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A couple of weeks ago the Intermediate footballers went up to Dunlavin, and playing the best football they have produced in quite some time were two points up with five minutes to go. One wonder-goal, and a point later, and the referee was calling for the ball, and we were heading back over the gap with nothing to show for a two point defeat. Last Tuesday night, again playing some excellent ball against Carnew, we found ourselves two points to the good with five minutes remaining once again. Thankfully, we held out in what may prove to be a good ‘marker’ against our first round championship opponents, winning 1-11 to 0-12. Peter McKenna came on as an ‘impact’ sub scoring 1-01, while Morgan Hynes, Colm McGovern and Rocco Kelly all had good games, and were it not for the performance of Emmett Lawless would have been worthy man of the match candidates. Emmett stuck two fine points over the bar in the first five minutes or so, and that opened the floodgates to a seven point tally, five from play. It was an outstanding hour’s work, and one that hopefully will set the tone for the rest of his year.

It has come to the committee’s attention that the Man United shop does a bomb trade altogether, and that the whole merchandising aspect is a gig that we want to get in on. So without further ado replica club jerseys are now available for a paltry €50 (adult), and €30 (juvenile). If there is a demand for baby/toddler sizes, we will also see what we can do. All committee members are taking orders from today, and jerseys will be exactly the same as those worn by your heroes!

The juvenile hurling clinic is up and running on Thursday evenings, 7pm to 8pm as it was last year, and this should fill the void that was left when the excellent indoor league wound up in February. Meanwhile, the football clinic will kick off on Saturday mornings, 11am to 12pm from the 27^th of May. Both clinics were a success last year, and are available to all juvenile age groups, and standards. Anyone who feels they can lend an hour, once a week to either clinic – and I am directing this at our Senior hurlers and Intermediate footballers - would be more than welcome. The time for juvenile membership is nigh, so please get registration forms from your friendly local committee member/mentor. Membership is €20, and club shorts, and socks are included for this fee.

Colm Hatton’s under 12 hurlers have a busy week. They played St.Pats last Monday, and are out against Barndarrig On Saturday. I hope to have reports on both next week.

A few weeks ago, I mentioned that the football feile was being held in Wicklow this year, and that Kilcoole would be a host club staging a round robin on the Saturday over in the field. Kilcoole will be represented by our own under 14s, and we will also be looking for families to house two (or more) of the under 14 footballers from Ballinderry, County Derry, for the Friday, and Saturday nights, the 23^rd, and 24^th of June. G.A.A President, Nicky Brennan, was up in St. Anthony’s today to promote the competition, and I believe there are more details on feile na peil elsewhere in the sports pages this week.

The Senior hurlers continued their good run of form in the Sally cup when they beat Glenealy last Friday evening, down in Glenealy by 0-13 to 1-07. Ronan Keddy had a great game at midfield while Garry Kangley can say from this day on that he made his senior hurling debut at the age of 15 – and Garry, in a few years nobody will know the difference, so say you put over two points against Michael Anthony O’Neill!!

Ladies football is gathering pace impressively at the moment. An understrength team ran out 5-18 to 1-2 winners against St. Pats last Sunday week. Training continues on Tuesday and Thursday evenings at 7.30pm. The girls will be out this Sunday coming against Knockananna, with a throw in time of 11am to be confirmed.

The under 16 footballers had a hugely impressive win over Newtown last Sunday evening over in the field, on a day whose schedule would have been more suited to the Olympic stadium in Moscow. The rota kicked off with the intermediate football clash between ourselves and Éire Óg, followed by the Minor Hurling Championship match between North District and Bray Emmets, followed by Senior (club) hurling training and finally the aforementioned under 16 football match. This was a hugely significant win (3-05 to 1-07) for Bernard Collier’s men for whom Dean Healy was impressive, as were Keith Reynolds, Ozzy Gaskin, and Gordon Watson.

