Thomas McCurtains H&F Club Notes
Thomas McCurtains H&F Club Notes
March 14, 2016
Mens Football:
Result: McArdle Cup Group 1, Round 2: Thomas McCurtains: 1-07, Shalloe Pearse: 1-06.
Thomas McCurtains welcomed Shalloe Pearse to Goodmayes for the first match of the new season under the new management team of Martin Keyes and Johnny O'Dwyer. It was a fine spring afternoon and a decent crowd turned up in anticipation of a good hard contest. Captained by Gavin Gallagher this was a McCurtains team with a good mix of youth and experience, with some players making their debuts and some their long awaited comebacks.
McCurtains started the brighter of the two sides and registered two fine points from play in the first five minutes through James Searson and Stephen Quinn. Shalloe Pearses then started to get a foothold in the game and were awarded a penalty for their efforts. However a fine double save by goalkeeper Conor Mulrennen meant that they came away with nothing.
Disaster.
More pressure from Shalloe resulted in two points to make it a draw game before a Jason Deegan point re-established McCurtains lead. Disaster struck for the home defence and Shalloe managed to break through the lines and snatch a goal mid way through the second half. That goal spurred on McCurtains to finish the second half stronger, but some wasteful shooting meant they only managed to trouble the scoreboard once more with a well worked team move finished by Richard Ellis to leave the score 1-02 to 0-04 in favour of the visitors at the break.
Early in the second half Shalloe looked to extend their lead with two points either side of a Deegan free. As is often the case in early season matches both teams needed to find their shooting boots registering a number of wides before Shalloe eventually added their third point of the half to stretch the lead to three.
The Hand of Brod.
As the game progressed into the final quarter the McCurtains team started to gel and began to put together some nice plays. Points by Barry McHugh (free) and Peter Haughey reduced the gap to the minimum with 5 minutes to go. Shalloe Pearse managed to score what they though was the winning point but it was Louth man Colin Brodigan who poped up with a goal that can only be described as Maradonna-esque in its execution. With a couple of minutes left on the clock as a long ball was played over the top toward goal Brodigan was quickest to react and managed to fist it past the onrushing Shalloe keeper and into the back of the net.
It was a hard fought battle and credit goes to the players who displayed a never say die attitude. Best for McCurtains were Jason Conway, Dermot Corrigan and Stephen Quinn.
THOMAS MCCURTAINS: C. Mulrennen; S. Conwell, J. Conway, D. Corrigan; E. Breen, K. Delahunty, S. Quinn; J. Searson, M. O'Leary; G. Gallagher (c), D. Carr, T. Keane; C. Doyle, J. Deegan, R. Ellis.
Subs: P. Murphy for Quinn (Blood-sub 22, reversal HT) and for Searson (41), P. Haughey for Keane (HT), P. Donegan, B. McHugh for Carr (HT), C. Brodigan for Doyle (HT).
Scorers: C. Brodigan (1-0), J. Deegan (1f)(0-2), B. McHugh (1f), J. Searson, S. Quinn, R. Ellis, P. Haughey (0-1 each)
The footballers are out again next weekend in round 3 of The McArdle Cup. They play Crawley & Brighton Gaels on Saturday 19th March at 3.30pm in Goodmayes. All available support would be welcome.
Training continues this week on Tuesday and Friday at 7:30 pm in Goodmayes pitch (Post code: IG3 8FE). All new players are welcome. Please contact Martin Keyes (07712 106 349) for further details.
Ladies Football:
Ladies training continues on Tuesday this week in Goodmayes pitch (IG3 8FE) at 7pm, but there will be no training on Thursday 17th March.All new players are welcome. Please contact Finnian O'Dowd (07966 806 011) for further details.
Camogie:
Camogie training continues in East London Rugby Club (E15 3BP) on Saturday morning at 11am.
Thomas McCurtain’s Underage:
Saturday 5th March 2016 - Thomas McCurtains GAA training sessions @ Thurrock Rugby club – 12pm to 1.30pm - Address Oakfield ,Long Lane Grays Essex RM16 2QH
Wednesday 13th April – Under age training to commence in Goodmayes 7pm to 8.15pm - U6 to U16
Saturday 16th April – Proposed presentation evening for 2015 county players U14 to U18 - registration event ( Proposed venue TBC)
Upcoming Events:
· Thomas McCurtains football, hurling and ladies football teams are travelling to Cork on the 22nd, 23rd and 24th of April to play Passage West GAA Club in a series of challenge matches.
· The Clubs Annual Golf Fundraiser – This will be held on Saturday 2nd July 2016. Last years was a great success and we hope to make this one even better. More details will be released later.
· The Clubs Annual Funday – Will be held on Saturday 16th July 2016.
New Players:
New players are always very welcome to join our friendly club. We have Gaelic Football & Hurling teams for both men and ladies from u-8s up to Adults. We are based in East London; the club covers a wide area and current players live in many different areas, including, Gants Hill, Woodford, Leyton, Leytonstone, Stratford, Romford, Dagenham, Brentwood & Chelmsford as well as many other areas. Transport to and from training and pick-up from stations can be arranged, if required.
If you would like to join our club, please do not hesitate to contact:
Martin Keyes: 07712 106 349 (Mens Football)
Brian Ryan: 07851 164 119 (Hurling)
Finnian O'Dowd: 07966 806 011 (Ladies Football)
Eoin Kelly: 07729 746 052 (Camogie)
Martin McGovern: 07773 005 594 (Minor Club)
Alternatively please check out Thomas McCurtain’s on Facebook, Twitter or drop us an email on thomasmccurtains@hotmail.com. We would be delighted to hear from you.
Club Shop:
Our official club merchandise is available to purchase on the O’Neill’s website at: https://www.oneills.com/shop-by-team/gaa/united-kingdom/thomas-mccurtains.html