Minor Presentation Friday the 2nd:
The Minor Club will have its presentation evening on this Friday 2nd January at 8pm in St. Joseph's Hall with Castlerea captain and former Roscommon star Nigel Dineen as special guest. Medals will be presented to the winning Under 11 Keenan Cup and Under 16 Ahern Cup teams.The members of all underage panels, including the winning Under 14 Garda Cup team, are requested to attend as awards will be made to the Player of the Year and the Most Improved Players in each age category. Parents/guardians are also asked to attend.

Roscommon versus Sligo I.T. Sunday the 4th in Boyle:
Sunday next is a big day for the Club as it will host Roscommon's first competitive game with Fergal O'Donnell in charge when they face Sligo IT in the FBD Connacht League in the Abbey Park at 2pm. All Club members are asked to assemble at the Park at 12.30pm to be assigned stewarding duties.

Lotto:

There was no jackpot winner at the most recent Boyle Club Lotto draw which was held in The Patrick's Well on Saturday 27th December. The following were €20 winners; Mary Fallon, Patsy Quinn, Joe Sweeney (Brislagh), Eugene and Zita Griffin, Martina Mullaney (Forest View), Gerry Tivnan, Kieran Hughes, Margaret McDermott, Emma Callaghan and Saoirse O'Flaherty. The first draw of 2009 will be held in Kate Lavin's on this Sturday night 3rd January. Kathleen Hanmore's team will be in charge. The jackpot will be €1,400. Supporters will have three opportunities as they may choose three sets of numbers for a fiver or one set as heretofore for €2.

E.G.M.
A special Extraordinary General Meeting of the Club will be held in the Royal Hotel on Friday the 9th January at 8.30pm to consider proposals to construct new dressing rooms and ancillary facilities. The Club has been allocated a Sports Capital grant for facility development and plans are ongoing to commence the development, which will be part funded by this grant, in the near future. All members are requested to attend.

A.G.M.
The Annual General Meeting of the Club will be held in the Royal Hotel on Sunday 18th January. All motions should be submitted to the Secretary by Sunday 11th January.

Quiz:
A Club table quiz will be held in the Moylurg Inn on Friday 23rd January with Tony Conboy as quizmaster. Quiz enthusiasts (and non-enthusiasts) from Boyle and surrounding parishes are invited for what promises to be a night of fun.

Club Social and Presentation Night:
Arrangements are also in progress for the annual club social and prizegiving night at which the 1983 County Intermediate Championship winning team will be honoured-further details next week.

Congratulations and Best Wishes:
Best wishes are extended to the Boyle panel members on the county Under 21 team which is due to play Cavan in the Hastings Cup this weekend. Congratulations are extended to Club Physiotherapist Bríd Connolly and Conor McGowan on their wedding and also to former player Frank Feighan T.D. on his marriage to Bernadette Lawless.

Scor:
The Club intends to participate in this year's adult Scór competitions. The events include set dancing, figure dancing, novelty act, solo singing, ballad group, recitation and quiz. Those who are interested in taking part in any of the aforementioned events or in assisting in organising them should contact the P.R.O at 086 2413529.

Club Sympathy:
The Club extends its sympathy to the Conroy family on the tragic death of Shane who was a former player with the club.

Presentation Night:

The Club will kick off the New Year with the Minor Club Presentation night on Friday 2nd January in Boyle Town Hall at 8.00pm, Special guest will be former Roscommon star and captain of this year's County Championship winning Castlerea team, Nigel Dineen. Medals will be presented to the Under 11 Keenan Cup and Under 16 Ahern Cup winning teams. Members of all underage panels, including the Under 14 Garda Cup winning team, are asked to attend as awards will be made to the Player of the Year and the Most Improved Player in each age category. Parents/guardians are also invited to come along.

Roscommon (Seniors) v Sligo I.T. at Boyle:
Boyle will host Roscommon's first senior game of 2009 and their first game under Fergal O'Donnell when the county team will play Sligo Institute of Technology on Sunday 4th January at 2pm in the Abbey Park. All Club members are asked to assemble at the park at 12.30 for stewarding duties.

