Club Notes 25/08/2024

Good evening. Congratulations to all the students who received their leaving cert results this week. We hope that all your hard work has paid off.

And wishing all the secondary students the very best of luck as you all return to school. This can be a very daunting time for some students so if you see anyone struggling please show them a little bit of support.

There is still plenty of football to be enjoyed with the championship in full swing. Thanks to everyone for all the support shown.

Senior men

The lads were back in Aughrim today (Sunday) against a very strong An Tochar.

We started off well going in at halftime in the lead. Blessington 1-05 to An Tochar 0-03. The lads came out for the 2nd half and it was pretty much neck and neck. But unfortunately we were beaten by 2 points. Final score Blessington 2-09 to An Tochar 2-11. The lads go on to face St.Pats next Saturday @6pm in the last match of the group stages. Sending best wishes to Anto Mc.Loughlin and Conal Gallagher who were both injured in today’s game.

Junior A

We met Baltinglass on Friday evening last in the junior A championship on a perfect pitch in Dunlavin , although the same could not be said of the weather .

Despite the eleven-point winning margin for Baltinglass , we played to the end in a game where we had overall at least sixty percent of the possession . The old cliché of goals winning games was clearly true in this game . Baltinglass unusual for a junior team played at least twelve players behind the ball for the entire game , catching us on the break and we were unable to break through their defence at any stage of the game .

We started brightly with Ruairi Finan kicking two points , one from play and one free . However , although for the rest of the halve we kept taking the game to Baltinglass , we failed to score for the remaining twenty minutes , kicking half a dozen wides and another halve a dozen efforts falling short .  Baltinglass led 2.5 to 0.2 at halve time , our highlight being a superb save on fifteen minutes from our keeper , Adam Williamson .

Right through the second halve , try as we might we could not reduce the deficit . On each occasion that we responded with a couple of points Finn Behan two , and singles from Aaron Keogh , Sean Byrne and Ruairi Finan , Baltinglass nicked a goal with breakaway efforts , it finished in defeat 0.7 to 4.6 , in a game where we rued hitting thirteen wides over the hour ( Baltinglass hit two )  and failing to create any goal chances .

We send our best wishes to Conor Richardson , injured in the first halve and in hospital overnight in Tallaght .

Blessington : Adam Williamson, James Dooley , Terence Punsielle , Killian Bailey , Dylan Friel , Luke O’Brien , David Williamson , Sean Byrne (0.1) , Aaron Keogh (0.1) , Finn Behan (0.2 , 2f) ,Ruairi Finan (0.3 , 1f) , Kevin Cooney , Conor Richardson , Thomas Fisher , Thomas Walsh : Substitutes : Padraig Quinn , Sean Ellis , Stephen Kitt

Minors

The minors were at home last Monday evening in their championship game against An Tochar. Well done on your win, Final score Blessington 1-10 to An Tochat 1-06.

U15A

Big win for our U15’s in round 3 of the A championship at home to Arklow on Wednesday evening. We were down numbers and had the bare 15 on the night but the lads were brilliant from start to finish. Next up away to St pats in a week’s time.

Final score Blesso 4-11 to Arklow 1-02

U13 C championship

Blesso vs Carnew

Short a few regulars we knew it was going to be a tough game this evening. Playing against the strong wind, we needed to ensure every attack we made mattered while also working hard to dispossess, turn over the ball and pressure the opposition every chance we had. Defensively the team were on fire this evening . Attack wise we worked some lovely combinations taking scores when they were on and recycling possession when we needed to.

Half time score we led 2:05 to 1:04.

Second half we knew we needed to keep clean sheet while also attacking in numbers . The teams constant running for one another was clear all over the pitch. This was a great team performance where the scores were spread across all our forward line.

Final score 4:14 to 1:08

Thanks to all parents for supporting this evening.

Thanks to u11 lads for stepping in , Josh, Tomas and Darragh.

Next up Kildare championship Friday

U12 Kildare championship

Blessington vs Rathangan

The two teams met in the league in what was a tight affair. Today was no different.

Blesso playing against the wind, working the ball nicely and taking some lovely points. Leading 4 points to no score after 15 minutes.

Rathangan kicked into gear and started to take some nice score . Blesso switched off 3 times late on in the half and conceded 3 soft goals. Half time score 1:04 to 3:07

Second half we started strong scoring a goal straight from throw in . Nip and tuck between 2 evenly matched teams . At times playing some lovely football . Unfortunately we ran out of time this evening.

Final score Blesso 3:10 Rathangan 5:10

Few word exchanged between players at end which left a sour taste. Explained in the huddle at the end , championship football is not supposed to be easy, and if they really wanted another shot against them we need to win our remaining games and meet them in the Final .

Hard work and we will get our rewards.

Thanks to all the parents for coming out , thanks to u11 for stepping up , Cian, Josh, Darragh and Tomas.

Thanks to Liam Cullen for stepping in to ref short notice . Training next week with championship again the following week.

U7’s

Our U7s played a blitz at home on Saturday morning against Hollywood and Dunlavin in the Wicklow League. 3 great games with great skills on display. Well done to all the lads

Ladies Football

U16 Girls

Well done to our U16 girls on Thursday evening. A miserable evening for a training session but the girls put in the graft in the rain and finished off with some Yoga and Meditation ahead of championship, kickoff next Thursday.

Our u14 blue team had our first Div.1 championship game against St. Nick’s last Sunday afternoon. We were playing against the wind in the first half and it took a few minutes to get a score on the board. The girls kept the ball in hand and worked hard to get each score. When St. Nicks got down the field the Blessington backs overturned them and worked the ball back up to the forwards. Mollie and Emily both saw the back of the net which gave the team a great boost. The final score was Blessington 4-12 to St. Nicks 0-7. There was a few players in contention for POTM, Skye, Abby Leah and Hannah, but Clodagh was unbelievable today and takes the honour. Our next match is away against An Tochar on the 1st September.

Irish Culture and Language

Intermediate Irish classes.

There are just a few places left in the Blessington GAA Intermediate Irish Class which will commence on Wed 4 Sept to 9 Oct 8pm - 9pm in the clubhouse. Please contact Noreen on 087 2858375 to register. It costs just €10 to attend all 6 classes.

Irish storytelling for children

Blessington GAA will host FREE Irish Storytime for Children in Blessington Library on 28 Sep, 12, 26 Oct, 9, 23, 30 Nov, 7,14 Dec. 1pm - 2pm. Suitable for children aged 4 - 8 years old. Please text or What's app Noreen on 087 2858375 to register your childs name to attend. This programme has been part-funded by the Fondúireacht Sheosaimh Mhic Dhonncha and Blessington GAA.

You can keep up to date on all club related news across all social media and also with our new Tik Tok account Blessington GAA Club.

For all thing LGFA related you can contact Olivia on 086 030 8395 and for everything else football or club related you can contact myself Lisa on 086 376 7534 and pro.blessington.wicklow@gaa.ie