Senior Camogie Championship - Semi Final

Ballincollig V's Imokilly in Semi Final of Senior "A" Camogie Championship.
Sunday 26th Sept, 12.30pm in Castle Road, Mahon.

Ballincollig made their first appearance in the Semi Final of the Senior Championship. Our opponents on the day were the very favoured divisional side Imokilly.

Ballincollig started very brightly and had 1-1 on the score board, before Imokilly got their first point,  The match was a excellent match with both teams showing well.  Ballincollig went in at the half with the early goal lead and the second half was all to play for. 

The second half was very tough but Ballincollig began to break away and got a ahead by 6 points, when we should have gone further ahead costly misses in front of goal gave the momentum back to Imokilly and the the final 7 minutes Imokilly breached the goal 3 times, despite Ashleen giving a 'player of the match' performance.  One goal was questionable and we could feel aggrieved, but in the final minute Denis Cronin stepped up to take a difficult free to level the match.  WE had one more chance but it wasn't to be and so both clubs survive to play another day.

Team: Asheleen Sheehan (Goal) Backs: Eimear O Sullivan, Adele Kiely; Alison Coughlan, half backs: Cliona Irish, Kate O Donoghue; Aoife Cotter, midfield : Samantha Coomen; Denise Cronin; half forwards: Sarah Buckley; Leah Weste, Linda Dorgan; Full forward line; Holly Coomey; Maria O Donoghue (Captain), Patricia Buttimer.

Substitution: Ashley Lovett for Holly Coomey.

Under 8's Vs Sliabh Rua

For the third week in a row our under 8's played a match and the performances just keep getting better. There is great credit due to this bunch of girls. This game was against Sliabh Rua in our own pitch. Kellie was back with us and played very well in goal. Starting in front of her Kate O' S, another returning girl, Anna, Amy O Rourke and Amy Murphy. Aideen, Abbie and Eabha started in midfield with Megan, Miriam, Shannon and Shauna providing the fire power up front. The game got underway and this week the girls started in top gear. The development of their passing and positional sense was there for all the large crowd to see. Even from Kellies puck outs people were picking up good positions and looking for the pass. Megan got us off the mark with a point and Abbie scored the first goal of the day. Amy Murphy was controlling things at half back, while Eabha and Aideen were running midfield. With Eabha adding to the scoreline. First break and the girls were playing brilliantly. The usual squad rotation saw Nicole, Nic and Becky coming on. These three didn't take long to get into the game. Nicole at half forward was a great connection between the forwards and Anna, Kate and Aoife in midfield. Aoife despite the odd knock played very well, as Anna scored from midfield.
Amy Murphy had switched to full forward and added another point . Shannon, Becky and Shauna all came close. Kellie wasn't too busy in goal but what she had to do she did well. Another break and more positional changes saw Aideen, one of the new girls move forward and get the first goal of her Camogie career. Miriam in defence and Amy O Rourke in midfield kept going to the final whistle. After the final whistle blew, Mossie, Brendan and Eileen all complemented the girls on another great display of Camogie.

Next week we take a break from games and will back training on Sunday at 12.15.

Visit to Mycro sports

Ballincollig Camogie Club had a Camogi-Athon during the Summer and the top
three fundraisers at the event won a prize kindly sponsored by Mycro Sports Ballincollig. (A tour of MycroSports, and design our
very own personalised Helmet).
The 3 Winners were Anna Cremin Butler, Claire Donovan and Erika Lenihan.

My trip to MycroSports.

Last week I went to MycroSports Factory for a Camogie Helmet, because I won
it with my club along with Anna and Claire. We got to design our very own
Helmet, and we got to watch the man make them. I got my name on mine, Anna
got her name and 'Up the Collig' on hers, and Claire got two lines and
stars on hers. It was really cool how they make them. I even got to put a
tag on my helmet.

They spray paint the names and flick paint on them. When the paint is dry,
they put it all together. They also have to put on the face guard and the
inside cushion. Every little thing is put together by hand. We really
enjoyed our Visit to MycroSport. Thanks to Victor and Tom for making my
Helmet and for showing me how it was made. By Erika Lenihan.

Ballincollig Camogie Club are very grateful to Victor Morgan, Thomas
Murray, Sharon Walsh and Ronan Curran for their time and for the
sponsorship of the wonderful prizes.

