Stars in the Faughs Eyes – We would like to warn the people of Castleblayney that over the next few weeks they will hear lots of laughter and music as the final touches are put together for this years “Stars in the FAUGHS Eyes “, with all the acts now finalised the practising has started in earnest. There are a wide variety of acts which will insure that we have a great night on Saturday the 20th of September. Tickets are selling extremely well and are available from any committee member or act. We are looking for all members to support this fundraiser, all money raised goes back to support the development of the club and your support on the night is important to us all.
Senior team – Last Friday evening saw the senior team take on Latton in the Senior Championship in Inniskeen. Latton settled well and lead by four points to two after twenty minutes but a point from an impressive Benny Mc Elroy followed by another point from Club Captain Dermot Malone saw the sides going in level at half time. The Faughs started the second half strongly with points from Mark Hanratty and Marty Mc Elroy before Ciaran Hanratty found the back of the Latton net with a great strike to leave the boys five in front. Latton responded with a couple of points but the Faughs regained control of the match with further points from Benny Mc Elroy, Patrick Tavey and Mark Hanratty to run out worthy winners on a score line of Faughs 1-9 Latton 0-7. We now advance to the County Semi Final this Sunday were we meet County Champions Scotstown in Clones with a throw in time of 4.15. Best of luck to the players, managers and the back room team as we try to get back to a County Senior Final
Minors– The Minors played their Final against Latton in Cremartin on Tuesday evening, please check web site for details. Well done to the team and management on getting to the Final, hopefully we will have another piece of silverware in the trophy cabinet in St Marys Park by Tuesday evening.
Under 16 Boys – The U 16’s semi-final has now been fixed for Scotshouse on Thursday the 17th of September at 6pm, the winner of this semi-final will go onto play Toome in the final.
Under 14 Girls –With Truagh unable to field last week in our play off match, we were awarded a walk over which meant we were drawn away to play Scotstown but due to an objection by Truagh the match has been postponed until further notice, we will keep everyone informed by text. Training as normal this week.
Under 14 Boys – This week’s team of the week definitely goes to the U14 team who secured a comfortable victory over Ballybay last Saturday in the league final, the victory seeing the Boys capture a league and championship double which is a great achievement in itself. The Boys got off to a great start with Francis McGeough and Gavin Kelly finding the net early on to open up a commanding first quarter lead of nine points which set the tone for the rest of the game. Further goals by Francis McGeough, a great chip by Josh Mone and some fine point kicking by Robbie Hanratty saw the young Faughs team put up a big score of 7-14. The forwards would be first to say that their job is easy when they are given plenty of quality possession on the day, they had to thank James McAdam in Goals who was very secure Rory McGlynn, team Captain Kian O’Connor, Colm Bishop, Gavin Kelly and Conor Mulligan. Meanwhile Craig Callan and Stephen Beattie had an excellent hour in the middle of the park, up front Joey Hughes was excellent while Conall Mc Hugh showed his great range of passing with both his right and ever improving left foot, the free scoring full forward line of Robbie Hanratty, Josh Mone and Francis McGeough demonstrated great composure right throughout the match with some lovely scores. The great thing for the Club is the strength and depth of talent that this panel has with all players pushing each hard at training and when David Irwin, Declan Hughes, Michael Hughes , Ciaran Duffy, Gearoid Coyle, Shane Ward, Eoghan Casey, Niall Carville and Conor Devlin where introduced they too showed that they are also future Faughs stars. This team have worked hard all season on the training pitch and demonstrated that they are developing into a Faughs team of the future; they play the game the “Faughs way” which is great to watch. The boys will take a well-deserved break now for a few weeks before attention turns to 2015. Well done to the management team of head coach Mark OConnor, Dessie McAuley, Martin Carville, David Irwin and Raymond Mc Hugh.
Under 12 Girls – Sunday saw the girls travel to Donaghmoyne for the final of the U12 competition against Killanny. On what was a big occasion for all concerned the Girls started brightly winning plenty of possession but just unable to convert it into scores on the board. At half time we trailed by 2-1 to 1-2. The second half took the same pattern with the Faughs attacking at every opportunity but a very well organised Killanny defence kept the Blayney forwards at bay while up front the Killanny girls managed to keep their nose in front with two late goals. A goal by Caitlin McGeough in the last five minutes saw a grandstand finish with the young Faughs ladies giving it everything to close the gap, unfortunately time ran out and Killanny held onto to win by six points. As expected the girls were extremely disappointed after the game with lots of tears, but each and every one of the twenty two girl panel were a credit to themselves, their families and their Club. A big thank you to the large number of people involved with the team during the year, we can all look forward to a bright future in Ladies Football.
Under 10 Boys – The club’s U10s travelled to a 28 team tournament in Gowna on Saturday. After a win and a loss in the initial group stages our lads needed to win the last group match to qualify for the knockout stages. They achieved this and qualified for the 1/4 finals of the Shield competition. The knockout matches were in quick succession and the boys rose to the challenge and played their best football of the day in the knockout matches to qualify for the final and win by a double digit margin. A brilliant performance from the lads who improved with every match, played great football and displayed the Faughs fighting spirit until the very end. Well done too all 18 boys that participated, these are a great bunch of young lads who can play the game to a high level for children so young.
Under 8 Boys – We travelled to Clontibret last Saturday for Go Games; we were able to field three teams, with all teams competing very well throughout. The boys continue to learn key movement skills as well as the fundamentals of playing the game, well done to them all, they have shown great improvement during the year, thanks to the parents for attending in such great numbers and to Clontibret for the hospitality.
Operation TransFAUGHSmation – After much anticipation it has finally arrived, the big kick off starts this Wednesday the 10th of September at 7pm in Our Lady’s Concert Hall. We will have some experts on hand to give out some good advice on how to look after yourself during the programme. Friday evening sees a walk around the Black Island at 6.30pm, while Sunday morning will see us take a walk around Mullyash. Tom Miller and the team have been working extremely hard on finalising what looks like a great programme this year, let’s look forward to a brilliant twelve weeks.
Lotto This weeks Lotto numbers drawn were 02, 10, 12 & 24. There was no jackpot winner, with the lucky dips going to Callum Woods c/o Anthony Cole and Joe Hanratty, Cairde. Next weeks draw takes place on the Ballymacmanus with a jackpot of €5300.