Crokes Retain Title At O’Loughlin Gaels Under 10 Tournament
Ominous rain clouds on the trip from Dublin to Kilkenny did nothing to dampen the spirits of the Kilmacud Crokes under 10 hurlers on Sunday 28th August 2011. Returning to O’Loughlin Gaels as reigning tournament champions the boys knew they were in for a toughs days hurling pitted against some of the best known clubs in the country.
The beautiful grounds of St Kierans College provided for a setting worthy of Hogworths and the play was indeed spellbinding! An open draw saw our boys in a tough group with Thomastown, Clara and James Stephens.
Our first game was against James Stephens and proved to be a challenging game. The boys battled hard and came out with their first victory of the day winning by and impressive 2-07 to 1-03
Next up were Thomastown and it was a game that went right down to the wire. In a tough physical game the boys threw everything at it and despite serious pressure on the Crokes goal our defence held firm and we went on to win the game 2-05 to 2-03.
Having beaten both James Stephens and Thomastown and given the results of the other games we knew we'd made the cup final going into the match against Clara. This seemed to lead to a slight foot off the pedal approach to the last game against Clara but with some encouragement from the line the boys went on to win 2-04 to 3-0 so 3 wins from 3 from their group.
The final beckoned against our nemesis Erin's Own Castlecomer who had beaten OLoughlin Gales, Dicksboro and St Martins of Wexford to the emerge as group B winners. We have played Castlecomer many times with the teams being very evenly matched so there we a buzz of excitement from both sides at the prospect of facing each other in the cup final. The last encounter saw Crokes winning so we knew Castlecomer would relish a rematch.
Nerves were tense on the sideline, nails were chewed and many a parent could be seen pacing the sideline waiting for the game to start. At last the whistle went and the game was on. Comer proved to have the better start drawing the first few scores and went into half time with a 2-01 to 0-01 lead. The Crokes mentors were not worried as they knew we'd been here before and the spirit and determination of the boys would emerge in the second half. As we went into the second half the boys grew in confidence and a goal after 5 minutes for Crokes started the fight back. A second goal and a point put us ahead of comer with four minutes to go and the tension on the sideline was almost too much to bear for the supporters. A Crokes goal in the last minute saw the sideline erupt and we knew with a four point lead with a minute to go the cup was almost certainly ours. The final whistle came to shouts of delight and the boys celebrated a well deserved victory. Medals were presented to all teams by Kilkenny’s Martin Comerford. This win was a real team effort with every one of the 16 man panel playing their part. They battled hard, fought for every ball and never lost their drive to win.
A superb display of skill from our young hurlers showing that the furture is bright for the capital and that Dublin hurling is well and truly back on the map.
Many thanks to our hosts O’Loughlin Gaels who organised a fantastic tournament and to all the teams who participated.
Results:
Kilmacud Crokes 2-07 James Stephens 1-03
Kilmacud Crokes 2-05 Thomastown 2-03
Kilmacud Crokes 2-04 Clara 3-0
Kilmacud Crokes 3-02 Erins Own 2-1
Panel : Sean Kealy , Dan Doyle, Brian Sheehy, Conor Hall, Luke Curtis, Shane Crowley, Jack Slattery, Padhraic Linehan, Oran Lavelle Hayes, Aaron O’Toole, Connor Mooney, Garry Byrne, Luke Russell, Brendan Horgan, Danny Murray, Mark O’Donohue.