With the under-age club committee working diligently on off-field activities, they are also in over-drive managing training and games activities for teams all the way through from Under 6 to Under 18. In last month’s report, the spotlight of the discussion was placed on the Under 13 team. This month some of the recent activities of the younger teams will be reflected upon.
The under 10 side have had a very busy past number of weeks with games in both hurling and football. This team, managed by Richie Sherlock, Peter Docherty, Paul Harte, Ciarán Hickey and Conor Kelleher, started out their competitive games by welcoming Brian Dillons to our grounds, where both teams played out a most entertaining game of football. All the way through from Aaron Wallace in goal to Jack O Callaghan and Tadhg Barry in the corner forward positions, this team illustrated that the time spent in training was really beginning to pay-off, with the hand-passing, blocking and fielding really strong from the lads in green. However special mention must go to the lassie on duty, Orla Coffey who pulled off a superb block to deny Brian Dillons a certain goal at a vital stage of the game.
One week later, it was off on the road, as the team travelled to take on Grenagh in both a hurling and football game. The real highlight of these two fine tussles was a spectacular hurling ground-stroke from Cathal O Flynn who first timed his effort from 35 yards to the back of the Grenagh net. In the football game the goal scoring prowess of Fionn Hickey and Alex O Keeffe had the Grenagh defence in all sorts of bother. Conor Docherty, Peter Twomey, David O Connell, Cian O Brien & Luke Murphy were others to excel in these two encounters.
Just over a week later it was off to Whitechurch for another football game and in this particular encounter it was our defence that stood out. Patrick O Hara, despite being caught with an early belt to the face, broke up many a Whitechurch attack, while outside him Robbie O Driscoll, Kaelan Skillington, Gavin Cronin & Alex Loftus were all very involved early on. Up front Adam Skillington and Mark Wallace won some very good possession, while the returning Tom Casey also caught the eye, with some well taken scores.
The under 6, 7 and 8 teams all travelled to Whitechurch also in recent weeks for both football and hurling games. The under 8’s got off to a slow start but then a goal from Stephen Whooley settled the team. There was some great defending from Harry Coughlan, Senan Ryan, Harry Buckley and Danny Lenihan with Daniel Kelleher pulling off some great saves. Sean Twomey, Charlie Minihane, and Liz Twomey, Eolan Dill and Ben Keegan made a big impression on the day.
The under 7’s game proved to be very exciting with Ethan Ryan, Charlie Browne, Luke Murphy and Luke Kelleher giving big performances on the day. Seamus Hennessy, Robert Docherty, Pearse Noonan and James Dunlea worked very hard with Brendan Quain earning quite a reputation for his battling qualities. This was the first competitive outing for the under 6’s. The strength of Ciaran Atkins and James Kelleher showed on the day with some great defending by Eddie Coughlan and Cathal Whooley. Sean Delaney worked hard up front along with brother and sister Bobbi and Oisin O’Connell.