U11's do well in James Stephens Blitz, 15 September 2013

Under 11's win Shield and do well in Cup Competition

Shield Competition

On Sunday 15th September we left Dublin at 8.00 to head for Kilkenny as we had been invited by James Stephens to play in a hurling tournament. The further south we went, the darker the sky became. At last we reached “The Village” – the home of James Stephens hurling club. We opened the car door and it began to rain!

Our managers, Brendan Scanlon and Dara O’ Mahony, divided the players into two squads, one for the Cup and one for the Shield competition.  We had two strong teams for the challenge. My first game was against Ballygunner from Waterford.  It took us a while to settle down but when we found our rhythm we scored a lot of goals and tipped over a few points as well. We won by a good bit.

Our next match was against James Stephens. We were a bit cocky from the first match and tried to lift every ball into our hands. The wind was howling and the rain almost blinded us. The Kilkenny lads moved the ball quickly and scored two goals; we had about twenty wides  and lost the game by two points.

In our third game against St Lachtains we knew we were up against it as they had beaten James Stephens in the first game. We listened to our coaches Michael Neary and Dara O’Mahony. They gave us good advice this time and we moved the ball as fast as we could, on the ground mostly.  We won by a goal and two points, but it was a really tough match.

We qualified for the semi -final against James Stephens. We tackled hard and didn’t lift every ball and this time we won as a result.  St. Lachtains from Freshford were waiting for us in the final. It was a fast and tough game and we were one point up at half time. We were told to mark tight in the backs and Dara said he didn’t want to see any rucks or else!!  We cracked home a few goals and when the final whistle went we were the shield champions. The sun came out and shone down on us!!!!

Thank you very much to James Stephens for inviting us down and giving us tea sandwiches biscuits and buns. Thanks to our coaches and parents for driving us down and telling us how to improve our hurling. I learned not to pick every ball, to move into space and how to tackle a man running in with the ball. Now I have to practice it!

Kilmacud Crokes Squad: Joseph Neary, Naoise Golden, Rory O’ Mahony, Mark Kelly, Dara Mac Gabhann, Robert O, Donovan, Ciarán Browne, Conor  Cullen, Shane Ryall, Cathal Kennedy, Charlie Owens, Dara O’Sullivan, Sam Horkin, Jack Tiernan, Niall O’Mahony and James Neary.

Written by Dara Mac Gabhann.

Cup Competition

It was a wet and windy day in Kilkenny. Our first match was against Dicksboro and they had the wind behind them in the first half. We had to work really hard in the second half and we ended up winning the match. Are second match was against Fayth Harriers and they were amazing but sadly we lost. Our final match was aginst the hosts James Stephens and going into the match we knew it would be tough but we rised to the challenge and we got stuck in from the start and there was some great hocking, blocking , catching and striking of the ball which resulted in us winning the match. We had a great day in James Stephens and we look forword to hosting them on the 6th October.

Written by Cian Donnelly