Under 14 Feile Finalists

The Ardrahan under 14’s enjoyed a memorable year in 2007 culminating in the winning of the league title, defeating Athenry in the final played in Kenny Park, Athenry on 26th October.

The championship began with a hard fought draw with Castlegar in the opening group match on 2nd April when a late goal leveled matters. A win over Ahasgragh Fohenagh was followed by defeats to Tynagh Abbey Duniry and Athenry.

However three points was good enough to qualify for the quarter final where they had a memorable victory over Clarinbridge and this was followed up by defeating Ahasgragh Fohenagh in the semi final to set up a final show down with Tynagh Abbey Duniry which was played in Athenry on 14th May.

The game proved to be one of the matches of the year where both teams had spells of domination and in the end the teams could not be separated even after extra time.

The replay played in Loughrea on 21st May was equally as exciting as the drawn game with the result in question right up to the final whistle, however Ardrahan were unlucky to loose out in the end by a two point margin. Tynagh Abbey Duniry went on to represent Galway well and were unlucky not to be eventual All Ireland Feile champions.

League wins over Ahasgragh Fohenagh, Athenry and Loughrea with one loss to Craughwell set up a semi final with Tynagh Abbey Duniry where after another fine game of hurling Ardrahan ground out a narrow two point win to qualify for a final meeting with Athenry where Ardrahan won on a scoreline of 2.03 to 0.08 in a game played in Kenny Park on 26th October.

Winning the league title was just reward for the effort put in by this fine panel of players and for all work put in behind the scenes by their management team of Eamonn Diviney, Martin Glynn, Michael Whelan, Tom Gardiner, Frank Skehill and Gabriel Gardiner who were ably supported by juvenile club chairman Gerry Glynn and secretary Joe O Leary.

Back row:  Oisin Fahy, Adrian Quinn, Gerard Burke (Captain), Eanna Callanan,Alan Bond, Niall Gardiner, Cormac Diviney, Jason Glynn, Michael Whelan, Ruarai Finnegan, Kevin Murphy, Niall Higgins.
Front Row:  Declan Furey, Darragh Geoghegan, Gearoid Kelly, Stephan Murphy, Brian Murtagh, Brendan Forde, Ronan Higgins, Jason Kennedy, Kieran Brady, Joe Flynn, Brian Bermingham.
Management Team:  Eamonn Diviney, Martin Glynn , Michael Whelan, Tom Gardiner, Frank Skehill and Gabriel Gardiner.

Ardrahan Feile  Matches:

Group Matches
Ardrahan  1.05  1.05  Castlegar
Ardrahan  1.04  0.06  Ahasgragh Fohenagh
Ardrahan  1.04  0.13  Tynagh – Abbey Duniry
Ardrahan  0.02  2.04  Athenry

Quarter Final
Ardrahan  2.04  0.02  Clarinbridge

Semi Final
Ardrahan  1.05  0.03  Ahasgragh Fohenagh

Final
Ardrahan  3.03  0.12  Tynagh Abbey Duniry (Draw)
Ardrahan  1.05  1.06  Tynagh Abbey Duniry (Replay)

Ardrahan League Matches:

Ardrahan  2.03  0.04  Athenry
Ardrahan  2.11  1.06  Loughrea
Ardrahan  1.07  1.01  Ahasgragh Fohenagh
Ardrahan  1.04  3.00  Craughwell

Semi Final  Ardrahan  1.02  0.04  Tynagh Abbey Duniry

Final  Ardrahan  2.03  0.08  Athenry

Golf Classic

Pictured: Left to Right:  John McGann (Club Chairman), Adrian Quinn (Sponsor), Joe Byrne (Prizewinner), Fr Richie Higgins (Organising Committee).

During the year the club ran a successful golf classic at Gort Golf club. The club are very thankful to the teams that participated over the two day event and to the many local businesses that sponsored tee’s and green’s for the event.

New Club Sponsor

During the year the club were delighted to welcome on board a new club sponsor Declan Gardiner of Declan Gardiner construction. Declan a native of Ardrahan and former county final winner at minor and junior levels will sponsor the club for the next three years.

The club would also like to thank Pat Quinn for his continued sponsorship of the printing of lotto tickets and also to thank outgoing sponsors Charlie Niland of Niland Construction and Gerry Hennelly of Hennelly Allman Auctioneers for their support over the years as juvenile and senior club sponsors.

Pictured Left to Right: Adrian Sylver (Club Secretary), John McGann (Club Chairman), Declan Gardiner (Sponsor), Joseph O Leary (Juvenile Secretary), Gabriel Gardiner (Treasurer) and Gerry Glynn (Juvenile Chairman)

Patrick Brennan

Ardrahan native Patrick Brennan is carving out quite a name for himself as a jump jockey in The UK.

Currently attached to the Nigel Twiston Davies stable in Gloucestershire. At the time of writing he has already amassed in excess of 40 winners, despite having spent a month sidelined with a collarbone fractured just days into his new job with Twiston-Davies.

Since winning the Conditional Jockey title in 2004 / 2005 season. Patricks career has really taken off in the last couple of year’s with successful spells attached to the Philips Hobbs and Howard Johnson stables. Last season was his best return to date clocking up 80 winners, with the highlight being his win in the World Hurdle at Cheltenham on board Inglis Drever.

As the jump season now begins to take off everyone at Ardrahan GAA club wishes Patrick continued success.

Picture shows Patrick Brennan celebrating after his mount Inglis Drever had just won the World Hurdle at the Cheltenham festival in 2007.