Cill Oige

Cill Óige is the amalgamation of Castledaly and Rosemount under age football teams at specific grades. Due to low numbers of children and adolescents from the ages of 12 to 18 the underage players from Castledaly and Rosemount had been playing together in various forms for a number of years. This arrangement was formalised with the creation of Cill Óige in 2018. A committee consisting of 5 members from Castledaly Gaa and 5 members from Rosemount Gaa was established to oversee the creation of the club and after many meetings in the autumn of 2017 a number of key decisions were taken to ensure that the amalgamation would have the best chance of succeeding. The basis of the committee’s decisions was always to develop a sense of fairness and equality between both clubs and to ensure that the young players from both clubs would have the chance to train and play football in a safe and supportive environment. The name of the club was chosen after a competition was held in the local primary schools to come up with creative suggestions. The colours of the jersey and the development of the Cill Óige crest were carefully considered to equally reflect the identity and history of both the Castledaly and Rosemount clubs. The importance of having parity in the use of venues from both clubs for training and matches was also of utmost importance.

There was a large attendance in Rosemount community hall as the guest of honour; journalist and former Derry star Joe Brolly officially launched the Cill Óige club in the spring of 2018. Cill Óige fielded teams at U12, U14, U16 and U18 grades in both 2018 and 2019. With the change in age structures in 2020 the teams moved to U 13, U 15 and U 17 grades. Both clubs agreed to endeavour to keep their nursery levels (U7, U9, U11) separate in so far as possible to allow the children from both clubs to form an identity with their home club at a young age. 

It is important to acknowledge the support received in the establishment of Cill Óige from the senior boards of both clubs, parents, sponsors, coaches and the players themselves in making the club such a success in its first few years of existence.

“Ní neart go cur le chéile”

Castledaly Representatives: Joe Sheerin, Eugene Costello, Tom Stone, Ciarán Henson, Richie Dolan.

Rosemount Representatives: Vinny Cox, Padraig Maxwell, Colm Boland, Martin Healy, Brian Lawlor.

2020 Cill Óige Committee Roles:

Chairperson: Vinny Cox

Vice Chairperson: Paul Higgins

Secretary: Richie Dolan

Assistant Secretary: Brendan Kelly

Joint Treasurers: Padraig Maxwell and Joe Sheerin.

Other Committee Members: Tom Stone, Jack Higgins, Martin Healy, Peter Keenan.

 2020 Cill Óige Coaches

Under 13: Paul Higgins, Billy Bourke Andrew Boland, Martin Loddick.

Under 15: Mike Kerrigan , Damian Farrell, Martin Healy, Colm Boland.

Under 17: Damien Stone , Denis Fanning,  David Geoghagan , Padraig Maxwell.

U12:

This was a relatively disappointing year for the U12s who we feel never reached their true potential. After a positive start, beating St Joseph’s on a freezing cold evening in April we then took on a strong Tubberclair team in Castledaly. Unfortunately, in what was to become the theme for the year, we got off to a really slow start and found ourselves well behind at half time. A terrific comeback fell just short at the final whistle. The team became plagued by poor starts and massive revivals, all falling just short. This could be said about games at home and away to Athlone and in two other away games against Tubberclair and Lilliput Gaels.

We met three very strong teams in Garycastle, St Mary’s and Maryland/Tang and struggled to stay with them. 

The team were beginning to train very well together. We had one very good win against Caulry away and finished the season with a very competitive game against Moate, yet again nearly coming back from a huge deficit. 

Confidence is huge at this age group and we lacked it after a couple of early setbacks. A couple of injuries, one long term, didn’t help but this team will get better as they mature.

U14:

Cill Óige’s U14 played in the Division 2 league and also the Division 2 Championship for 2019.  We had 25 players on the panel for the year, with 11 of those still U14 during 2020.  We lost a few players during the year for various reasons.  We won two games in the league and stayed in Division 2 for the Championship.  We participated in the Feile but did not progress to the knockout stages.  We won only one game in the Championship (against Na Dunta).  Notwithstanding, the league and Championship tables show us at the bottom end of the tables, a lot of the games we played this year were close encounters, with only a few points difference in some games. The standard of football did increase during the year and spirits were kept reasonably high throughout the year. Naturally, we are all disappointed with the result of the championship, but only with the result.  We have to say that we are very proud of our team and in the way that they trained all year, session after session the commitment was mighty.  The team has been together for the last 35 weeks and become great teammates and friends.  Cill Óige have a ‘never give up attitude and always keep going until the final whistle mantra’ that is a credit to them all.

