Juvenile Trip to Tipp
The annual juvenile hurling away trip was organised for Tipperary this year. Matches were arranged in a number of locations including Thurles, Templemore, Toomevara, Drom&Inch, Kiladangan and Urlingford. This is a brief summary of the days activities and should be followed with match reports from the various teams.
Six buses convened in Glenalbyn at 8am on a sunny Sunday morning. Following the usual shenanigans associated with loading 150 children and 80 adults in buses going to disparate locations we finally hit the road at 8.30, with the drivers being “gently prodded” out the gate by Kevin!
The first stop was for the Under 8’s who played Emeralds in Urlingford and were looked after by Martin Lacey and Ray Mooney. The other under 8’s group managed by Robbie Kinsella, Kevin Walsh and Richie Stakeleum had a great set of games against Durlas Og in Thurles.
The Under 9’s travelled to Drom&Inch with Alan Kehoe, Joe O’ Connor and Ed Gibbons and had a great run out winning 2 of their 4games with Drom fielding some older players to make up the numbers. An Under 10 team went to kiladangan with Eoin O’ Neill and had a close encounter narrowly missing out on a win. The second Under 10 team beat Toomevara despite being managed by Cork man, Jim Ryan. The U11/12 combination teams played JKBrackens (losing by just a goal), Toomevara and Durlas Og . These teams were all looked after by Paul O’Gorman, Mick Culligan, James O’ Cleirigh and Collie Maher.
Finally, an Under 12 team managed by Michael Veale, Mick Crowley and Kevin Coakley won comprehensively in their match against Durlas Og.
We all reconvened in the Anner Hotel for an excellent lunch and immediately afterwards headed to Nowlan park for the NHL semi-final between Tipp and Kilkenny. We received a courteous gesture from the Kilkenny Co.Board in allowing all parents and children into the game without charge. Jim Ryan facilitated the smooth entry with his usual knowledge of people behind turnstiles. After enjoying an excellent game of hurling and seeing the “cats” lose for a change we reorganised the boys at O’ Loughlin Gaels. We finally headed back for the Capital after a long days excitement.
Many thanks to all the boys and parents who helped make this a wonderful day out. Sincere thanks to all of the mentors especially the main representatives on each bus- Robbie Kinsella, Alan Kehoe, Eoin O’ Neill, James O’ Cleirigh and Collie Maher. Finally, I’d like to acknowledge the efforts of the organising group of Frances O’ Herlihy, Paul O’ Gorman, Jim Ryan and Kevin Coakley.
report byMick Crowe