Collegeland GAC Club Notes
Intermediate League –Away
Collegeland O’Rahilly’s travelled to south Armagh missing the Cullen brothers and the injured mid-fielder Karol Mc Geary to play Mullaghbawn Cuhullians in an Intermediate League fixture on Sunday 29th of April. The day was cold and dry with a very strong breeze blowing from right to left down the field in Mullaghbawn’s favour in the first half. Mullaghbawn opened the scoring with three points in the seventh, tenth and eleventh minutes Nathan McParland had Collegeland’s only point of the half in the 12th minute. Mullaghbawn’s dominance at mid-field in the first half saw them add a further four points, the last three coming in the final minutes of the half. Both teams shot a numbers of wides in the half and good defending by Collegeland prevented Mullaghbawn from doubling their score. Halftime Mullaghbawn 0-8, Collegeland 0-1.
Mullaghbawn pointed in the opening minute of the second half and added points in the 5th, and 13th minutes to leave the score 0-11 to 0-1. Entering the last quarter Collegeland restored some pride in themselves with a Tom Murphy point and a minute later Ryan McParland cut out a Mullaghbawn pass out of the defence and passed to Gareth McArdle who sent in a high lobbing ball into the square which the goalkeeper could deal with and the ball went in to the net. Brian McGeary pointed a minute later to leave six between them. Collegeland then had 3 wides before Mullaghbawn replied with 2 points. Collegeland registered the three closing points by Nathan McParland, Brian McGeary, and Tom Murphy to leave the final score Mullaghbawn 0-14, Collegeland 1-6. Mullaghbawn showed a greater hunger and work rate for the game. Collegeland needed more urgency in their play and had they learned to cope with the strong wind a bit sooner then they would have been in contention at the end. On a brighter note Kevin McNicholl made his league debut and hopefully can look forward to many more years ahead in the blue jersey.
Collegeland panel: Macartan Mc Geary, Brian Mitchell, Stephen Clancy, Sean McNicholl, Ruari McGeary, Tom Murphy (0-2), Eamonn McGeary, Brian Mc Geary (0-2), Gareth McArdle (1-0), Nathan McParland (0-2), Ryan McParland, Barry O’Neill, Kevin McNicholl, Jack Mc Geary, Barry Colhoun, Chris McCann, Michael Hughes.
Next Intermediate League- at Home
O’Rahillys will welcome Middletown to Collegeland on Sunday 6 May at 2.00pm.
Reserve League
We travelled to St Peters in Lurgan last Thursday night but again with a bare minimum of players. We need a better turn out from eligible Reserve players if we are to make any impact in this Reserve League. While we did get a good competitive game thanks to St Peters we were about five points behind at the final whistle. One highlight was when young Collegeland’s young Gary McCann took a quick free and hammered the ball into the net for our only goal.
Next Reserves match this Wed night 2 May at 7.30pm at home to St Pauls. Players should notify managers Paddy Donnelly or Leo McGeary about match availability or if they have not received recent notifications on Teamer text.
Camogie
Camogie training continues on Wednesday evenings at 5-45 equipment supplied.
Half Marathon
Not to be outdone by the camogie girls their mentor and Collegeland GAC Committee member Paula Donnelly is in training for a Half Marathon in Belfast on Monday 7 May. Paula is seeking sponsorship for a cause close to her heart – “Helping Hand at The Children’s Hospital in Belfast“. Helping Hand Charity established by medical staff at the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children in 1997 with the single aim of helping children in their care. By supporting Helping Hand, you will be helping to purchase vital new equipment to diagnose and treat the hospital’s young patients, to provide facilities and services for families and to fund research into children’s illnesses.
First Aid Course in Collegeland
This new course in Paediatric First Aid — Level 2 will start at the end of April in the Collegeland GAC Clubrooms and be delivered over a number of weeks totalling 12 hours but at times suitable to the needs of candidates.
The Course is aimed at assisting parents and those working with young children to assess and react appropriately in an emergency situation including being able to provide first aid where an infant or young person;- is unresponsive; requires resuscitation; has an airway obstruction; has been poisoned; is suffering from shock/haemorrhage/fracture/extremes of temperature; severe sting. The Course will cost £40.00 Anyone interested, including previous applicants should contact Brendan at 07740099852 to facilitate suitable dates and times.