Opening Championship Weekend

The weekend opened with a maiden voyage for Trinity Milton who fielded a team in the junior B football championship after starting the club 12 years ago with a small group of 6 and 7 year-olds.  The youngsters faced an experienced Kerry team that taught them a lesson or two and ran out 3-17 to 0-4 winners.  Lessons learned for the young Americans, whereas Kerry have been knocking on the door of the junior B championship title.  Over the last few years the Kingdom has built a solid base to launch a challenge.  For Trinity it was a big night with a large support, and getting a team on the field was a victory for the club in itself.  It was the first championship game played on the main field, which was in immaculate condition, since August 2019. Full match report is available on the Kerry Boston Website (https://kerrybostongfc.com/2021/06/07/726/).

Boston Shamrocks won the Orla Benson Cup on
Sunday v a combined Connacht Ladies/Sean Og's.

Saturday saw Canton stuck in dead 90 degree heat and there were 4 games on.  Two hurling matches were played on the main field.  The first saw another team of Home Grown players, Sean Og’s, take on the Worcester Fenians.  The Fenians held the lead for most of the game with old hands Liam Kelly, Tom Lind and Conor Greene keeping them just about in the lead.  Sean Og’s struck late, however, and a couple of excellent points from Aidan O’Malley were followed with a goal at the final whistle by Mike Moylan that propelled Sean Og’s to a 2-13 to 1-13 win.

Junior C Hurling action followed with Portland traveling from Maine and Hartford from Connecticut to meet in a game that Portland always looked like the side that would claim the spoils.  A couple of first half goals put Portland in the driver’s seat to lead by 2-8 to 0-6 at the break. Hartford managed to put some respectability on the scoreboard with some late scores, final score 4-14 to 2-9 for the boys from Maine.

Football action on the back field saw the Sean Og’s footballers in another close game with a solid looking Christopher’s team.  With the game in the balance throughout it was Christopher’s who edged it by a score of 3-8 to 3-7.  Junior C football saw Worcester field for the first time in the big ball game against the Portland Fomorian footballers.  It was another victory for the Mainers as they defeated the newcomers by a score of 3-7 to 2-4.     

Sunday

We then had the start of the Senior Championship, where we saw 2019 Senior Champions Donegal take on Galway. In what started out as an evenly balanced match, with Galway being unlucky with a number of wides, while Donegal chipped away at the score. 2 great saves from the Galway shot stopper further aided their survival ambitions, however, as the match went on, Donegal’s Shane Carthy and Cory Gallagher slotted away a number of goals and points to run away with the match. Galway managed to score a few consolation points but conceded the match 4-20 to 0-05. 

In the next match of the Senior Football Championship, we saw Shannon Blues face Cork, in what was a repeat of the 2019 Intermediate final. Both teams started strong, scoring a point each from play, however, as the match went on, the Shannon Blues kept racking up the scores, eventually winning 5-18 to 0-05.

Next to come was the start of the Senior Hurling Championship, with once again, the finalists from 2019 facing each other, as Fr Toms faced Galway. The game started off even, with both teams starting strong and going point for point, with John Moylan doing the weight of the scoring for Galway, and Jason Costello doing likewise for the Toms. The deadlock was eventually broken by Chris O’Donoghue who scored the first goal of the game. As the game went on, it got very heated, and tempers started to flare as a skirmish ensued which saw Danny Burke for Galway and Jack Martin for Toms get their marching orders. With a game full of action the start of the 2nd half saw Galway save a penalty, and a highly attacking game as each team added to their tallies in a closely contested battle, in which the Toms prevailed with a 3-18 to 2-17 victory.

By Evan McDonagh and Rory O’Donnell

Photos by Rachel O'Driscoll

Cup Finals Saturday; Championships at the Irish Cultural Center begin June 4 Weekend

An unseasonably warm May Saturday afternoon saw hurling action begin at the Irish Cultural Center in Canton.  A 7-a-side tournament with 6 clubs was played, and there were 2 Cups up for grabs.  The Pat Kenneally Cup and the Kieran Sheehan Cup.

Tom's Captain Jason Costello presented with the
Pat Kenneally Cup by Peter Murray

Games started at 10:00 am with Sean Og’s taking on Providence.  Next was Fr. Tom’s v Worcester, and Galway v NH Wolves.   Each team played 4 games and at the end of the round robins it was Tom’s and Galway first and second, with Worcester and Providence Third and fourth.  

The Sheehan Cup was contested by current Junior B USGAA champions, Worcester, and Providence.   The game was won by Worcester by a single point coming from a last free of the game.

