***Kindly Sponsored By Oliver Ryan's Bar, Upperchurch***
PREMIER INTERMEDIATE HURLING
History was made last Saturday evening as a large portion of the Upperchurch Drombane parish descended on the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick to witness our hurlers take the Munster Intermediate hurling crown. O'Callaghans Mills of Clare provided the opposition and it was they who had the better of the scoreboard in the opening period, leading 5 points to 3 after 13 minutes. The Upperchurch scores coming from Conor Fahey and 2 Gavin Ryan frees. A brace of points from Aaron Ryan drew the sides level before Mills once again took the lead. Two pointed frees from Luke Shanahan finally saw Upperchurch pull ahead in the 20th minute. The Clare side responded with two of their own before Niall Grant & Pat Ryan struck from play to restore the advantage. The evenness of the teams continued until the break, with Mills scores being responded to by efforts from Diarmaid Grant and Luke Shanahan to leave the sides tied at 11 points apiece at half time. The start of the second half was cagey with only a single score, a Luke Shanahan free, in the opening 10 minutes. However the pivotal point was a quickfire double red card for O'Callaghan Mills and Upperchurch suddenly had numerical advantage on the field. Although scores started to come a bit more freely for Upperchurch, Pat Ryan, Paddy Phelan, Aaron Ryan and Paudie Greene raising white flags over the next 8 minutes, the Mills were proving difficult to shake off. However a well executed move saw Conor Fahey race in on goal and finish to the net to put Upperchurch 6 ahead and finally have some proper breathing space. From there Upperchurch bossed the game across the field and a Pat Ryan point was quickly followed by another green flag, this time by Paddy Phelan. Upperchurch made good use of their subs and another Conor Fahey point was followed by a Colm Ryan goal in the 28th minute to put Upperchurch 12 ahead. Closing scores from Luke Shanahan and Paul Ryan added the gloss to a famous win 3-20 to 0-15. Credit to players and management for this achievement as Upperchurch are only the second Tipperary side to win a Munster GAA organised club final in hurling or football in the past 10 years. Borris-Ileigh's 2019 senior win was the other victory. The odyssey is not over yet though as we now are just 60 minutes away from a Croke Park appearance. Standing in our way is an All Ireland semi final on the weekend of December 20th against the Leinster champions. We will know our opponents after this Sunday when Ratoath of Meath and Danesfort of Kilkenny meet in that final with that game being broadcast live on Clubber.
History was made last Saturday evening as a large portion of the Upperchurch Drombane parish descended on the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick to witness our hurlers take the Munster Intermediate hurling crown. O'Callaghans Mills of Clare provided the opposition and it was they who had the better of the scoreboard in the opening period, leading 5 points to 3 after 13 minutes. The Upperchurch scores coming from Conor Fahey and 2 Gavin Ryan frees. A brace of points from Aaron Ryan drew the sides level before Mills once again took the lead. Two pointed frees from Luke Shanahan finally saw Upperchurch pull ahead in the 20th minute. The Clare side responded with two of their own before Niall Grant & Pat Ryan struck from play to restore the advantage. The evenness of the teams continued until the break, with Mills scores being responded to by efforts from Diarmaid Grant and Luke Shanahan to leave the sides tied at 11 points apiece at half time. The start of the second half was cagey with only a single score, a Luke Shanahan free, in the opening 10 minutes. However the pivotal point was a quickfire double red card for O'Callaghan Mills and Upperchurch suddenly had numerical advantage on the field. Although scores started to come a bit more freely for Upperchurch, Pat Ryan, Paddy Phelan, Aaron Ryan and Paudie Greene raising white flags over the next 8 minutes, the Mills were proving difficult to shake off. However a well executed move saw Conor Fahey race in on goal and finish to the net to put Upperchurch 6 ahead and finally have some proper breathing space. From there Upperchurch bossed the game across the field and a Pat Ryan point was quickly followed by another green flag, this time by Paddy Phelan. Upperchurch made good use of their subs and another Conor Fahey point was followed by a Colm Ryan goal in the 28th minute to put Upperchurch 12 ahead. Closing scores from Luke Shanahan and Paul Ryan added the gloss to a famous win 3-20 to 0-15. Credit to players and management for this achievement as Upperchurch are only the second Tipperary side to win a Munster GAA organised club final in hurling or football in the past 10 years. Borris-Ileigh's 2019 senior win was the other victory. The odyssey is not over yet though as we now are just 60 minutes away from a Croke Park appearance. Standing in our way is an All Ireland semi final on the weekend of December 20th against the Leinster champions. We will know our opponents after this Sunday when Ratoath of Meath and Danesfort of Kilkenny meet in that final with that game being broadcast live on Clubber.
UNDER 21B HURLING
Our under 21 hurlers followed up their impressive opening round win over Moyne-Templetouhy by gaining another good victory over Loughmore-Castleiney last Tuesday evening in Drombane. Sustained pressure, aided by two first half goals saw Upperchurch lead by 11 at the interval. This gap was maintained during the opening 15 minutes of the second half and with the game out of sight Loughmore added a handful of scores to narrow the margin. 2-17 to 0-16 was the final score in favour of Upperchurch. These victories mean we are guaranteed a spot in the mid final. Our final group game is this Sunday at 12pm in Drombane against Drom & Inch. Drom will also be our opponents in the final unless both Upperchurch & Moyne win next Sunday and there is a 32+ score difference swing between Drom & Moyne on the table. In that scenario Moyne would qualify for the final.
