Heartbreak for Minor Hurlers
Minor Hurling C Championship Final
St Sylvesters 1 - 12 Ballyboden 3 - 07
At a wet and very windy O Toole Park venue on Sunday last the Syls minors played out a cracking game of hurling in nigh almost impossible conditions for hurling . Having won the toss Boden opted to play into the very strong breeze . Syls struggled to get scores on the board in the early stages as the poor underfoot conditions mitigated against fluid hurling.
Syls did manage to get on the scoreboard with a couple of points from Daniel Murphy . Boden stayed in touch with a couple of good points against the run of play . Then a cracking goal from play from Eoin Cooney at full forward put Syls further ahead . The teams went in at half time with Syls ahead by two.
The play followed a similar pattern in the second half with Boden making all of the running but finding it very difficult to score against a resolute Syls defence .
Going into the last minute of injury time and Syls down by a single point up popped Bryn Redmond to score a great point from way out the field into a very strong breeze.
The it was extra time . With Syls playing into the strong breeze for the first half we held Boden scoreless .
We then went to play with the breeze for the second half of extra time . Dan Murphy scored two great points ( one from play and one from a free ) . At this stage we looked odds on to hold on . But then Boden struck with a well taken goal ( their only score of extra time ) to seal the win for the Southside club .
To sum up this game by going through the play minute by minute would do a disservice to both sides .
This was a game that showed the true value of hurling and hurling men . No quarter given NOR asked for and yet a truly sporting game played at a terrific pace and ferocious intensity by both sides .
It was truly a terrific hour and a halfs entertainment . The Syls boys were terrific and were a credit to their familys , and their club !
The boys were crestfallen at the end but should hold their heads up high on a great year with a very young team . Only one player is over age for next year and that is Sean Foley . Indeed special mention of Sean who came in to this group to play this year and to be honest he has had a fantastic season and has led this team by example and deed all year . Buile bos Sean.
For next year it will indeed be an exciting one as we will field two minor hurling teams for the first time ever thanks to the efforts of Jimmy Deneher and John Crosse with this years under 16 hurling squad.
Onto 2016 season so and this groups last season until transferring to adult hurling completely .
On behalf of Martin Meaney , Donncha O Brien and myself as mentors of this group we would like to thank all of the players and more importantly their parents for all of their support throughout the year .