Individual Post

Following hot on the heels of UUJ men’s GAA team, Shane O Neill’s senior ladies football team will also be travelling to China for two weeks over the Christmas and New Year period from 30th December until 13th January.

 

Since June of this year the ladies have been very generously sponsored by Confucius Institute, a branch of the Chinese Ministry of Education based in UUJ and they have facilitated and funded the Chinese trip. This visit is classed as an academic and cultural exchange under the Study in China programme and will see a travelling party of 30, consisting of players and mentors, making the trip. They will initially arrive into Beijing before travelling to 3 different universities (Wuhan, Huangshi and Yitchang) over a 9-day period. 

 

The girls and their mentors are already participating weekly Mandarin lessons at the club in preparation for the trip and each morning in China they will take part in University classes, learning about Chinese language, culture, history and contemporary society. The afternoons will be spent demonstrating and coaching Gaelic football to the Chinese students. This format will be followed until returning to Beijing for 4 days of guided sightseeing with visits to the Great Wall, Forbidden City, Olympic Stadium and Tiananmen Square being arranged, with no doubt some time being set aside for the much-vaunted shopping therapy.

 

This represents a once in a lifetime opportunity to experience and learn so much about the rich culture of this fascinating country and Shane O’Neill’s will be the first GAA club to undertake such a visit. This incredible opportunity represents an investment in the future reputation of our club and even more so in our players, who have always been excellent ambassadors for club and county over the years. It goes without saying of course that this experience will certainly add to the personal and professional development of all involved, especially those who are training and studying in the fields of education and business. 

 

Everyone making the journey are currently going through the visa application process while continuing with basic language and cultural lessons. There is considerable growing media interest in the trip, being such a unique opportunity to promote ladies football and the wider business and educational prospects for young women and we shall strive to keep everyone updated as everything progresses.

 

Our U21 amalgamation of Patrick Rankins made it two wins from two on Sunday afternoon with a ruthless display of football, defeating Carrickcruppen on a score-line of 8 – 25 to 2 – 4.

For the second week running the Rankins played with a strong breeze at their backs in the opening half and played some great attacking football and prevented their opponents from getting any kind of foot-hold in the game. They were clinical in front of the posts and by half-time they led by 6 – 16 to 0 – 2.

 

The Rankins continued to boss proceedings during the second period and added a further 2 – 9 to their total, with Carrickcruppen registering an additional 2 – 2. Overall it was a very convincing performance from the side with every one of the lads playing some football which will see them all vying for places in next week’s final group game against Ballyhegan which is scheduled for next Sunday at 12 noon in Correnshigo.

The scorers for Patrick Rankins on Sunday were: Matthew Girvan 5 – 11, Eamon McCabe 1 – 3, Oisin O’Callaghan 0 – 3, Ryan Quinn 0 – 3, Michael McParland 1 – 0, Cian Feehan 1 – 0, Conor Ruddy 0 – 2, Padraig Magee 0 – 1, Declan Harris 0 – 1, Aaron Boyle 0 – 1.

 

Training for all our U6s continues every Tuesday evening in Bessbrook Community Centre from 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm. Everyone please remember to bring water and £1. All new and current U6s are welcome to come along, starting from 3 years old.

 

Training continues St Paul's every Wednesday evening from 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm and all players are asked to attend. 

 

A meeting for anyone interested in helping out in any way with our underage teams, boys and girls, will take place in the club on Monday night, 6th November at 8:00 pm. Anyone interested in managing a team, helping out as a mentor or helping out in any small way is encouraged to attend. It is vitally important that we have a strong youth structure in the club and the more people who get involved the more successful it will be.

 

All committee members are reminded that Monday nights committee meeting will begin at 8:00 pm.

 

A workshop aimed at underage managers and coaches will take place next Thursday night, 9th November from 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm in Carrickcruppen. Anyone managing or helping out with any of our underage teams in 2018 is encouraged to attend.

 

Congratulations to our former senior footballer Damien Brady and his wife Judith on the birth of new baby boy, James Brady. 

 

Last week’s winning lotto numbers were 4, 15, 16 & 21. There were no jackpot winners and 5 x match three winners. The jackpot now stands at a very impressive £6,900 so why not get yourself a ticket…. if you’re not in, you can’t win.

 

Shane O’Neill’s senior ladies being presented with a new set of jerseys by representatives of the Confucius Institute