CLUB AGM
Our club AGM takes place tonight Friday 5th December at 8pm in the clubhouse. All are welcome to attend.
UNDER 17 FOOTBALL
Congratulations to our U17 footballers who saw off the challenge of Ballyporeen in the county semi final last Sunday. They will now meet Kiladangan in the county final which is provisionally set for tomorrow(Saturday) at 2pm in Dundrum. All support would be welcome to show appreciation for the team.
NEW FIELD BENEFACTOR SCHEME
A final call for anyone who wishes to join our benefactor scheme to do so quickly as we will be closing it for entries shortly. We would like to thank all who have signed up so far. There has been a huge amount of development work done over the past few years and more is planned to provide the best facilities for the community. All who have registered and become patrons of this scheme have been a massive part in making this happen. We are currently putting final plans for the commemorative plaque which will display names of all the patrons to the scheme. There is still a small window to sign up if you haven't done so already and get your name on the wall by checking the link here or by contacting a committee member ASAP.
MOHER HILL 7KM
A date to keep in your diary is our Annual Moher Hill 7km run & walk which will take place on Saturday 28th December at 12pm. This year's chosen charity is the local branch of St Vincent De Paul.
PREMIER CO-OP LOTTO
Our under 21 hurlers followed up their impressive opening round win over Moyne-Templetouhy by gaining another good victory over Loughmore-Castleiney last Tuesday evening in Drombane. Sustained pressure, aided by two first half goals saw Upperchurch lead by 11 at the interval. This gap was maintained during the opening 15 minutes of the second half and with the game out of sight Loughmore added a handful of scores to narrow the margin. 2-17 to 0-16 was the final score in favour of Upperchurch. These victories mean we are guaranteed a spot in the mid final. Our final group game is this Sunday at 12pm in Drombane against Drom & Inch. Drom will also be our opponents in the final unless both Upperchurch & Moyne win next Sunday and there is a 32+ score difference swing between Drom & Moyne on the table. In that scenario Moyne would qualify for the final.
CLUB AGM
Our club AGM takes place tonight Friday 5th December at 8pm in the clubhouse. All are welcome to attend.
UNDER 17 FOOTBALL
Congratulations to our U17 footballers who saw off the challenge of Ballyporeen in the county semi final last Sunday. They will now meet Kiladangan in the county final which is provisionally set for tomorrow(Saturday) at 2pm in Dundrum. All support would be welcome to show appreciation for the team.
NEW FIELD BENEFACTOR SCHEME
A final call for anyone who wishes to join our benefactor scheme to do so quickly as we will be closing it for entries shortly. We would like to thank all who have signed up so far. There has been a huge amount of development work done over the past few years and more is planned to provide the best facilities for the community. All who have registered and become patrons of this scheme have been a massive part in making this happen. We are currently putting final plans for the commemorative plaque which will display names of all the patrons to the scheme. There is still a small window to sign up if you haven't done so already and get your name on the wall by checking the link here or by contacting a committee member ASAP.
MOHER HILL 7KM
A date to keep in your diary is our Annual Moher Hill 7km run & walk which will take place on Saturday 28th December at 12pm. This year's chosen charity is the local branch of St Vincent De Paul.
PREMIER CO-OP LOTTO
You can now play the Premier Co-Op Lotto online at http://upperchurchdrombanegaa.ie/draws and help support Upperchurch Drombane Juvenile GAA. Last week there was no winner of the €16,000 jackpot. There were 4 match 3 winners who receive €40 each. The jackpot for next week now resets to €16,200 for next week's draw. Tickets must be bought by 8pm on Tuesday to be in the draw. You can also buy tickets at Ryan's Shop, Drombane Co-Op, Kinane's Pub or Oliver Ryan's Pub.
CLUB MERCHANDISE
CLUB MERCHANDISE
A range of club merchandise can be purchased from the O’Neills website. The link for the shop is: https://www.oneills.com/shop-by-team/gaa/ireland/upperchurch-drombane-gaa.html. We also now have a new shop with Bourke Sports: https://bourkesports.ie/collections/upperchurch-drombane-gaa
CLUB NEWSLETTER
Anyone interested in getting weekly club news and fixtures sent to them via email can subscribe to the mailing list by emailing upperchurchdrombane.gaa@gmail.com with “Subscribe” in the subject bar.
CLUBZAP
Do you have a smartphone and want to get news/fixtures and results for the club sent directly to it? Then download the Clubzap app(from the Apple App Store, Google Play store or at http://www.clubifyapp.com/download and select “Upperchurch Drombane GAA” from the menu.
CLUB SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS
Website: http://www.upperchurchdrombanegaa.ie
Twitter: http://twitter.com/churchdrombane
Instagram: http://instagram.com/upperchurch
