Write a commentChina Trip 2019
Saturday morning saw our senior ladies and their mentors return from their two-week trip to China. In conjunction with Confucius Institute, who are based in Ulster University in Jordanstown, the girls spent two weeks over the Easter period taking part in jam-packed cultural visit to China. The girls flew to Beijing on Saturday 13th April before taking a connecting flight on to Shanghai. In Shanghai the group took in many of the sights, including the Shanghai Museum, the Bund District, ship cruising on the Huangpu River, the Shanghai Wild Animal Park before playing a challenge game against the local Shanghai Gaels team.
The girls then travelled on the world-famous Bullet Train from Shanghai to Wuhan where they spent two days and got the opportunity to visit the beautiful Yellow Crane Tower tourist attraction and spent some time shopping.
Huangshi was the next stop on their trip where they stayed at the magnificent Tonino Lamborghini Hotel. The group were formally welcomed to the Hubei Normal University on Monday of the second-week of their trip and they spent the rest of the week attending the university where they participated in comprehensive Chinese classes and get to experience some ancient Chinese cultural activities including calligraphy, martial arts and fragrance bag making. The girls also had the opportunity to take part in the 42nd Annual Hubei Normal University Faculty Parade and Demonstration and proudly carried the tri-colour in the parade.
This was the second time in as many years that our senior ladies have had the opportunity to visit China courtesy of Confucius Institute and they had a brilliant time throughout.
The club would like to thank Yan, Michael and the rest of their colleagues at Confucius Institute for not only providing the girls with this tremendous opportunity but also for their continued and generous support of Ladies football at Shane O’Neill’s. Our girls and mentors enjoyed every single minute of it and were overwhelmed by the generosity and friendliness shown to us not only by our hosts but by the Chinese people overall. On behalf of the club we would like to extend our sincere thanks to all our friends in Confucius Institute and Hubei Normal University, especially Cheryl, Lucy, Ivan, Jack, Joe and Leo, for making the trip a truly unforgettable experience. The club would also like to thank all the girls for being great ambassadors of the club – they were fantastic throughout the entire trip and represented the club with great pride and honour.
Senior Men
Following two successive defeats our senior men recorded a hard-fought five-point win away to Tir na nÓg on Sunday, 3 – 12 to 1 – 13.
Paddy Gregory opened the scoring for the Shane’s in the opening minute with a well taken point, with Tir na nÓg replying with a pointed free. A Paul O’Rourke point from a placed ball put the Shane’s back in front before a long-range effort from David McCabe gave his side a two-point advantage but two points in as many minutes had the home side back on level terms. The sides then swapped two points apiece with Eamon McCabe and Greg McCabe on target for the Shane’s before Tir na nÓg registered the first goal of the game to go three in front. However, the away side didn’t panic and they clawed themselves back level with three points on the trot courtesy of two pointed frees from Paul O’Rourke and well taken score from Paudie Hillen. Tir na nÓg went back in front again in the closing stages of the first-half to lead by just the minimum at the break, 1 – 6 to 0 – 8.
The Shane’s made the perfect to the second period when a great ball from Paudie Hillen sent Kristian Magill clear on goal and the big man made no mistake as he rattled the ball to the back of the net and the Camlough side now lead by two. They increased this to five in their very next attack when Paddy Gregory netted from close range after Matthew Girvan’s effort was saved by the keeper before Tir na nÓg’s first point of the second-half left four between the sides. A point apiece for Paul O’Rourke and Paddy Gregory gave the Shane’s a comfortable six-point advantage, however four points in a row from the home side got them back to within two with fifteen minutes still remaining on the clock and the game was right back in the melting pot. A Paul O’Rourke free was quickly cancelled out by a Tir na nÓg point as both sides kept the scoreboard ticking over and a fisted point from the impressive Kristian Magill gave his side a three-point lead with the game now into injury time. The away side scored their thirteenth point to keep them right in the game but Matthew Girvan sealed the win with a brilliant finish to raise the Shane’s third green flag of the game, to leave the final score 3 – 12 to 1 – 13 in favour of the Camlough men.
Next up is home game next Sunday against Sunday.
Senior Ladies
Following their trip to China our senior ladies return to league action on Tuesday evening with an away game against Sarsfields.
Club Membership for 2019
The membership rates for 2019 have been set as follows:
Full Adult membership: £50.00Juvenile membership: (U8’s – Minors): £30.00Family Membership (2 Adults & Children U16): £100.00Students & OAP’s: £40.00Cairde Members: £25.00U6’s: £10.00
Cúl Camp
This year’s Kellogg’s Cúl Camp will take place at the club from Monday 15th July - Friday 19th July. Online registration for the camp is now open and anyone planning to attend should register online asap using the following link – www.kelloggsculcamps.gaa.ie
Well Done
Well done to Eoghan Jones who won £200 in the second of the Armagh Club Draws which took place in our clubhouse last Thursday evening.
