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Saul Notes - September 10th 2006

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Saul GAC Club Notes for week of September 10th 2006
 

The  U14 Girls took  pride of place as they completed a double victory at the weekend. The U12 boys and U14 boys were also in action during the week as the dark evenings start to close in and there's a message of support for our club chairman
 

• Best Wishes Peter
  Best wishes from all club members go to our esteemed chairman Peter Craig who is recovering in the City Hospital from his recent operation. We all wish Peter a speedy return to full health.
   

• Teams Roundup:

• Underage teams:

• U14 Girls: Weekends Wins over Newry Bosco and Loughinisland.
  
  Saul 5-2 Newry Bosco 1-1
  
  As a follow-up to their thrilling win in Newry last Sunday against Shamrocks, Saul U14 Girls welcomed Shamrocks' neighbours Bosco to Saul on Saturday afternoon in the sunshine in the first game of a busy weekend of league action and confidently claimed the league points with a team display of disciplined defending and supportive attacking play. Right from the throw-in Saul were quickly into their stride and Tara Laverty found the net on the first attack when an inter-passing move between Rachel Curran and Catherine Hamilton placed her inside the Bosco backline. Despite a great opening score from Bosco's Emma Gray, Saul continued to dominate the scoring opportunities as Grainne Laverty, Rachel Curran, Tara Laverty and Rachel Turley time after time pushed the blue and gold forward but it was midway through the first half when the next score came with a goal from half-forward Turley. Abbey Kearney added a point only for Bosco to highlight they were very much in the game when Niamh Tumelty soloed through the heart of the Saul defence to net and reduce the Saul lead to 3 points. Visiting keeper Rebecca Kenna then pulled off an excellent save to deny Shannon Ftzsimons and Bosco continued to believe. In the final minutes of the half though, Saul midfielder Grainne Laverty found the top left hand corner of the net to put Saul ahead by 3-1 to 1-1 at the break.
  
  Saul had weathered the storm and in the second half, restricted Bosco to limited scoring chances as Lisa McMullan, Niamh McMullan, Roisin Sloan, Caoimhe Hayes, Orla Kearney and Catherine Polly locked down the path to goal. At the other end, Saul sealed the win with goals from Shannon Fitzsimons and Grainne Laverty and a point from Rachel Turley. Bosco never gave up and had strong performances throughout from Niamh Tumelty, Emma Gray, and Momhrirme Lennon but Saul had deservedly claimed the win.
  
  Loughinisland 3-0 Saul 6-12
  
  The Saul girls returned to action again on Sunday at lecale neighbours Loughinisland and completed a successful double victory with an assured display from the full squad. Saul had first half goals from Rachel Turley (2), Shannon Fitzsimons and Rachel Curran along with points from Shannon Fitzsimons, Rachel Turley (4), Tara Laverty (2) in a dominant first half.
  As half-time changes were made, the home side had a greatly improved 2nd half and Laura McClements and Bronagh Murray at midfield pushed the team forward to trouble the Saul backline more. Murray netted twice for Loughinisland and McClements added a third in a tightly contested 2nd half. Saul though had sealed the win and the double with 2nd half scores from Lauren Hamilton (1-2), Shannon Fitzsimons (1-1), Tara Laverty (0-1) and Rachel Turley (0-1). The score of the game came midway through the half and demonstrated the strong team play that the Saul girls have worked hard to attain. Roisin Curran, dependent as usual as full back was fouled deep in corner of the Saul defence. She played a short free to Rachel Curran who short-passed up the line to Catherine Hamilton. Tash spotted Grainne Laverty surging through the centre of midfield and dropped a perfect pass into her path. Onwards to Tara Laverty cutting inside the 21yd line and she found the inrushing Shannon Fitzsimons, who slammed over a fantastic score. Saul gave the full squad a runout in the second half and Chloe McEvoy, Erin Fitzsimons, Orla Holland, Helena Killen, Katie McMullan and Cara Fitzsimons all played their part in a great win.
  
  The girls now have 2 league games remaining starting with the trip to Hilltown to play Clonduff on Wednesday evening. Players are asked to meet at Saul for 5pm.
  
   

• U12 Go Games
  
  On Sunday, the U12's travelled to Drumnaquoile for the latest Go Games venture and enjoyed 2 excellent sporting and competitive encounters. In the games, Jack Murnin and Cormac Byrne tackled well. Conor Marron worked hard and Cillian Gallagher and Callum Mahoney shone up front. There were also good performances from Ciaran McGrady, Sam McKee, Caolan Magee, Shea Hayes and Lorcan Harney.
  There will be no games this Sunday due to the All-Ireland Football finals as the Saul kids will no doubt be watching to pick up new skills to try out at future Go Games sessions.
  Training continues every Tuesday at 6.15 pm and the next Go Games match will be on Sunday week (Sept 24th) - meet at Saul for 11.30am. Keep an eye on the club notes and website (www.saul-gac.com) for details of this and also the rearranged U10 Go Games at Kilclief at the end of the month.
  
   

• U14 Boys
  
  The U14 boys brought their season to a close with defeat at home in a typical local derby clash with Kilclief as darkness fell on Thursday night. Saul had good performances from Cathail Arnold in goals, Leigh Cunningham and John Thompson and showed that they have something to build on at this level for next season.