Aghada GAA Juvenile News - By Juvenile PRO Donal Walsh.

Hi folks, wasn’t the weather fantastic last weekend and I hope ye all had the opportunity to get out and enjoy it. The Thomas Kent commemoration was held on Saturday in the blazing sunshine and the club was well represented on the day. Our esteemed president John Motherway laid a wreath in memory of the founding member of our club Denis Kelly. Denis Kelly was born in Ballyshane at the beginning of the great famine in 1846. He became a Fenian and escaped to the United States after the failed Fenian rising of 1867. He later returned to Ireland and became the founding member of Aghada GAA Club in 1885. This was just a year after the GAA itself was founded making Aghada one of the oldest clubs in Ireland. When Denis Kelly died in 1892 at just 47 years of age his funeral was the largest ever to take place in this parish. He is buried in the old graveyard in Upper Aghada and his grave is marked by a large Celtic Cross paid for by the donations of many supporters from home and abroad.

All our lives are made up of people who make a difference, one moment in time someone was there when the first wheel turned. Telecommunications have reached such a level of sophistication that they are now readily available to people all over the world. There were no telephones in the parish of Aghada when Denis Kelly was born and monumental changes have occurred since then, yet he made a difference in our lives with that first ever step in our club to where we are today, and we must all hope and believe that the best is yet to come.

U13 & U15 C-3 Football Two football games with contrasting fortunes and the scores were so lopsided that we will leave them out altogether. The first game was in the U13 league against Killeagh in Rostellan where we won by a cricket score and in doing so qualified for the final as we remain unbeaten in this competition. Then our second U15 team took on Mallow also in Rostellan and this went the way of the away side in another lopsided encounter and in truth neither game was of any proper benefit to any of the teams involved.

U12 Hurling Tournament We were delighted to be invited to this year’s Colman Dillon hurling tournament run by the host club Erins Own that has been running for as long as our own prestigious Willie Ryan tournament. Our boys certainly did us proud and to say they were a trifle unlucky to progress would be an understatement. They won 2 out of 3 matches in their group defeating Watergrasshill and Blackrock on a scorching hot morning in Caherlag. They lost the last game in the group against the eventual winners of the overall tournament Carrigtwohill and only went out by virtue of scoring difference by one solitary point. A fantastic effort by our lads that can only stand them in good stead when they represent the club in the future years ahead.

U12 Hurling League Castlelyons 5-8 Aghada 1-10 Goals win matches so the cliché goes, and this certainly rang true in Castlelyons last Monday evening. We endured a poor start and never really recovered although we had plenty of possession the damage was done early by the home side. We conceded 3 goals in the opening 15 minutes and that increased to 4 by half time and might have been even more if it wasn’t for the heroics of our netminder Dara Kelleher. We knocked over some good points in the first half from Leon O’ Connor, Jack Kelleher and center back supreme Bobby O’ Riordan but trailed 4-4 v 0-5 at the break. We came out much stronger in the second half driven by MJ Duggan, Gavin Conway and Darragh Callanan with Seán Day firing over a nice point and Jack landing a couple more we were in the ascendancy. James Irwin was moved to center forward, and it paid dividends as he cracked home a fabulous goal but ultimately the damage done to the scoreboard in the opening half proved too difficult to overcome and the home side prevailed, we wish Finn Larkin a speedy recovery after he took a heavy knock during the game. Team Dara Kelleher, MJ Duggan, Maidhc Collins, Leon Joyce, Jake O’ Sullivan, Bobby O’ Riordan, Finn Larkin, Daragh Callanan, Jack Kelleher, Leon O’ Connor, Seán Day, James Irwin, Conor O’ Reilly, Conor O’ Neill, Luca Hurley. Subs used Lorcan Evans, Ben Duggan, Gavin Conway, Harry Martin.

fEast the Midleton Food and drink festival made an appearance in Rostellan last Sunday morning as people were invited to sample some delights from our now renowned Sideline Café while also taking a stroll around our beautiful, picturesque grounds. This was our second year participating in the festival and thanks to all who made it such an enjoyable occasion.

Our parish leagues u9/u10 Hurling and Football are starting next week Tuesday 19th September and running every Tuesday and Friday for the next number of weeks until finals night on Friday 6th October Hurling and Friday 13th Football. The young players will be eager to showcase the skills they have developed in Rostellan over the last number of years, so why not go along and have a look over the next few weeks and we will bring you more information on how these leagues are progressing in the weeks ahead.

A masterclass in hurling coaching and training is taking place this Saturday morning in Rostellan from 10am until 12pm. Renowned hurling coach Donal O’ Rourke will be assisted by Cork senior hurlers Declan Dalton and Ciarán Joyce, and they will put our u10, u12 + u14 teams through their paces. Anybody with an interest in coaching or hurling in general is invited down to get a bird’s eye view of the proceedings. The coaches will have speaker mikes attached up so you will be able to listen to what is being said and the sessions will also be recorded for our own use at later dates. Children are also welcome to come along for a meet and greet with the coaches when the training finishes and they might even get a chance to have a puck around with them as well. Presentations will also take place afterwards with the club recognizing the achievements of our Celtic league winning players as well as Seán O’ Callaghan who lined out with the Cork minor hurlers this year. So why not pop down on Saturday morning and take in the fantastic hurling skills that will be on show.


Fixtures Sat 16th U13 Hurling League Aghada v St Vincents 13:15 Rostellan Mon 18th U12 Football League Midleton v Aghada 18:30 Park South Midleton.

Slán go fóill

Be seen wear the Green.

Ár nDícheall Go Deo