U8 Hurling Blitz 23rd October 2010
Glenalbyn played host to top class Under 8 hurling on a beautiful winter's morning on Saturday 23rd October 2010. Teams from all four provinces were represented on the day. From Galway we had Clarinbridge and Castlegar, from Belfast we had O'Donovan Rossa, from Waterford we had Mount Sion, Naomh Eanna travelled up from Gorey and the Dubs were repesented by Cuala and two teams from Crokes.
To view the excellent days event programme and team profiles click here
15 – a- side hurling is still relatively new to our lads, but the two Kilmacud Crokes teams were well marshalled by Dara O'Mahony and Brendan Scanlon. The hurling was fast and furious with no quarter given or taken. KC1 had a tough draw and after winning their opener well against O’Donovan Rossa, found themselves outplayed by the Clarinbridge boys. Their final group game was against Mount Sion and while it was all square at half time, the Waterford team stepped up a gear in the second half to clinch the game and top the group. That left Crokes in a play-off with Cuala for 5th. O’Mahony didn’t have much to do to motivate his team against their neighbours and KC2 restored some pride with a well deserved victory.
The KC2 team managed to top their group with victories over Castlegar (3-2 v 1-0) and Cuala (6-0 v 1-0) and a last gasp draw against arch rivals Naomh Eanna (1-0 v 1-0). This led to a semi-final pairing against O'Donovan Rossa where the lads were on fire with a very strong performance (6-0 v 1-0). The half-time team talk from Bainisteoir Scanlon was awe inspiring (he might be in line for that vacant Tipp job!). Mount Sion came through undefeated in the other section and provided Crokes with a very competitive challenge in the final. The first half had Crokes well on top and they were unlucky to be only 0-1 to 0-0 ahead at the break. The Deise boys came out strong in the second half and scored 2 fine goals to take the spoils with a scoreline of 2-0 to 0-1.
A fantastic day was had by all and well done to Mark Lohan as overall coordinator and Fiona Hayes as chief adminstrator. A big thank you to all parents who helped feed the hungry players and supporters!
To see photos of the day, courtesy of Steve Brennan, click on the camera above or click HERE