Kilmacud Crokes Juvenile Hurling Committee

This has proved to be an enjoyable year for the Juvenile Hurlers in Kilmacud Crokes. The number of children playing hurling has increased across all age groups. We have competed well in the Dublin Go Games Cup and League competitions fielding ---- teams from U8 to U12. As usual we have travelled throughout the country in search of the best teams at our age groups and have competed well against them. The annual “Kilmacud Crokes on Tour” took place in April this year. The “Trip to Tipp” was a great success with over 250 children and adults travelling. The mini All Irelands were another enjoyable highlight with large numbers participating once again.

This year in October we hosted the Autumn Festival of Hurling at U9, U10 and U11 with teams travelling from Cork, Wexford, Antrim, Tipperary, Limerick, and Kilkenny to participate. Over 700 players took part in what has become a firm fixture in our hurling calendar. Many thanks are due to all who assisted over these three weeks.

Further testament to Kilmacud Crokes growing hurling reputation was an invitation to the James Stephens All Ireland Skills Challenge with one representative from teams from U8 to U12. The Crokes players won the overall competition, coming first in each age group, and took home trophies and 2 laptops and printers sponsored by DID.

The managers and mentors of the juvenile section have contributed enormously in both their coaching and administrative and fundraising capacities throughout the year.

While all of the voluntary efforts are to be applauded, we would like to thank Niall Corcoran, the club coach. Niall has continued to assist coaches with planning and has once again put particular efforts into the nursery groups which have benefited greatly.

 

U5 (born 2004) Nursery Hurling.

This new nursery group started in September and already is getting approx 50 players per session. The annual new “Parents Night” held in September was well attended and the group is already actively involved. 8 parents are enrolled for the Foundation course starting shortly. The group is managed by Declan Kane, Gearoid O’ Riain and John Babb.

 

'U6 (2003) Nursery Hurling

 2003 Nursery hurling has been very well attended this year.  Early in the year we had about 45 regular attendees from a registered list of close to 80.  Since September this year, we have increased numbers with quite a few new starters and are averaging about 60 each week.  Niall Corcoran was great help during the year as he gave us the drills and helped us understand how to manage a large group of very active 6 year olds!  Niall also ran a foundation course and many of the 2006 mentors attended this course earlier in the year.    John Maguire and I share responsibilities in organizing the group.  However, it is very easy to do so with the excellent help of the 16 active mentors whom I want to thank for all of their help during the year.  Our focus is for the kids to have fun and be safe while managing to develop some basic hurling and agility skills.  The hurling mini all Irelands were great and it was fun to see the kids getting real competitive when they put on their county Jerseys.'

Brian Harrison

 

Under 7 (2002) Nursery Hurling

Average numbers attending training are 60-65 each Saturday with 30-35 attending the new Thursday evening session. The Saturday sessions concentrate on ground hurling and striking skills with the Thursday night session dedicated to challenging. The Thursday session will be promoted to a much greater extent in the lead-up to February. Until then we will make it an 'option' for kids and parents.

Mentors now number 20 on average who attend and help on a weekly basis.

The kids’ first game for the Club was played in October against Naomh Olafs with another game planned for 21st November.

Mark Lohan

 

Under 8 (2001) Hurling Report

Starting in January 2009 we had 65 on the books from 2008 with an average attendance of 37. At the end of February we started with the go-games series until the end of May. We attended the annual Trip to Tipp and played against Durlas Og from Thurles and Emeralds from Urlingford. While we were narrowly defeated in Urlingford, while those attending Durlas Og were successful with an overall win. The majority of our regular hurlers took part in the Mini all Irelands in June.

On 21st June we brought a squad of 20 to play Erin’s Own of Castlecomer. This was the lads first 15 a side game, we suffered a narrow defeat but all of them were outstanding. Most of us went on to Nolan Park to watch the Dubs beat Wexford, congrats to Niall Corcoran on another fine performance. In early July we had a visit from St Galls from Antrim and had a good win. Training continued throughout the summer with two training sessions in Oatlands on Monday and Thursday evenings. Average attendance at these training sessions was 20. On 8th August we paid a visit to St Martins of Wexford. In total 26 players travelled and all players performed well and enjoyed the day winning all of their matches. We had a visit from Naomh Eanna on 16th August where Crokes came back from being down at half time to win narrowly. On the 29th August we attended the Naomh Eanna tournament where we were narrowly defeated in the semi final of the Bill Cullen Cup. In early October we had an enjoyable visit from Ballygarrett GAA. On 25th October we attended the Edenderry hurling blitz. We were limited in numbers and finished 3rd. Once again it was a very enjoyable day for all who participated even though it was a ‘bit’ damp. At present we are training on a Sunday evening at 5pm in the Paddock with an average attendance of 43 and will be finishing up at the end of November after a very successful year.

Ken Hall

 

Under 9 (2000) Hurling Report

Officially there are over 50 boys registered at under 9. However, throughout the year only about 40 boys have appeared for training or matches. During school term attendances at training are 30-35 mid week and 15-25 weekends. Fall-off at the weekends would be due to boys being involved in other sports. During the summer there was, a most disappointing, hard core of only 8-12 boys training.

In the Go-Games we fielded 4 teams, in a 3 team and a single team grouping. Fourteen match days have passed with the 3 team group unbeaten. The single team group have lost a couple of games and also conceded on a couple of days, due to lack of numbers. Average number of boys for Go Games is 32. There are not sufficient numbers to sustain 4 teams and it is envisaged we will have to confine ourselves to a 3 team group for the coming year.

