U12 hurlers on a roll

The two grading matches were similar in many respects, with dominance around the middle of the field laying the platform for high scoring forward lines to reap the rewards. 

First up were the B team who put Cuala to the sword in Bridgefield. A 5 goal personal haul by ace poacher David Deneher will grab the plaudits, but the great hurling of Sean Curran and Conor O’Brien around him, their great form carrying on from the mini-leagues on Thursday, meant the Cuala defence never had it easy all day. The score of the day however may have belonged to Thomas Lynch who netted an absolute scorcher from the wing after a great run. Further out the field, JoJo Thabo put in a great display of ball winning and distribution around the middle of the field, ably abetted by Matthew Brenner and Timmy O’Connor. Very little got past the defence of Joaquin Shinbach, Killian Bousfield, Ronan Furlong and Krisna Joyce while Craig McGrattan followed up his 'I don’t need a hurl to make great saves in goal' display at the mini leagues with another great

turn in goals in the first half. The final score was 9 – 6 to 3 – 2 at the end and the standard of hurling seems to indicate that the lads are really putting in the work away from the training field as well. 

The A team paid a visit to Tallaght to play Thomas Davis. After a slow start in our previous game necessitating an epic performance from Daragh McLoughney and an epic come back to win, the team were determined to start well here and share the load from the start in this match and so finish the grading league undefeated. The dominance of Daragh, Jack Boyne and Eoghan Buckley around the middle meant that there was plenty ball going into the forwards and they sure delivered with full forward line of Conor Hoyne and Daire DeBurca alone helping themselves to 5-5 between them. A few “Ibrahimovic”style attempts from Euan Farquharson nearly paid off before he did eventually find the net more conventionally but goal of the day belonged to Tom Bennett in the second half after a magnificent catch. There was a good spread of scorers overall with McLoughney, Buckley, Ollie Twomey, and Aaron Lambe all registering. Aaron incidentally seemed to be making an attempt at the world record for hooks in a game throughout!.  A few lads (Killian, Matthew, Joaquin) who played B immediately beforehand came across M50 to supplement the numbers and all contributed strongly, particularly Joaquin who

stepped up this level seamlessly on the day. Dylan Andrews was strong at the back all day while Andrew Rowe, a model of what one can achieve if you put in the work away from training, continued his imperious form, clearing ball left and right all day long. 

So to the final event of the day, a 5 club Ball Wall tournament hosted by O’Tooles. There were four challenges to do and the

lads each settled into a rhythm early on and got through everything with no major hiccups to qualify for the final against the host club. A dramatic final ultimately went to a sudden death shoot-out (first to score wins!) but cometh the hour, cometh the man, and our first in line Eoghan Buckley nailed it with the very first shot to win the day for Sylvesters. Well done to all the lads – Eoghan, Daragh, Jack, Ollie, Daire, David, and Conor – whose skill and touch all stood up to the test throughout . Thanks also to their support team for making the trip including U11s Conal DeBurca and Ciaran McLoughney who were making it

look very easy indeed when they were trying the games out themselves in the warm ups. Many thanks to O’Tooles for the invite, the lads really enjoyed the competition. After this, we sure are looking forward to the imminent turning of the sod on our own ball wall!