The curtain came down on our hurlers year in Pirc na bPiarsach in Arklow on Saturday with a defeat at the hands of Avondale in the Billy Byrne Cup. This competition is played annually to decide which clubs will occupy the 5th and 6th positions in Cill Mantins order of hurling merit. The teams had drawn in the early stages of the championship but, in the meantime, the ire g squad had been ravaged by injuries to key personnel e.g. the Kelly brothers and Peter Keane while Chunky Nolan was in snare to globalized travel so ire gs chances going into the match would not have been rated highly.
Nevertheless our lads made a lively start, showed well in the early stages and opened the scoring thro Andy Walsh (he was to add 3 others from play). However ire gs endemic malaise quickly showed its presence and this was almost immediately followed by 2 sigh-generating wides. The ensuing bout of play proved, in the long run, to be outcome-determining. These sighs of disappointment had scarcely died when Dan ONeill was retrieving the ball from his net. His puck-out afforded little relief to our besieged defence and a few minutes later he was engaged in the same act of recovery. Hammer blows but not fatal to our lads endeavours! Theirs was a feisty response but the bugbear of inaccuracy limited their scoring before the break to 2 points from play, one from Andy and the score of the match from Gavin Parslow, and 2 from frees off the reliable camn of Pooch Cranley. Half-time saw Greystones 2-11 to 0-8 behind.
In the 2nd period the tempo of the game increased and Na Clocha Liatha began to eat into the Avondale lead. Unfortunately it was not long into the 3rd quarter when we were reduced to 14 men. However this did not prove to have the anticipated detrimental effect and the ire g advance continued. On the three-quarter mark a Greystones goal from Dan ONeill (who had moved outfield from between the posts) which left ire g just a goal behind, 1-11 to 2-11, had the opposition worried. At this stage Avondale recovered their composure and added 3 points. Yet our lads did not relent in their efforts and had us on our feet at the 55 minute mark when an Anto Byrne bullet seemed destined for the net. A fantastic save by the Avondale goalie. If that had gone in? ire g outscored Avondale 1-6 to 5 points in the 2nd half.
U14 Hurling B Championship Final. (Buochas to Colm Dorgan for this report)
Luck was not on our side today as we came up short on a scoreline of Avondale Parnells 5-03 to North Wicklow Gaels 2-07. Avondale were quick out of the blocks and after 10 minutes were 2 goals to the good but then our lads settled into the game and put the next 4 scores on the board after some brilliant build up play. At this stage the Gaels were pressing all over the field but we could not find the target often enough and as half time approached and an all mighty downpour with it, it wasn’t looking good for our chances in the second half as we trailed by 5 points and the prospect of playing into the teeth of a rain storm.
With some great words of encouragement from their Mentors still ringing in their ears the lads came out in the second half and completely dominated this game to the final whistle but just could not get the scores to win the game. The Avondale goalkeeper who deservedly received the man of the match award pulled of some terrific saves at vital times to keep his team in front to the end to claim the victory.
The lads deserve great credit as they battled with great spirit and determination from start to finish as they have been doing all year and with the talent and skill that is within this squad they will have plenty of better days ahead.
From defeats like this the seeds of victory are sown…
Team : Shane Collins, Colm Shortt, Cillian Keane, Sean McCormack, Eoin Byrne, Thade Shanahan, Ben O Neill, Neil Browne, Joe Prendergast, Daniel Healy, Luke Dorgan, Michael Gray, Aaron Keddy, Bill O Brien, Oisin Shanahan, Kieran Ovenden. Fionn Mansfield also part of panel.
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