GREAT START TO THE SEASON FOR THE U9 (2004) KILMACUD CROKES HURLERS

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Report for weekend of 23 February 2013

Overall summary

KC u9 (2004) hurlers had a very successful opening foray into this season’s Go Games last Saturday, 23rd February 2013.  Panel 1 travelled to play Ballyboden St Enda’s Panel 1 in Sancta Maria while Panel 2 hosted Cuala at Oatlands College.  Both panels were successful on the day, but even more importantly from the mentors’ point of view, there were excellent performances from the boys across both panels, which give us great encouragement for the season ahead!

Well done to all and keep up the good work!

The individual match reports are included below. In reading these reports, please note some of the key u9 Go Games rules:

  • Each match lasts 40 minutes, with each half consisting of 10 minutes ground hurling followed by 10 minutes ‘air’ hurling (but no soloing permitted);
  • ‘Goals’ are worth 1 point, while ‘overs’ are worth 3 points;
  • There is an additional skill bonus point for a clean catch of a sliotar struck from distance.

 

PANEL 1 V BALLYBODEN ST ENDA’S PANEL 1 (SANCTA MARIA)

OVERALL SCORE: KC1 17-4-0 (29) V BALLYBODEN ST ENDA’S 6-5-1 (22)

Team 1: Robbie Creasey, Cormac Curran, Gearόid Fitzgerald, John Gilsenan, Terry Jones, Ruaidhrí MacDonncha, Keelan Murphy, Niall O'Mahony,  Conor Stephens and Conor Vaughan

Score: KC 5-1-0 (8) v Ballyboden 3-0-1 (4)

The team togged out on a cold, snowy morning against Ballyboden St Enda’s.  This was our boys’ first outing against Ballyboden, and of the new season, and they did the club proud. The first 10 minutes of ground hurling was a tough affair with Crokes’ commitment, skill and grittiness seeing them take the lead as they entered and dominated the first session of air hurling and went into half time well ahead.  Crokes continued to dominate throughout the second half with excellent blocking, passing and team work seeing Crokes take the spoils on the day. Final score 5-1 to 3-0 with Ballyboden getting a well-deserved skill point for an excellent catch. What a great start to the season for the U9s! 

Mentor: Simon Murphy

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Team 2: Dylan Arundel, Gavin Bermingham, Paul Dalton, Eoin Kenny, Danny Killeen,  Conan MacSweeney, Oisín McCann, Dan Murphy, Michael Sullivan

Score: KC 6-2-0 (12) v Ballyboden 1-1-0 (4)

A sterling display from our lads on a very cold Saturday morning against Ballyboden.  They dominated from the start and were mostly first to the sliotar.  When the sliotar was lost, they tackled stoically and with good use of the shoulder and block, they generally managed to win back possession successfully.  The team achieved a healthy half time lead, by 4 goals to 1 point. The 2nd half continued in much the same manner except that we were at little less clinical in our finishing scoring a further 2 goals and 2 points.  Final score was 6 goals and 2 points to 1 goal and 1 point.  A very comprehensive victory!

Mentor: Shay McCann

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Team 3: Sean Bradley, Thomas Downey, Shane Gallagher, Sean Horan, David Hyland, Rory Kelly, Eoin Keys, Donnacha McGinley, Ryan Nolan and Hugh Reid

Score: KC 6-1-0 (9) v Ballyboden 2-4-0 (14) 

On a cool fresh morning our team played  Ballyboden St Enda’s in our first go game of the year. The first ten minutes of the match were ground hurling only and our lads started well, with some fine first time hurling and doubling on show. We had some fine passages of play and the goals started to flow. The second quarter was full hurling rules, bar no solo running.  Ballyboden started to play very well at this stage but our boys kept them having to fight very hard for every ball. The second half was more of the same with our boys hurling up a storm and being matched by Ballyboden stroke for stroke. In the end Ballyboden edged us out but with dare I say Crokes finishing the stronger.  The most satisfying thing from the Crokes perspective was we had six different scorers. One other notable fact from the game was that one of the Ballyboden players scored four points from play which is some feat from a group of nine year olds. All our players showed great determination and skill and should be very proud of their display.

