Lynco Under 12 Go Games Football

This morning 44 teams / 400 players took part in the final Lynco Under 12 Go Games football blitz of the year. The under 12's will now be gearing up for Under 13 competition which is run over the month of September.

Lynco Under 12 Go Games Football Blitz

Tonight in a sunny Owenbeg 56 teams took part in their first Outdoor Go Games blitz of the year. The standard of football on show from the 550 players was excellent, all the players and their coaches keep up the good work!

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

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

North West Indoor Under 12 Hurling Tournament

Sunday 14th February was the final of the North West indoor hurling tournament for under 12's. The competition ran over three Sunday's in 3 venues; The Old Library Trust Hall – Derry City, Aileach Youth Hall – Bridgend and the Letterkenny Community Centre. 3 Derry clubs Na Magha, Banagher and Slaughtneil competed against teams from Donegal and Tyrone. All 3 clubs competed in section division 1 of the competition and Slaughtneil were unlucky to lose out in the final against a very good Buncrana team. Thanks to all the players and their coaches for taking part over the three weeks, to those who organised the excellent venues and to Kevin Hinphey for coordinating the programme.
Pictured is the winning Buncrana Captain and the Derry teams who took part.

Lynco Under 12 Go Games Football

On Saturday we held a Lynco Under 12 Go Games Football blitz at Owenbeg. 60 teams turned up with 540 kids. Thanks to everyone who attended

Lynco Go Games

The Lynco Under 12 Go Games football blitz held at Owenbeg on Saturday 2nd May was a huge success. Approx 700 children took part in a great day of football. The Under 8's are out on Friday night at Owenbeg. There are 600 players due to attend Owenbeg to take part in a total of 126 games.

I have attached a few photographs from the Under 12 blitz a few weeks back:

Lynco Go Games Update and Under 16 7 aside Football

Please find the revised Go Games Fixtures and 7 aside competitions for May 2009.

Under 8 Football – Friday 15th May Owenbeg 7pm start
The Under 8’s footballers will get underway on Friday 15th May in Owenbeg. Under 8 football is 7 aside and all P.4 children are eligible to play. Can clubs please register how many teams they would like to enter with me via email or phone. The closing date is Monday 11th May.

Saturday 16th May – Lynco Under 12 Go Games Club Football Blitz’s (Clubs need to rearrange date)
Can the host club of each of the following blitz please contact the clubs due to visit them to rearrange the blitz as many of the Under 12’s will be taking part in the Ulster Feile. If the clubs aren’t dual clubs I would suggest rearranging them for Sunday 17th May:

Ballerin
Drum
Magilligan
Ardmore

Castledawson
Ballymaguigan
Ogramore
Greenlough

Loup
Drumsurn
Desertmartin

Foreglen
Glack
Lissan

Craigbane
Claudy
Banagher
Steelstown

Slaughtmanus
Sean Dolans
Doire Colmcille
Doire Trasna

Ballinascreen
Ballinderry
Bellaghy

Coleraine
Faughanvale
Limavady

Glenullin
Kilrea
Swatragh

Glen
Dungiven
Lavey

Slaughtneil
Newbridge
Magherafelt

Sunday 17th May – Lynco Under 12 and under 10 Go Games Club Hurling Blitz’s
Can the host club of each of the following blitz please contact the clubs due to visit them to arrange their Go Games blitz for Under 10’s and 12’s?

Banagher
Kevin Lynch's
Slaughtneil

Lavey
Swatragh
Ballinascreen

Coleraine
Na Magha
Guest Club

Saturday 23rd May – Lynco Under 10 Go Games Football Owenbeg 10.30am
Instead of playing Round 2 on the 23rd May we will put the club based fixtures proposed to Round 6 (19/07/09) and play the postponed Owenbeg blitz on Saturday 23rd May at Owenbeg instead. If you couldn’t attend the first time around and you can now make sure and let me know how many teams you will have.

