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Cycling club’s drive for better youth opportunities

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4 years ago

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0207354_Stefan1_-_Irish_squad.jpg
TEAM IRELAND: Killarney Cycling Club’s Stefan Caulfield-Dreier pictured at a training camp in Spain ahead of this weekend's U23 European Championships in the Netherlands. Photo: Cycling Ireland

Killarney Cycling Club’s Stefan Caulfield-Dreier is in Holland this week contesting the U23 Track Cycling European Championships.

He is the second member of Killarney Cycling Club to make the Irish team and follows in the wheels of John Blackwell who was on regular Irish Track Team duty between 2004-09 but plans being hatched by the local club could make this a more regular occurrence.

Stefan, who lives in Beaufort, started cycling with the club in 2013/14 in the U12 category and enjoyed mixing his cycling with other sports for a number of years. Along the way he had many successes culminating in an U16 national time-trial title in 2019 and this year he won two silver medals at the Irish Junior Track Cycling Championships.

“Stefan’s dedication to his sport is a beacon to all our young riders and shows that love of sport and hard work can pay off. On behalf of everyone in the club I congratulate Stefan, his parents Heiko and Louise who have closely supported him, and his club mentors,” said club chairman Mark Murphy.

The European Track Cycling Championship concludes in Appledoorn on Sunday – see next week’s Killarney Advertiser for a full breakdown on Stefan’s results across a series of different races and competitions.

The Ireland National Junior Coach, Martin O’Loughlin, speaking from the squad’s training camp in Spain, said that Stefan will compete in both the team pursuit and individual pursuit, and hopefully the Omnium which is four bunch races in a single day. He also paid tribute to Stefan’s work-ethic.

“He has made a huge commitment to track cycling this year, travelling twice a week from Kerry to Dublin for training, and it has paid off for him,” said O’Loughlin.

FUTURE OF CYCLING IN KILLARNEY

Following Stefan’s inclusion in the Irish team for this week’s European Championships, the local club will launch a new scheme to ensure that young cycling talent in Killarney will continue to reach the top of the sport.

“In the autumn we will launch a new initiative to promote the retention of young riders in the sport and to give a supported pathway of progression from U16 to Junior and onto to U23 level,” Mark said.

“We are going to spare nothing in this regard and I would like to thank all our sponsors and supporters whose good will and financing make this type of outcome possible.”

One of the club’s prime reasons for pushing on with a dedicated youth scheme is as a result of COVID-19 restrictions that prevented club members from competing in major events.

“It is especially significant given the difficulties with COVID-19 as our excellent crop of Juniors – which we had nurtured up through underage years - have missed out on two years of top-level competition and opportunity, such as The Junior Tour of Ireland. They would possibly have been one of the strongest Junior teams in the club’s history,” he added.

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Home cup tie for St Paul’s could be epic

Published

2 months ago

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7 November 2025

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Paudie O’Connor National Cup (Round 1)

Utility Trust St Paul’s v GCU Brunell

Saturday 7.30pm

Killarney Sports and Leisure Centre

The St Paul’s women’s team will be hoping to get their National Cup adventure off the ground on Saturday when they welcome 2024 champions Brunell to Killarney. Tip-off in the Killarney Sports and Leisure Centre is at 7.30pm.

Paul’s have displayed some fine early season form, although their unbeaten start in the Super League came to an abrupt end last weekend when they lost to the Trinity Meteors in Dublin. James Fleming’s side weren’t at their best on the day but they were well in contention heading into the final quarter with the scores at 47-45 in favour of the hosts. The Meteors pushed on in the fourth, however, eventually running out 63-53 winners.

St Paul’s scorers on the night were Maisie Burnham (13), Tara Cousins (12), Lorraine Scanlon (12), Lovisa Hevinder (9), Denise Dunlea (5) and Leah McMahon (2).

The Killarney club are now joint second in the table alongside the Meteors with both teams holding a 4-1 record. Killester are top having won each of their first five games.

Paul’s opponents on Saturday, Brunell, have won three out of five league matches so far.

LAKERS

The Utility Trust St Paul’s Lakers have now won three of their last four games in Division 1 of the Men’s National League following an impressive home victory over Moycullen in Killarney.

Eoin Carroll and Jack O’Sullivan made significant contributions of the Boys in Black; Carroll hit 17 points and collected 13 rebounds while O’Sullivan had 14 points, 12 rebounds and some spectacular blocks.

Steve Kelly posted 30 points and the durable Sam Grant played every second, adding 21 points along the way.

The Lakers started well before the visitors found their footing and the sides went in level at the half-time break after scores by home captain Carroll. There was still nothing to separate the teams entering the fourth quarter (68-65) but buckets by Carroll, Pablo Murcia and Grant opened up a nine-point lead. Moycullen fought back admirably, however, cutting the deficit to just four, but Luke O’Hea’s charges held firm to prevail by eight (88-80).

Next up is a cup tie against the Tipperary Talons, a side they defeated by 30 points just a couple of weeks ago. The cup can be very different to the league, though, and they will need another solid performance to advance to the next round. Tip-off in in Killenaule is at 6.30pm on Saturday.

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Chances of Kerry v Cork Munster final in 2026 decrease as Munster GAA delay seeding plan

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2 months ago

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7 November 2025

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After facing a backlash from Limerick, Clare, Waterford and Tipperary players, Munster GAA have postponed their plan to keep Cork and Kerry separate in the 2026 Munster Football Championship.

The new seeding system – which gives the two highest ranked Munster teams in the National League byes to separate semi-finals – will now come into play in 2027, twelve months later than initially planned.

This will give Clare and Limerick a chance to earn promotion to Division 2 of the league, potentially overtaking Cork if the Rebels were to get relegated to Division 3.

Despite traditionally being the two main contenders for Munster football honours, Kerry and Cork haven’t met in a provincial decider since 2021. The Kingdom have won each of the finals since then (one versus Limerick and three versus Clare) by an average margin of 15.75 points.

More high-profile Kerry v Cork finals might be desirable for fans of those teams, businesses in Killarney and Cork, and neutrals alike but Munster GAA’s plans to effectively keep the great rivals on opposite sides of the draw understandably drew criticism from the other participating counties. A statement by the GPA confirmed that players from Limerick, Clare, Waterford and Tipp had met via Zoom to discuss the matter. They were said to be “deeply disappointed and concerned” by the decision.

The 12-month delay will at least give two of those disaffected teams an opportunity to benefit from the new seeding process.

The draw for the 2026 Munster Football Championship will take place on November 27 under the old rules. As 2025 finalists, Kerry and Clare will get byes to the last four (but they will not necessarily be kept apart).

Nine members of Kerry’s squad are up for All-Stars at tonight’s awards ceremony in Dublin with Joe O’Connor and David Clifford also in contention for the prestigious Footballer of the Year award.

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