The lads have become great teammates and friends and we hope that friendship will continue into the coming years. We are very confident that if this team stay together, the silverware will come in the future.

So, Thanks to all the players for their effort and commitment all year.  And thanks to all the parents, who got all the players to the pitch time after time.

u14

U16:

Our u16 team played in division 2 this year. We started slowly starting the standard difficult, losing heavily in some of our earlier games. However the players put in full commitment and dedication and were progressing all the time. Our last game in the league was against Mullingar Shamrocks was our first victory and set us up nicely for championship. We played Maryland/Tang in the first round and this was an exciting, fast and high scoring game, down by 9 points at one stage in the game. The lads really fought hard, tightened up in defence, took their chances and won by 3 or 4 in the end. This was followed by convincing victories over Athlone and St. Marys to qualify us for a semi-final position.

The Downs provided our opposition in the semi-final. As usual they were a big, strong and very competitive team. Cill Oige performed well throughout this game but it wasn’t until David O’Reilly scored a great goal with minutes left on the clock that we could breathe easy. This earned us a place in the division 2 final against Tubberclair. The final played in Rosemount to coincide with the opening of the social initiative stand ended in disappointment. Despite some brilliant individual performances and a decent team performance, Tubberclair were slightly better on the day. Our joint captain and centre back Cathal Geoghegan suffered an injury after just 4 minutes leaving a gap that we just couldn’t seem to fill. However we’re very confident that these lads have what it takes to come back stronger and more determined. They made tremendous progress this year and we appreciate the huge effort made by the players and their parents.

u16

Minors:

Our Minors played in Division 2 this year. The minor league was disappointing from an organizational perspective.

The county board sent out no fixtures as they said was clashing with u20 competition which never got off the ground. This meant that the minor team was training for months with no competitive football.

When the League finally started we found ourselves down players through injury and others were focusing on leaving cert and not available. Were it not for our u16s we would have been unable to field.

While the games were competitive we lost by 1 to 2 point margins to Moate, Caulry, St Malachys and Rochford bridge. As players started to appear back we finished the league with a great display and win over Garycastle.

Our Championship was a much better affair where we reached the Semi-final with group stage wins over Garycastle and Rochfordbridge.

We played Mullingar Shamrocks in the semi-final and too many missed opportunities in the early stages of the game set the tone for the result. Our early dominance only netted us 1 point while at other end Mullingar took their opportunities.

The players did work very hard throughout the year and have definitely progressed as players and as young men.

Casteldaly U6, U8 and U10 Review 2019:

It was another busy and exciting year for our youngest players. Training took place on Friday evenings and the large number of children training and enjoying themselves is a good omen for the future. The U6 team put the skills they learned into practice towards the end of the season when they played some blitz matches against local teams. 

The U8 team had an eventful year taking part in ‘Go Games’ blitz days around the county and also playing in Cusack park as part of the All County blitz. The highlight for these young players was their trip to Croke Park in April to take part in the GAA’s ‘Play and Stay’ initiative. This was a great experience for all involved.

The U10 team also had a busy schedule of blitz days. As well as the regular ‘Go Games’ fixtures every second week the squad took part in the Larry Nugent Cup in Caulry. They also teamed up with their counterparts in Rosemount to take part in the Fingallian’s tournament in Dublin. This day proved to be a great success with the combined team playing under the Cill Óige name winning the cup. They had to play against some very strong teams from around the country in doing so. The season finished with the annual Coughlan Cup tournament in Castledaly. This proved to be a very enjoyable day for all the teams involved and the U10 team finished the season on a high by winning the shield competition. Many thanks to all the parents and everyone who supported our young players during the season.

2019 Coaches:

Under 6: Cormac Nee, Adrian Hurley, Fergus Quinn, Mark Lawlor.

Under 8: Paul Donlon, JP Casey, Paddy Marsh, James Galvin.

Under 10: Richie Dolan, Jack Higgins, Lorcan Dolan.

