U14B's Marvellous weekend in the Banner County supporting A's

 Great Weekend for U14Bs in Clare: Hurling, supporting, swimming & socialising!

18 U14B hurlers and 14 parents departed from Glenalbyn on Friday afternoon 18th June with the main task in hand to support the U14A’s in the Feile Na nGael in the banner county. Some parents headed west much earlier to collect their boys from Galway based Irish colleges and all descended on the famed Sarsfields club (the 1st club to win back to back All-Ireland club championships) in the parish of “Bullaun-New Inn” east Galway for a challenge game that evening. The Crokes boys were keen and hit the ground running with particularly strong showing by Ruairi Geraghty at full back ably assisted by Johnny Maher & Andrew Aherne in the corners – returning with interest any ball making its way to the full line. Fergal Whitley opened the scoring with a neat point followed by a goal from Hubert Barry who put in an excellent shift – no doubt pleasing so for Hubert who had a country cousin playing for the Sarsfields. Adam Tuck & Syed Risvi led the way from midfield and Colin Smyth (following a rasper from Kevin Culligan rebounding off a defenders helmet), Fergal, Paul Comerford & Niall Sweeny added points before Daniel Bohan goaled and Niall raised a further white flag. Crokes led at the break 2-6 to 0-1. Andrew Porter, Stephen O’Hurley & Andrew Liffey performed very well as a half back unit. Management rang the tactical changes at half time with Cillian Fleming coming out of goal and Niall Sweeny moving to an unaccustomed corner back role where he “swept” up excellently. Robert Cahill came off the bench to show some deft touches. The game ended with Crokes running out victors on a score of 2-9 to 0-3. Sarsfields had some fine players but many of them younger than ours. The panel was: Cillian Fleming, Andrew Aherne, Ruairi Geraghty, Johnny Maher, Stephen O’Hurley, Andrew Porter, Andrew Liffey, Syed Risvi, Adam Tuck, Kevin Culligan, Niall Sweeny, Fergal Whitley, Hubert Barry, Paul Comerford, Colin Smyth, Daniel Bohan & Robert Cahill.

At the end a picture of the two teams together was taken followed by a carefully orchestrated “water attack” on one of the mentors! A very hospitable Sarsfields treated adults and children to welcome refreshments. We hope to see them at Kilmacud in the not too distant future.

We headed via Loughrea, Gort & cross country via the picturesque Karst landscape of the Burren to our weekend hostel base in the lovely village of Corofin.

The sun shone brightly on Sat and we made our way to Shannon to support the boys in the Feile with sleep banks a little on the low side! Following victories over Wolfe Tones & Kilcormac the quarter final was scheduled for 4pm in Clarecastle so we headed back to base and under the watchful eye of Dave Master Chef Comerford 24 adults and kids were fed with a choice of two excellent main courses – compliments to Trish & Jane.

The 4pm game in which Crokes were victorious over Kilkenny champions O’Loughlin Gaels was the game of the weekend and an absolute pleasure to watch. The semi was set for 7pm and with the heat beating down and the excitement building we needed to cool down. As Christy Moore sang in the famed Lisdoonvarna: “ Here we are in the county Clare….everyone needs a break, climb a mountain, jump in a Lake..”. We took him at his word and headed back to Corofin for a swim in a beautiful local Lake down an unmarked bohereen. This was extremely popular with all the boys. We headed back to Clarecastle but alas the U14A’s fell at the penultimate step to a very fresh Na Piarsiagh – simply a game too far after the enormous exertions of the afternoon quarter final.

That evening we all attended a social gathering in Barefield village. The weekend was capped off with a game for the U14Bs versus Sixmilebridge (“The Bridge” locally) on Sunday at 11am in blistering heat. This was a very keenly fought game with the Bridge leading 0-3 to 0-1 after 15 mins and raining the ball down on our full back line where Matt Redmond, Ruairi Geraghty & Johnny Maher cleared their lines superbly. Paul Comerford notched up 1-2 before half time along with an Adam Tuck point to leave Crokes ahead at the break on a score of 1-3 to 0-3.  Niall Sweeny & Syed Risvi laid the 2nd half platform for Crokes to run out winners on a score of 4-8 to 1-4. The panel was: Cillian Fleming, Matthew Redmond, Ruairi Geraghty, Johnny Maher, Andrew Porter, Stephen O’Hurley, Andrew Aherne, Syed Risvi, Adam Tuck, Hubert Barry, Niall Sweeny, Kevin Culligan, Colin Smyth, Paul Comerford, Daniel Bohan, Robert Cahill, Andrew Liffey &Fergsl Whitley.

We returned to Glenalbyn were the weekend was wound up with some Pizza in the company of the A team. All the boys (and parents) had a weekend that will live long in the memory. The boys were a credit and represented their club superbly on and off the pitch. The craic & slagging was good throughout with the city boys perfecting their Clare accents under the tutelage of Mick Culligan! Although I am not sure about the boys capabilities in Geography as one of my weekend passengers (who will remain unnamed) claimed to see the Blarney Stone in the vicinity of Ennis! Mind you on Friday night/Sat am in Corofin I think some of them may have swallowed the Blarney Stone!