Boyle GAA Blog ...by Tony Conboy

Dia dhibh,

The following were the winners at the most recent Boyle Club Lotto draw which was held in Kate Lavins;- Mary and Liam Clifford, Mary and Liam Coyle, Martina Mullaney, Brian Kennedy, Nuala and John Diffley(Kilglass), Tommie Scanlon, Clodagh Sweeney, Teresa McQuaid, Sally Murtagh and Terry Mattimoe. The house prize was won by Ruth Candon. The numbers drawn were; 16/20/21/27. The jackpot wasn't won and it will stand at €1,900 for next Saturday night's draw which will be held in Wynne’s Bar.Team E (Pat Goldrick's team) will be in charge.  
An enjoyable day was had by our U8s’ and their managers at the U8 Blitz in Kilbride on Saturday last.
The U12s played Eire Og in the Abbey Park on Sunday last but were unsuccessful. They will play Clan na Gael on Sunday the 30th in Boyle.
The Keenan Cup team had a good first round win over Western Gaels last week. They are scheduled to play Eire Og in their next outing on this Tuesday at 7pm in Boyle.
The Garda Cup competition will commence shortly and preparations are getting under way for this important competition.
The National Automation Ltd minors put their Division 1 Minor County Title on the line on Friday evening next when they face Roscommon Gaels under lights at 8pm in Lisnamult. All Club menbers are asked to travel to Lisnamult to lend their support.
The Cooney Motors/Cooney's Centra Juniors will play Michael Glaveys in round 2 of the Junior B Championship in Frenchpark on Saturday at 5.30pm.
The highlight of the past week was the three point victory of the McGovern Directional Drilling Intermediates in the George Bannon Sports Intermediate Chamionship Quarter Final over Eire Og in Elphin on Saturday evening last-see rmatch report elsewhere and on Club Blog. They will now face St Aidans in the County Semi Final within next two weeks.The Club wishes Cillian Cox a speedy recovery from an injury sustained in this game.

 All Club members are reminded that the Month's Mind Mass will be offered for the late Eoin Lavin in St Joseph's Church on Saturday at 10am. 

 All team managers and mentors are asked to ensure that all equipment is returned to its proper place in the Club premises at end of use and also that all buildings are locked after use.The person(s) who removed a tackle bag and a first aid kit are are asked to return those important items as soon as possible.

Congratulations are extended to the Roscommon U21 hurlers on their All Ireland Title success.
Best wishes are extended to all our Mayo and Donegal friends for next weekend.
Best of luck especially to Boyle Ladies in the County Junior Final listed below and hopefully as many as possible will be present to support them.

Boyle Ladies;

All roads will lead to Strokestown on Saturday when Boyle Ladies footballers will go in quest of the County Junior A Title against neighbours Ballinameen. The game will commence at 2.30pm. It is the second game in a double header. It will be preceeded by the Junior ‘B’ Final at 1pm. All Boyle supporters are urged to go along and give the girls and their management, who have worked so hard to reach the decider, the support that is needed to help them secure the title. 

Go raibh maith agaibh,
Martin Dolan/t.c.
P.R.O. Dept. Boyle GAA Club
086 2413529 
Sun. 10.40 pm.

Boyle Advance to Semi-Final against St. Aiden’s.

Boyle 0.14 Eire Og 1.8.

Boyle had a good win over a determined and resilient Eire Og at Elphin yesterday –Saturday- evening. There  was a feeling through the game that Boyle would actually win and I suppose that this might be seen better by neutrals. As a Boyle supporter, while Boyle did build up a decent lead through the second half, a very late goal gave an edgy end to the game. Alas it was too late for real concern and when Boyle added the last point of the game it calmed nerves. It was a good performance by Boyle where different players are emerging in each game.

While it took six minutes to get on the scoreboard it was followed by three further points at regular intervals in the 8^th, 10^th and 11^th minutes. There was a gap of 9 minutes before point number 5. This had Boyle leaders by 5 to 2.  Both teams added 3 points each in the closing stages of the game. The first half scores were spread between the Smiths; Enda 2, Cian 2, Conboy 3 (I free)and Darren O’Connor 1 to leave the half time score Boyle 8 Eire Og 5. Three late Eire Og points, a couple which might have avoided, left the Boyle lead narrower than it could have been though it has to be said that Eire Og had at least four wides, some from good opportunities.  

Both teams added 3 points each in the early minutes of the second half and a fine Cian Beirne score was followed by two Donie Smith points to leave Boyle at a 13 to 8 advantage.  Eire Og never gave up as Boyle fell back on defence and a significant gap emerged between the front line and the half back midfield zone. However the defence was good with gaolie Ciaran Beirne again being prominent.

Eire Og were not going to win without a goal which duly arrived on the 29^th minute or so but it was too late.

The game was a tough test while a sporting one well refereed by Sean Feeney, a referee I am not familiar with. ‘Man of the Match’ on this occasion goes to Enda Smith who with Ciaran Cox were a formidable midfield against a good Eire Og pairing. Ciaran Beirne was excellent in goals and his kick outs, especially in the first half, were great. The Boyle full backs had a busy time keeping tabs on good, busy and elusive opponents but O’Donnell and Goldrick did well after the loss of Cillian Cox-a real loss- through injury. Aaron Finn was back to his best. Up front  Donie Smith did well, especially in the second half. Cian Smith had his best game for some time. Darren O’Connor, again, put in the miles and did very well. Conboy-with a lot of ball- and Feighan had their moments but the ‘snappy biting play’ as personified in say the goal against Fuerty was not as obvious. The way the play got strung out in the latter stages  -creating that linking vacuum and the through the middle killer support- and how the Boyle forwards found themselves, a good few times, pinned in the corners are issues. I have written before of that dead zone triangle from the corners out to the 20 yard lines as opposed to the danger/scoring zone. (No fisted points attempts…but I’ll give up on that).  Also that ‘snappy shooting’ as opposed to just getting smothered in possession after a slowness in decision- making are other items. There were a number of ‘give aways’ and misdirected or anticipatable passes or even trying to achieve too much in a pass. These of course are inevitable in the hurly burly of a championship game but the number reduction is always a work in progress.

Still the overall assessment is that it was a very good performance with some very good play, performances and some fine scores. Fourteen points is not to be sneezed at considering the minimal scoring opportunities from frees. This is by and large a young team and as I said before the future for Boyle with some other young players like Furey, McKenna, Goldrick and co. stepping up.

Championship favourites St. Aidans overcame St. Barry’s so they will now be Boyle’s opponents in the semi-final in two weeks’ time. St. Michael’s defeated Clan na Gael ‘B’ team and meet the winners of St. Dominick’s/Kilglass Gaels who drew this week end.

We wish Cillian Cox a full and speedy recovery from his injury and also the Eire Og player who also had a shoulder injury. Mention too of Eire Og’s manager Ml. Jordan’s generous and encouraging words afterwards in the Boyle dressing room. As I said the game-though tough/ hard/uncompromising- was played in a very good spirit between two sides who seem to have met numerous times in recent years especially.

The Boyle team; C. Beirne/Ml. O’Donnell/D. Callaghan/ Cillian Cox/A. Sharkey/ C. Brennan/ C. Beirne/E. Smith/ C. Cox/ J. Suffin/D. Smith/K. Feighan/C. Smith/ D. O’Connor/ L.Conboy with M.Goldrick/M. O’Donohoe/B. Furey.

Thanks also to the fine support from Boyle who attended. (t.c).