Seniors keep the winning streak in league

Kilburn Gaels 1-22 Sean Treacys 1-11
This tie started 25 minutes after the scheduled throw-in time as Treacys waited on a chunk of their squad to reach Ruislip’s Emerald Grounds. And by the time the south Londoners took to the pitch, Kilburn had a 20-minute training session in the bank, something which was clearly evident in the early minutes of this encounter. While anything other than a victory for Kilburn was always unlikely, the county champions took to their task admirably and quickly. By the 10th minute, five different Gaels players had registered scores. Brian McGovern started the ball rolling inside 60 seconds with an impressive score from the left wing with Niall Forde, Donal Kinsella, Peter Ryan and Henry Vaughan all following suit. A well-taken point by James Palmer appeared to settle Sean Traceys and moments after Ryan had converted his second score for Kilburn on 12 minutes, Treacys had the ball in the back of the net. A high ball into the Kilburn square wasn’t cleared and after a bout of aerial tennis the sliotar fell to Treacys’ Anthony Cunningham, who finished emphatically to reduce the arrears to two points. However, any hope Treacys had of causing an upset died in the following 10 minutes as Kilburn knocked in 1-3 without reply. Kinsella converted a free on 19 minutes before the energetic Ryan pushed Kilburn further ahead 60 seconds later.  In the 22nd minute Tony Dunne fed the unmarked McGovern, who finished to the net with ease to drive Kilburn into a 1-8 to 1-1 lead. It was perhaps the decisive score in this league encounter. Tony Dunne and Donal Kinsella raised white flags again before the interval with Davy Nolan keeping Treacys’ faint comeback hopes alive with a point five minutes before the break. Though ahead by 1-10 to 1-2 at the change of ends, Kilburn were intent of finishing this tie off as soon as possible and they began the second half in the same way they started the first. Henry Vaughan, Peter Ryan, Niall Forde and Mick O’Dwyer all split the posts before Davy Nolan got his second point of the evening for Treacys on 37 minutes. Relentless pressure from last year’s championship, league and Ryan Cup winners resulted in further scores.  Donal Kinsella knocked over a free in the 39th minute before Tony Dunne somehow pointed after rounding the goalkeeper with the goal at his mercy. A fine brace from Treacys’ Sean Maguire did lift the spirits for the men in red and they finished strongly with points from Fintan Palmer, Nolan (3) and James Palmer. But in all reality this was never a fair fight and Kilburn ran away easy winners. It was a good start for new players of Jack Ryan, Tony Dunne to shine in their first senior match for Kilburn Gaels.
Man of the match: Niall Forde (Kilburn Gaels)
Kilburn Gaels: JJ Burke; C Forde, J Ryan, B Forde; R Darcy, L Quigley, R Bourke; N Forde (0-2), M Feeney; D Kinsella (0-8, 5f, 1 ’65), T Dunne (0-2), M O’Dwyer (0-2); B McGovern (1-1), P Ryan (0-4), H Vaughan (0-3). Sub: K Kennedy for Darcy.
Sean Treacys: M O’Keefe; E Phelan, S Carey, R Kavanagh; M Arrigan, C Riordan, F Palmer (0-1); D Maher, A Cunningham (1-0); D Nolan (0-5, 1 ’65), T Breen, J Fahy; M Cremins, S McGuire (0-2), J Palmer (0-3). Sub: R Millan for Cremins.

Congratulations to our London Senior Panel members
The club wish to congratulate Niall Forde as Captain of London who recently won the Nicky Rackard Final. Also congratulation to Colm Forde, Henry Vaughan, Seamus Richardson, John Maher, John Reddan & Keith Kennedy who represented the club for London on the day.

Intermediates lose to Fulham Irish
Fulham Irish 5-8 Kilburn Gaels 0-6
What a transformation a few weeks makes. Having lost to the newly formed side from Fulham by a goal only a few weeks previously, Kilburn Gaels intermediate side completely capitulated in this league game that effectively ends whatever chances Kilburn had of making the Division 2 League final. That said, the Kilburn lads came up against a juggernaut in this Fulham Irish side who have to be favourites to capture the Intermediate Championship in their first season under the guidance of former Sean Treacy’s man Martin Carroll. They have several hurlers who would grace any of the senior sides in London and would give a game of it to any of the sides at that level. The Kilburn lads had no answer and were under the cosh from the word go, trailing by 1-6 to 0-2 at half time. Points from Lee Darcy and Mick Hayes after half time did little to stem the tide as the Fulham lads added a further 4 goals in the second half to completely kill off the game. It was difficult to take any positives from the performance other than to say that the better side won and that they are probably the best side at this level.

Thurles Sarsfields International 13 a side tournament
Kilburn Gaels are honoured to have been invited to the inaugural Thurles Sarsfields 13 a side international tournament to be held the weekend of this years Munster Hurling Final – 8th and 9th of July. The club will be sending a squad with the aim of bringing back the Tom Semple Cup which the Semple family have kindly donated to the Thurles Sarsfields Club. Thurles Sarsfields hope to continue this competition every year on Munster Final weekend, irrespective of where the game itself is to be played and we wish them every success with that. Teams from all over Ireland and beyond will be present to compete for the honours and everyone involved with Kilburn Gaels is looking forward to the weekend.

Training – Senior and Intermediate
Training for seniors and intermediates continues at 7.30pm at Hurst Avenue, Highgate, N6 5TX. We have had excellent turnouts since the start of the year with numbers generally into the mid 20s each night which has made the experience all the more enjoyable.
Any new players interested in coming along should contact the following people:
Tom Bergin              07961 843075
Brendan O'Connor    07956 277550
Gerard Quinn           07767 724737
Or send an email to secretary.kilburngaels.london@gaa.ie

Facebook and website:
We are now on Facebook – just do a search for Kilburn Gaels Hurling Club. Alternatively, you can check out our website:
www.kilburngaelshurlingclub.org/

Annual Golf day
The Kilburn Gaels Annual Golf day will be held on Saturday June 25th at Elstree Golf and Country Club. Tees have been reserved from 1pm to 2.30pm. A round of golf and a traditional carvery meal will cost £50, a team of 4 costs £200 (top 3 scores for team prize plus individual prizes). The carvery will be available from 6pm along with the presentations in the club house. We are also looking for hole sponsorship at £100 a hole.
For further details, contact the following:
Sean Riordan 07753 378993
Eugene Hickey 07850 813030
Mick Burke 07860 919684
PJ Ford 07791 953984
Andrew Carey 07771 632450

Kilburn Gaels
London Senior Hurling Champions 2010
London Senior League winners 2010
Ryan Cup Champions 2010