Dublin Under 16's reach All Ireland Final

The Dublin Under 16 hurlers fell at the last hurdle when they were beaten by Tipperary in the All Ireland final in Semple Stadium on Sunday the 26th August 2007.

Having battled hard on Saturday to get to the final, unfortunately the lads did not have enough in the tanks to overcome a strong Tipperary side.

In the group stages, played in Borrisleigh, Dublin first beat Clare, last year's Under 15 Munster Champions, by a score of 1-8 to 1-7. The next group match was a close encounter against Wexford, with the side finishing level at full time, (Dublin 0-7, Wexford 1-4), two periods of extra time still could not seperate the teams (Dublin 0-4, Wexford 1-01) but in the third period of extra time, Dublin kept Wexford scoreless, while Dublin scored two points.  Wexford went on to beat Galway in the Shield Semifinal and then Cork in the Shield Final.
 
The Dublin Lads then travelled to Holycross where they met Waterford, a strong side who were narrowily beaten in the Tony Forristal final two years ago, the Tony Forristal is the Under 14 All Ireland tournament.  Waterford started the brighter, but Dublin battled back and went into half time with a 1-5 to 0-4 lead.  Dublin continued this vein of good form at the restart and registered another one goal and three points before Waterford scored their first and only goal of the game, another goal and two points were added to the Dublin tally while Waterford were limited to two points.  A great performance saw Dublin end up winners with a 3-8 to 1-6 total.

Unfortunately, the heroics of Saturday took its toll on the lads and they were a tired side as they lined out against Tipperary and although they battled hard and never gave up, they were unable to reproduce the form of the previous day and were soundly beaten 1-20 to 0-5.  

While the score in the final took the gloss off the achievements of the weekend, this team has made great strides since winning the Under 14 Division 2 All Ireland two years ago and reaching Sunday's final was just reward for all the hard work put in by the players over the last two years.

Well done to all involved.