Archive for category: Club Hurling

St. Marys hurling club are hosting a hurling tournament to honour one of its former players, Seanie Walsh. Seanie is 26 years old and is a native of Dungarvan, Co. Waterford. He lived in Carrick-on-Shannon in 2006 and 2007 and worked as a biomedical engineer with VistaMed Ltd.. During his time in Leitrim Seanie played hurling and football with the St. Marys club and won a county senior hurling championship medal in 2006 lining out at left corner back against Glencar Manor. Seanie also played senior inter county hurling with Leitrim and played in both national league and Nicky Rackard competitions. He was a very dedicated player during his time in Leitrim and his versatility meant he played in most defensive positions as well as centre field. He was always committed to playing with St Marys and Leitrim and he gave total effort in every game he played. He also helped out in the coaching of the clubs juveniles, and was very popular and respected by all who knew him.

Seanie left Ireland in 2007 and spent time in Japan and New Zealand before moving to Sydney, Australia in November 2008. He continued to remain active in GAA affairs and played football and hurling with the Michael Cusacks club in Sydney.

Earlier this year the news emerged that Seanie has gone missing from his Randwick home in Sydney and he has not been seen since the 10th of May last. He was due to fly home to his family in Dungarvan on 12th May but, unfortunately, that trip never materialised. He is missing since that time and despite the efforts of his heartbroken family there is still no trace of his whereabouts.

St Marys hurling club feel that a hurling tournament in Seanies honour would be very fitting at this time and are organising a senior 9 aside tournament on Saturday October 31st. The competition will start at 11am with the final scheduled for 4.30pm. This inaugural competition is confined to eight teams. St. Marys, Glencar/Manor, Gortlettragh, Sean OHeslins, Athleague, Mullahoran, Coolera/Strandhill and Dungarvan have been invited to take part. The competition will be staged at the magnificent Sean OHeslins complex in Ballinamore. All proceeds from the tournament and associated raffles will go towards a fund in Seanies honour.

The competition is sanctioned by Croke Park and should provide a fitting tribute to Seanies zest for sport in general and hurling in particular. All of Seanies many friends in Leitrim miss Seanie very much and hope that this competition will go some way in honouring our dear friend and colleague.

23-Oct-09 by Hurling Board

Individual brilliance can sometimes see off a team but not last Saturday in Ballinamore as Gary Hickeys man of the match display was not enough to stop a below-par St. Marys from claiming their tenth Leitrim Senior Hurling Championship title in a row.

LEITRIM SENIOR HURLING CHAMPIONHSIP FINAL
ST MARYS 2-9
MANORHAMILTON 0-10

Normally when one speaks of free-taking excellence in Leitrim hurling, it is Clement Cunniffe who takes the plaudits but the St. Marys man was over-shadowed by his Manorhamilton counter-part who landed nine points on the day, eight from places balls.

But in some ways, Manorhamiltons dependence on Hickey summed up their problems as a far from fully firing St. Marys still had too much strength around the field to be denied an incredible tenth Senior hurling title in a row.

Padraig McWeeney is a case in point – St. Marys normally rely on Cunniffe, Breian Carroll or James Glancy for inspirational scores but when Manor threatened with ten minutes to go, it was the unheralded McWeeney who produced two classic scores to close the game out.

It was those type of touches that killed a Manorhamilton team who made life uncomfortable for St. Marys in the difficult conditions.

The conditions nÓgated against skilful play and sweeping movements, the game becoming a tough battle where Manorhamiltons spirit and constant harrying of the Marys men meant that the champions never got moving.

But even under pressure, their class shone through in the little things – blocks and hooks, the ability to get the ball up on the stick and Marys refusal to give up goal chances meant Manor were fighting an uphill battle.

In fact, it was an uphill battle from the start as Manorhamilton fielded without the Poniard brothers, who were absent on holidays. It certainly made a difference to their challenge, although in some ways, it helped them.

Gary Hickey was definitely more involved in the play at midfield as his none-stop running and skill on the ball meant that Manor had a dominating presence in the middle of the field.

The move of Martin Reilly to full-back also tied up the free-Scóring St. Marys attack. In fact, few of Marys big-guns really got going – Breian Carroll found the going tough against Stephen Feeney while Clement Cunniffe had an uncharacteristic off-day from frees.

But what St. Marys had was a strong all-round platform and with James Glancy, James Keane, David Tiernan, Vincent McDermott & Padraig McWeeney all working their socks off, Marys still looked the more accomplished team.

Indeed, there seemed a sense of inevitability once Fergal Carroll goaled after six minutes as Manor chased and chased but lacked the forward penetration to really cause problems for the champions.

 ……………………………..

This full report is available thanks to John Connolly and Leitrim Observer
– its available in this weeks edition of the Observer and online here

30-Oct-08 by John Connolly – LeitrimObserver.ie

Coaching News

13-Oct-08 by Thomas Keenan

Senior Hurling

The draw for the Senior Hurling Championship was completed on Monday night and the pairings are:

Gortletteragh v Glencar/Manorhamilton
St. Marys v Sean OHeslins

The dates and times will be confirmed at a later date.

Minor B:

Carrigallen v Bornacoola will both participate in the Minor B final which will be scheduled as soon as possible however both teams have players involved in adult football and the Bord has left it to the 2 teams involved to arrange a date between them to suit their players.

23-Sep-08 by Brendan Doyle – PRO

Fingal 1-19 Leitrim 0-12

Fingal continued their excellent Nicky Rackard campaign with a seven-point win against Leitrim at Parnell Park.

Made up by a number of clubs from North Dublin, Fingal had Leitrim on the ropes from the offset as they stormed ahead to lead by 0-14 to 0-3 at half-time.

Leitrim lacked imagination from open play with free taker Clem Cunniffe their only answer to their opponents free Scóring.

The Connacht side upped their performance in the second period but Fingal secured their place in the semi-finals with a goal from Emmet McCabe.

20-Jul-08 by Setanta Sport

Situation 1. If Limerick fail to beat Down then the result with Limerick and Leitrim is not important unless its a draw. Sligo must then beat Longford by a minimum of 3 points. If Leitrim bet Limerick, Limerick and Longford would be relegated. If Limerick won then Leitrim and Longford would be relegated.

Situation 2. If Limerick fail to bet Down but draw with Leitrim. Sligo would have to beat Longford by a large margin to avoid relegation on score-difference. Depending on the score in the Down v Limerick game the margin might be small. Then Limerick and Longford would be relegated on score difference.

Situation 3. If Limerick Beat Down, then we have to hope that they beat Leitrim and Sligo win again by at least 3 points otherwise its hello Tommy Murphy Theres probably an odd mistake in the situations I havent gone into it inÓgreat detail. But the mainÓgoal is to beat Longford by 3 points. Sounds easy but itsn not. Best of luck lads!!! Youll need it

06-Apr-08 by Brendan Doyle – PRO