U16 hurlers win Division3

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U16H D3 Playoff St Sylvesters 3-11 Crumlin 4-04 Congratulations to the 16s winning their first trophy after 8 years in a tense hard fought win over a fine Crumlin outfit in Bridgefield yesterday. We led from start to finish, by 9 points at one stage, but two quick goals mid second half brought Crumlin back into it and kept us on our toes to the death.

Syls started well with Andrew hitting a fine point from play and we held the upper hand for a while but didn't manage to convert it to scores, our radar was slightly off.

Crumlin opened their account with a well struck goal from a 20m free and the game was up & running.

Syls responded immediately though, Ciaran o'Carroll hit a great goal ( radar working fine now ! ), Colly picked up a clever flick-on from Andrew and buried another goal. Ciaran O'Carroll added a super point from play and when Shane banged over a 65, suddenly we were up 2-3 to 1-0 and looking good.

Crumlin upped the ante and got 2 points in a row but Syls responded again and the full-forward line added another 5 points (Ciaran 1xP, 2x65, Colm 2xF) to no reply to bring us to half-time 2-8 to1 -2.

The second half was an entirely different story, Crumlin piled on the pressure getting a well worked early goal and then a point to leave 5 points between the teams with a good 20mins to go.

Again Syls steadied the ship with another goal from Ciaran and a free from Colly, our 9 point lead restored. But the drama wasn't over yet !

Crumlin took to launching successive missiles into our goal area. We seemed to lose our rhythm & concentration for a while and Crumlin's pressure yielded 2 goals in quick succession. Another point for Crumlin put just 2 points in it with time running out (or so we thought.!)

Eoin McCarthy, EoinK, Dylan & Killian had all joined the battle by now and their fresh legs & heads helped Syls lift the game. Their workrate, commitment and discipline was excellent and we managed to break the seige, get up the field and after a period of huge pressure, we got the insurance scores, 2 frees, both ably converted by Ciaran & Colm.

Finally 7 minutes into injury time the whistle sounded to huge joy and relief. [FT 3-11 to 4-4]

On reflection we won this game in the first half and key to the free scoring full-forward line ( 3-10 from 3-11) was the superb workrate from the Half Forward line of Shane, Thomas & Paul and then Dylan, EoinK & EoinMc, who kept a highly rated Crumlin half-back very quiet and forced them to concede numerous free\65s.

At the other end Cillian Power was in magnificent form at full back, with huge support from Ciaran Murtagh and Matt RoseNell in the corners. Killian Haverty came on for Matt and helped steady the ship. Danny was excellent in goals as usual, clearances & puckouts all found their target.

Barry commanded centre back with supreme authority and the wings were ably defended by Karl (Captain) and tireless Hugh Murray.

In the middle Simon & Jamie put in a huge shift to neutralise a very mobile and talented Crumlin midfield - hope to see these two lads in the Dublin blue in the future, I would much rather have them in our team than play against them..

It's testimony to the Teams' discipline today that we only conceded 2 scorable frees, Crumlin conceded 6 and between Ciaran, Shane & Colm, Syls converted all frees\65s, 8 in total.

That just leaves one player, a special mention for Paddy McIntyre, who didn't get a run today. Paddy played corner back in 13 out of 14 league games and as part of that Syls defence, he can feel justifiably proud that he contributed to the best defensive record in the league and to the Team's success today. Over the season we conceded 95 points, that's an average of only 7 points per game, 16 points better than Crumlin and a whopping 71 points better than next nearest team. Therein lies the secret to our success.

TEAM: Danny Colclough, Ciaran Murtagh, Cillian Power, Matthew RoseNell, Karl Archbold( Captain), Barry Shearman, Hugh Murray, Jamie Andrews, Simon Owens, Thomas Colclough, Shane Nangle(0-1f), Paul Ryan, Ciaran O'Carroll( 2-6, 2x65s,2xF), Andrew Cunningham (0-1), Colm Boran (1-3, 3xF), EoinMcCarthy, Eoin Kennedy, Dylan McEvoy, Paddy McIntyre, Killian Haverty, Paidi White (n/a)

It was great to have a big home crowd to support the lads, especially the minors and u14s . And Bridgefield is a super home venue.

Thanks to Bernard Boran and Mel for years dedication to this team. Thanks to Ronan Kennedy who has grown as a coach in the last two or three years and managed and fitted us in along with a busy and successful playing schedule of his own. Dave McBride has given great coaching support lately and his session at Portmarnock with the U21s, Minors and U16s last Thursday was simply marvelous. Mick Murray stepped in with coaching and some good old style physical training. We have had great support from all our parents - Archie, Peter, Mick, Mike Rose Nell (photographer as well), Declan Ryan, Brendan Colclough, Kevin Haverty all stepped in coaching, managing, nets, flags, fundraising over the years. And the McCarthy's, Cunninghams, McEvoys, Kennedys, Colcloughs, Owen's, Shearmans, O'Carrolls, Noel Murtagh, Barry Nangle, Declan Power and Kevin Andrews all of whom hardly ever missed a game and were always available to lend a hand..

I have to mention the lads who made it most of the way through juvenile hurling with us - Ben Higgens, Josh Nolan, Jake Fricker, Sean Foley, Sam Horan , Adam Goodman . . . hopefully we will get you back hurling in the future.