Castlebar Mitchels Hurling
Mitchels Hurling News - 29 May 2006
By Michael Murphy
31, May 2006 - 09:15

Race Night to raise funds for Juvenile Hurling.

Last year our parents committee ran a very successful race night and this year they hope to repeat it. The race night will take place in Coadys Bar on Friday June 2^nd. The race night will help to support the running of such things as our Schools Coaching Project, Hurling on the Green, The Hurling Academy, The Suck Valley League, Féile na nGael and all our underage training and competitions. Horses will cost €30 and race sponsorship is €100. A ‘Roy Keane signed Celtic jersey’ presented to the club by Specsavers will also be auctioned on the night. This is a very important part of our fundraising for the year and we are asking parents to please support it. Contact any member of the club to support.

Ballyvary was the setting on Saturday as the Mitchels under 8s team joined up with the Ballyvary Hurling Club for a Go Games Blitz. More than 50 players turned up and a great day was had by all. The players were divided into 6 teams with each team playing four games. Before the final round of games everybody had a little picnic, got their picture taken and sang their team song. Thanks to the Ballyvary Hurling Club for hosting us and to Adrian Hession for all his help. The following players from Castlebar Mitchels Hurling Club took part;

Castlebar Mitchels got off to a good start in the under 14 ‘A’ championship with a hard earned win over Tooreen in Aghmore on Friday evening last. With the breeze at their back, Tooreen got off to a flying start scoring the first six points of the game. A Nathan O’Malley goal and a Tony Sweeney point towards the end of the half helped to settle Mitchels but Tooreen responded with two more points to leave the half time score at 0-8 to 1-1 in favour of Tooreen.

Mitchels opened the second half strong with four unanswered points from Damien McHale, Tony Sweeney, Michéal Clune and Colm Morris to level the game. Then with ten minutes to go, two goals in quick succession from Richard O’Dea and Damien McHale gave them a bit of breathing space. In the last few minutes both sides had chances but in the end Castlebar held on. Barry Lane had a great game in goal and was assisted in defence by Keith Fehilly, Darragh O’Malley, Padraig Condon, Nicholas Quinn, Ethan Tuffy and Joseph Redmond. Michéal Clune and Colm Morris had good games in midfield while Niall Walsh and Alan Gavin worked hard at setting up the scores for the other forwards.

The Mitchels under 14 ‘B’ team registered their second win in the ‘B’ championship on Saturday afternoon in Castlebar. Playing with the breeze in the first half Mitchels got off to a flying start with goals from N. O’Malley, J. Redmond, S. King and two from D. Togher. In between Ballina scored a goal before J. Lowe added a point to leave the half time score at 5-1 to 1-0.

The second half was much more even with Ballina giving their all. N. O’Malley added another goal before Ballina replied with one of their own. Some brilliant goalkeeping by Brian Collins and good defence from Ethan Tuffy, John Corcoran, and Declan Howley kept Ballina at bay in those final minutes and Mitchels ran out winners. Others to play well on the day were F. Boland, C. Munnelly, D. Loughran, R. Singh, C. Quinn, L. Kenchington and G. Duffy.

This week the under 14 ‘A’ team play Ballyhaunis while the ‘B’ team take on Belmullet.

On Wednesday last, our U12 team became the first ever to take part in the Galway hurling championship. This was a wonderful occasion, with the team giving a very good account of themselves at Sylane. The game, against Bearna / Na Forbacha, was close throughout, with Castlebar giving their all and in no way outclassed by the opposition.

Castlebar started brightly, with a great goal by full-forward Conor Mylett. Thereafter, they played second fiddle to the Galwaymen for the remainder of the first half, going in at half-time training by 1-3 to 1-0.

When Bearna scored an early goal in he second half, Castlebar responded brilliantly, scoring an unanswered 2-1 through Mylett, Sarah Prendergast and Aaron Singh, to lead 3-1 to 2-3. However, Bearna took over again and closed out the game with two more goals and a point, to win by 4-4 to 3-1.

Best for Castlebar were Bryan O’Malley, who fought like a tiger, Diarmuid Finnan at full-back and Paul Colleran, who came on as a sub for the injured Aisling Towey at half-time.

On Saturday week last, our U12 hurlers took part in the annual Pearse’s Ground Hurling Blitz at the south Roscommon club. The day was an exceptional one for Castlebar, as the A team reached the A final for the first time, only to lose out to Roscommon Gaels by 1-0 to 0-1.

On route to the final, the team had four superb wins in a row, defeating different Roscommon teams at each stage. Chief scorer on the day was Conor Mylett, lining out at full forward and netting 11 goals and a few points also. Player of the day was Thomas Quinn-Bailie, who gave a masterful performance in the half-back line. The excellent Aisling Towey was captain for the day.

Our B team also gave it their best shot, but as the team had many young players, they found the going tough. Nevertheless, they fought hard and enjoyed the day. Best of the team were Niall Fahey and Ashley Jensen.

Teams :

Kevin Keena, Diarmuid Finnan, Bryan O’Malley, Thomas Quinn-Bailie, Aisling Towey, Cathal Walsh, Art Ó Súilleabháin, Conor Mylett, Luke Ruddy, Sarah Prendergast, Aran Singh, Dara Singh, Niall Fahey, Daniel Munnelly, David Costelloe, Eric Gavin, Chris MacCormick, Ashley Jensen, Mark Browne, Rory Quinn, Stephen King, Kenneth Fenney, Ronan Byrne, Julien Guiblain.

U12s have another Galway championship match this Wednesday against Rahoon/Newcastle. The team will be selected at training on Monday evening. Bus will leave on Wednesday from An Sportlann at 4.45 pm. Please be there on time.

The following game is on next Monday, June 5, leaving An Sportlann at 9.45 am.

Under 8 Fr. Michael Murphy 0857345167

Under 10 Conal O’Domhnaill 0876877489

Under 12 Barry Murphy 0868318748

Under 14 Gerry Lane 0878278705

Under 16 Michael Clune 0879685577

Under 18 Darren Greaney 0872671369

Senior Ray Coy 0872021677

Club Coach Ger White 0863520671

Chairperson Tony Stakelum 086 8586842

There is training on Wed evening for under 8, 10 and 14s at 6pm.

Interested in playing Camogie for Castlebar Mitchels.

Junior Team trains on Wednesdays at 7pm in Davitt College.

Under 14 Camogie training on Wednesdays at 7pm in Davitt College also.

Mitchels under 14 hurlers will be hosted by Inniscarra Hurling Club of Cork at this year’s Féile na nGael. Inniscarra is a few mile outside Cork City on the western side. On Thursday Mitchels will travel down and they will play their host team Inniscarra on the Friday at 3pm. On Saturday they will play Valley Rovers from Cork at 10am and at 1pm they take on Camross from Laois. All the games will be played at the Inniscarra grounds. If anybody is interested in travelling down to Cork they should contact Gerry Lane or Paddy O’Brien as soon as possible.