E.G.M. Friday Jan. 9th:
While 2008 has been a busy and successful year on the playing scene it is hoped that 2009 will be even busier and more successful. Furthermore, the Club has ambitious development plans and an Extraordinary General Meeting of the Club will be held in the Royal Hotel on Friday 9th January to consider the progressing of this development.

A.G.M. Sunday Jan. 18th:
The Annual General Meeting has been fixed for Sunday 18th January.

Quiz :
There will be a Quiz on Friday January 23rd in The Moylurg with the funds in aid of Boyle GAA. The Quizmaster is Tony Conboy. This is the second of three quizes by T. C. Number 1 is on Tuesday the 30th of Dec., in The Moving Stairs, for the Rally Committee. The third and final one takes place on Friday February 6th, in Daly's, for the Convent National School.

New Style Lotto:
New style Club lotto envelopes have been introduced which gives subscribers three opportunities for €5 instead of €2 per set of numbers heretofore. The new envelopes will be used in all future draws.
There was no winner of the Jackpot from the Patrick’s Well draw of December 20th. The numbers drawn were; 7, 8, 18, 20. The €20 winners were: Mary Fallon, Patsy Quinn, Joe Sweeney (Brislagh) Eugene and Zeta Griffin, Martina Mullaney ( F. View), Gerry Tivnan, Kieran Hughes, Margaret McDermott, Emma Callaghan, Saoirse Flaherty with the House Prize going to Kieran Feely. The next draw takes place on January 3rd in Kate Lavin’s with Team ‘C’. The Jackpot stands at €1,400.

Émigrés:
The Club extends good wishes to current player Cillian Egan who has immigrated to Australia to join the growing numbers of Boyle natives. I believe Cillian will be with Cillian Conboy and Mark O’ Donohoe in Brisbane over Christmas. Boyle could field the bones of a good team in Oz now. Best wishes also to Roch (I believe Roch is in Sydney), Ciaran Keenehan in W.A., Robert Molloy and travelling partner and all the other ladies with whom I am not familiar.

Congrats:
Good wishes are also extended to former Boyle player and local TD Frank Feighan and Bernadette Lawless who will be walking up the aisle on Monday December the 29th. Congratulations also to Conor McGowan and Breege Connolly who get married on Sunday the 28th in Glenamaddy. Breege was physio for Boyle during the year.

New County Sec.:
Congratulations to Brian Stenson and Sean Martin on their recent appointments as County Secretary and Connacht Council Delegate respectively at the recent County Convention. The Club extends season’s greetings to all players, managements, sponsors, supporters, local media and all involved with the Club.

BOYLE LADIES;

The Ladies Club presentation night will be held on Saturday 27th December in the Royal Hotel. Presentations will commence at 8pm followed by disco with DJ Richie. Tickets for the disco are available from any member of the Ladies Committee. All are welcome. Boyle Ladies AGM will be held on Sunday 18th January. More details to follow. We wish all our Club members and supporters a very happy Christmas and healthy and happy New Year.

P.s. Don’t’ forget the Rally Quiz on Tuesday the 30th in The Moving Stairs at 9.30 ish with T. C. as quizmaster which has its own implications eg. ‘What was the smallest continent in the world before Australia was discovered?’

Tansey Cup Win:
Boyle 1.11 Ballinameen 1.10Boyle ended the 2008 playing season on a high with one point win over a spirited Ballinameen side in a nail biting Tansey Cup Final on Sunday in difficult conditions at Ballinameen. Boyle won the cup with an excellent point from play by ‘man of the match’ Damien Keenehan, in the dying minutes.

This was a good game of football played with championship fervour. There were some fine points scored, from play and from frees, throughout. Boyle got off to a great start with a Cian Smith goal after three minutes. However this was quickly answered by a similar score by Aidan Cunningham who had stolen inside the Boyle full back line to finish easily. This set the tempo of the game with great commitment by both sides. Boyle were on top in the first half despite some fine frees from Gary Hanley and at half time the score stood at Boyle 1.8 Ballinameen 1.4.