In April as part of the clubs ‘Trip to Tipp’ we travelled to Dromaninch with 29 players and played 4 full rules hurling matches against tough local opposition. The boys rose to the challenge and competed favourably winning two and losing two.

During the summer we competed in two tournaments. In a twelve team Castlecomer tournament we lost the cup final to a fine home team. A couple of weeks later we had the edge over the same Castlecomer team in winning the James Stephens tournament.

As part of the Autumn Festival of Hurling we hosted a very successful 8 team tournament in Glenalbyn. Fielding two ‘A’ teams, we were unfortunate to loose out on a cup final place, on score difference, and went on to win the shield final. Aside from the on field action this was a great success in bringing the parents on board and they came out in force to support the day. A special word of thanks must go to Martin Lacey for sponsoring the Lacey Millennium Cup for the tournament.

Overall we are very happy with the progress the boys are making and would like to thank every one in the club for their continued support.

Robert Kinsella

 

U 10 (1999) Hurling Report

The U10 hurlers have had a busy and very successful year. From a coaching perspective, the focus during the year has been to develop the skills relevant for normal hurling rules as they make the gradual transition from the GO games and also create an awareness of the basic strategic aspects of the game. In this respect there has been a great improvement from all of the players. Overall we have maintained active playing numbers on average at just over 40 boys, which enabled us to field four teams (9-a-side) in the GO games. During the summer months we managed to keep the group active by continuing to train once a week (although with depleted numbers) and by arranging challenge matches both in and outside of Dublin – we played games on at least six weekends during the summer period.

The group also embraced the club’s policy of playing as much hurling as possible against teams from the traditional hurling heartlands by regularly matching their skills over the year against clubs from counties such as Kilkenny, Wexford, Cork, Tipperary, Galway, Offaly, Laois and Antrim.

Over the course of the year we played in tournaments in Na Fianna, Naas, O’ Loughlin Gaels, Naomh Eanna and Edenderry and we also hosted our own tournament in Glenalbyn as part of the Autumn Hurling Festival, where we were runners up in the Cup and winners of the Shield.

In April we played challenge matches away to Nenagh Eire Og and Toomevara as part of the Trip to Tipp. We followed that in May and June by travelling to James Stephens, Cloughbawn and Castlecomer for games and we hosted Naas and St Galls in Glenalbyn. During the summer we played the Laois development squad in Portlaoise and hosted a return game against Toomevara in Glenalbyn. In September, one of the highlights of the year for the boys was a challenge match against Portumna which was followed by a skills session with their senior inter-county players. Last month we hosted Realt-Na-Mara, Ballygarrett in Oatlands for a friendly game.

During the year our three-team group have participated in eleven GO games fixtures and the one-team have played six times and also took part in a blitz just before the summer. Training numbers during the year have averaged about 33 boys on Tuesday evenings and 18 boys on Sunday mornings. The group is currently training each Tuesday evening in the hurling arena/wall and on Sunday mornings in the Paddock.

Finally, many thanks to all the mentors who have shown great commitment and enthusiasm over the year.

Alan Keogh

 

U11 (1998) Hurling Report

The U11 Hurlers enjoyed a busy and reasonably successful playing year in 2009.

This year we fielded 3 Teams in the U11 Go Games Competitions and have an active playing complement of approx 38 boys. We reached the Final of the single team Competition but were beaten by a very strong Na Fianna team.

During the year we made trips to Tournaments in Na Piarsaigh, Ballyragget. Dicksboro,  Thurles, James Stephen’s and Na Fianna with the players and parents experiencing tremendous hospitality from the host Clubs. In October this year we hosted a 12 Team Tournament as part of the Club’s Festival of Hurling and we emerged victorious after a tight battle with St John’s of Belfast. Training has continued throughout the year on a twice weekly basis and the concentration continues to be on Skill Development and enjoyment.

There is a lot of often unseen work being done by our mentors and I would like to thank Eoin O Neill, Philip Comerford, Barry Dunbar, Conor Boyce, and Daragh Lyndon in particular for all their dedication during the year. I would also like to thank Coiste for their support in the organising of the Festival of Hurling and look forward to another exciting year in 2010.

 

U12 (1997) Hurling Report

Mentors: Collie Maher, Dermot Connor, Tony Fleming, James O’Cleirigh, Paul Gorman

Players: Panel at start of year   41       Panel at end of year            46

Coaching: Bi weekly sessions (Tue & Sun) Feb to Nov – approx 65 sessions in total

In both Dublin Cup and League we fielded 2 equally balanced teams (KC1 and KC2) in Division 1 and we had a rotating panel for the KC3 team in Division 4. We had good assistance from the U11 panel in helping us field our 3rd team and summer fixtures. A couple of our stronger lads are playing occasionally with the U13's

Clear progress was evident  in skill development from all those regularly playing and attending coaching. We have sustainedgreat parental involvement in assisting with coaching, games, trips and hosting teams.

 

 

Highlights

We hosted a high quality 4 team 15-a-side tournament. An opening loss to O ‘Loughlin Gaels was offset by fine victories over Na Fianna and James Stephens. This set up a final against Na Fianna who had drawn with James Stephens and progressed on score difference. A superb display in the final saw us victorious. B team narrowly missed out on making the final which was won by James Stephens