Saturday 23rd May – Club Derry Under 16’s 7 aside Football Competition 4pm start
For the past two years Derry have held a 7’s competition for Under 14, Under 15 (Óg Sport – 20th June this year) and Under 16 football.
We have already had our Under 14 Football this year on Easter Tuesday (14th April). Glen won the A section, Lavey won the B section and Lissan won the C section.
For the Under 16’s this year we will have three sections A, B and C you can enter as many panels of 10 players as you wish. Please register you teams with me before Monday 18th April and let me know what section they are entering. Hopefully the slightly later start will help lads who have part time jobs etc.

Saturday 30th May – Lynco Under 12 Go Games Football Round 3:
Can the host club of each of the following blitz please contact the clubs to make sure everyone is taking part and do fixtures for the day to run smoothly. Please check where you are from the main fixture list

Bugger Off Rain

Football Championship weekend, Development squads are out and the Go Games are starting, what do we get only rain, rain, rain!!

Over 700 children will be in Owenbeg for Under 12 football on Saturday and 52 teams will take part on Sunday for Go Games hurling, Owenbeg will be awash with bodies, hopefully it won't be a washout!

Good Practice Award Week 2

The award this week goes to Bellaghy and in particular Diarmuid Scullion for their terrific "Road to Croker" Under 12 indoor football competition which was run over a six week period in Bellaghy Hall.
The Under 12 group was split into 6 different teams and played each other over the space of the 6 weeks on their quest to get to Croker! The hall was the centre of attention in Bellaghy on Sunday evenings and the players really enjoyed the games over the winter.

Fair play to everyone involved!

Under 12 Club Coaching Week

This year we are proposing to do a number of structured club coaching sessions within the 40 clubs in Derry.

We are going to begin with the “Under 12 Club Coaching Week”

The week will run from the 30th March to the 5th April. This is a month before the Lynco Outdoor Go Games begin so it will be a starting point for some teams and a fresh face for others who have been coaching and playing games over the winter. The clocks will have changed by then so we should have enough light to go in the evenings from 5 / 6 pm if it suits and at the weekend.

During the week we hope to deliver a coaching session with every under 12 football and hurling team within the County. For this to be a success I would like all the coaches and any helpers to attend the club session which will hopefully give them some new ideas.

In order to timetable every club into the scheme, I would like you to email me when it DOES suit to run the session. It is going to be difficult to agree the time everyone wants as we only have a limited number of coaches therefore if you email the day and times that do suit and those that definitely don’t suit it will be easier to timetable. I will let every club know what their slot is at least a week in advance so they can make the arrangements with the children, parents and venue.

Please get the details to me as soon as possible (ccollins@derry.gaa.ie) so there is no delay with this scheme. If you are a dual club i.e. Under 12 Football and Under 12 Hurling you will get two separate days.

We will be running similar weeks later in the year for various age groups also.

Indoor Hurling in Full Swing

We're well underway with our indoor hurling programme within Derry this winter. The Under 8's enjoyed a valentines blitz, the coaches were itching to get back to their other halfs. I spotted a big bunch of Red Roses in Hinphey's car for the women; Kevin's really romantic!

The clubs were split between Swatragh GAC and Roe Valley Leisure centre, the young lads all enjoyed a great days hurling.

On Saturday the Under 10's are out, we're using the same venues from 12pm and should be finished up before 3pm.

For the Under 12's we have two blitz days planned. One on the 7th March and the other 21st March. Many of our hurling clubs are also taking part in the North Antrim Indoor League which takes place just after Christmas, the extra indoor games should be a good aid to the players development.

Kevin Kelly from Ballinascreen has recently been appointed as the Ulster Council hurling officer and he's waisted no time in organising some indoor hurling blitz's that clubs can also enter. Some are a little out of the way for Derry clubs but at least they will throw up a few new faces to play against which I think is very important particulary when we only have 8 clubs.

As part of the 125 celebrations Kevin is hosting a large Provincial blitz for Under 10 hurlers in Meadowbank, all our clubs should be taking part on the 19th April. I am actually looking forward to going and seeing someone else under pressure at a blitz, 50 teams played off in an hour and a half :) - I'm not doubting him at all, no beter man!!

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!