Ballybay Notes

Ballybay Club Notes – 4.6.2015There was no winner of last weeks Ballybay Pearse Brothers Blotto.

Number drawn were as follows: 8, 14, 19 & 24

The following people won €20:

John Connolly, Ballybay

Phyllis Ryan, Castleblayney

Caroline McDonagh, Castleblayney

Colleen Millar, Ballybay

Gretta McPhillips, Rockcorry

Evan Rutledge, Ballybay

Rory Gunning, Coothill

Keeley Matthews, Navan

Mickey Duffy, Ballybay

Maureen McGuiness, Ballybay

Next weeks jackpot is €6,200

Blotto: April has seen a lot of club member’s annual subscription to the Bally Blotto come to their end. As a result the tickets will not be entered to the weekly draw. Each member should have received notification of this and with the Blotto jackpot currently at €6,200 if members would like to be renew their subscription they can contact either Paddy or any committee member to do so.  

Results: The seniors where at home to Scotstown on Sunday afternoon. With a strong wind blowing straight down the field it was always going to take away from the sceptical. Scotstown won the toss and played with the wind at their backs for the opening half an hour, but it was Ballybay that opened the scoring with a good patient team score that saw Danny split the posts. Ballybay defended well for the opening quarter and held the visitors to a maximum 3 point margin thanks mainly to god defensive displays from Thomas O’Neil, Ciaran Gallighan & organising from the experience of Colin Malone. However in the last period of the first half Scotstown were able to open the gap to a 6 point lead going in at half time. This was a result from the efforts put into the opening period and the elements making it very difficult to get the ball past the middle third when in possession. It was still all to play for at half time with management more than confident that they could push on in the second half. The introduction of Paul at half time settled the ship and his ability to deliver long ball with the wind was going to be a major factor. As predicted Balllybay had the majority of the ball in the second half but found space to be premium with Scotstown crowding the defence and breaking out at speed. Ballybay got the break they badly needed when Shane McGuiness rose highest to catch the ball, turn and drive the ball past the on-coming keeper all in one movement. Ballybay continued to push hard and reduced the margin to two points through points from Chris, Paul Stuart & Paul Finlay. The defence were at times stretched but managed turnovers through Tommy, Mark & Ciaran but careless passes and possession on the ball allowed Scotstown to pick off easy scores always ensuring they had the buffer on the score board. Management can be happy with the effort of the lads but will see it as two points dropped at home. Full time score Ballybay 1-10 Scotstown 0-17. Team: Brian McCabe, James Kerr, Thomas O’Neil, Ryan Wylie, Mark McArdle, Ciaran Gallighan, Shane McQuillan, Thomas Kerr, Danny Gorman, Paul Stuart, Chris McGuiness, Aaron Toner, Colin Malone, Shane McGuiness, Paul McCabe, Hugh Malone & Paul Finlay. The seniors were also away to Inniskeen last night, match report to follow.

Fixtures: The reserves are at away to Aughnamullan on Wednesday the 10th of June. The minors and U16 are currently on a break for the exam period. The U14’s are away to Donaghmoyne at 12pm this Saturday.

Good luck to all our club representatives who are sitting the Junior and Leaving Cert in the next number of weeks. We wish you all the very best.

Well done to any female members of the club who took part in Monday’s mini marathon. Keep up the good work ladies.

Get well soon: The club would like to wish Dessie Ward the speediest of recoveries following on from his recent surgery. We all hope to see him on the field in the near further.

Website: The club are currently working on developing a website to celebrate its colourful past & bright future while using it 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.

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.