SENIOR MEN’S TEAM UPDATE
Following ratification by the Club Executive Committee Killarney Legion GAA Club are delighted to announce their Senior Team Management for the year ahead
Ned English comes with a wealth of experience having managed at the highest level in Cork Club Football.
He brought Mallow to within a whisker of the Cork Senior County Championship final in 2004, helped Drom Broadford of Limerick win a historic Munster Club title in 2008, and managed Duhallow in 2012 and Ballincollig in 2016 to a Cork Senior County Final. Clyda Rovers captured a Premier Intermediate crown in 2013 with Ned guiding them over the line after 2 heartbreaking defeats under previous managements. He also managed O’Donovan Rossa of Skibbereen. Widely acknowledged as an innovative thinker Ned runs the Castlecor Potato Company in Mallow.
Stiana O Donoghue (Coach/Selector)… played Gaelic Football for Mallow and later transferred to Naomh Mearnog, through work in Dublin before returning back to Mallow. With Ballyvourney and Glenflesk parents the GAA was always going to be a strong interest and he managed his native Mallow, Ballydesmond and Ballyclough. He has been involved as a coach also with the Duhallow Divisional side. An employee of Dairygold in Lombardstown, Co Cork he takes a keen interest in the coaching and tactical side of the game.
Chris Flannery (S and C coach/Selector)… returns to the Club fold, having worked alongside Peter Keane in the Legion management in 2014 and 2015, culminating in a first Senior County Final appearance. He then linked up with Peter in the Kerry minors who went on to win 3 All Irelands in a row in 2016, 17 and 18 with Chris’ role as the team’s strength and conditioning coach proving vital. Chris is involved in College football, being part of Intermediate School Killorglin Senior team management.
Eoghan Donnellan(Selector).. has been involved in the club since the age of 6,lining out for the Club at all grades to great effect. He remained involved in the GAA being part of Seamus Moynihan’s Fossa Senior team management. In recent years Eoghan has managed our Clubs U20 team and worked closely with our minor, Senior B and Senior management teams. Away from GAA Eoghan was also an integral part of the highly successful Killarney Celtic management team .Eoghan organisation and preparation skills will lend greatly to the management team.
We wish our team and management the very best for 2022.
EAST KERRY SENIOR SUPERLEAGUE
We are in the same group as Glenflesk, Spa and Rathmore and the opening round sees us face Glenflesk in Direen this Sunday February 6th with 12noon throw in. These three games will serve as a very useful preparation for the Senior County League which begins on the weekend of March 19th/20th.
JAMES O DONOGHUE
James O Donoghue called time on a glittering Inter County career last week, earning lavish praise from all four corners of the Country. There was no greater sight in a Kerry jersey than when “Jameso” tucked the ball in under his arm, pinned his ears back and went for the jugular. The undoubtedly highpoint of his career was the 2014 season when he terrorised defence after defence, earning the highly coveted “Player of the Year Award” . His battles with Mayo great Keith Higgins in particular will go down in folklore as will his destruction of Cork in Pairc Ui Chaoimh in the last Munster final to be played in the old Stadium. His electrifying performance against Dublin in 2013 contributed to one of the modern day classics. A two time All Star and three time Munster GAA Player of the Year he also holds eight Munster Championship medals. But it’s the memories he made for Legionnaires all over the world that will warm the hearts of most. A full tribute to James and recent retirees Brian Kelly and Jonathan Lyne can be viewed at www.legiongaa.com
SAINT BRENDAN’S COLLEGE
Congratulations to St Brendan’s College who qualified for the Corn Ui Mhuiri Final by defeating Hamilton HS of Bandon in an absorbing tie that went all the way to extra time in the Mallow GAA complex. Aaron O Sullivan started in goal, with Darragh Fleming lining out at right half back. Will Shine was certainly a thorn in the Cork schools side as he accounted for 0-7 of the Sems 1-20 total. Sam Benson was an unused substitute. By virtue of their win over Skibbereen Community School Tralee CBS will be their opponents in the showpiece final in what were assuming will be a Kerry venue.
SIGERSON CUP
No joy for Finbarr Murphy and his MTU teammates as they excited the Blue Riband event after defeat to the University of Ulster in Abbotstown last week. Darragh Lyne, Ryan O’Grady and MTU Kerry have a home quarter-final when they face Maynooth and at time of writing that game is fixed for the Tralee Campus on Tuesday February 1st with a 2.30pm throw-in. We’ll update their progress in next week’s notes.
SARAH LEAHY
Sarah Leahys talent has always been well flagged but there seems to be no end to her achievements. This time in Athlone on Sunday last, in the Indoor Irish Universities meeting she won 3 medals and achieved 2 personal bests to boot. She captured Gold in the 4 x 200m Team Relay, Silver in the 200m Sprint (24.70 PB) and Bronze in the 60m sprint, again in a PB of 7.52. Well done to Sarah, we literally have a hard time keeping up with you!!
CLUB TEXT SERVICE
Foireann is the new system now being used to record all GAA, LGFA and Camogie membership replacing the old system which was called Servasport. However at this moment Foireann does not have a message service which Clubs can use to connect with their members yet. So at this stage we are still able to use the old Servasport system to send out Club texts. However this has difficulties in that you are unable to add new members to the old Servasport system and other data cannot be accessed. In short this means that not everyone is receiving Club texts. We understand that Foireann will be bringing a message service online eventually but until then if you are a Club member who does not receive Club texts and wish to do so you can contact PRO Enda Walshe 087 6447523 or Secretary Lara O Brien 0877766551 and we will do our utmost to facilitate this if possible.
DEEPEST SYMPATHIES
The Club extends its sympathies to the family of Tim Looney, Coolgraine Park, Killarney who passed away this week. Tim was a loyal and fervent supporter of the Club for many years and always made sure the flag was out the window of the house on all the big days. Tim was also an active member of our Golf Society when it was first established as it helped him combine two of his favourite pastimes.
Also to the family of Susan McCann Drogheda, Co.Louth. Susans grandson Kian is a very active player member in the Club
May they Rest in Peace.
LOTTO
The Club lotto is a vitally important source of revenue for the Club and with over a dozen teams and a bustling Academy it is important that we are able to continue to provide an outlet for the children of the community.
With the onset of the worldwide pandemic, the Lotto was paused for a sustained period, restarted in June 2020, but understandably, the level of sales/income dropped substantially.
While there has always been a huge response by our members, we are asking all members and Legion supporters to redouble their efforts in 2022.
With the hospitality restrictions now thankfully removed we hope to see tickets being sold again in the pubs , which will help, but if every member puts their shoulder to the Lotto wheel it will help the club continue to strive for what’s best.
RESULTS SUNDAY JANUARY 30TH
Numbers were 6, 22, 24, 28 Bonus 13
No Jackpot winner
5 Match 3s/Lucky Dips
1. Naomi Travers
2. Donal O Leary, Rathfarnham
3. Helen Fahy, Muckross
4. Maura Trant
5. Pat Moynihan
Next week’s Draw Sunday February 6th
Jackpot €15,400.