They say that soccer is a game of two halves, well let me be the first to confirm that this theory can also be applied to our own games. No matter how well either ourselves or Éire Óg are going in any given championship, or league, or for that matter, how badly….. the form book always goes out the window when we happen upon each other in direct opposition. The easiest prediction that any body could ever make is that “it will be tight”. And so it was. Éire Óg, eight points to the good at half time aided and abetted by a strong breeze, which duly blew over seven unanswered points for Kilcoole in the second half. A brief exchange of points, and I think a reasonable crowd left satisfied with the draw, which, by the way, was well reffed by Eddie Leonard. If the crowd left happy enough with the draw, I’m going to stick my neck out and say that there was a win there for Kilcoole’s taking, and if we could have gotten Robbie Whelan within fifty yards of the goal just one more time, he would have stuck it over the black spot. Also to the fore was Seán Greene who whether at wing back or full back was outstanding. If we could get the two lads to do a spot of training now we’d be right! (Wednesday and Friday, 7.30pm, if you’re not sure)

The game was preceded by a minutes silence in respect of the death of Colm Broughan, and we wish to further extend our sympathies to the Broughan family.

The under 14s had a good win against Fergal Ógs last week, while the under 12s lost to Newtown. Once again I will remind all parents that registration for juveniles will be in the club house on Saturday 29^th April from 11am to 1pm. Club shorts and socks will be handed out on receipt of membership.

The junior footballers will finally get under way against St. Pats this Thursday evening. A tribute to the work Ciarán Dutton does with this team year in, year out is that his squad is constantly plundered to strengthen the intermediate team, and I‘m sure he is keeping one or two secrets closely guarded again this year.

Pat Fortune has been enduring a period of recuperation of late following a bit of a turn. I hope he doesn’t mind me mentioning it, and also wishing him a speedy recovery.

The senior hurlers will be going for three on the bounce when they play St.Pats in the Sally Cup this Sunday morning, 11am, over in the field. Training tonight (Wednesday), will be at 6.45pm

Firstly this week, we must congratulate Bernard Collier and Paul O’Donnell on receiving their level 1 football coaching badges. The presentation was in Croke Park recently so well done to both the lads. While we’re at it, Paul reached another benchmark in life last weekend, when himself and Dora O’Connor got engaged. Let us in the club be among the first to offer some words of wisdom: “buy land, they’re not making it anymore!”.

The national football Feile is being held in Wicklow this year. For those of us who mightn’t be aware, this is a very big deal. It is basically the Under 14 all-Ireland club championship. Furthermore, Kilcoole is one of the host clubs. By way of promotion for this event the county board had a parade of captains at half time in the Wicklow – Tipperary National Football league game in Arklow last Sunday, where Philip O’Connor represented our good selves. Keep an eye future notes for more on the feile, which will be held over the last weekend in June (24^th and 25^th).

Also on the Juvenile front, the North Board programme kicks off this week. Under 16s, and Under 12s will be Monday nights, while Under 14s will be Wednesdays.

Hurlers should note that training at the minute is at 6.30pm, Mondays and Wednesdays to avail of the longer evenings, and will be so until further notice.

The Intermediate footballers played Ashford last Sunday morning over in the field, and emerged victorious on a 1-10 to 1-07 scoreline. On a day not condusive to the ‘beautiful game’, 1-10 was good scoring given that all but three points were from play. The full forward line had a good first half but were less conspicuous in the second, while Morgan Hynes and Vinny Quigley at midfield had a good day at the coal face. For the record Wayne Moran mis-kicked our goal, which was also a square ball, and a foul on the Ashford goalkeeper!!

There was a ‘distinguished’ turnout over in the golf club last Saturday for the social night. Players of the year awards for 2005 were presented as follows:

On the subject of Ladies football, Johnny Kavanagh’s charges are well under way with two league games under their belt, and full points gained from both. Training is on Tuesday and Thursday nights, over in the field at 8pm sharp. All new members are more than welcome.

The senior hurlers cut the ribbon on their season in a bit of style on Sunday morning last with a two point victory over Avondale. Ronan Keddy had a fine game, and new man Tommy Mallon marked his debut for the club with a goal from wing forward.

