Indoor Primary School Hurling Blitz @ Meadowbank

On Thursday 3^rd March, the County Derry indoor hurling blitz was held in the Meadowbank arena in Magherafelt. 7 schools took part:

St.Canices Dungiven,

St.Eoghans Moneyneena,

St.Columbs Straw,

St.Johns Swatragh,

St.Brigids Tirkane,

St.Brigids Mayogall

St.Patricks Glen.

The schools took part in a series of Go Games matches throughout the day. The standard of hurling was very high with some exceptional individual talent on show. This is a credit to the work going on in the local clubs and within the schools themselves. We look forward to the outdoor blitzes in the spring to see how the lads are developing. Many thanks to the teachers who reluctantly took a day away from the classroom to help out at blitz and to the schools for their continued support in the development of hurling in Derry.

Primary 5 Gaelic Football @ Meadowbank

Attached photos from Wednesday's p5 blitz in Meadowbamk. Competing schools were Holy Family Magherafelt, New Row, St Treas Ballymaguigan and Derrychrin. Thanks to Meadowbank for use of such an impressive facility and to Brian Smith and Diarmuid Scullion for coordinating.

Meadowbank Indoor Go Games Football

On Sunday 18th April the Meadowbank Finals Day took place for Under 12 Footballers. This was the 5th Blitz Day, on the Finals Day there were 15 teams who took part. The competition was split between an A section and a B section. Once the group stages were played the results from the semi finals and finals were as follows:

Section A semi finals

Newbridge 4-10 Lissan 0-5

Craigbane 1-8 Magherafelt 5-2

Section B semi finals

Craigbane 2-12 Newbridge 1-3

Coleraine 2-11 Magherafelt 1-2

Section A Final

Magherafelt 1-11 Newbridge 1-6

Section B Final

Craigbane 2-4 Coleraine 3-8

A word of thanks to all the teams who took part throughout the Meadowbank Indoor Blitz's, the the referee's throughout the blitz's and to Magherafelt District Council for coordinating on the day of the blitz's

Girls Indoor Primary School Gaelic Football Blitz

Today Diarmuid Scullion organised a Primary 6 Indoor girls Gaelic Football Blitz at Meadowbank Sports Arena. 8 schools took part and 30 matches were played in 2 hours. Thanks to Francis Scullion for assisting with the refereeing and to Peter Donnelly for arranging the venue.

Indoor Under 12 Go Games Football

On Sunday Meadowbank Indoor Blitz's continued. 20 teams took part from 11 clubs in what was an excellent day's football

Meadowbank Indoor Under 12 Gaelic Football

On Sunday the Meadowbank Indoor Under 12 Gaelic Football got under way. 26 teams took part. The next date for the Meadowbank Indoor Under 12 Football will be Sunday 14th March.

Key Stage 2 indoor blitz @ Meadowbank

St Mary's Grammar School, Magherafelt assisted by the Derry County Board recently held an indoor Key Stage two blitz for the primary schools in the area. 150 primary school pupils were coached in the morning by fourteen 6th form pupils who are currently working towards their foundation coaching certificate assisted by Diarmuid and Francis Scullion from Derry County Board. This was followed by a blitz in the afternoon where Anahorish PS defeated Portglenone by 3-07 to 3-02 in a highly entertaining final. Also well done to Stephen Bradley from St. Marys Greenlough who was awarded the player of the tournament award. Thanks to John McElholm and his pupils for a well run day.

Indoor Under 12 Football @ Meadowbank

The Indoor Football blitz's at Meadowbank Sports Arena Magherafelt have had their pros and cons for me. We've had 4 rounds of football since the 11th January. At each round there have been around 250 children participating. I feel it's been great to be able to use a facility like Meadowbank that can take four indoor games at one time and im sure the Under 12's have really enjoyed playing within the arena. The spectator facilities are also first class, when friends and family are in watching their team play the atmosphere is very good. To my knowledge this is one of the largest regular indoor football blitz to take place within Ireland. The addition of Rasharkin, Antrim and Creggan has also been really good.

However on the flip side a few teams have failed to turn up a few times which have left groupings a team short (this really bugs me) and in the current financial climate it is probably a little on the dear side, by the time you take into consideration a bus it can be a substantial amount of money.

The next round is to be the 8th March however Kerry are in town that day and I think everyone will be looking to get to Bellaghy to witness the top of the table clash so i'm guessing it's going to be a non-starter.

That leaves 2 remaining dates: 22nd March and 29th March. Feile na nog has started and it is going to clash with these remaining two Under 12 indoor dates. I know some of the bigger clubs won't be affected by this however many of the smaller clubs will be depending on their under 12's for the Feile.

I think we will go with the 22nd March for those clubs who feel they can field under 12's and not depend on them for their Under 14 team. On the 29th March I hope to have the large blitz day, hopefully we can get C.C.C. to put the feile on Saturday 28th to free up the big day we had planned for the 29th. It would be a great showing on Derry's part and the GAA in general if we could have all our Under 12 teams taking part and fill the facility with spectators. The atmosphere would be something special, lets hope it happens!