Under 8 trip to Ballinora

We travelled to Ballinora for another adventure with the under 8 squad. After a change of venue we got the game against Ballinora under way. Shannon started in goal with a strong defence of Aideen, Megan, Amy O Rourke and Eabha. In midfield we had Ellie, Nicole and Amy Murphy. Our strike force this week consisted of Caoimhe, Miriam, Abbie and Aoife. The first section was a tight affair with the Ballincollig girls slow to get going. Once we hit our stride there was some great camogie played. Caoimhe Creedon provided excellent service to the forwards with her link up play, allowing Abbie to score a couple of goals today. Aoife also went close a couple of times. While Eabha and the rest of the defence of Amy, Megan and Aideen ensured Shannon had a quiet start to the game. Our midfielders Amy Murphy, Ellie and Nicole worked tirelessly and covered a lot of ground. At the end of the first section we were drawing 2 - 2. Then we changed the team around a small bit bringing on Nic, Erika and Kate. We tried hard and Nicole was really pushing on from midfield, tackling hard and fair and eventually got the goal she deserved. Ballinora pulled ahead in this section but our girls never gave up. This strength of character shone through last week and again it was there in abundance this week as we went into the third section. Nicole took a break from her midfield exploits and went in goal. Erika, Ellie and Nic all defended well in this section while Abbie and Caoimhe added scores. Miriam was a dynamo in midfield breaking up Ballinora attacks and providing great possession to the girls up front. At the end of a long game the girls were fairly whacked out and deserved their party bags for the journey home. This week we welcomed two new recruits to the team, Kate O Shea and Aideen Kelly both girls played so well you would think they have been in the team for a number of years.

Our next game will be against Sliabh Rua in the Ballincollig GAA grounds on Saturday 25th Sept. Meeting at 10.30AM

U8 Blitz in Ballyanley

With the lazy days of the summer holidays behind us it was back to action for our busy U8 squad. Our first outing of the summer was an invitation to take part in a blitz in Inniscarra. Never afraid of a challenge and with the prospect of loads of fun we headed off to Ballyanley. Our first match was against Eire Og. No cobwebs with these ladies I can tell you, straight into action and with a bit of luck we could have been three up at half time with Sophie, Erika and Abbie going close on a number of occasions. It was a tight game with defences on top. Our defence of Anna, Miriam and Megan marshalled the Eire Og forwards very well and Amy Murphy in goal made one particularly good save that ensured it was nil all at half  time. Caoimhe, Eabha and Aoife worked very hard in a tight midfield battle.  Into the second half and again it was tight with eventual blitz winners Eire Og getting a late goal to win the match 1 - 0.

The usual positional and tactical changes meant we had a different team playing in our second game The game itself can only be described as a classic ! A more open attacking game ensued between two totally committed sides.  Abbie in goal, Amy Murphy, Caoimhe and Sophie were  all busy in defence, Anna, Amy Browne and Nic were up and down the pitch in this end to end game.  Up front  Becky, Erika and Megan were peppering the Inniscarra goal. Anna was firing in goals from half way while Miriam tirelessly connected play between our busy midfielders and the hot shot forwards. We went in at half time down 5 goals to 2. Believe me when I say these girls are a bunch of fighters who never give up. In the second half Nicole up front forced a couple in and next thing you know we were level 5-5, despite going behind again the girls fought back with goals from Miriam, Anna and Megan. At the other end Shannon was a busy girl in goal. in the end Inniscarra won 10-9 (as I said a classic) but the girls deserved better after their spirited performance, we were all so proud of you. It had to be the game of the tournament. After that we all took a deserved break for lunch at the cake & book sale. Some of the girls went shopping for books and picked up some great bargains.

After the break it was onto our third match against Blarney.  Despite the efforts in the last titanic struggle the girls pulled out all the stops for this one. Sophie went in goal at the start of this one and kept a clean sheet.  Of course she couldn't do it with out her strong defence of Eabha, Abbie and Becky. Anna, Amy Browne and Miriam in midfield drove the team on again, this trio popped in a couple of goals from half way. Nic played well connecting midfield and the two full forwards Shannon and Shauna. Shauna got two in the second half and Nic also scored a deserved goal. Goal of the game came from Amy Murphy who pucked the ball the length of the pitch, one bounce and into the back of the net. Amy is surely one to watch in the puc fada at Xmas. It was a great way to finish the blitz as we won our final game 7-1.  As usual all the girls, parents and mentors had a great day out, with everyone being proud of each girls effort on the day. Some people headed off to rest weary limbs while the rest of us went to support our U10 team in the final of their blitz against Aghabullogue.  Unfortunately they didn't lift the cup but they also did the club proud on the day. Well done to you all.

Our next game will be against Ballinora on Saturday 18th Sept. We are hoping to arrange a match for the Saturday after 25th September.  There will be no training on Sunday 19th and 26th Sept.  We will keep you all posted via text about times and venues of the matches.