For whatever reason, the Boyle performance dipped in the second half. Ballinameen chipped away at the Boyle lead with points from Cunningham, Carlos and Hanley and levelled after seventeen minutes and went ahead on 25 minutes. Boyle responded with two points on 26 and on 27 minutes by substitute Darren O’Connor, making his debut on the Boyle first team. These were the first Boyle scores of the second half. The strong Jason Neary, at full forward for Ballinameen, put the sides level again in the exciting finale and extra time seemed probable. However Damien Keenehan finished with aplomb with a confident lead point to give Boyle victory in injury time.

Great credit is due to both sides on a fine and spirited game of good football at this stage of the year.

In terms of Boyle; McGarty did well in goals but will have to get more vocal in making sure his full back line mark the most forward attacker, Kieran Supple had an armful with Jason Neary, While the backs were well tested by the pace and skill of Ballinameen they did better in the first half than the second. Midfield was another contentious area. Ballinameen seemed to do much better in mopping up the breaking ball. The Boyle forwards did very well in the first half with Mark O’Connor, Cian Smith and Liam Conroy doing very well. Perhaps they should have been further ahead at the break. However they struggled in the second half and it was only the driving play of Damien Keenehan which eventually got them over the line. Substitutes Cian Beirne and Darren O’Connor also did well when introduced.

For Ballinameen they had numerous excellent performances. Declan Dwyer in goals was solid and his kick outs excellent, The back line got more to grips with Boyle in the second half. Aidan Cunningham, at midfield, had an excellent game throughout and contributed 1.3 to their score. Gary Hanley was very impressive with his free-taking. Neary was a great target man at full forward while Keane, Carlos, Keaveney and Casey did well.

Boyle captain Tadhg Egan, in accepting the cup, from County Treasurer Joe Gilligan, in a wide

ranging address, thanked his fellow panel members, management, sponsors and loyal supporters for collectively contributing to this success and their advance this year. Thanks and congratulations to all concerned on well deserved success and we look forward to playing O'Gara Cup football next year.

Teams.

Boyle: T. McGarty, T. Egan, K. Supple, B. Supple, S. Purcell, D. Casey, J. Lyons, S. Tonra, C. Cox, L. Conroy, D. Keenehan, R. O’Donohoe, C. Smith, M. O’Connor, D. Kelly with C. Beirne, L. Conboy and D. O’Connor.

Ballinameen: D. Dwyer, D. Wynne, P. Kelly, B. McGarry, M. Warde, P. Casey, P. Cryan, A. Cunningham, J. McDermott, D. Carlos, O. Keaveney, S. Casey, G. Hanley, J. Neary, P. Keane

Club Lotto:

The Club Lotto draw took place recently in Clarkes. There was no jackpot winner. The following were €20 winners;-Pat Brogan, Paddy Daly, Gus Gannon, Eugene Cregg, Peggy Feely, John Murray, Tiernan McGrath, Peter McLoughlin, Carmel Lavin and Frances Keville.The house prize was won by Eileen Toolan.This week’s draw will be held on Saturday night the 20th in The Patrick's Well.The jackpot will be €1,200.

Minor AGM:

The Minor Club A.G.M. was held on Wednesday night the 10th in the Royal Hotel.There was a large and enthusiastic attendance. A successful year was reported with success achieved especially in the younger age categories. There was minimal change at officership level. The following are the officers for 2009;-Chairperson:-Pat Goldrick, Secretary-Jan Flanagan, Treasurer-Mary Halligan, Asst Treasurer-Brian Nerney, Registrar-Mary Clifford.The senior board A.G.M will be held in January.

Abbey College Final:
The Abbey College second year's Connacht Final which was due to have been played on Friday last had to be postponed because of the unavailability of a playable pitch. This game has been re-fixed for this Wednesday 17th December at 11.30 am in Loughglynn. The Club extends good wishes this team which has strong Boyle representation.

Boyle Minor Club Officers 2009.

The Boyle Minor Club Officers for 2009 after the A.G.M. Wed. December 10th.

Back Row; Gerry Cregg (Coaching Officer); Aidan Lavin, Senior Club Chairman; Paul Beirne (Vice. Chair.) Olive Filan (Ass. Sec.); Mary Halligan (Treasurer); Bernard Shannon ( U-14 Team Manager); Brian Nerney ( Ass. Treasurer); Sean Young (Minor Board Delegate).

Front Row: Mary Clifford (Registrar); Jan Flanagan (Secretary); Pat Goldrick (Chairman); Gaye Lavin (Minor Board Delegate). Report to follow.