The U10 hurlers did the club proud on Saturday when they won the Plate Final in the St. Patricks indoor Hurling Competition. The atmosphere was electric in the gym at Colaiste Chraobh Abhann for the final day of this excellent competition, and both our U10 and U12 hurlers played 2 matches. The U12's played St. Patricks in their first match and Arklow Rocks in their second. The match against the Rocks was a real thriller with Arklow taking an early lead only for Kilcoole to peg them back with goals from Mark Flood and Eoin Keddy, before Arklow managed to get ahead again and hold on for a 5-3 victory. The rest of the team was C.Byrne, C.O'Neill, C.J. Corcoran, M.O'Brien, L.Williams, S.Molloy, C. Smith, K. Smith and T.Ryder.The U10's stole the show in their two matches beating St. Pats 6 - 0 in the first with goals from Eoin O'Brien (2), Jake Ryan (2), Shane Evans (1)and Tiarnan Hewitt (1) This put them into the final where they played Enniskerry. Enniskerry took an early lead and it looked like it wasn't going to be our day as we were able to hit everything with the ball except the goal. With time running out Thomas Ryder and Cormac Byrne were sprung from the bench and things started to go our way, Barry Diskin rifled the ball to the roof of the net for the equaliser and with the crowd really turning up the volume up popped Jake Ryan to score the winner in the dying seconds. It was a proud moment for all when captain Cillian Molloy was presented with the trophy by Damian Fitzhenry. Team James Toner, Shane Evans, Josh Murray, Cillian Molloy, Barry Diskin, Jake Ryan, Eoin O'Brien, Jamie Murray, Tiarnan Hewitt, Cormac Byrne, Thomas Ryder, Clancy Smith, Kevin Smith, Tomas McDonald, C.J. Corcoran, and Conor Martin. Many thanks to all in St. Pats who organised this great competition.

Last Saturday was the penultimate day in the St.Patricks indoor league
with the Kilcoole U10’s playing 2 matches. Unfortunately we lost both and
were unable to improve our league standing. Jake Ryan scored against St. Pats
Blues and Barry Diskin scored against Arklow Rocks. The rest of the team
was Shane Evans, Cillian Molloy, Tomas McDonald,Conor Martin,Eoin
O’Brien,Jamie Murray,Luke Evans and C.J. Corcoran.All roads lead to Col.
Craobh Abhainn next Saturday for the semi finals and finals with both
U10 and 12 teams in the plate competition.An early start is required with
all players to be in the school for 9am.

Our U14 footballers made the long trip to Hollywood for the Feile
Tournament on Saturday and in appalling conditions but up a very good
show before going down to St.Kevins on a score of 4-5 to 2-3. Unfortunately
the boys were so cold and wet after this first match that the manager took
the very difficult decision to head for home as the prospect of waiting
around for half an hour before the next game was just not an option, the teams
health and safety being his number one priority.Team B. Mason,J.Gilbert,
P.O’Connor, D.O’Brien,A.Lennon, D.Kavanagh,M. Mannix, D. Gammell, S.
Magee,S. Doyle, J. Monaghan, R. Reynolds, J. Murray

The Intermediate footballers travelled to Ballymanus on Sunday morning
and a depleted team was unable to alter the clubs bad weekend run, losing
2-8 to 2-2 to the home side. Best on the day were Eoin Hanney (1-1) Shane
Ryan and Gavin Peppard. Eoin O’Brien got a goal and Vinnie Quigley a point.
The rest of the team was J.Fortune, E. McGovern, D.Keddy,D,Kelly, R.Keddy,
J.Walsh, M.Hynes, C.McGovern, P.McKenna, E. Lawless, Sub M.Kelly for M.
Hynes.

Junior Football Manager Ciaran Dutton tells me that training continues
every Monday at 7.30.
Tickets for the Clubs Social Night on Saturday are still available.
Price EUR5 , venue Kilcoole Golf club

Senior hurling training continues in Loreto Bray on Sunday evenings, despite the unlikely time the turnout has been good, and its good to see Vinny Quigley return to the squad. A recent friendly against the county under 21s proved a worthwhile exercise, where Eoin O’Brien stood out having a good game. The league is scheduled to start on March 19th, giving us only another fortnight to prepare, so keep an eye on the fixtures over the next few weeks. It’s good to see Billy Cuddihy, and Chester Kelly getting a run for the county in recent weeks.

