West Offaly Lions News

During the recent festivities the West Offaly Lions had their Christmas dinner in Hineys Ferbane on Tuesday the 23rd of December, a good night was to be had by all. We would like to extend a huge thanks to Damien Spollen who put up a faultless night for the lions with plenty of food, drink and excellent music. We would also like to thank Damien for all the work and sponsorship he has put into the club over the last few seasons as to all our other sponsors as well it is greatly apperciated.

 Peter and Seamus presenting Damien with the club polo shirt and club tie.

We also took this oppertunity to present Alision Couper wife of Charlie Couper with a bouquet of flowers just something small to say thank you from the club, great patience is required in such circumstances and this woman has this in abundance.

Team Captain Ronnie presenting Alision with a bouquet of flowers.

West Offaly Lions Adults Xmas Party 2008

Merry Christmas
&
a Prosperous New Year !

From everyone at the West Offaly Lions Rugby Club

Adults
The adult section visited Miltownpass where they thoroughly enjoyed  the paintballing
if not the after effects but everyone came out virtually unscathed  and a great day was had by all.

West Offaly Lions Minis had their last training session of the year on the excellent Gallen Utd astro pitch and a great session was finished off by the xmas party by kind permission of Gallen C.S, where the committee under the watchful eyes of Marion Gilligan prepared refreshments for the children, parents and all involved in west offaly lions rugby club. Club President Peter Moony thanked all involved and Conor Kenny presented Marion with a bunch of flowers.

Conor Galvin ran a free national schools raffle for West Offaly Lions.
1st prize of two tickets to Ireland v England at Croke Park was won by Dylan O Duffy of Clonmacnoise N.S.
2nd prize of a signed Connacht Rugby jersey was won by Sinead Harrington of High St N.S.
3rd prize of an Elverys voucher was won by Oisin Daly of Clonmacnoise N.S.

The adult xmas party takes place in Hineys on tues 23rd  at 7.30 and a large turnout is expected.

West Offaly Lions would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a happy and healthy Christmas!

The West Offaly Lions have organised a paintball trip away to Mullingar for this Saturday the 20th of December. After a first hard half to the season for both teams its good to get a break from the hard slog of the training field, all are welcome meeting in Londis Ferbane at 10.45 and then to Mullingar from there, then back that evening to ferbane for a few sociable drinks.

The west offaly lions u 14 team continued there development in this there first year together with a match against buccaneers.The match was played in the excellent facilities of Dubarry Park, Athlone on a cold saturday morning both teams contribuited well to a good overall game and although the lions won there is still a lot of work to be done on the training field. Michael Butler, Gerry Lyons and John Mannion had fine games in what was a good team effort

Seniors - Fine home win for the Lions.
West Offaly Lions maintained their form with a home victory against a very talented Portumna side and it wasnt until deep into the second half that an Anthony Quinn try under the posts made  a win likely and this was followed by a Jason Kelly special. Donal Corbett continued his rich vein of kicking form but it was the West Offaly Lions pack that provided a continuous stream of ball for this talented backline. Line outs showed a huge improvment on the previous week but a lot of work still needs to be done if the Lions are to maintain their position in the harder post- xmas fixtures. Credit as well to everyone in the background who have helped the squad.

Under-14's
The u-14's had a big win against a younger Buccaneers squad in Athlone on saturday. Michael Butler, Gerry Lyons and John Mannion
had fine games in what was a good team effort.

Minis
Mini blitz against our near neighbours Midland Warriors was good fun for all on a hash sunday morning, it was just a pity Nenagh missed out on a great day. Well done to all the coaches and helpers , the results of their endeavours were there for everyone to see.

Mini training on Gallen Utd astro by kind permission of our friends in the club, on sunday at 11.30am followed by the xmas party in Gallen C.S.
ALL players from every level are very welcome as well as parents and helpers.

Venue: West Offaly Lions RFC 
Date: 14-12-08

West Offaly Lions Vs. Portumna
Connacht J1 League 08-09

Last Tuesday the 2nd of December saw the presentation of the team polo shirts to some of the team sponsors, Brendan and David Flaherty of Flaherty Fuels Ferbane and Paddy Molloy of Gem Garden Centre Cloghan. We would like to thank all our sponsors for there commitment to the club because without them the club could not survive.

Captains Ronan Guinan and William Farrell presenting Brendan and David Flaherty with the team Polo shirt

Ronnie and Willie presenting Paddy Molloy with the team polo shirt.

We would also like to extend a huge thank you to Ann Marie Sorohan of Ferbane Pharmacy who also made a presentation of a full medical kit to the club.

Annemarie presenting Peter Mooney and Seamus Guinan with the fully equipt medical kit

Also thank you to Danny Gleeson for hosting the presentation as well.

SENIORS President Peter Moony and CLUB registrar Jane Moony attended the clubs first junior cup draw in Ballyhaunis on wednesday night. Galwegians in Glenina will hold good memories for West Offaly Lions, for it was there that we played and won our first cup game in a mudbath last year.
A step up this year to meet the holders should be interesting!

West Offaly Lions 1st team were fortunate to leave Ballyhaunis with a win and this was largly due to missed kicks by the home kicker while the lions had Donal Corbett to slot their kicks. Once again west offaly lions fell foul of the referee with indiscipline and immaturity shown  by a number of players but on the plus side it was great to welcome back Colin Malone and Paul Heavin who both played fine games.

If the lions are to overcome Portumna on sunday at 2.30 in the school field they will need to raise their game right from the start. Captain Ronan Guinans team will need to follow him in the battle for points.

The Development Team, the most important team in the club,were unlucky not to beat Galwegians away in a well contested encounter. Although missing a few regulars who were otherwise engaged, West Offaly Lions competed bravely and scored a try and conversion through out half Ronan Daly. The Lions had a few debutants in their ranks and this augurs well for the return games after christmas.

Training has been excellent recently and continues for all in Guinans field on fridays at 7.30pm

West Offaly Lions Minis blitz was called off at the last minute due to frozen pitches but this week we have a blitz with Nenagh and midland Warriors at the school field at 11.15 on sunday.

u.14's hope to have a game against Tullamore on saturday