Tansey Cup Final versus Ballinameen:
The McGovern Directional Drilling team will meet neighbours Ballinameen in the Tansey Cup Final on Sunday next in Ballinameen at 2 pm. Patrons are advised to check fixtures towards the weekend as, in the event of Ballinameen pitch being unavailable, the game will be moved to Boyle. This certainly provides an appetising and competitive finale to the season.

U 16s’ First Winners of Ahern Cup:
The U 16s were fittingly the first winners of the Ahern Cup following their convincing victory over Michael Glavey's in the Abbey Park on Saturday. This has proved to be an excellent competition for under 16 teams from North Roscommon and the final was an excellent finale with Boyle turning the tables following previous defeats to a gallant Michael Glavey's team. Fergus Ahern presented the beautiful new trophy in memory of his brother Rory, a former club player, official and activist, to Boyle captain Cillian Cox.

The Club extends its thanks to Fergus and the Ahern Family for their generosity.

Boyle has thus achieved the "triple crown" of underage trophies for underage competitions in North Roscommon, having won the Garda Cup and Keenan Cup earlier in the year.
Boyle played very well here. Donal Smith was the star man up front in the first half with two good points and a goal from a narrow angle. The half time score was Boyle 1.3 Michael Glavey’s 0.2. The dismissal of a Glavey’s player early in the second half made it well nigh impossible for them to make a come back and Boyle ran out comfortable winners on the score Boyle 1.9 Michael Glavey’s 0.4. Best for Boyle were: Smith, Lowe, Cox (the captain), Goldrick and O’Neill. This is one of the best Boyle under-age teams I’ve seen for some time. They have quality players plus a number of power players so I hope they can stick together through the remaining age groups, in coming years.

The Boyle team: T. Lowe, Ml. Hanmore, C. Lavin, M. Goldrick, P. Sweeney, C. McLoughlin, C. Goldrick, C. Cox, K. Griffin, C. O’Neill (0.4), D. Smith (1.3), C. McPadden, T. McKenna, M. O’Connor (0.1), N. Keville with K. Roe (0.1), J. McCrann, E. Smith and P. McDermott, P. Rushe, M. Lavin, L. Harrington, R. Daly and G. Gunning.

Referee Brendan Beirne who has been very busy lately. He tries hard as a referee. Seamus Mannion of the Northern Board presented the Cup to Boyle Captain, Cilllian Cox in the presence of Fergus Ahern of the donor family.

Disappointing Division 4 Defeat:
Creggs 2.6 Boyle 1.8.
The Feelystone team played Creggs in the County Final of the Division 4 League on Sunday and despite dominating for most of the game they paid the price of not converting point-scoring opportunities when losing by the minimum margin. Creggs got off to a good start with a goal –which looked very much a square ball- after five minutes. That was their only score of the half while playing against a slight breeze. From ten minutes Boyle added six unanswered points from Smith, Spellman, Gilmartin and O’Connor to go in 0.6 to 1.0 in the lead. However, this might have been a wider gap but for some poor shooting. When Cillian Egan added another point to put Boyle four points ahead it looked as if Boyle would win comfortable. However players went for goals with two opportunities which could have been points. Creggs introduced a number of veteran players and from there to the end cut back the Boyle lead levelling after fifteen minutes. A somewhat fortuitous goal from David Callaghan after 18 minutes returned Boyle’s lead which Shan Spellman made a four point lead with six minutes or so remaining. Creggs plugged away with points on 26 and 28 minutes which left the precarious two points differential. Almost as in a script the inevitable happened. After some defensive errors Creggs scrambled a winning goal in injury time. Boyle had the majority of the play but did not kill off the game when they might have. Best here were Barney Supple, especially in the second half. Ml. Paul Gilmartin was a constant threat going forward from half back and his retirement through injury was crucial. I was very impressed by Colin Brennan. Ciaran Cox had his moments but Creggs managed to clutter that area which meant that clean possession was difficult. The lack of the direct route forward for the ball meant that the forwards were slow to get possession. Donal Kelly tried hard as always but might have been brought back to the half back line to advantage later in the game. Darren O’Connor did well, in testing conditions.

