Passage West 2018 - U8 & U10 Ladies Football Blitz

 
The U10 and U8 girls and their coaches took to Cork this weekend for what has become an annual event. Passage West GAA Club opened their doors yet again to us in what has surely become one of the 'rights of passage' (excuse the pun) in the underage ladies calendar.
Fiona Donovan, Eimear Fox and Sinead Hamill and their hardy bunch of coaches took 63 ten year olds to the event this year. Niamh Egan and Brian Joyce and their crew of under 8's also travelled.
The U10's were split into five mixed ability teams: Eagles, Lions, Tigers, Cats and Penguins. The parents were under strict instructions that every human and teddy bear was to be togged out head to toe in Crokes gear and they didn't disappoint. It truly became a teddy bear's picnic and we took off after the marching band down to the club in a big parade. We definitely were the loudest bunch for sure with the girls roaring 'Everywhere we go, people always ask us, who we are, where do we come from, and we always tell them, we from Crokes, mighty mighty Crokes....very well led I might add by a very loud Peter Davy (who is probably hoarse since).
Into the ground and the girls broke into their teams and set to work.Every single one of them played their little hearts out despite the strong wind and rain and I can tell you if smiles and laughs were a currency we would have been millionaires. It was heartwarming to see how much these girls enjoyed themselves and there wasn't even one complaint about the weather. 
Many thanks to Mark Lee (one of our players dads) whose company Brook Food Services in Cork provided a huge marquee for us to shelter under and some other goodies. 
There were 136 teams there this year and as such they were under pressure for refs. Tony & Hazel Hamill and Sarah Davy volunteered and gave a great dig out.
Many thanks to our first aiders on the day Olive Sweeney and Siobhan Brosnan who thankfully didn't have too many injuries to deal with. 
We all went for dinner in the hotel (Clayton Silver Springs) who had the Crokes colours out for us and provided a fantastic meal and even brought in an ice cream van for the kids for dessert. Mark Vaughan the Manager on duty couldn't have been more helpful. Niamh and Brian and their U8s were also very well looked after in the Clayton on the airport road.
The kids were all so well behaved and really came together and bonded as a squad. There are a really nice bunch of girls and a credit to their parents and our club. 
Huge thanks to all the coaches, supporters and everyone who made the day such a roaring success.