Ballybay Notes

There was no winner of this weeks Ballybay PearseBrothers Blotto.
Number drawn were as follows: 18, 21, 26 & 27
The following people won €20:
Philip Farrelly 44 O’Duffy Tec
Deidre Duffy C/Blayney Rd
Pasty McGuigan, Tully, Monaghan 
Kenneth Cordell, Ballinlough, Belturbet
Eugene Hall, Broomfield, C/blayney
Claire Sullivan 
Aoife Grant c/o Drew Wylie 
Mrs. Sweeney Monaghan 
Peader Donaghy Ballybay 
Emmett Gleeson Ballybay

Next weeks jackpot is €5,300

Keep free: The Ballybay Players are running an “All Ireland Dinner” on the Friday the 8th of May in the Kilmore Hotel. Tickets are priced at €50 with all proceeds on the night going to the players fund to purchase much needed training equipment and gear. On the night there will a celebrity GAA panel of former Inter County Footballers & word in the dressing room has it a former All Ireland winning captain, additional info will be released in the coming weeks. This is a night not to be missed and with a limited number of tickets available make sure you get yours early.

Reserves: On Sunday afternoon the Ballybay Pearse Brothers took on Monaghan Harps in tough weather conditions helped in no way by the heavy shower of rain as both teams left the dressing room for the warm up. Aided with a strong wind in the first half it was the Harps that settled the quickest and opened a few point advantage that they would maintain throughout. In truth the Ballybay defence played outstanding to keep the score down with Fergal Smyth playing a captains role with Mark & Evan showing their experience beside him. Against the wind Ballybay developed some good moves out of defence with strong running & quick hands, one of which resulted in an inspirational score from James Allister on the right hand touch line to open Ballybay’s account. There was a good battle developing in the middle of the field with Cillian & Brent serving the team well winning clean possession from Brain McCabes kickouts, which travelled good distances into the wind, before breaking through the Harps first line of defence. Ballybay started the second half strongly and again there was some wonderful build up play but the final ball inside was disappointing and more often choosing the option of kicking the long ball in on top of the forward line resulting in the Harps defence picking up the pieces. However saying this there was impressive displays around the middle with men again coming at speed but it was the final ball and some poor shooting with the winds at their back letting the side down. Full time score Ballybay 0-4 Monaghan Harps 0-10. The team was: Brian McCabe, Conor Hand, James Garraghan, Mark McArdle, James Allister, Evan Rutledge, Fergal Smyth, Brent Wylie, Cillian McAviney, James Kerr, Colin Malone, Paul McCabe, Barry Macklin, Danny Gorman, Kelvin McEntee, Mantas Paninakos, Niall Duffy, Barry Lennon & Daniel McGregor. 

Juveniles: The U14’s had a very impressive win over Donaghmoyne on Saturday afternoon 4-11 to 1-1. The St Pats Minor were away to Magheracloone on Tuesday last. No report was available at the time of printing. 

Fixtures: This weekend sees the U12’s take on Rockcorry in Rock this Saturday at 2pm & the reserves are at home to Tyholland at 6pm on Saturday evening while the St Pats U16 open their campaign away to Scotstown on Thursday the 9th of April at 7.30pm.

Congratulations: Congratulations to Aisling Finnegan & James Leonard on the birth of the children in recent weeks. All at the club hope that everyone is keeping healthy happy & well and in the near future that we’ll see the kids in the Maroon & White.

Sympathy Ballybay Pearse Brothers would like to extend our deepest sympathy to the family & friends of the late Mrs MaryEllen Cleary, in particular to the Monaghan family, who recently passed away. May she rest in peace. 

Go Games: As part of the U8 & U10 GoGames for this year the club needs to have at least two referees for the blitz’s that are monthly in various clubs throughout the county. Formal training will be received from the county board & a small fee will be made to each ref for their partition at each blitz’s. All partitions must be over 14 years of age.

Easter Cuil Camps will be running in Pearse Park over the Easter holidays, 7th – 9th April. The county development officers have been in contact with the local schools & it is something that club would encourage as many children take the opportunity to attend as possible. If your child would like to take part it is essential that they are preregistered for the week. Additional info can be received from the posters positioned around various businesses in the town, juvenile team mentors, county development offices or from Niall Duffy.

Website: The club are currently working on developing a club website to celebrate its colourful past & as an additional means of communication for Pearse Brothers both living in the area and those spread out over all corners of the world. If any club members of indeed members of the public have any info on the history of the club and would like to share it could they please contact Niall on pro.ballybaypearsebrothers.monaghan@gaa.ie or call him on 0871131268.

In the next number of weeks, on Saturday morning & afternoon, there is a work to be carried on the club rooms. If anyone is in a position to offer a helping hand for a short period of time on the day, could they please make themselves known to any committee member.

Committee Meeting: Due to the Easter festivities the next committee will take place on Monday the 13th of April in the club rooms at 8pm.

Bingo: Bingo will continue every Tuesday night at the later time of 9pm for the summer months in the club rooms. If there’s any member of the public, particularly elderly ladies & gentlemen, who would like to attend the night but struggle for transportation there is a free bus run within the local area to bring people to & from the club rooms. If you like to avail of this service please contact any committee member.

Astro Turf at Pearse Park is available for booking 7 days a week. The pitch is ideal for groups taking part in pre-season training, outdoor soccer or any other activity associated with field sports. Please contact Brendan Macklin 087-6766283 for bookings.