Castledaly U10 Squad 2019

Castledaly U10 Squad 2019

Castledaly U 8 Squad 2019

Castledaly U 8 Squad 2019

Coughlan Cup Shield winners 2019

Coughlan Cup Shield winners 2019

 

Cill Óige U13

2020

This was a tough year for the U13 squad.  A couple of players did not return to the panel, which led to us having a very small squad.  We had eight players born in 2007 and six born in 2008 which meant we had to call on players from the U11 panels in Rosemount and Castledaly to fulfil fixtures.

The team were placed in Division 2A where they would meet Tubberclair, Caulry and Moate.  The group have to be commended for their spirit and resilience in each of these three difficult games.  In every match we fell behind early but rallied back bravely only to fall short on each occasion. 

A strong Tubberclair team ran out easy winners in our first game, held in Rosemount, by a score line of 6-21 to 2-11.  Next up were Caulry at home in Rosemount.  In a terrific game held in good conditions the visitors ran out 8-15 to 6-11 victors.  This was an outstanding effort from the group against a good Caulry outfit.  The last game in the group stages was away to group winners Moate.  Unfortunately, this was a game that got away from us early on and, despite a brief comeback attempt, Moate ran out easy winners on a score line of 7-14 to 2-05.  So, despite having scored 10 goals and 27 points in three games we finished bottom of group 2A.  This scoring ability does bode well for the future if we can tighten up in our defence.

Finishing bottom of our group meant we would play the winners of Division 2B, Killucan.  On a windy wet day in Killucan we matched the hosts in the first half but they eased away in the second half to win by 10 points.  This meant we went into a loser’s semi-final against Tubberclair and once again they were far too strong for us and we lost badly.

The squad:

2007

Kevin Boland, Darragh Duffy, Evan Daly, Killian Heavin, Mark Loddick, TJ Turley, Jack Nally, Eli Turley and Michael Bermingham.

2008

Evan Turley, Jacob Bourke, Eoin Higgins, Jamie Shortall, Maxi Clevett, Darragh Bradley,

2009

Darragh Deegan,  Alex Mullen and Charlie Dolan.  

Garycastle U12 Tournament

Our U12’s entered the Garycastle tournament to give the group a chance to bond before joining up next year to represent Cill Óige.

Our first match was away to The Downs.  We lost the game 4-16 to 1-06 but the score line did not reflect the effort put in by the team.  Next up were Tubberclair in a very tense encounter in Rosemount which saw us win the game by 4 points (5-06 to 1-14).  Garycastle came to Castledaly looking to finish second in the group and narrowly edged us out 3-11 to 2-08.

Unfortunately the tournament was suspended at this point with us due to play Millmore in the Plate semi-finals.

 

Cill Óige U15

We had good turnouts for training most evenings and everybody put in a great effort during the short season.

We played 7 or 8 games and were unlucky not to get a result in some of them but we did improve as the year progressed.

We would like to thank the parents and kids for the effort throughout the year.

 

 

Cill Óige U17

This was a short year on the football pitch, but in some ways that made it all the more appreciated and enjoyable. Our Cill Óige u17  team took full advantage of the opening up of sport and attendances at trainings and matches were exceptional. Our first outing was a challenge match against Western Gaels in the worst of conditions. This competitive game led to a narrow win and without a league so this was our only game to build up to championship. We played our first championship game against last year’s winners Tubberclair in Rosemount and showed tremendous spirit and determination to get a well-earned draw. After a somewhat disappointing loss to Athlone, we came back with more purpose and beat Millmore in the final round of the group stages to earn our place in the quarter final against Western Gaels. This was  a tight contest between evenly matched teams which led to a great win and earned us another crack at Tubberclair in the semi-final. With the tremendous commitment from the players and their massive progress over the year, we felt we had a great chance but came up short yet again. It was very disappointing that the lads didn’t get the success they deserved but more concerning is that many of the players have no underage next year and have to play adult football or none at all. Thanks to all involved parents and footballers for a thoroughly enjoyable year and we wish those finishing up at underage the very best in the future.

