Kilmeena vs Ballaghaderreen In their second away match on the trot, Kilmeena made the significant journey to Ballaghaderreen for this 3rd round game. On a dry and cool evening conditions were good for football – the match threw in on schedule at 7pm and was played as a 13 a-side contest, as Ballaghaderreen was unable to field a team of 15 players. Having suffered an away loss to Knockmore three evenings earlier, Kilmeena needed a result here and a good start was essential to delivering that. And so, the Kilmeena lads hit the ground running and set the tone and pace for this contest. A combination of deep running from Ronan O’Donnell (Centre Back), ball winning & good distribution from mid field (Mikey Hastings & Chris McGlynn) and the efficient use of the ball by the forwards, including the tireless work by Mark Hastings, Kilmeena notched up the first 4 points of the contest. Approaching the quarter hour mark, Cillian O’Grady popped a neat pass to the in-running Mark Hastings; who finished the move with the ball in the back of the Ballaghaderreen net. At 1 – 4 to no score, Kilmeena were cruising along nicely........that was until somewhat against the run of play, Ballaghaderreen beat the Kilmeena defence and net minder to earn their first score (a goal). Buoyed by their 3-pointer, the home side pressed the Kilmeena kick outs and their efforts yielded two further points (one free and one from play), in what was a better spell of play for the home team. However, approaching the small whistle, Kilmeena wrestled back control of the contest and notched up a further 3 points, to put a bit of daylight between the sides at half time. The half time score; 1 – 7 to 1 – 2, in favor of the visitors. Kilmeena made one change at half time, switching Cillian O’Grady to wing back to replace the injured Oisin Grimley, with Jack Walsh coming on at wing forward. On the resumption of the second half, Kilmeena upped the intensity. Two goals from Chris McNally and another major scored from the boot of Chris McGlynn, all in the 3rd quarter, effectively put the game beyond the reach of Ballaghaderreen. During this spell of domination, Kilmeena also picked off some nice points from play. Ballaghaderreen did salvage a goal and 2 points during the second half and but for the shot-stopping efforts of Cathal Cawley and the solid display of Adam Sheridan in defence, may have had another couple of goals. However, devoid of any subs to bring in, the home sides resistance faded as the contest drew to a close. And the final major and Kilmeena’s 5th of the evening arrived courtesy of the hard working Mark Hastings. In the last ten minutes of the contest, Kilmeena ran their subs bench, introducing Daniel O’Malley, Harry Sheridan, Liam Moore and Darragh Slattery. A good away win for the Kilmeena lads then and positive response to the previous away loss to Knockmore. Next up – Bohola Moy Davitts...........at home. The panel present this evening comprised of the following: Cathal Cawley, Ben Lennon (late withdrawal due to niggle/injury) Adam Sheridan, Tom Smythe, Oisin Grimley, Ronan O’Donnell, Robbie Staunton, Chris McGlynn, Mikey Hastings, Mark Hastings, Jason McGlynn, Ian Murphy, Chris McNally, Cillian O’Grady, Daniel O’Malley, Jack Walsh, Liam Moore, Harry Sheridan, Darragh Slattery. Final Score: Kilmeena; 5 - 12, Ballaghaderreen; 2 – 4

Kilmeena vs Knockmore Kilmeena travelled to Knockmore for this 2nd round game of the 2018 Spring League. It was a cold evening with an ever present threat of showers and a light breeze. For Kilmeena, this was the proverbial ‘game of two halves’.... . The first half could best be summarised as a ‘no show’ by the Kilmeena lads; which facilitated the home side in racking up a score of 1 – 8 to a solitary point by the visitors. Half time couldn’t come soon enough and when it did, there was some soul-searching and there were words.... . And, as can be their hallmark, this bunch of young men delivered a positive response in the form of a second half fightback. In a low scoring 30 minutes of football that was scarce on quality but abundant in heart, Kilmeena outscored the home side by 2 – 1 to 1 – 2, with goals from Sean Prenty and Adam Sheridan. A solid and defiant second half by Kilmeena - not good enough to overturn a half time deficit of 10 points - but with positives to be taken from the contest. We bank the good parts, learn from the mistakes and move on to the next challenge away to Ballaghaderreen. The panel present this evening comprised of the following: Darragh Slattery, Ben Lennon, Adam Sheridan, Tom Smythe, Ronan O’Donnell, Robbie Staunton, Chris McGlynn, Mikey Hastings, Kian Moore, Mark Hastings, Jason McGlynn, Ian Murphy, Sean Prenty, Chris McNally, Cillian O’Grady, Daniel O’Malley, Liam Moore. Final Score: Kilmeena; 2 - 2, Knockmore; 2 – 10

Junior Girls under new management of David O'Malley and Tòmas Gill. Assisted by Michael Moore and Pat Mulchrone and mentors Majella O'malley and Trish Hogan. This group of girls currently train on Wednesday evenings from 7pm-9pm at Kilmeena pitch.

