Our U16 hurlers suffered a heartbreaking 1-point defeat in Saturday’s county final played in tough conditions in Rathkeale. We entered the tie having had a comfortable victory over Monaleen in the semi-final two weeks previous, while Murroe Boher overcame Ahane to advance to the county decider. We had to do without one of our key forwards in Joe Daly following an unfortunate wrist injury he sustained earlier in the week.
We played with the aid of a significant breeze in the opening half, racing into a 3-1 lead early on. Shane Waters and Sean Connelly would hit a point each from play in addition to a Shane free. Shane would register 4 more placed balls in the opening half along with another from play. The score of the half came from our wing back Sean O’Brien, working his way up the field to drive one over from 50 yards. Murroe Boher looked lively though, and they kept us within touching distance. Their danger man, 14 Rian Horgan, was playing between midfield and the half forward line, and was proving to be a right handful. We entered the break ahead 8-points to 4 although Harry O’Sullivan had what appeared to be a perfectly good point waved wide just before the half time whistle. It looked to go straight over the black spot from my vantage point but for the umpire to wave wide. Our protests fell on deaf ears unfortunately. Notable performances in the first half from our full back line, Rian McHugh, Cian Moore and Alex Fox Scales. The lads did ever so well to deny our opponents any clear cut goal chances. We maintained that form in the second half along with Fin Conlon finding excellent range with his puck-outs all throughout.
We knew the second half would be a slog but we probably didn’t envisage a wait of 27 minutes before getting our next score. It may read poorly but once again, our backs did ever so well to limit the Murroe Boher forwards and keep them within arms length. George Bourke was a rock at the heart of our defense, as he was in the Féile back in the summer. Ronan Gleeson was providing excellent support on his left along with Sean O’Brien to his right. 3 solid lads and well able to hurl.
Our U16 squad
Our opponents scored 6 unanswered points in the second period before Shane clipped a free to bring us back within one. From the resultant puck-out, we managed to gather possession from what were a scrappy few phases of play. Daniel O’Donovan and Charlie Ryan exchanged a couple of one-two’s before Daniel let fly from out on the right, within touching distance of the sideline. The sliotar dropped onto the net, and the white flag was raised. Sean O’Brien may have gotten the score of the first half, but this was the score of the game. We regained possession from the resultant puck-out with Shane engineering a free in the centre of the field, and well within his range. As he stood over the ball, ref Tom McGlinchey signalled for 6 minutes of additional time. Shane slotted the free to put us a point ahead but Murroe Boher soon equalised. With 66 minutes played, Shane won possession in midfield. He put the head down for goal but was harshly blown for steps when it looked to be a free in our favor. Murroe Boher converted the resultant free to put them a point up. We did our best but couldn’t wrangle one last scoring opportunity before full time was blown.
The lads left every last ounce of energy on the pitch on Saturday morning and you couldn’t ask any more of them. We may rue a couple of goal chances, had they gone our way the result may be different. But still so many positive and encouraging signs about the health of hurling in Na Piarsaigh. Notable performances from George Stack at midfield and Charlie Ryan at centre forward, while Ross O’Flanagan and Harry O’Sullivan were a scoring threat all day. Liam Sheehan also caused problems for the Murroe Boher defense when introduced early in the second half.
Great credit to the management team of Martin Waters, Pat Gleeson, James Ryan, Rob O’Sullivan, Brendan O’Flanagan, Brian Kehoe and Kevin Daly.
It mustn’t go unsaid the poor choice of venue for a premier grade county final. Underage or not, the Rathkeale pitch was not fit for this spectacle. Played on the pitch directly in front of the dressing rooms, there was no scoreboard or sheltered viewing area for travelling fans on what was a miserable morning. Couple that with the pitch not being fenced off. The ref had to ask spectators on more than one occasion to step back from the sideline throughout the game. And all this went on while the main pitch in Mick Neville Park was laying idle beside us. Simply not good enough from the county board.
Team: Fin Conlon, Rian McHugh, Cian Moore, Alex Fox Scales, Sean O'Brien(0-01), George Bourke, Ronan Gleeson, Shane Waters(0-08, 0-05f, 1'65), George Stack, Daniel O'Donovan(0-01), Charlie Ryan, Sean Connelly(0-01), Darragh Kirwan, Ross O'Flanagan, Harry O'Sullivan.
Subs used: Liam Sheehan
Subs not used: Noah Jordan, Joe Daly, Aodh Keating, Cian Maloney, Eoin Bermingham, Aaron Ward, Cathal O'Mara, Conal O'Brien, Michael O'Connor, Harry Kehoe, Cathal O'Doherty, Leon Moynihan, Odhrán Roche, Evan Gardiner