The Pat Kenneally Cup final was Tom’s and Galway.  Tom’s won by a score of 5-4 to 0-4 against a Galway side that featured many young home grown players.   

Sheehan Cup Winners,
Worcester Fenians

The Pat O’Brien Cup competition has been going the last 3 weeks with 8 teams divided into 2 groups.  At the end of the day, it was both Donegal teams that topped each group and played a final game with white jerseys v gold jerseys.  The game was well contested with the “Donegal White” winning on the end of the day.  All in all it was a big step back for the GAA in Boston to have both competitions run off and teams back on the field.  Roll on the Championship, all home based teams, starting Friday June 4. 

Donegal Captain, Sean Doherty with the 
Pat O'Brien Cup presented by
Greg Lundy.

By Rory O'Donnell, 

PRO Boston Northeast GAA

 

Schedule

Fri June 4

Irish Cultural Center, Canton Ma

6:00 Junior B:  Kerry v Trinity Milton

Sat June 5

Irish Cultural Center, Canton Ma

Field A

2:30 Junior B Hurling: Worcester v Sean Og’s

4:00 Junior C Hurling: Portland v Hartford

Field B

4:00 Junior B Football:  Sean Og’s v Christopher’s

5:30 Junior C Football:  Portland v Worcester

Sun June 6

Irish Cultural Center, Canton Ma

12:30 Senior Football: Galway v Donegal

2:00 Senior Football:  Shannon Blues v Cork

3:30 Senior Hurling; Galway v Fr. Tom Burke’s

5:00 Aidan McAnespies v Wolfe Tones

Gaelicsportscast with Denis O'Brien

Listen to the run down from Independence Day weekend with Denis O'Brien.

#64 ‘MacAnespies survive scare in Boston Championship’s opener

#64 ‘MacAnespies survive scare in Boston Championship’s opener


Click the link and hit play to hear a discussion with Dennis O'Brien on the opening games of the Boston Senior Football Championship.

Aiden McAnespies v Wolfe Tones June 15

Wolfe Tones 0-11 Aiden McAnespies 2-12
McAnespies put in a scintillating first 30 minutes, and were unfortunate not to have been further ahead than the five point advantage that they held at half time. A goal got the northerners off to a great start. David Conway got around his marker and slid the ball home low under the advancing keeper. The Tones responded with three points; Marty Farrell, Willie Milner, and Jamie Murphy each pointed and after 10 minutes the sides were level again. McAnespies turned things up a notch or two from that point on. Johnny Laverty was in fine form at center forward, full of running and covering a lot of ground in the forward line, and McAnespies midfield of Declan Lally and Danny McBride had a distinct edge in that area of the field. Laverty scored two lovely points from play and followed with a third from a free. Sean McVeigh stemmed the tide with a nice point from play but David Conway put two over the bar, and Laverty a fourth for himself before the half time whistle. The Tones breathed a sigh of relief on at least two occasions as McAnespies looked to have a goal on. Wille O’Dowd did well to put David Conway’s shot out for a 50, and another chance went wide of the posts as the first half wound down.

The Tones opened the second half with a brace of points to raise their spirits. Former Kerry Under-21,Eamon Hickson, and then Willie Milner pointed for the Tones to reduce the gap to a single score, but McAnespies replied with two points of their own from Colm McCrory and Johnny Laverty. The Tones threatened to make a comeback on a couple of occasions, but did not follow through. Joey Farrell got the deficit down to four points with a point from a free, but the Conway/Laverty scoring duet each put one over in response. Marty Farrell and Sean McVeigh again got it back to four, but this time the response from McAnespies was a point from Colm McCrory and then a goal from David Conway. A Wolfe Tones attack broke down and the ball was worked down the other end of the field until Conway had just the keeper to beat and the Laois man duly obliged. With just over ten minutes to go and the way the game was going, that seemed to end the contest.

Marty Farrell and Michael O’Brien each pointed to level the scores on points, but the goals on the scoreboard, and a point from a late David Conway free, proved to be the difference between the teams.

McAnespies: D. Traynor, C. Lynch, S. Magill, D. Donegan, M. Stanbrook, A. Feeney, D. Lally, D. McBride, M. Gottsche, Johnny Laverty (0-6), Colm McCrory (0-2), S. McGettigan, David Conway (2-3). Tones: W. O’Dowd, Mike O’Brien (0-1), P. Holland, Jamie Murphy (0-1), D. Scullane, Eamon Hickson (0-1), Sean McVeigh (0-2), J. Farrell, K. Gorham, C. Farrell, Willie Milner (0-2), S. O’Brien, Marty Farrell (0-4).

By Rory O'Donnell