St Brides GFC will host a race night fundraiser in MacNamee’s Bar in Knockbridge this Friday night.
The event is jointly run by the mens and ladies teams and all are invited to attend.
The evening gets underway from 9pm and will be followed by a disco.
St Patrick’s GFC will be hoping for more silverware this year after clinching a championship and league double last season. They are pictured here celebrating their league success
County champions St Patrick’s have been paired with Mattock Rangers and the O Raghallaigh’s in the group stages of this year’s Carrickdale Hotel Senior Football Championship.
The Lordship men were drawn in Group 4 following last night’s draw in Darver and will face a stiff test from the outset against a Mattock side who won back-to-back titles as recently as 2010 an an ever-improving O Raghallaigh’s side.
Elsewhere, last year’s beaten finalists the Dreadnots were drawn in Group 1 alongside St Mary’s and Naomh Mairtin while intermediate champions the Sean O’Mahony’s have been drawn in Group 2 alongside the O’Connells and Cooley Kickhmas.
Meanwhile, there will be a local derby in Group 3 where both Dundalk Gaels and the Geraldines have been paired alongside 2013 champions the Newtown Blues.
Meanwhile, in the CTI Business Solutions Intermediate Championship last year’s beaten finalists St Fechin’s have been drawn in Group 4 alongside Na Piarsaigh and St Mochta’s.
In Group 1 last season’s relegated outfit Kilkerley Emmets have been paired with fellow former senior heavyweights Clan na Gael and Glyde Rangers while in Group 2 are Naomh Malachi, Hunterstown Rovers and St Joseph’s. Dundalk Young Irelands are in Group 3 with St Brides and junior champions Oliver Plunketts.
In the Junior Championship, Roche Emmets will be hoping to bounce back to the intermediate grade straight away but face a tough pairing in Group 1 alongside Naomh Fionnbarra and the Sean McDermotts.
In Group 2 are the county’s newest club Cuchulainn Gaels, the John Mitchels and St Nicholas while Group 3 contain sides who all either won the Christy Bellew Cup or came close to it on numerous occasions in the Noughties – St Kevin’s, Dowdallshill and the Westerns.
Finally, Group 4 is made up of Lannleire, the Wolfe Tones, Glen Emmets and Stabannon Parnells.
For all three grades the winners and runners up of Group 1 will face the winners and runners up of Group 3 with the winners and runners-up of Groups 2 and 4 doing likewise.
In the Senior Hurling Championship, holders Knockbridge have a bye with Mattock Rangers facing Pearse Og and St Fechin’s playing Naomh Moninne.
Newtown Blues’ Stephen Moonan lifts the Joe Ward Cup after his side’s victory over Cooley Kickhams in last year’s senior final
County champions the Newtown Blues will face their Drogheda neighbours the O Raghallaigh’s and Dundalk Gaels in the group stages of this year’s Carrickdale Hotel SFC.
The draw for the championship was made last night in Darver with the three teams being paired in group one.
Last year’s runners-up Cooley Kickhams have been drawn in group four – arguably the group of death – with the O’Connells and Mattock Rangers while their neighbours St Patrick’s will be in group two alongside Naomh Mairtin and the Dreadnots.
Meanwhile, newly-promoted the Geraldines have been given a kind draw having been placed in group three with St Mary’s and Kilkerley Emmets.
In the Anglo Printers IFC, the stand out group is group two which includes the Dundalk trio of Sean O’Mahony’s, Dundalk Young Irelands and Clan na Gael.
The other big Dundalk club, Na Piarsaigh, have been drawn in group one with St Fechin’s and St Joseph’s while newly-promoted Hunterstown Rovers are in group three with St Mochta’s and Naomh Malachi.
Finally, in group four Glyde Rangers, St Brides and Roche Emmets will all be vying for a return to senior football following relegation in recent years.
