{"id":594599,"date":"2026-08-16T01:50:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-16T01:50:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/594599\/"},"modified":"2026-08-16T01:50:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T01:50:09","slug":"curran-brothers-central-to-crucial-championship-victory-for-castlerea-gaa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/594599\/","title":{"rendered":"Curran brothers central to crucial championship victory for Castlerea &#8211; GAA"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"\">John and Dara Curran helped Castlerea St. Kevin\u2019s pick up their first win in this year\u2019s senior football championship as the local club action continued across County Roscommon on Saturday evening.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Dara Bruen\u2019s side were 1-14 to 1-6 victors in their Group C clash against Elphin at Rockfield, with John Curran hitting 1-5, while his younger brother Dara nailed a two-point free at the death to cement his side\u2019s triumph.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">A couple of two-pointers from Adam McDermott helped the winners build up an early six-point lead.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Then, a flowing move in the 21st minute allowed McDermott to tee up John Curran who provided an assured finish.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Cillian Fox hit back immediately with a much-needed green flag for Elphin, but Castlerea remained in the box seat at half time, leading by 1-9 to 1-1.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">The second half was a poor spectacle as both teams missed a hatful of chances. A two-pointer from Evan Gunn hinted at an Elphin revival but they could get no closer than six points, and Dara Curran\u2019s well-struck two-point free at the death ensured Castlerea were up and running in the group.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Adam McDermott with the assist \u27a1\ufe0f John Curran with a tidy finish \ud83d\ude4c<\/p>\n<p>Lightning-fast football from Castlerea St. Kevin\u2019s! \u26a1\ufe0f\ud83d\udd25<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/StKevins?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow\">@StKevins<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/RoscommonGAA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow\">@RoscommonGAA<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/hashtag\/ClubberTV?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow\">#ClubberTV<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/YYewhWJ8Ts\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/YYewhWJ8Ts<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Clubber (@clubber) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/clubber\/status\/2088683532566618417?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow\">August 15, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Reigning champions St. Brigid\u2019s racked up their second victory in Group A with a routine 2-14 to 1-7 victory against Western Gaels in Tulsk.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">A Rory Hester two-pointer was the key score early on as Western Gaels established a 0-3 to 0-1 lead.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">But the St. Brigid\u2019s response was emphatic as they hit 1-6 without reply. Conor Hand set up Charlie O\u2019Carroll for the goal but Western Gaels were handed a lifeline before the break when Patrick Gaynor\u2019s free into the box ended with Ruaidhr\u00ed Fallon being pinged for charging.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Finbarr Cregg made no mistake from the resultant penalty but Conor Hand replied with St. Brigid\u2019s second goal to leave his side 2-7 to 1-3 to the good at half time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">With top scorer Ben O\u2019Carroll ending up with 0-6, including five from play, Brigid\u2019s kept the scoreboard ticking over in the second half, without ever setting the world alight, to run out ten-point winners.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">There was a huge shock in Group C of the McNulty\u2019s Furniture Intermediate Football Championship as Kilmore brought high-flying Fuerty crashing back down to earth with a 1-12 to 1-8 victory in Strokestown.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">A couple of orange flags from Gary Connellan alongside another from Jamie Connellan left Kilmore 0-8 to 0-2 ahead, but a couple of Gearoid Ennis frees left Fuerty just four points behind at the break.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">A hat-trick of scores from Caelan Bracken moved Kilmore further ahead before Fuerty hit 1-3 without reply \u2014 the goal coming from Cormac Lavin after Ennis\u2019 attempt for a two-pointer fell short.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">But Jamie Connellan\u2019s goal in injury time helped seal Kilmore\u2019s biggest win in years.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/3864326_4_articleinline_GOL_7868_Fotor.jpg\" alt=\"Kilmore's Gary Connellan in action during his side's famous victory against Fuerty in Strokestown on Saturday evening. Picture: Gerard O'Loughlin\" title=\"Kilmore's Gary Connellan in action during his side's famous victory against Fuerty in Strokestown on Saturday evening. Picture: Gerard O'Loughlin\" class=\"card-img\"\/>Kilmore&#8217;s Gary Connellan in action during his side&#8217;s famous victory against Fuerty in Strokestown on Saturday evening. Picture: Gerard O&#8217;Loughlin<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">In the only other intermediate championship match of the evening, Shannon Gaels put their opening round disappointment against Creggs behind them, crushing P\u00e1draig Pearses by 3-22 to 0-4 in Lisnamult.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Goals in the opening 20 minutes from Conan Fitzpatrick and Matthew Bourke helped Shannon Gaels take a 2-14 to 0-3 lead into the interval.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Predictably, the game\u2019s intensity petered out in the second half, but midfielder Hugh Molloy\u2019s fisted goal in the 47th minute put the icing on a comprehensive victory for the North Roscommon side.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\n             *Match reports from all four of Saturday evening\u2019s games in Tuesday\u2019s Roscommon Herald. <\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"John and Dara Curran helped Castlerea St. Kevin\u2019s pick up their first win in this year\u2019s senior football&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":594600,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-594599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=594599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594599\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/594600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=594599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=594599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=594599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}