Mentors: Gavin Hyland & John Downey

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PANEL 2 V CUALA (OATLANDS)

OVERALL SCORE: KC2 24-2-0 (30) V CUALA 4-1-0 (7)

Team 1: Gavin Bane, Matthew Blanker, Joe Cullen, Thomas Doran, Adam Fearon, James Hamill, Matthew Kane, Luke O'Gorman and Oisín Tiernan

Score: KC 2-2-0 (8) v Cuala 4-1-0 (7)

Team 1 had a tough match against their equivalent side from Cuala. The match ended 2-2 to Kilmacud v's 4-1 to Cuala - a one point win for the Stillorgan side. The first half of the match was a low scoring affair with KC scoring just a single point. The second half opened up and saw well taken scores by both sides. Even though it was a cold morning, there was lots of spirit in both teams and the result could have easily gone either way. Cuala had a run of 3 unanswered scores in the second half that without resolute defending from the KC team the result could easily have gone the other way.

Mentor: Declan Kane
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Team 2: Fionn Boyd, Joe Broderick, Cian Browne, James Coady, Aaron Golden, Joshua Scallan, Ivan Tiernan and Tom Wyley

Score: KC 12-0-0 (12) v Cuala 0-0-0

A very well organised performance by the KC Boys against Cuala on Saturday morning in Oatlands. Despite Cuala having an extra player (9 against the KC team of 8), the boys didn't take long to take control. Joe Broderick opened his account with 3 early goals. Joe and Fionn caused Cuala a lot of problems up front and they combined well with the midfield to keep the Cuala boys in their own half. Our keepers in the first half barely had a look at the ball, as anytime it came over the halfway line, it was quickly retrieved and sent back with interest, as a result of very strong ground strokes. At the end of half time, the KC team were 5 – 0 ahead (with Fionn scoring a great goal and Joe, on fire, scoring 4)

The spirits were obviously very high at half time, with plenty of smiles on the players’ faces. We rearranged the team with Joshua and James now taking the forward positions. Almost from the throw-in, the KC boys took immediate control of the game and started another goal blitz. Despite Cuala having learnt from the first half that they would benefit from a keeper that could hit long puck-outs, our players won most of the midfield balls and kept sending them towards the Cuala goal. The 2nd half produced 6 goals for the KC team (2 for Joshua, 2 for James and another 2 for Joe from midfield), with a bonus “own goal” making up the dozen scores. The KC Forwards worked well as a unit this week, with great passing, supporting and shooting.

Aaron, Cian, Ivan and Tom proved to be the strong backbone of the team today, with strong tackling followed by great passing forward proving to the be foundation of our win. Each of these players had terrific games, creating a wall-like defence that Cuala struggled to break through. In the last 10 minutes of the game, the KC team were reduced to 7 players, but they still dominated the 9 players of Cuala.

Overall, a terrific game. One of the most rewarding aspects of the match for the Mentors this week was the fact that the KC team played a very mature game, staying in their positions and not crowding the ball. The KC team were able to win a lot of tackles and pass the ball around or through “bunches” of players, to find their teammates further up the pitch.

Mentors: Ciaran Scallan & Cormac Browne

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Team 3: Sean Aherne, William Bragg, Andrew Dillon, Scott Galvin, Tom Maher, Sean O’Hurley, Jamie O’Shea, David Ryan and Dylan Saunders

Score: KC 10-0-0 (10) v Cuala 0-0-0

Match 3 of our first Go Games outing of the year against Cuala saw an excellent display from both sides. Lots of skill and determination was on display from both sides. The first quarter was fairly evenly matched with attacks mounted on both ends of the field, but some scores from the Stillorgan lads soon saw them taking control of the game and it became difficult for Cuala to threaten the Crokes goal. We also benefited from a guest appearance from one of the u8’s when one of our players had to withdraw mid-way through the first half.

Some clean striking, doubling and players not afraid to lift the ball at times, gives encouragement for the rest of the season.

Mentors:  Sean O’Hurley & Sean O’Shea

Hurling, Hurling U9.