Elsewhere in the Integral Fitness & Leisure JFC, Dundalk outfit Dowdallshill will be in a four-team group in group four that also includes the Oliver Plunketts, Stabannon Parnells and the Sean McDermotts.
Group one includes the Westerns, the Wolfe Tones and Glen Emmets, with St Kevin’s, John Mitchels and Cuchulainn Gaels making up group two. Finally, in group three are St Nicholas, Naomh Fionnbarra and Lannleire.
The draw in full is as follows:
Patrick Reilly is the surprise inclusion in the Louth team for Sunday’s Allianz National Football League Division Two opener against Armagh at the Gaelic Grounds in Drogheda.
The St Brides clubman has been drafted in at full back for what would be his debut. A former minor and U-21 footballer for the county, Reilly was called into the senior panel for the first time at the start of the year but didn’t feature in the O’Byrne Cup as he was involved with UCD.
In other team news, John O’Brien makes a welcome return from injury while Eoin O’Connor of St Patrick’s GFC starts at full forward having impressed during the O’Byrne Cup for DCU.
Throw-in on Drogheda on Sunday is at 2pm and the game is an all-ticket affair.
Tickets can be purchased from the GAA website or from Centra in Blackrock, Ardee or Rathmullen in Drogheda.
Tickets are also available from SuperValu in Ardee and Drogheda and cost €10 or €5 for juveniles.
The team in full, including subs, is as follows: Shane McCoy; Padraig Rath, Patrick Reilly, Gary O’Hare; John O’Brien, Dessie Finnegan, Liam Shevlin; Paddy Keenan, Brian Donnelly; Adrian Reid, Colm Judge, Declan Byrne; Andy McDonnell, Eoin O’Connor, Derek Maguire. Subs: Neil Gallagher, Stephen Campbell, Darren Clarke, Gary Connolly, Cian Doyle, Gerard Hoey, John Kermode, Keith McLaughlin, Darren O’Hanlon, Conor Rafferty, Kevin Rogers.
It’s set to be another busy weekend on the local GAA scene.
Saturday morning will see the Louth GAA Gathering 5k Run taking place at Darver. Registration gets underway at 10.30am, with the race at 12.30pm.
On Sunday the Anglo Printers Intermediate Football Championship final between the Geraldines and St Brides will take centre stage at 4pm and it will be preceded by the John Laverty Motor Factors U-16 Championship final between Ardee St Mary’s and the Newtown Blues at 1.30pm.
There will be a local derby in this year’s Anglo Printers Intermediate Football Championship final after the Geraldines and St Brides booked their places in the final yesterday evening at a double header in Dowdallshill.
First up was the clash of the Geraldines and Roche Emmets, with the Blackrock and Haggardstown men booking their place in a first final since 2005 when they ran out winners on a 2-10 to 1-9 scoreline with goals in either half from Glen Traynor and Shane O’Hanlon.
St Brides then booked their place in the decider with a 3-15 to 2-14 win over St Joseph’s and could now be favourites to make a return to the senior ranks.
The final is provisionally fixed for Sunday October 6th.
St Patrick’s will be aiming to book their place in the final tonight as they look to retain the Joe Ward trophy that Colin Goss picked up last October
It’s another big weekend of GAA action in Louth this weekend with the line-ups for the senior and intermediate football championship finals set to be determined.
After Stephen Moonan’s late point earned the Newtown Blues a replay last weekend, the Drogheda side will go head-to-head once more this Friday night with St Patrick’s in Haggardstown.
Both sides will be slugging it out for a place in the September 29th Joe Ward final against Cooley Kickhams, who booked their place in the decider last weekend following a 2-9 to 0-9 win over the O’Connells.
Throw-in at Haggardstown on Friday is at 8pm, with admission just €5.
Meanwhile, the line-up for the Intermediate final will be decided on Saturday following a double header in Dowdallshill.
Geraldines will take on Roche Emmets, followed by St Joseph’s v St Brides, with admission for this double header just €10.
It promises to be a great weekend of action.
Talk of the Town 