Boyle; T, McGarty, B. Supple, S. Gallagher, C.Brennan, C. Horan, D. Dockery, M.P.Gilmartin 0.2, J. Lyons, C.Cox, S. Spellman 0.2, D. O’Connor 0.1, C. Egan 01, D. Kelly, C. Smith 0.2 frs., D. Callaghan 1.0 with B. Kennedy and A. Cooney.

The win certainly meant a lot to Creggs who had plenty of support. From what I heard they had players on the team aged from 15 to 50! This win will be part of their folklore in the days to come and will get a good airing over the Christmas there.

Despite the loss Boyle the team had a good run, got a number of games and this should help in the longer term. Thanks to the lads and to Vinnie, Dessie, David and Seamus, the management, for an excellent year’s work. The Club extends good wishes for a speedy recovery to Michael Paul Gilmartin who was injured in the game.

Minor club AGM:
The Boyle Minor Club AGM will be held in the Royal Hotel on Wednesday night 10th December at 9pm. Delegates are asked to note that the County Convention which was due to be held on this Tuesday night has been postponed until Tuesday the16th December.

Abbey Community College:
The Club extends its good wishes to Abbey College second years who will play Glenamaddy in the Connacht Colleges Final on Friday in Frenchpark at 12.30.This fine young team has strong Boyle representation.

Tansey Cup Final versus Ballinameen:
The McGovern Directional Drilling team will meet neighbours Ballinameen in the Tansey Cup Final on Sunday next in Ballinameen at 2 pm. Patrons are advised to check fixtures towards the weekend as, in the event of Ballinameen pitch being unavailable, the game will be moved to Boyle. This certainly provides an appetising and competitive finale to the season.
U 16s’ First Winners of Ahern Cup:
The U 16s were fittingly the first winners of the Ahern Cup following their convincing victory over Michael Glavey's in the Abbey Park on Saturday. This has proved to be an excellent competition for under 16 teams from North Roscommon and the final was an excellent finale with Boyle turning the tables following previous defeats to a gallant Michael Glavey's team. Fergus Ahern presented the beautiful new trophy in memory of his brother Rory, a former club player, official and activist, to Boyle captain Cillian Cox. The Club extends its thanks to Fergus and the Ahern Family for their generosity. Boyle has thus achieved the "triple crown" of underage trophies for underage competitions in North Roscommon, having won the Garda Cup and Keenan Cup earlier in the year.
Boyle played very well here. Donal Smith was the star man up front in the first half with two good points and a goal from a narrow angle. The half time score was Boyle 1.3 Michael Glavey’s 0.2. The dismissal of a Glavey’s player early in the second half made it well nigh impossible for them to make a come back and Boyle ran out comfortable winners on the score Boyle 1.9 Michael Glavey’s 0.4. Best for Boyle were: Smith, Lowe, Cox (the captain), Goldrick and O’Neill. This is one of the best Boyle under-age teams I’ve seen for some time. They have quality players plus a number of power players so I hope they can stick together through the remaining age groups, in coming years.
The Boyle team: T. Lowe, Ml. Hanmore, C. Lavin, M. Goldrick, P. Sweeney, C. McLoughlin, C. Goldrick, C. Cox, K. Griffin, C. O’Neill (0.4), D. Smith (1.3), C. McPadden, T. McKenna, M. O’Connor (0.1), N. Keville with K. Roe (0.1), J. McCrann, E. Smith and P. McDermott, P. Rushe, M. Lavin, L. Harrington, R. Daly and G. Gunning.
Referee Brendan Beirne who has been very busy lately. He tries hard as a referee. Seamus Mannion of the Northern Board presented the Cup to Boyle Captain, Cilllian Cox in the presence of Fergus Ahern of the donor family.

