FAOI 10
Our U10 boys began training last March and after a few sessions played a number of challenge games against Austin Stacks, Churchill, Keel and Miltown Castlemaine. The annual Go Games evenings hosted by Castleisland District teams also provided games for our lads. A Co. Board organised blitz held in Austin Stack Park gave our young players a chance to play in one of the Premier Stadium’s in the County. We were invited to the Miltown/Castlemaine blitz in July where we gave a very good account of ourselves. The following week we participated in the John Mitchel’s Blitz but didn’t play to our full potential on the day. Towards the end of the year, we reached the final of the Castleisland Blitz, played our best football of the year in the Siobhan Cotter Blitz in Churchill and played in the inaugural John Lynch memorial tournament hosted by Austin Stacks. Throughout the year the boys were a very well behaved bunch and were a credit to the Club and their families. The mentors to this group of players were John Rice, Martin Lowe, David Long, Pa White, Dave Slattery and Gerard Collins.
Panel : S. Rice, L. Horgan, A. Horgan, J O Connor, M. Culloty, D. Galvin, T. Palmer, R. Lowe, N. Collins, P. Heffernan, M. Prendergast, J. Lynch, E. O Brien, C. Daly, M. Savage, S. Gilroy, C. White, K. Lynch, W. O Donoghue, J. Slattery, T. Long, J. Burke, T. Leen, B. Sharpe, A. Riordan.
FAOI 8
Following a well-deserved break for children, coaches, and parents our Sunday morning academy returned on the 8th of March. The under 8 boy’s panel for 2015 consisted of 32 players who all got game time throughout the year. There was a great turnout at academy training sessions on Sunday mornings which was very encouraging for the coaches. The main objective for this age group is for each player to improve their skills and of course to have a bit of fun! As the year progressed with the introduction of go-games and challenge games the boys were able to get competitive, and they really enjoyed the experience of a playing against other clubs. Starting the year the boys trained away at the academy for a number of weeks with their first game being a challenge match amongst themselves which was played at half-time in a senior championship game in mid-April in Ballymac. After a further few weeks of training our U8’s travelled to Caherslee to play Austin Stack’s on the 03/05/2015. We had a great turnout with three challenge games taking place. An enjoyable morning was had by all and the games were played in a great spirit. Our U8 boys travelled to Castleisland on Friday the 08th of May for the start of the Go Games Series. We played games against Scartaglin, Cordal, Currow, and Castleisland Desmonds in what was an enjoyable evening of football. In quick succession St. Pats Blennerville visited Ballymac on Sunday the 10/05/2015 for a challenge game. Following on from this our U8’s hosted another series of Go Games in Ballymac on the 27/05/2015. Again we played games against Scartaglin, Cordal, Currow, and Castleisland Desmonds which were enjoyable and competitive. Cordal hosted the next U8 GO Games blitz which took place on Thursday the 18th of June. We had a great turnout on the evening and were able to field two teams. Both teams did really well on the night on a lovely evening for football. The other competing teams were Cordal, Scartaglin, Currow, and Castleisland Desmonds. Our U8’s participated in the John Mitchels Blitz on the 25th of July. They played five games in total against Ardfert, Castleisland Desmonds, Austin Stacks, St. Pats, and John Mitchels respectively. The boys performed very well and the games were competitive and enjoyable. Scataglin GAA hosted the final series of U8 Go Games on Tuesday the 04th of August with the same teams as above competing. All in all a very enjoyable series. Further challenge matches took place in September against Milltown/Castlemaine, Kerins O’ Rahillys, and St Pats Blennerville which were enjoyed by the boys. We finished off the competitive year with the annual Siobhan Cotter Memorial Blitz which took place on Sunday the 11th of October in Churchill. The blitz saw our under 7, 8, 9, and 10 panels playing on the day. Our opponents on the day were Churchill, Ardfert, and Austin Stacks. We won all three of these games and played great football on the day. The final academy session of the year takes place on Sunday the 25th of October. The club awards evening took place in Ballygarry House Hotel on Bank Holiday Monday the 2nd of November and our U8’s had a very enjoyable evening. In summary the U8 boy’s panel had a busy year with academy training, go-games, challenge games and blitzes. They competed very well at all these events and their skill development throughout the year was very impressive.
The panel was as follows: Maurice Harrington, Luke Silles, Lee Wharton, Eoin Moriarty, Jack Joy, Conal Savage, Shane Crossan, Mairtin Mc’ Kivergan, Stephen Turner, Donncha Enright, Micheal o’Connor, Sam Slattery, Gearoid Healy, Luke Griffin, Ciaran O’Connell, Con Sheahan, Shane Brosnan, Cian Harris, Matthew Rodgers, John Leen O’Shea, Aidan Brennan, Ray Horgan, Eoghan Joy, Michael Quirke, Matthew O’Connor, Cian
Gilroy, Paddy Lucid, Sam Boyle, Sean Martin, Caoimhin Murphy, Padraig Reidy, and Ryan Harpur Roll on 2016.
Many thanks to team mentors Robert Harris, Eddie Lynch, Niall Gilroy, Michael Crossan, Kieran Savage, Philip Turner and Dave Slattery who looked after this bunch of players throughout the year.
FAOI 6
Ballymacelligotts’ youngest footballers began their year with a month of indoor training in the CBS, The Green, Tralee. Here they met with their coaches and explored their own abilities through many fun activities. We then moved out to our own pitch and took up our corner of the field, where the boys were challenged every Sunday morning to improve their movement and ball skills, through a variety of different tasks. Our expectations of the boys were exceeded every week, and the average Sunday morning attendance of 20, was indeed very reassuring. We made a conscious decision not to play any competitive games and this I feel benefitted the boys no end. As a result, each and every player was able to develop and progress at their own speed and in so many different ways. Indeed the future is bright for these boys and for Ballymac.
Panel:
Conor Lynch, Darragh Mc Mahon, Ryan Burke, Jack Lynch, Liam Brennan, Bryan Kelly, Fionn Enright, Daniel Moriarty, Gearóid O Connor Kyran Boyle, Liam O Rahilly, Adrian O Connor, Graham West, Gearoid Joy, Jimmy Healy, Alexander Aherne, Jack Collins, Shane Cassidy, Ciaran Brosnan, Eric Quirke, Conor McCarthy, Jackson Brosnan, Shane O Sullivan, Seadhna O Brien, Jack Lynch
Coaches Ruairi O Rahilly, Nelius O Connor, Ted McCarthy, Mossie Brosnan and Paddy O Brien were over our youngest age group in the Club and many thanks to them for guiding our future stars in their formative years of football.