The St. Patrick’s Indoor Hurling League at Colaiste Chraobh Abhann returned this week, and what a week it was for the Kilcoole U.10's.

They had three wins out of three games, including a fantastic 3 - 2 victory over table toppers Barndarrig. Top scorer on the day was Eoin O'Brien with 5 goals, closely followed by player of the day, Jake Ryan with 4 goals, Barry Diskin scored 2 and Cormac Byrne 1. James Toner had another impressive performance in goal, and these lads were all well supported by Josh Murray, Shane Evans, Cillian Molloy, Thomas Ryder, Kevin and Clancy Smith, Jamie Murray and Tomas McDonald.

Saturday afternoon saw the U12's in action, their best result was a 3 -3 draw with Fergal Og's, but the team put in some very good performances against teams from Bray Emmets and Eire Og who have a lot more experience. Best on the day were Eoin Keddy, Michael O'Brien, Dermot O'Brien, Conor O'Neill, Shane Molloy and Lee Williams and they had good backup from some of the U10 team - who must have been pretty tired from their exertions earlier in the day - Josh Murray, Cillian Molloy, Barry Diskin, Eoin O'Brien, Jamie Murray and Shane Evans.

Now, whether you want to celebrate last season, or welcome in this season, or both, Kilcoole golf club is the venue for you. The club will be hosting a social evening on Saturday, March 18^th. There will be presentations for last years teams, but this will be largely an informal affair. The emphasis for the night will be on having a bit of craic. Food, on the night will be of the nut variety, behind the bar, so do have the nosebag before you come over. Tickets are a paltry €5, and are available from committee members.

Our sympathies to the Quinn family of Knockroe, on the recent loss of Danny.

The Intermediate footballers are showing signs of fitting that description. Following two heavy defeats to St. Anne’s, and Whitehall Colmcilles, Peter O’Neill’s charges headed to Newtown last Wednesday night. A good solid performance saw us beaten by the minimum margin, but the nature of the performance was encouraging. Newtown were short 4 or 5 men away on county duty, while we were short a few of our regulars also. In their absence, others prospered. Eoin McGovern, and David Kelly in either corner back position are improving with every game, while Morgan Hynes on the forty had a very good game. Peter O’Brien at midfield was outstanding though, and may have just got himself a job for the opening part of the season. That season throws in on Sunday week, March 12^th. Venue and opposition are undecided as of yet.

The senior Hurlers had a challenge match against the County U21 team on Sunday. See Photos

Both the U12 and U10 hurlers had very successful outings this week, on Saturday morning the U12s managed 2 wins out of 3 games in the St. Patricks indoor league.

They started off with a 6 - 4 win over Enniskerry followed by a 6 - 1 win over St. Patricks, and the only hiccup on the morning was a 4 -6 loss to Barndarrig.

Player of the day was Mark Flood with 7 goals including 2 hat tricks, closely followed by Dermot O'Brien with 3, Eoin Keddy with 3, Michael O'Brien with 2 and Cormac Byrne with 1,they were all well supported by Thomas Ryder,Barry Diskin,Lee Williams,Josh Murray, Eoin O'Brien, Conor O'Neill and Shane Molloy.

On Saturday afternoon it was the turn of the U10s and they went 1 better and won all 3 of their games against Bray Emmets, Eire Og and Fergal Og's.A great team effort was put in by all and scorers on the day were Jake Ryan(4), Eoin O'Brien (3),Jamie Murray (3),Barry Diskin(2),Conor O'Neill (2),and Tomas McDonald (1), the rest of the team was Conor Martin,Josh Murray,James Toner,Lee Williams and Jamie Walsh.

Parents please note there will be no indoor hurling training or matches next weekend 17th/18th February, due to the midterm break. Next training Friday 24th at 7.30pm in Colaiste Craobh Abhainn. Next matches Saturday 25th, U10 at 11am and U12 at 1pm, in Col. C.Abhainn.

Indoor Hurling is proving to be a great success at the moment. There were thirty young lads over in the school hall last Friday night ‘pulling’, and blocking’, and ‘hooking’ to their heart’s content. Conducting this organised mayhem were Rós Keddy, Colm Hatton, John Toner, and Jason Walsh who are all doing a fine job.

