering heat. You are a supposed to use your feet to run Betty and not your knees and the palms of your hands!