Kilmeena; 4 - 8, The Neale; 1 – 4 Kilmeena were at home to The Neale for this the opening round of the 2018 Spring League.On a dry if somewhat chilly evening, conditions were ideal for football. Kilmeena began brightly and effectively dominated the first half. Through a combination of good support play and a tightly marshalled defence, Kilmeena notched up two majors and five points, whilst restricting the visitors to a solitary point. Half time score; 2 – 5 to 0 – 1, in favour of the home team. The Neale regrouped at half time and went toe to toe with the Kilmeena lads during the third quarter of this contest; marginally outscoring the home team by 1-2 to 1-1. However, that was as good as it got for the visitors and as the daylight rapidly faded, so too did any hopes of a comeback by The Neale. In the final ten minutes or so, Kilmeena added another major and a brace of points, to run out convincing winners. All in all, this represented a satisfactory start to the league. However, tougher challenges lie ahead...............Kilmeena are away to Knockmore on Tuesday 27th March. The panel present this evening comprised of the following: Cathal Cawley, Ben Lennon, Adam Sheridan, Tom Smythe, Oisin Grimley, Ronan O’Donnell, Robbie Staunton, Chris McGlynn, Kian Moore, Mark Hastings, Jason McGlynn, Ian Murphy, Sean Prenty, Chris McNally, Cillian O’Grady, Daniel O’Malley, Jack Walsh, Sean Sammon, Liam Moore, Connor Sammon. Final Score: Kilmeena; 4 - 8, The Neale; 1 – 4

Kiltimagh take the honours today in St Brendan's Park in the Minor league clash with Kilmeena Kilmeena 3 - 12 4 - 16 Kiltimagh Match report to follow: Match Images Here

Kilmeena come up short against Lahardane in their league encounter in Lahardane: Kilmeena 1 - 10 2 - 15 Lahardane Match report pending: Match Images Here

Kilmeena Juniors commence their League campaign tomorrow Saturday the 24th March with an away fixture against Lahardane McHales in Bofeenaun. Please note the throw in time for this game is brought forward to 4:30pm. Your support would be appreciated.

Emmet Aylward, a member of last year's Kilmeena minor team (and hopefully this year's too!) had fantastic success with his rugby team, Glenstal Abbey School, as they lifted their first Clayton Hotels Munster Schools Senior Cup following an 18-17 victory over Christian Brothers College at Irish Independent Park on Sunday evening. Well done Emmett. Emmett Aylward, with parents Pat and Ursula, and the Munster senior cup they won for the first time in schools history.

Kilmeena lined out against Balla in a sunny 18th of March. This was a lively game of football played by two teams that are looking to progress again this year. Kilmeena started well with two points but Balla rallied and tag on 5points before Liam Heanue struck with a goal. It kept with the ebb and flow of the first half and Kilmeena were 1 - 03 to 1 - 06 down at half time. See more photos here. The second half started the same as the first with Kilmeena striking first. Balla were very potent up front and punished us for some sloppy defence scoring 3 second half goals. We did respond with one ourselves by substitute Pat Coughlin. Over all this was a positive display taking into consideration we had 10 changes from the previous game. All in all there are plenty of guys putting their hand up for selection and going to give management a headache going into the first round of the league. Final score: Balla 4 - 9 Kilmeena 2 - 7. Onward and upwards - Kilmeena abú! See more photos Here.

Bord na nOg meeting this Thursday 15th March in the Club house at 8pm. All managers and mentors are asked to attend. Congratulations to our Kilmeena Lads Keith Joyce, Jack Carney, John McGlynn and Robbie Harper who represented Rice College in their historic first ever Connaught title on Saturday last. All in the club wish them well in the All Ireland Final. In the Ladies section of the Club Lily Brady has been selected for the Irish 7's Rugby panel. Congrats Lily and all the best for the future.

A great day was had by all to mark Fr. Jim Walsh’s birthday. Before Sunday mass, Fr. Charlie spoke movingly of Fr. Jim’s contribution to life in the parish before departing for a prior engagement. To celebrate the mass, Fr. Jim was joined by Fr. Anthony King who spoke of his long friendship with, and memories of Fr. Jim. Kilmeena Folk Choir provided the music and were on top form. After mass, the celebrations moved to the Community Centre where a huge gathering devoured the tea, sandwiches and cakes provided by the community. A group of talented local musicians, the Folk Choir and other local entertainers added to the celebratory atmosphere. Thanks to everyone who contributed their services and talents to making the day such a wonderful success. Below is a selection of photos from the day by Ollie Mulchone.