Saturday morning saw the U10 hurlers in action again in the St. Patricks indoor league. The team managed to draw with Glenealy 1-1, and Arklow Rocks

2-2 in their first two matches, but were beaten 4-2 by Eire Og in their last match. Star player on the day day was Barry Diskin with 3 goals, the other goals coming from Thomas Ryder and Jamie Murray. This competition is proving very popular with the kids with thirteen turning up for an eight a side competition.

The rest of the team was James Toner, Josh Murray, Cillian Molloy, Shane Evans, Luke Evans, Clancy Smith, Kevin Smith, Cormac Byrne, Jake Ryan and Tiarnan Hewitt.

On Saturday afternoon it was the U12s turn in the North East Indoor league, another big turnout of players was great to see and the team played some great hurling in their three games, a 10 - 7 defeat to Fergal Og's being a particularly exciting game. Unfortunately they lost 7 - 4 to Eire Og but another great display in the final game brought a 6 - 6 draw with county champions Bray Emmets. The team was Eoin Keddy, Dermot O'Brien, Barry Mason, Barry Diskin, Shane Evans, Josh Murray, Tiarnan Hewitt, Lee Williams, Nicholas Hammond, Cillian Molloy, Aaron Lennon and Shane Molloy.

Finally, our congratulations to Conor Byrne who, following a series of trial matches, has been selected to represent the County Under 14 Footballers

Both the U12 and U10 hurlers were in action over the weekend , the U12s competed in the St Patrick’s indoor league at Colaiste Chraobh Abhainn, and despite being short of a lot of players , still gave a good account of themselves. Best on the day were Eoin Keddy, Mark Flood, Tiarnan Hewitt and Thomas Ryder.

On Saturday afternoon it was the U10s turn , as they competed in the inaugural North District indoor league. 3 matches were played in all with the highlight being a fantastic 7-7 draw with Eire Og . Clancy Smith scored a hat trick with the other goals coming from Barry Diskin (2), Shane Evans and Luke Evans. James Toner played a blinder in goal and had great defenders in Cillian Molloy and Kevin Smith with Jamie Murray and Tomas McDonald showing well in what was a magnificent team performance. Both U10s and 12s are out again next week in what are proving to be very enjoyable competitions for all participants.

The club season is now starting to gather up a head of steam and the hurlers and ladies footballers, are all due to report back for duty this coming week. Senior and Junior hurling training commences on Sunday next, 5th Feb from 7.30 to 9 pm on the Astro Turf in Loreto Bray. Once again, the hurlers will be under the guidance of Eoghan Dunne, with selectors Philip Gleeson and Brendan Cuddihy. Meanwhile, the Ladies will be in St. Patrick’s Hall on the Upper Green tomorrow night, 2^nd February, from 7pm to 8pm. The ladies will be under the stewardship of Johnny Kavanagh and Tommy Nolan this coming season.

The Intermediate footballers had their first run out against St. Anne’s Tallaght, last Sunday. It proved to be a worthwhile exercise from the point of view that we can see the amount of work needed to get ourselves up to speed for the coming league campaign. Training continues on Wednesday nights 7.30pm sharp. A reminder also, that pre-season training for all continues on Friday nights, 8pm in Colaiste Chraobh Abhainn.

Finally, it has come to my attention that I am responsible for a large oversight towards the latter part of last year. The club was represented on the Irish Senior Shinty/Camogie panel by Orlaith Donnelly, and I let it slip through the net. Apologies. Camogie is in its relative infancy in our club, but through the selfless work of Breda Donnelly, Mary Grehan and others it is blossoming, as was evident through two adult county finals last year. To get players on to county panels at any level is an achievement for our club, so to manage to contribute a player to the national squad is an occasion that we as a club should, and will be marking. I hope to have more on that in the coming weeks.

There was a good turnout from the club in the Arklow Bay Hotel on Saturday night to see Eithne Byrne receive her County Footballer of the year award. Once again, we would like to congratulate Eithne on this achievement.