Crokes pipped by James Stephens in U13s Final

All roads led to Deer Park for the 6th annual u-13  11-a- side tournament.  This was one of te three competitons run as part of the meteor Kilmacud Crokes All-Ireland Hurling Sevens.

Kilmacud Crokes first game was against St Josephs Doora Barefield who put us to the pin of our collars. A late goal by Shane and a pointed free by Mikey giving us a one point lead at the end.

Next up were Killenaule. An improved performance saw us win easy with goals from Conor ,Shane, Mikey(2) and Eoin.

Our final group game was against favourites James Stephens. Two fortuitous goals in the first half game the visitors a lead they never relinquished and they went on to win by 7 points. 

In  group two the surprise package were Monaleen who drew with Killeagh and beat Na Piarsaigh. This left them top of the group and a battle for second place between the two Cork teams. Na Piarsaigh prevailed with a great performance, Killeagh missing a last second   65 to give them the draw they needed.

Both semi finals were played at the same time. It was obvious we needed to up our game to go through and we did this in style, winning by 16 points which put us in appositive frame of mind for the final.

James Stephens accounted for Na Piarsaigh  with an 11 point winning margin to setup a repeat of the earlier group game.

The final played in front of a large attendance in Glenalbyn was a cracker, an epic final. James Stephens almost from the throw in broke for an early goal. The intensity of the game had eth crowd on their feet. At half time playing with the wind Crokes were two points down. Early in the second half a pass from Conor to Mikey resulted in Mikey finding the net to put us one point up with three minutes remaining. Tagdh brought of some great saves, one treble save brought spontaneous applause from the crowd. The James Stephens goalkeeper made a great save from  Shane, the ball went down field where James Stephens found the net, they then tacked on two pints without reply to bring us to the final whistle.  What a game. Speaking to Joe Deane on Sunday morning he paid tribute to the quality of the hurling which bodes well for the future of the game.

Our goalkeeper Tagdh was solid throughout but spectacular in the final. Mark had a great tournament and especially shone in the final. Alongside him Eoin Keane was steady as a rock and is improving by the week. Peter Herlihy had a great tournament (Mr. Consistency) and carried an injury to the final and showed great heart to finish.

Eamon Allen was immense in the final and did some great man marking jobs throughout the tournament. In this role he played a lot of games in defence and proved to management that this could be a new position for him in future games. As a direct result Sean Crowe moved to midfield for the last two games and here is athleticism and engine showed a switch to midfield may continue into the future. Alongside him Sean Keating led as any Captain should and was Crokes player of the tournament showing great heart.

In the half forwards , Shane improved with each game, his high fielding being a feature of the games with the semi and final being his best performances.  Eon McMahons work rate was immense as was his distribution , again one of our most improved players.

Up front Conor showed great heart from game one and scored some delightful points, alongside him Mikey sneaked in for some lovely goals as only he can.

Adam O’Neill, Tom Duke, Des Dagg , Ryan Murphy all contributed greatly when called on, which demonstrates the competition for places going forward. Thanks also to Cian, Niall and Ronan who were with and supported the panel throughout, this effort shows their dedication to the team and these three also have a massive part to play in the year ahead.

 

 Match results

Group 1

 James Stephens (Kilkenny) 3 9 (18) 1 2 (5) Killenaule (Tipperary)

Kilmacud Crokes (Dublin) 1 6 (9) 2 2 (8)

 St Josephs Doora Barefield (Clare)

Kilmacud Crokes (Dublin) 5 9 (24) 0 1 Killenaule (Tipperary)

James Stephens (Kilkenny) 3 5 (14) 2 2 (8) St Josephs Doora Barefield (Clare)

 Kilmacud Crokes (Dublin) 0 4 (4) 2 5 (11) James Stephens (Kilkenny)

 Killenaule (Tipperary) 2 3 (9) 4 1 (13) St Josephs Doora Barefield (Clare)

 

 

 Killeagh/Ita's (Cork) 5 5 (20) 6 2 (20) Monaleen (Limerick)

Na Piarsaigh (Cork) 4 5 (17) 1 1 (4) Faughs (Dublin)

Na Piarsaigh (Cork) 2 5 (11) 3 3 (12) Monaleen (Limerick)

 

 

 

 Killeagh/Ita's (Cork) 2 4 (10) 3 2 (11) Na Piarsaigh (Cork)

 Monaleen (Limerick) 5 5 (20) 1 1 (4) Faughs (Dublin)      

 

 

 

 Kilmacud Crokes (Dublin) 5 8 (23) 1 4 (7) Monaleen (Limerick)

Na Piarsaigh (Cork) 0 4 (4) 3 6 (15) James Stephens (Kilkenny)

 

Final

Kilmacud Crokes (Dublin) 2 4 (10) 3 5 (14) James Stephens (Kilkenny)

 

For photos of the U13's matches click on the following image!

 

Semi Finals

 Killeagh/Ita's (Cork) 3 4 (13) 0 1 (1) Faughs (Dublin)

Group 2