The club won our first adult county football title at senior level last Friday night in defeating Ballyporeen for the Tom Cusack Cup. The tone was set early as Dean Carew ghosted through for an Upperchurch goal after just three minutes. Three minutes later it was Oisin Treacy who repeated the feat to put Upperchurch in command. Ballyporeen did settle somewhat to reduce the gap to 3 points. However, Upperchurch responded with points from play by Luke Shanahan, Paul Shanahan and Oisin Treacy as we held a 5 point lead at half time - 2-4 to 0-5. The second half started with 6 converted frees for Upperchurch in the first 12 minutes before Philip O'Dwyer notched one from play to put 13 between the sides. Ballyporeen did score 1-1 but another score from play by Philip O'Dwyer and a closing Upperchurch point from a free by captain Paul Shanahan was enough for a 2-14 to 1-7 win. Congratulations to team and management.

Our junior B footballers continued the clubs form in football by overcoming the challenge of Solohead in the county semi final last Saturday in Annacarty. The game was tight in the opening stages before a score from play by Ailbe O'Donoghue put Upperchurch two in front. Solohead managed three in a row to take the lead but this was wiped out by a good point by Padraig Griffin. The sides continued to trade points, with Eanna Ryan also getting on the Upperchurch scoresheet before Pat Shortt finished to the net just before half time. He would add a free before the whistle to leave the half time score 1-7 to 0-7. Early second half points from play by Colm Stapleton and Colm Ryan extended Upperchurch's advantage before a Solohead goal midway through the half pulled them back into the game. A Pat Shortt point was swiftly followed by a quickfire 1-1 by Michael Quinlan to give Upperchurch breathing room with 10 minutes remaining. Colm Ryan added a further point and the final 10 minutes saw Upperchurch managing the game well while adding a couple of more points. The winning margin in the end was 6 points - 2-16 to 1-13. We now qualify for a county final against Thurles Gaels, a repeat of the mid final. This game takes place on Saturday Oct 31st at 2pm in The Ragg. Tickets can be bought at https://embed.futureticketing.ie/c/tipperary-gaa/ or via Tap n Go at the gate. Hopefully we see a good turnout from the parish to support the team.

UNDER 21 FOOTBALL
We defeated Moycarkey-Borris by 3-12 to 2-13 in the mid U21A semi final last Tuesday evening in Drombane. We will face JK Brackens in the mid final at a date to be scheduled.

UNDER 21 HURLING
The mid U21A hurling quarter final against Thurles Sarsfields is scheduled for 12pm in Toor Killinan this Sunday Oct 25th. Tickets for this game can be bought in advance at https://embed.futureticketing.ie/c/mid-tipp-gaa/ or via Tap n Go at the gate. Best of luck to team and management.

RUN A LAP FOR MILFORD
Three brothers from Kilruane McDonaghs GAA, Mark, Paul & Eoin O'Neill are taking part in a fundraiser called 'Run a Lap for Milford' in memory of their mother Margaret who passed away last year. They are running a lap of all 72 GAA club fields in Tipperary over the weekend while raising funds for Milford Care Centre. They are due to arrive in Drombane at 13:25 tomorrow(Saturday 24th). If anyone is free to run the lap with them or just be there to support them it would be much appreciated. Donations to the fundraiser can be made at https://www.idonate.ie/fundraiser/runalapformilford

You can now play the Premier Co-Op Lotto online at http://upperchurchdrombanegaa.ie/draws and help support Upperchurch Drombane Juvenile GAA. Last week there was no winner of the €9,800 jackpot. There was 1 match 3 winner who received €150. The jackpot for next week now resets to €10,000 for next week's draw. Tickets must be bought by 8pm on Tuesday to be in the draw. You can also buy tickets at Ryan's Shop, Drombane Co-Op, Kinane's Pub or Oliver Ryan's Pub.

CLUB MERCHANDISE

A range of club merchandise can be purchased from the O’Neills website. The link for the shop is: https://www.oneills.com/shop-by-team/gaa/ireland/upperchurch-drombane-gaa.html. We also now have a new shop with Bourke Sports: https://bourkesports.ie/collections/upperchurch-drombane-gaa

Anyone interested in getting weekly club news and fixtures sent to them via email can subscribe to the mailing list by emailing upperchurchdrombane.gaa@gmail.com with “Subscribe” in the subject bar.

Do you have a smartphone and want to get news/fixtures and results for the club sent directly to it? Then download the Clubzap app(from the Apple App Store, Google Play store or at http://www.clubifyapp.com/download and select “Upperchurch Drombane GAA” from the menu.

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