THE DOWNS GAA NOTES May 29th 2023

Men’s Round 9 Results

On Tuesday evening last the Division 4 team lost out to St. Josephs in a home fixture. Final score: The Downs 2-10 St. Josephs 4-15. The Division 4 side have two fixtures left to play. The first one takes place on Tuesday May 30th v St. Lomans at home at 7.30 p.m. The other fixture against Rosemount is yet to be confirmed. Best of luck to Sean Carroll and his management team.

Thursday evening saw the Division 3 side take on Bunbrosna at home in the final game of the league. Padraig Corcoran’s side turned in a good display to add another win to their previous league encounter. The final score was The Downs 3-14 Bunbrosna 2-07. Well done to all involved.

On Sunday morning the Division 1 team travelled to Tang GAA Club for their final encounter of the league. In a game of two halves, it ended all square on a final score of The Downs 2-09 Tang 1-12. With the League now complete, preparations now turn to the championship where The Downs will endeavour to retain the Flanagan Cup for 2023. We wish the team and management the very best of luck. First up is a tough fixture against league finalists St. Lomans with time and date to be confirmed.

Underage Results

On Wednesday evening the U13 Division 1 team came up against a strong St. Lomans team in the penultimate round of the league. The winner would progress to the league final against Mullingar Shamrocks which inevitably turned out to be the visitors St. Lomans. The lads battled hard but unfortunately were beaten by a slick St. Lomans side. Final score: St. Lomans 5-12 The Downs 1-12

The U13 Division 4 side played league leaders Multy on Friday evening. The lads gave a great account of themselves however it wasn’t enough to over-turn a solid Multy side.

U17 League Semi-Final/Final

It was a case of qualification achieved for our U17 Boys in The Downs on Monday evening with a 3-12 to 0-11 win over Shandonagh. At half-time The Downs were winning by 0-7 to 0-4. This was largely based on solid defence, complimented by incisive passages of forward play resulting in some fine points. The Downs engineered a couple of very good goals in the opening ten minutes of the 2nd half to stretch their lead with the third goal finally breaking Shandonagh’s resistance.

The lads then travelled to Garrycastle to contest the Division 2 League Final on Saturday evening and despite a good effort, Vinnie Conneely/Michael Maloney/Joe Corroon’s side just came up short. This group have made great progress this year but unfortunately their first defeat of the year came in the league final. Congratulations to Garrycastle.

LGFA Results

The senior ladies Div 4 side qualified for the league final last Friday with a good win against St. Paul’s/Delvin. Congratulations and best wishes to all.

Our U14’s travelled to Ballycomoyle on Thursday evening last. Up against very strong opposition our girls were overturned convincingly by a strong Ballycomoyle side. Better days ahead for this group.

On Saturday morning last we hosted the next series of U8 and U10 Go Games here in the beautiful sunshine in The Downs. The place was buzzing with excitement as 33 games in total took place with teams from St. Lomans, Multyfarnham, Ballynacarrigy, Killucan and Milltown. A great display of Ladies football on show. Well done and thanks to all the organisers particularly our referees who volunteered their time.

On Sunday morning, the senior ladies Division 1 team went under to a strong St. Mary’s Rochfortbridge side in Round 5 of the league. Hard luck to all.

Cumann na mBunscol

What a superb week of Cumann na mBunscol finals on display in Cusack Park this week. Many congratulations to Chairman of the Cumann na mBunscol – who also happens to be the Principal in The Downs N.S. on a fantastically run week of events What a way to show case the many talented children around the county. Here at The Downs we were lucky enough to have well over 50 of our underage superstars participating in finals. Although not all of them were winners of their finals, they represented their schools, families and clubs with distinction. On Monday evening Na Dúnta players, James Nea and Adam Kiernan won the Div 1 Hurling final against St. Marys Collinstown. While on the same evening, U13 player Oisín Kelly represented Holy Family N.S. in the Division 3 Final against Edmonton N.S. but unfortunately came out the wrong side. First up on Tuesday evening was Ben Loughlin one of our U13s who won The Division 1 Hurling Final with his school St. Tolas. They played St. Colmans - we were represented by U11 player Conor Walters. Following on from that, Downs N.S. Girls Div 3 Final saw the them beaten by a very strong Scoil na gCeithre Máistrí side. The Downs N.S boys team contested the Division 3 final but were very unlucky to lose out to a last minute goal to a superb Baylin side. We are immensely proud that all 52 panellists (21 girls and 32 boys) are all members of Na Dúnta GAA and LGFA Clubs. Next up on Wednesday Ella O’Keefe one of our U14 girls representing St. Colmans Mullingar lost out to Ardnagrath while James Nea and Adam Kiernan of Loughegar N.S. this time lost out in the Division 2 football final to Coosan N.S. Finally, on Thursday evening Ben Loughlin made it the double by winning the Division 4 Football final against Collinstown N.S and last but not least we had a winner in the Division 1 football final with Conor Walters picking up the Arthur Fallon Cup. To say we are proud is an understatement. The future of the black and amber certainly looks bright.

Club Shop

The next club shop opening will be during training from 6.30 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. on Friday June 10th

Vacancy Updated Link

New Updated Link: https://jobsireland.ie/en-US/job-Details?id=2237602

The vacancy for the position of Caretaker/Groundsperson position at The Downs GAA Club is still available. Please see new updated link for information regarding same. This is a Community Employment Position with MSCO Ltd.

Sympathy

The Downs GAA Club offer their condolences to the family of Malcolm John Dowd late of Belvill, Dromore West, Co. Sligo.

Ar Dheis Dé go raibh a anam.

Day of Healing

There will be a day of Healing with the Holy Spirit on Saturday June 10th in the Annebrook House Hotel. The main speaker is Brendan Talbot. For further information, please contact Eugene on 086 8200500

Bingo

Bingo continues every Friday night at 8.30 p.m. All new members welcome.

Clubhouse Bar

The Clubhouse bar is open on Fridays and Saturdays nights.

Club Lotto

We are asking all members to please support our club lotto. Sellers will be around the next few Friday evenings during underage training. The lotto is one of our main sources of income and we would be grateful if all our members could support it.

We will continue to live stream our Lotto draw via our Facebook page for the foreseeable future. Tune in at 9-30 on each Monday night to catch the draw.

1.Add a discounted bundle to your Downs GAA club membership by clicking here.
2.Play online at our website www.thedownsgaa.com
3. Play online at Clubzapp http://bit.ly/3ItlksQ
4. Contact your regular draw collector for your area or any Committee member who will enter
your numbers on to our Perma Book which is retained at the club.
5. Send a cheque for €100 to club secretary Tommy Kelly, Coralstown, Mullingar (one year’s
subscription).
6. Or scan here:

Thanks to our supporters for their loyal commitment to our Fundraising Draw and to those new players who have signed up online and in hard copy.

Keep up to date with club activities

There are lots of ways to keep up to date with our activities. Our award-winning website can be viewed at www.thedownsgaa.com where you can sign up to receive our weekly newsletter by email. Also check us out on Twitter, Facebook YouTube and Instagram.