The Under 10 Boys participated in the inaugural Joe Mullane memorial tournament in Mayfield GAA grounds on Saturday 24th September. White’s Cross won all three matches in their group stages, beating Brian Dillon’s, St. Vincent’s and Cobh to progress to the tournament Cup Semi-final as group leaders.
White’s Cross had a strong wind advantage in the first half in their semi-final game against Passage. They were able to build up a healthy lead going into half time knowing that they would be up against it in the second half. In the proverbial game of two halves, it was Passage, with their turn playing with the aid of the wind, dominating the second half. They reduced the deficit to one point and pressed hard for the equaliser. White’s Cross held their nerve however and repelled the Passage onslaught in the dying seconds to secure the win.
The final was a reply of the last group match between White’s Cross and Cobh a game won by the Cross with a last minute goal when trailing by two points. Cobh won the coin toss and elected to play against the wind in the first half. The first half was closely fought. Despite the wind advantage White’s Cross went in at half time one point down with the score being 1-0 to 0-2. It would be a tough uphill battle in the second half against a strong Cobh side who wanted to make up for their loss against White’s Cross in the group stages. They extended their lead to five points. White’s Cross stormed back into the game and scored two goals to go back into a one point lead with time almost up. However, the last kick of the game saw Cobh level the score and force extra time.
The White’s Cross team started the first half of extra time with the wind and built up a three point lead that Cobh could not come back from. In the dying seconds of the game Cobh had a free kick close to the White’s Cross end. A goal would have levelled the game and forced penalties, but the White’s Cross lads stood strong and blocked the goal attempt and win the tournament. The team of Alex Lynam, Ben Cashman, Bradley Roche, Cian Ramsell, Cooper Coleman, Daniel Magner, Gearoid Hayes, George O’Connell, Josh Holmes, Luke Aherne, Rory Aherne, Sam O’Connell, Sean McSweeney, Shane O’Halloran did their club, community, and families proud.