Cill Óige U17 Mentors’ Report

Cill Óige U17s played five games in the championship. We played two games in the group stage against Kilbeggan and Miltownpass. We played Inny Shamrocks in the Quarterfinal and Kilbeggan in the Semi-Final. Unfortunately, we lost to a very strong St. Michael’s in the Final after a very close, hard-fought game.
I would like to thank all the lads for their commitment and hard work in training over the year, they were a great bunch of lads to work with.

Cill Óige U15 Mentors’ Report

Cill Óige U15 team had a really great year overall. Although starting slowly this team improved no end as the championship progressed. We were joined in 2021 by a number of ceded players from Kilbeggan Shamrocks which proved very worthwhile for everyone as training and playing was more competitive and enjoyable. The championship was played on a league basis and Cill Óige played Garrycastle, Caulry, Millmore and Coralstown/Kinnegad in the early rounds. Performances against Caulry and Millmore Gaels were a little disappointing but much more encouraging versus Garrycastle and Coralstown/Kinnegad. Cill Óige played Lilliput Gaels in the first knock out game and it was a thrilling contest. The teams were evenly matched but Cill Óige finished stronger and got the right result to earn them a place in the Division 2 shield final. The final was against Millmore Gaels a team that had beaten Cill Óige decisively earlier in the championship. This proved to be a highly entertaining high scoring end to end contest. Millmore got off to a great start but Cill Óige fought gamely and were slightly ahead at half time. The lead changed hands several times in the second half but we had to fight hard to come from behind to earn a draw and send the game to extra time. The lads excelled in this period, got some brilliant scores and deservingly won the game and the championship. There was more to follow as we played Lilliput Gaels in a Féile competition two weeks later and we were successful in that competition also. A great year for the u15 lads where parents and players rowed in as always, but it was so rewarding to have a taste of success.

Cill Óige U13 Mentors’ Report

The U13 team started the year finishing out the Garrycastle, Jim McHugh Memorial  tournament which had been delayed by the Covid19 pandemic. We had qualified for the Plate semi-final after beating Tubberclair with a last gasp goal proving to be the winning score. With all matches and training postponed from October 2020 we had to go online with our coaching and strength and conditioning classes in early March 2021. We eventually resumed training on the 28th April. Two challenge matches against Garrycastle and Lilliput Gaels (both division 1 teams) were organised and Cill Óige won both games.

The Jim McHugh semi-final against Millmore was played on the 11th June and after a really tough game with two very closely matched teams we came out on top by four points. This meant we would face Athlone (another division 1 team) in the final. Cill Óige took an early lead and held on for victory despite a strong finish from a very good Athlone team. To lift a trophy was a great lift for a young team who had a tough year previously. The Championship started on the 30th June and the team again proved to be a resilient group holding on for a well-earned victory. Millmore, again away from home were next and Cill Óige were the much stronger side on the day. With Moate waiting in the wings we arranged a challenge game against St Rynagh’s to prepare for what we knew would be our toughest group game. With holidays and a couple of injuries a depleted side narrowly lost out to a well drilled St. Rynagh’s. On the 27th July we faced a really strong and heavily supported Moate side in Castledaly. After a classic end to end game, featuring some great scoring and tremendous work rate, Cill Óige edged out the visitors with a couple of late scores.

The county quarter final was set for the 11th August against St. Mary’s of Rochfortbridge. A confident St. Mary’s came to Castledaly and proved to be really strong opposition and not for  the first time this terrific group of players rose to the challenge brilliantly and edged out the visitors. Next up in the semi-final were a strong Killucan side. Cill Óige stormed into an early lead and seemed in control of the game at half time. However, a really strong start to the second half from the home side and some uncharacteristically poor finishing from ourselves led to Killucan taking the lead with just a few minutes remaining. Despite huge effort and endeavour, we could not reel in a resolute Killucan. It was a disappointing way to end a great year, especially as we all felt that perhaps this was a game that had got away, but this group of players can hold their heads high, they never stop trying and don’t drop their heads. These lads have great futures ahead of them if they continue to play the game and hopefully will go on to play for their parent clubs in the years to come. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the players, their parents and families and both parent clubs for their support throughout the year. I would also like to congratulate and thank my fellow coaches and backroom team who gave a huge amount of time and effort to develop this team. Every player progressed this year in difficult circumstances and in a shortened playing season. Well done to all the other age groups and a big welcome to the Cill Óige ladies club.

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