Disappointing Division 4 Defeat:

Creggs 2.6 Boyle 1.8.
The Feelystone team played Creggs in the County Final of the Division 4 League on Sunday and despite dominating for most of the game they paid the price of not converting point-scoring opportunities when losing by the minimum margin. Creggs got off to a good start with a goal –which looked very much a square ball- after five minutes. That was their only score of the half while playing against a slight breeze. From ten minutes Boyle added six unanswered points from Smith, Spellman, Gilmartin and O’Connor to go in 0.6 to 1.0 in the lead. However, this might have been a wider gap but for some poor shooting. When Cillian Egan added another point to put Boyle four points ahead it looked as if Boyle would win comfortable. However players went for goals with two opportunities which could have been points. Creggs introduced a number of veteran players and from there to the end cut back the Boyle lead levelling after fifteen minutes. A somewhat fortuitous goal from David Callaghan after 18 minutes returned Boyle’s lead which Shan Spellman made a four point lead with six minutes or so remaining. Creggs plugged away with points on 26 and 28 minutes which left the precarious two points differential. Almost as in a script the inevitable happened. After some defensive errors Creggs scrambled a winning goal in injury time. Boyle had the majority of the play but did not kill off the game when they might have. Best here were Barney Supple, especially in the second half. Ml. Paul Gilmartin was a constant threat going forward from half back and his retirement through injury was crucial. I was very impressed by Colin Brennan. Ciaran Cox had his moments but Creggs managed to clutter that area which meant that clean possession was difficult. The lack of the direct route forward for the ball meant that the forwards were slow to get possession. Donal Kelly tried hard as always but might have been brought back to the half back line to advantage later in the game. Darren O’Connor did well in testing conditions.
Boyle; T, McGarty, B. Supple, S. Gallagher, C.Brennan, C. Horan, D. Dockery, M.P.Gilmartin 0.2, J. Lyons, C.Cox, S. Spellman 0.2, D. O’Connor 0.1, C. Egan 01, D. Kelly, C. Smith 0.2 frs., D. Callaghan 1.0 with B. Kennedy and A. Cooney.
The win certainly meant a lot to Creggs who had plenty of support. From what I heard they had players on the team aged from 15 to 50! This win will be part of their folklore in the days to come and will get a good airing over the Christmas there.
Despite the loss Boyle the team had a good run, got a number of games and this should help in the longer term. Thanks to the lads and to Vinnie, Dessie, David and Seamus, the management, for an excellent year’s work. The Club extends good wishes for a speedy recovery to Michael Paul Gilmartin who was injured in the game.
Minor club AGM:
The Boyle Minor Club AGM will be held in the Royal Hotel on Wednesday night 10th December at 9pm. Delegates are asked to note that the County Convention which was due to be held on this Tuesday night has been postponed until Tuesday the16th December.
Abbey Community College:
The Club extends its good wishes to Abbey College second years who will play Glenamaddy in the Connacht Colleges Final on Friday in Frenchpark at 12.30.This fine young team has strong Boyle representation.

Week-end Fixtures

The Division 4 Final Boyle versus Creggs will take place (as of Friday the 5th) on Sunday next the 7th at 2pm in Knockcroghery. Please spread the word.

The Ahern U 16 Cup Final takes place on Saturday the 6th, versus Michael Glavey's, in Boyle at 2.30.

Oisin McConville

Oisin McConville of Crossmaglenn Rangers has played 102 senior club championship games. He has scored in them all. He has played in 13 county finals in a row (I think Cross. has won them all)and Oisin has been 'man of the match' in six. (Info. per Barney Supple).

In the back of my mind there are these great run of wins by Clubs in county championships such as we had ourselves in Roscommon, Clann na Gael who won 6 in a row, at least (as my record ends after the six in 1989) and 11 of 14 betweeen '76 and '90. Elphin appeared 10 finals in a row between 1948 and '57 winning 5.
Teams from the Ballymurray/Knockcroghery featured in 11 finals between 1939 and 1951 winning 6.
Tarmon, Castlerea, featured in 9 finals between 1934 and 1947 winning 6.

I imagine there are similar records in other counties. I am thinking of the great Cavan Club Cornafean etc. Can anyone enlighten me? T.C.

This is an experimental advance(?) for the Boyle GAA notes on realboyle.com. It means that they can be posted almost straight away etc. I would appreciate some input and recommendations from readers to make it more interesting/interactive.

The usual terms and conditions regarding content apply that is language, libelous material, etc.

Hopefully as I get more to grips with the possibilities here I'll be able to make the site/blog more presentable.

Remember though it has my name on the blog much of the content is forwarded by Martin Dolan.

Hopefully I'll be hearing from someone .

