Feile Adventure Ends In Quarter Final

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Where would you rather be than rubbing shoulders with some of the most renowned hurling clubs in the country.  That was the opportunity afforded to the Kilmacud Crokes under 14 hurlers on the weekend of 24th to 26th June as they stayed with Loughrea for the 2011 National Feile na nGael finals.

The boys and the large Crokes following had a ball.  The only dampener (literally) was the weather and that failed to take from the party. 

On Friday Crokes accounted for hosts Loughrea by six points to no score. Scorers: D Butler 0-2 (F), S O'Dwyer 0-3 (F), F O'Connor 0-1

That evening the squad with all the othe participating teams took part in the Feile parade in the town.

In their first match on Saturday the Stillorgan lads beat Kilnadeema-Leitrim by 3-06 to 0-00. Scorers: A Considine 3-1, S O'Dwyer 0-2 (F), B Grogan 0-1, C O'Dwyer 0-2

In the last group game they completed the clean sweep by beating Birr 4-07 to 0-02. Scorers: A Considine 4-4, S O'Dwyer 0-1, C O'Dwyer 0-1 (F), C O'Cleirigh 0-1

Then it was on to famed Duggan Park in Ballinasloe for a Quarter Final encounter against Na Piarsaigh of Limerick.  Crokes were unable to make the first half wind advantage count and eventually lost out by five points but not without putting up a great fight.

Team: C Keane, C Kelly, M O'Rourke, R Hayes, D Butler, B Grogan, E Sheehy, F O'Connor, J Maher, T Fox, S O'Dwyer, F Whitley, C O'Dwyer, Alex Considine, C O'Cleirigh, 

Scorers: S O'Dwyer 0-1 (F), F O'Connor 0-1, C O'Dwyer 1-0

Saturday evening the hosting Loughrea club held a function in The Loughrea Hotel where presentations were made by each club to mark the occasion.

Lunch in Maggie Mays on Sunday was followed by a traditional music session featuring both Loughrea and Crokes panellists, further proof of the diverse range of talent present in the group.

Feile Squad: Cathal Keane, Conor McNicholas, Mark O'Rourke, Conor Kelly, Ronan Hayes, Darragh Butler, Eoin Sheehy, Tom Fox, Fiachra O'Connor, Stevie O'Dwyer, Conn O'Cleirigh, Feargal Whitley, Conor O'Dwyer, Alex Considine, Callum Pearson, Cillian Fleming, Fiachra Tucker, Johnny Maher, Adam Tuck, Killian Lannigan, Chris Kealy, Jim Gibbons, Brian Grogan, Oisin Doherty

Our sincere thanks to our wonderful hosts and especially to each of the hosting families.  Our thanks also to this great group of players and their outstanding management team of Colm Maher, Niall Butler, James O'Cleirigh, Dermot Connor and Paul Gorman as well as to Dr Teirnan Murray, Niall Corcoran, Martin Connor, Sean Gorman and Matthew Geraghty.  We also express our gratitude to the wonderful Margaret Keane, Eamonn O'Dwyer Eugene O'Rourke and all the many other who helped with the trip in any way.

 

Click here to see images of Crokes at the Feile!

 

To see photos of Crokes in action at the Féile courtesy of Steven Dagg (and to get an idea about how bad the weather was!) click  HERE or on the photo above!