U8's shine in Kilkenny

The U8's had a great trip to Kilkenny on Sunday 17th April.  A full bus of 53 people travelled to O'Loughlins and we also had another 2 kids and their parents join us in Kilkenny.  We went to O'Loughlin Gaels hurling club.  We had a total of 27 players and we played two matches of 11 aside against O'Loughlins - we rotated the extra players every few minutes so that all of the kids played and had fun.

The first half of each match was played with ground hurling.  The second half saw our teams have their first taste of rising and striking the ball in a competitive environment.  The kids did great and  both Kilmacud teams won comprehensively.  It was great to see that both teams scored a number of points in the 2nd half which demonstrated their ability to strike the sliotar from the hand. 

After the matches, we got the teams from Kilmacud and O'Loughlins together for a group photo.  After lunch in Hotel Kilkenny, the boys enjoyed the trip to Nowlan park to see Kilkenny and Offaly play - the highlight was for them  to go onto the pitch and strike sliotars where they had just watched some of their heroes play. 

The parents and kids were in great spirits on the way home and are already looking forward to the next trip to play other teams outside Dublin.