Castleblayney Notes

Senior Team: With the Monaghan senior team now preparing for the All Ireland Quarter Final versus either Galway or Tyrone on Saturday the 8^th of August, the Senior league has taken a back seat. The next game will see us play Latton away in a “Star” Game on Wednesday 5^th of August at 8pm. We hope that you come out to support the team as we go in search of two valuable points.

Summer Camp: The McMahons Centra Faughs Summer Camp takes place on the 12th-15th August. Application forms for the camp will be available at training over the coming weeks and also in McMahons Centra & Supervalu. We ask that you return the forms as soon as possible to help us plan for what promises to be an action packed Camp.

Reserve Team: The reserve team exited this year’s competition when we lost out to Ballybay in the semi-final of the league last Sunday morning. The conditions were very poor with the Faughs playing with the breeze in the first half, they opened up well but a Ballybay goal after twenty three minutes put them one in front at the break. The second half saw the Faughs try hard but every time we got a score the Pearse Brother just seemed to be able to respond with one of their own and eventually ran out winners on a score line of Faughs 0-8 Ballybay 1-11 .It was a disappointed end to a season that promised more, just like last year we were at the top of the table for the majority of the year but yet again lost out in the knock out stages. We hope that all the players continue to work as hard with all efforts now focusing on the Senior Team, a big thanks you to the team management and the players for the efforts throughout the year

Under 6: Training continues this week on Thursday at 6pm in the field

Under 8: The under 7 and the under 8’s have training this Thursday night at 6 pm and on Saturday morning we play host to Scotstown at Under 7, Under 8 and Under 9 level, throw in time is 10am can we ask that parents have their children in the filed for 9.30am.

Under 10: Training is again on Thursday evening at 7pm to 8pm in the field , the under 9 team will play a match against Scotstown under 9’s in the field this Saturday, we would like all the boys in the filed by 9.30am. Thanks to Colin Malone who took this team for a very good session last Saturday, the boys really enjoyed it as “Buggy” put them through some forward movements.

Boys Under 12: The Under 12 Division 1 semi-final has provisionally been fixed for the weekend of August 8^th, with the boys having a home games against Carrick, the fixture will be confirmed as soon as we know the time of the Monaghan game. The Development team will play either Donaghmoyne or Monaghan Harps in their final which will more than likely be played on Saturday August 29^th.

Girls Under 12: The girls will now have another round of league fixtures having now  been drawn against Emyvale, Truagh, Killeevan, Donaghmoyne and O’Neills. They commence with an away fixture to Killeevan on Friday 31st July at 7pm.

Street League: The street league got off to a great start last Wednesday with the first round of games proving very competitive, we had a great crowd of players and young coaches involved which all bodes well for the future. The league returns this Wednesday with the first match down for a 2 o’clock throw in.

Boys Under 14: The Senior team had a good victory against Inniskeen last Saturday a result which keeps them in the hunt for a semi-final place, they now have a very important match next Saturday August 1^st when they travel to Monaghan Harps  at 1.15pm, these leagues games are now like Championship matches with a win required in each of them to get to the Semi Finals. The development team travel to Clones to play St.Tiarnach Sarsfields  on Saturday with a throw in time of 12pm, can we ask that you travel to both games if possible.

Boys Under 16: Clontibret travelled to St Mary’s Park to take on the Faughs U16’s in the Division 3 Championship semi-Final last Thursday evening and to use the old cliché, it was game of two halves. The Faughs team got out of the traps quicker and by half time had a healthy lead built up despite a number of missed goal chances. The two Callan’s at midfield had ensured Josh Walsh, Mark Hughes and Josh Mone had a good supply of ball to work their wonders with. Ryan McKernan also drove forward to get a great point. In the second half, this very determined Clontibret team came out fighting and with 5 minutes left had the lead cut to three points. The made light of having to field without a number of players and scored two goals to turn this game on it’s head. The Faughs rallied and added another two points to secure a Championship Final berth. Stout defending by Colin Merrick and Gavin Kelly just about held Clontibret out with Kian O’Connor’s acrobatics again vital. This week the boys travel to Killeevan for their next League game hoping to maintain their place at the top of the table.

Minors Boys: The Minors had a disappointing result against Patrick Emmetts last Tuesday night in the league, they played some great football in the first half and led at one stage by six points but conceded a goal followed by a couple of points before half time and entered the break with a one point advantage. The second half saw the Emmett’s get the better of a tight match and emerge victorious on a score line of Faughs 2-9 Patrick Emmetts 3-10. We now play Emerald Sarsfields in the Minor Semi Final this Saturday the 1^st of August in Aughnamullen at 7pm, let’s hope we secure the result that would no doubt put a smile on Brandon Rice  face as he recovers after his accident last week.

Well done: This week’s well done goes to our Under 16 team who showed great resolve in their Championship Semi Final, it’s great to back to a final. We play Corduff on Thursday the 20^th of August with a throw in time of 7.30pm.

Hard Luck: Monaghan ladies had a surprise defeat last Sunday against Donegal in the Ulster Senior Final, the ladies now travel to play Cavan in the back door on Saturday 8^th of August in Breffni Park at 5.15pm.