Dean Smyth and Willie Keaveney presenting the Club person of the year award to Padraic Moore. Player of the Year award in Ladies football went to Katie Hogan. Most improved player went to Sarah Mulchrone. Lucy O'Malley accepted the award on her behalf John Ryan Young Player of the Year, Liam Heanue Senior Player of the year, and Ryan McGonagle Minor Player of the Year. Members of the Clew Bay Pipe Band who picked up the Community Award on the night/ Photos by Conor McKeown The Annual Kilmeena GAA Dinner Dance took place in the Westport Woods Hotel on Saturday night 10th February 2018. It was a most enjoyable occasion and a fitting end to what was a very successful and memorable year in the Club. 2017 saw the Club win, and also come runner up in the following competitions: Under 16's won the West Mayo B Championship. The Minor team won the West Mayo Minor B Championship. The Junior team won Division 1D of the Senior League.The under 13 team were runners up in Division 1 of their league, narrowly beaten by Westport. The Under 15 team were runners up in Division 2 of their league, again, narrowly beaten by Mayo Gaels, and of course Myna National School won Division 2 of the Cumann na Mbunscoil competition for the first time in their history. These are huge achievements for a rural club and must be recognised, and celebrated. On the night the club were delighted to have as their guest John Gibbons ,the Chairman of the West Board. We were also delighted to have the company of Councillor Brendan Mulroy and Councillor Christy Hyland. The Club also launched its new web site on the night. It’s an upgrade on the clubs original website, and is more user friendly. The website was designed and built by Barry Murphy a club member, and we are pleased with the outcome, and very thankful to Barry for all his hard work on the site. Presentations were made to the victorious teams on the night and the following awards were made by the Club. Ladies Minor/Junior Player of the Year Award went to Katie Hogan. Most Improved player went to Sarah Mulchrone Unfortunately Sarah was unavailable to collect her award so Lucy O’Malley accepted it on her behalf. In the Men’s section: Player of the year Liam Heanue, Most improved player, was split between Nial Feehan and Andrew Grealis. Young Player of the year John Ryan and Minor Player of the year Ryan McGonagle. The Clubs Community award went to the Clew Bay Pipe Band for their contribution to music and for the involvement of so many of our young members from the Club in the band .John Hogan accepted this award on behalf of the band. The Clubman of the year award went to a wonderful Clubman, Padraic Moore. Padraic has been treasurer of the Club for the past four years and has done a most professional job, he also finds time to coach underage teams ,and was a very worthy recipient. This award was sponsored by Midwest Furniture, and the presentation was made by Dean Smythe. A huge thanks goes to Darren Madden and to his committee, who once again excelled in gathering a large crowd ,and ensured that the evening ran off smoothly. This was an occasion where the people of the parish came out to support the young men and women and to celebrate with them in their achievements, It was also a nice social occasion,and we are looking forward to doing the same next year.

Our U14 boys kicked off their season today Sunday (11/2/'18) with a trip to Galway to play Salthill/Knocknacarra in a challenge game. The bus departed in snowy conditions that felt more like we were heading to Pyeongchang to compete in the Winter Olympics! We played at Salthill/Knocknacarra in Cappagh Park on the Barna road, an impressive facility! We had a comprehensive win against it must be admitted a below full strength side. That said, we were missing a good number of players too. Given the early stage of year and conditions some great football was played. After our game we headed to Salthill stadium clubhouse and well earned refreshments! From there we headed into the stadium to watch the Galway v. Mayo game. The only low spot of the day was enduring the Mayo performance! A slow struggle through Salthill traffic and stop-off at Supermacs capped a great day! Thanks to Michael Gavin for coming up with a great idea for a day out and using his contacts to get it organised! Finally, great credit is due to our hosts for facilitating everything including after-match refreshments . We hope to reciprocate a visit to Mayo before too long! (Missing from picture but played match, Tom Hastings)