T.C.

Lotto:
Last week’s Club Lotto draw was held in An Crannóg and the jackpot of €2,400 was won by Gerry and Phil Emmett.The €20 prizes were won by the following; Eddie Egan,Tom McGarrity, Angela and Nigel East, Eugene and Zita Griffin, Kiki/Aisling, Karl Keenan, Martin Purcell, Gavin Ward and DJK. The house prize was won by Ettie Duignan. This week’s draw will be held on Saturday night next in Clarke’s with Aidan Lavin's team in charge.The jackpot will be €1,000 as a result of the Jackpot win. This is the third time in the past year that the Jackpot has been won by Messrs O’Dowd and Friel of Croghan and Belfast respectively and now Boyle.

Juniors Progress to County Division Four League Final:
The Feelystone team had an excellent two points win over St.Michael's in the Division 4 North Final in the Abbey Park on Saturday. It was an exciting game in which the result was in doubt until the very end. Boyle led by 2.3 to 1.4 at half-time with Boyle’s goals coming from David Callaghan and Cian Smith. St. Michael’s came back to level the game midway in the second half at 2.5 each. Substitute Shane Spellman made an instant impact with a good point and David Callaghan added one of hose rare (in these days) old-style fisted point to seal a good win. The Div 4 North shield was presented to Boyle captain Jonathan Lyons by Northern Board Chairperson Sean Mannion who complimented both sides on their displays. This team will now play either Creggs or Kilbride in the county final which is likely to be fixed for this Sunday at 2p.m. It is to be hoped that the lads will go all out to win this county title as winning the competition has a further bonus in that it provides for a tilt at promotion to Tansey Cup football next year for Boyle’s second team thus giving good quality competition football therein. Hopefully those who were absent on Saturday, for variable reasons, will be available next day as the Creggs team say will be a first team and there is the need to have all options available.
Best for Boyle were McGarty, Healy, Monson, Cox, Kelly and Callaghan.
The Boyle team was; T. McGarty, C. Beirne, J. Healy. D. Monson, C. Horan, B. Supple, Ml. Paul Gilmartin, J.S.Lyons, C. Cox, C. Brennan, D.O’Connor, C. Egan, Donal Kelly, C. Smith (1.2), C. Cox (0.1) D. Callaghan (1.1) with B. McQuaid, S. Spellman (0.1), K. Keenan inj.
Senior ‘Juniors’:
The McGovern Directional Drilling team still await opponents for the Tansey Cup Final as the semi-final between Ballinameen and Kilglass was not played at the weekend. The final is still on for Sunday 14th as it is expected that the semi-final will be played this week end.


U 16s’ Ahern Cup:
The U 16s will play the inaugral Ahern Cup Final on this Saturday at 2.30pm in the Abbey Park against Michael Glaveys. The cup has been presented by the Ahern family in memory of former Boyle and Roscommon player Rory Ahern who passed away last year. It will be presented to the winning captain by his brother Fergus. Football supporters are asked to come along for this special occasion.

AGM:
The Boyle Minor Club AGM will be held in the Royal Hotel on Wednesday night 10th December at 9pm.Any motions for the meeting should be sent to the Secretary.FBD Game in Boyle:
The first game of the 2009 FBD League will be played in Boyle on January 4th.


Oisin McConville’s Record:
While I don’t have this to hand Barney Supple showed me, on a text, the incredible record of Oisin McConville of Crossmaglenn. I hope to have it next week.

Croke Park Museum:
I was in the Croke Park Museum again last week. I was disappointed when I tapped into the Roscommon GAA clubs that there was no information available because it had not been submitted, a deficit I was asked to try and rectify.

St. Michael's Celebrity Bainisteoir:
The 'Celebrity Bainisteoir' for St. Michael's was unveiled as John Waters on Monday afternoon last.

County Senior Convention:
This will take place on Tuesday evening December the 9th.

Missing Cup:
I have mentioned this before but I had an old- and maybe even valuable- GAA cup which has gone missing. My last memory of it was when I (not very cleverly) brought it to be used by a winning under-age team doing a tour of the town instead of a plaque. It has distictive drop twisted handles. If anyone has any ideas re. same I'd be glad to hear of it.