This weekend sees our U14 hurlers and mentors travel to Castlecomber in Kilkenny to take part in Féile na nGael 2017; already Jarlath Collins has competed in the Féile skills competition having come tops in the county skills competition. Well done to Jarlath on reaching the national competition and finishing in the top eight.
The Road to Féile
The Éire Óg U14 Hurlers have had a great year so far. The season started back in January with sessions in the Astro Turf outdoors regardless of the weather. I think at time, the players enjoyed the wet evenings more than the dry evenings.
The Championship got underway at the start of April with games more or less every Friday, with training sessions on Wednesdays. We got off to a good start with a home win against New Market on Fergus followed by a very tough match and a win away to Tulla. We then made the journey to Shannon to play Wolfe Tones who the previous week had beaten us in the Feile Football.
The Championship was interrupted on the May bank Holiday weekend to play the Féile qualifying round on the Friday evening where Éire Óg beat Kilmaley. On a beautiful first day of summer we played Bodkye/O’Callaghans Mills in the Semi Final. It was a very tough game with the opposition owning the lead for most of the game. A goal at the death by a super Éire Óg forward line paved our path to the Final v Crusheen/Tubber. The Final was an equally tough match but two Éire Óg goals proved to be the difference between the teams. A great win and a truly deserved place in the All Ireland Féile Finals in Kilkenny 16th/17th/18th June.
The fundraising began immediately and following some very generous support from the Ennis community and businesses and a very well supported and fun Bingo evening we have reached the required target to get the lads kitted out and transported to Kilkenny.
The U14 Championship resumed with a repeat of the Feile Final with a home game v Crusheen/Tubber. The lads were well aware of the threat of the opposition and made sure of the win. The following week was a home game against Bodkye/O’Callaghans Mills. This was one of our best performances of the year and it resulted in a well-deserved win. The final group game was away to the Banner and a win secured the home Semi Final spot against Ruan.
On a very wet evening in Éire Óg the Ruan defence stood strong and at the half time whistle we were only a point up having played with a strong wind. Following a nice calm team talk at half time the lads knew what had to be done and performed brilliantly to score 1-10 in the second half to secure the win.
The U14 2nd team have also remain unbeaten with wins against Clonlara 2, Ennistimon 2 and Cratloe 2. With the two U14 teams we have ensured every 13/14yr old player who wanted to play Hurling got loads of game time and the wins are just a bonus.
The following is the itinerary for Feile na nGael 2017.
Friday 16th June.
5.00pm. Éire Óg v Graiguenamanagh
6.00pm. Éire Óg v Ardrahan
Saturday 17th June.
11.00 Am. Erins Own v Éire Óg
12.15pm. Depart Castlecomer for Ferns for next round of games.
Hopefully we will make the finals on Sunday 18th June.
The provisional plan for the U14B & U14B/C Shield finals is to play them on the weekend of the 23/24/25 June.
The attached photo shows:
Back Row from left to right; Eoin O’Shaughnessy, Peadar O’Keeffe, Conor Kilcawley, Fionn McMorrough, Oran Cahill, Eoin Guilfoyle, Jarleth Collins, James Lyne, Cian Meere, Eoghan Moylan, Aaron lillis, Michael Heneghan, John Connaughton, Killian Fawl, Aiden Meany, Cillian Moroney.
Front Row from left to right; Peadar McNeils, Jack Lynch, Craig Briggs, Andrew McElwee, Darragh Stack, Liam Kavanagh, Conor Hennessey, Morgan Kelly, Lee Tierney.
Missing from the photo are; Cuan O’Glaisne, Cian Murphy, Alex Dilger and Evan White.
Team Mentors: Kevin Brennan, Danny Russell, Eamon Murphy, Tony Moroney and Steve Briggs.
Peter Kavanagh-Éire Óg Inis Academy