Having narrowly missed out on promotion in 2016, the clear aim for 2017 was to get promotion to Div 1C. It was always going to be a challenge given any number of issues that can come to light in a six month campaign. There wasn’t much time to ease our way into the campaign, when faced with a home fixture against promotion contenders Killala. In an evenly matched contest the lads from Kilmeena ran out winners and we were up and running. Then it was off to Tourmakeady a week later and in a tough uncompromising encounter, we salvaged a draw. Two games in and a steady start against tough opponents. Garrymore conceded the points in our next fixture, and then a visit to Ballintubber resulted in a comprehensive victory leaving us top of the table after the first set of league fixtures. Championship then started at the end of May and first up was Crossmolina. In the recent past, having suffered to these opponents, nothing was left to chance and a 9 point victory was a good return for a very focussed performance. Ballina was up next in the Championship campaign and they met the same fate in the face of an excellent Kilmeena performance. Back to the bread and butter of the League, we hosted Ballycastle in a game we knew was going to be critical to our promotion hopes. We struggled for long periods, but we managed to ease out the visitors, and after we followed up with a big win in Kilfian, promotion was on the horizon at the halfway point of the campaign. Next in line was Charlestown in the Championship, and again a good solid victory was registered and top of the championship group was secured. A few weeks later we hosted Crossmolina this time in the league, and in a stunning performance the boys in black and white ran out easy winners. This was followed up with a tough bruising encounter at Davitts, and after an excellent victory, we were on the cusp of promotion. Going into September, and we were all set for a Championship quarter final against Ballycastle. The scene was set in Ballina and on a stormy day in a low scoring encounter we managed to rescue a draw at the death. The replay two weeks later was to prove to be the most frustrating day of the year. We were well beaten on a day when we Senior Review 2017 League Division 1D/Junior Championship (By John Doherty) seriously under performed. However, there was no time to wallow in self pity. Knockmore were coming to town in a huge promotion clash a week later, and in a sense we held our breath to see how this young team would respond. In the end there should have been no need to worry. This squad did what they always do in adversity – the response was as incisive as a surgeon’s knife, and Knockmore were put to the sword in a display full of vigour and sheer bloody mindedness. The points were secured and we stood on the brink of promotion. A week later we were off to Ballina in our season defining game and the home lot were in no mood to facilitate our path to glory. In a game which swung back and forth, again perseverance won through and an outstanding year was capped with promotion. Now the focus was on becoming league champions and one victory in the last two games would secure the league. Kilcommin came to Kilmeena, but were no answer to the firepower of the Kilmeena men as we ran out comprehensive winners, and the league was secured. In the final game we travelled to play Charlestown, who in a senior studded lineout really gave us a game of it, which we edged through by the minimum margin. This was a serious achievement for this committed squad of players. The Championship ended in a very disappointing manner especially when the run was looking promising. However, the league campaign was exceptional in how we maintained our consistency We went through unbeaten and in the end were four league points ahead of our nearest opponents. Moving to a higher level and engaging with tougher opponents will not be beyond this squad and will be a challenge that this team will relish and enjoy in 2018. Junior League Champions Back Row L-R: Mickey Feeney, Jason Barry, Joey Smyth, Ross Mullin, Niall Feehan, Sean Ryder, Andrew Grealis, Stephen Staunton, Alan Ryan, Niall Ryan, Neil Duffy, John Reilly, Sean Barrett, Ronan Keane, Kevin Ryder, Patrick Golden, John Doherty and John McGlynn. Front Row L-R: Paul Groden, Declan Ryan, John Ryan, Darragh Keaveney, David Stenson, Liam Heanue, Chris Heanue, Kieran Hastings, James Keane, Jack Staunton, Pat Mulchrone, Paul Moran, Joe Ryan and Keith Joyce.

Kilmeena Minor campaign started well with an unbeaten run in division 2B. We played open and expansive football and thrilled the crowds that came out to support us. Th e teams that we played in our group were Ballintubber, Hollymount/Carramore, Ballaghaderreen, Ballinrobe and Carras. We topped the group and set up a date with our nearest rivals Burrishoole. We lost this game and were disappointed as we played very well but lost by a point in a thriller to a well drilled Burrishoole team. This set us up for another date with Burrishoole in the West Mayo Championship. Again we went down with an under strength side. We knew that if we could defeat Ballintubber in the West semi-fi nal we would again meet Burrishoole in the fi nal. We just about managed to get over Ballintubber in a tight encounter in Clogher. At this stage we were very eager not to come out the wrong end of the result against our neighbour and we turned the tide in the West final. I have to say we enjoyed this performance as everyone played so well. As it happened this was the end of our year. The Minor Championship came at a time when our under 16’s were playing Championship and our Junior team was preparing for Junior Quarter-fi nal and trying to win their league. Injury was also a problem and all this meant we had to concede our games. Th is is one of the problems of having success at every level and having quite a bit of cross-over in age groups. All in all we had a successful year and we eventually defeated the one team that was able to beat us during the season in the most important game for us this year. I would like to thank all the players that gave everything and were a pleasure to manage. I also had the pleasure of working with John Reilly and Brian Lennon. I would like to thank them for all their efforts. West Mayo Minor Champions Back row L-R: Brian Lennon, Kevin Ryder, Jack Staunton, Ryan McGonagle, Alex O’Riain, Bailey Nevin, Ciaran Costello, Jack Carney, Sean McGreal, Sean Moore, Emmet Aylward, Josh Mulchrone, Darren Madden, Manager; Billy McGonagle. Front row L-R: John Reilly, John McGlynn, Kian Moore, Ronan O’Donnell, Keith Joyce, John Ryan, Robbie Harper, John Keane, Simon Duffy, Jason McGlynn