This weekend marked the halfway point of the Fall Leagues in Atlanta with all teams in both the Gaelic Football and Hurling leagues having played two games each. Since the Fall Leagues kicked off in late September, it has been great to see the player and supporter turnout for keenly contested games each weekend. The leagues switch to double header formats for the next three weekends culminating in finals day on Saturday December 7th. All teams remain in contention for a place in the finals so we should see some exciting action in the coming weeks. Please check out the schedule for the remaining rounds as supporters/spectators are encouraged at all games. A summary of the games to date is outlined below.
Gaelic Football
In the opening round Mac McGee’s beat Ri Ra’s by 42 points to 31 points. In spite of good midfield play from Chris Kendrick and an excellent second half by Micheal Smith, Mac McGee’s dominance of the middle third via Brian Boland and Alan Corr proved to be the difference between the sides.
In their second round match up, Fado’s beat Ri Ra’s by 42 points to 33 points. This was the best game of the Gaelic Football league so far with great contests throughout the field. Great link play through the middle from Cormac McCormack to support superb attacking play from Laoise O’Driscoll, Nikki Peoples and Neil Jordan made the difference for Fado’s.
Mac McGee’s beat Fado’s by a scoreline of 41 points to 28 in the third round. Zoe Beato kicked some fine scores in the second half for Fado’s but James Noonan’s midfield play allied to some big scores in the full forward line from Karina Clarke pushed Mac McGee’s out in front.
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Hurling
The opening round saw Mac McGee’s score 43 points to defeat Ri Ra’s by 4 points. Mac McGee’s pushed ahead early on in this game however scores from Paul Bradley and Ashley Harmon kept Ri Ra’s in touch. Late goals from Kyle Hosmer and Sarah Spiller however made the difference for Mac McGee’s.
The next round saw Fado’s beat Mac McGee’s by a scoreline of 46 points to 40. In spite of some superb saves from Rob Kiely and well taken scores from midfielders Paul Bradley and Patrick Kirby, the dual scoring threat from full forward Kieran Cronin and midfielder Brian Boland made the difference in the end.
The Mac McGee’s versus Fado’s game was the proverbial tale of two halves such that the game ended in a tie at 23 points all. There was a complete turnaround in the second half as Johnny O’Sullivan took command in the full back line and Steve Gilley and Evan Lebois dominated midfield. Key second half scores from Jolene Glenn, David O’Donoghue and Johnny O’Sullivan brought the teams to within two points. Sarah Spiller made the clutch play by hitting the equalizing free in the last seconds of the game to level the scores.
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