Hurling news and reports
Minor hurlers draw with Judes
MHL2 St Sylvesters 2-13 St Judes 2-13 After two great wins at Crokes and Scoil we were annihilated by Setanta so it was really interesting to see which Syls team showed up against unbeaten Judes. Thankfully it was the determined skilful variety as we gave our best display this year against some very strong opposition. It was great to have Alan Kavanagh and Jack back hurling and they grew in stature as the game progressed but all sixteen players contributed greatly.
Hurlers win well over Commercials
AHL3 St Sylvesters 1-17 Commercials 2-08 We won by 6 over Commercials after a sometimes fractious game in Broomfield. This keeps us in the hunt for promotion. Alan Morris got the goal from an unuasual position of corner forward. Stephen Keogh had a great runout at wing forward, the two O'Flynns in the middle and Dave Keogh at centre back were the pick of our lads. Hillary hit a few super long range points.
Great weekend for The Dubs
Can the Dublin Footballers really be that good . . . time will tell but they certainly look the part . . . and, what about the Hurlers . . . like the Germans or Man U or Kerry, you never beat The Cats in a replay . . . or, do you . . . Dennis Sweeney was in Portlaois . . . as was Colm, Fergus and Damian
Minor hurlers good win over Scoil
MHL 2 St Sylvesters 8-10 Scoil Ui Conaill 2-08 A surprisingly easy win for the minors, second in a row, over a Scoil team that usually put it up to us. In fairness, the general play was fairly even but we kept the goals out when it mattered and benefited from a few misjudgments into the sun to give us goals that effectively killed off the game. Colm Byrne was again in top form and supported by Shane, Simon, Eoin Mc and Jamie firing over some very sweet points, while Colm Boran, Paul Ryan, Eoin Cooney and Mikey contributed goals.
Junior Hurlers win in C'ship over Brigids
JHC C Syls 3-11 Brigids 1-11 . . . the hurlers were a little behind for a lot of the game but came through strong in the last third for a good win . . . I saw the evergreen midfield partnership of Pat Hoyne and Colm O'Connor stepping up the pace and a minors Eoin Mc and Eoin K contributing good scores . . .
Hurlers retain Senior status despite loss
SHC B KIlmacud Crokes 0-16 St Sylvesters 1-07 An early goal didn't give us the momentum needed to overcome a very slick Crokes B team who picked off their points in a crisper fashion than we could muster. Despite the loss we stay in the championship and retain senior status due to our head to head win over Nmh Barróg who lost late to Kevins.
Two big wins for Hurlers
AHL3 St Sylvesters 3-18 St Judes 0-11 Played Saturday - St Sylvesters 1-12 Thos Davis 1-11 played Wednesday. Wednesdays win over Davis at Broomfield was a a superb comeback after being down by 7 points at one stage. Gareth brought a bit of pep into the half back line and Nigel finished with a super goal and a cheeky point. Saturday we travelled with a very tight panel but everyone contributed to a great win, even Hillary Cluxton Murray-Hession scoring from 100 yards and Enda scored a goal coming off the bench.
Colm Byrne wins it for Minor Hurlers
MHL 2 Kilmacud Crokes 3-15 St Sylvesters 4-14 A rousing win having been six behind with 10 minutes remaining, Colm Byrne simply decided to change things as he drove through for two excellent goals. Conor Dwyer added the winning points while Killian Power and Thomas won the balls that mattered in defense to give us a most satisfying win. It was a good game for us from the start as Crokes had some fine hurlers, as usual, but we stayed with them throughout and it was only in the last quarter that they seemed to have us beat before Colm intervened.
Hurlers let it slip at Finglas
SHC B Erins Isles 1-17 St Sylvesters 1-14 We recovered very well from a very slow start but couldn't quite finish it off and Isles pulled away in the last quarter. Isles striking into the wind in the first half was excellent and they opened up a good lead into the wind before a few positional changes got us going and we got back to a one point deficit, 10 to 9 at the break.
Goals sink us in 2nd round of Senior Hurling C'ship
SHC B St Kevins 5-09 St Sylvesters 2-15 Five goals are too much to recover from, especially as a few were of the softish variety and spoiled a gutsy all round display in our second Snr Hurling game against a vastly more experienced Kevins Hurling Club over in Dolphin Park. We started well but didn't take our scores and Kevins stole a couple of goals off slow reactions in our defense.
Junior hurlers impressive win in C championship.
JHC C Syls 3-13 Cuala 0-5 After recording 2-17 in their first league game it was another strong showing up front with 3-9 of the 3-13 total recorded from play. Next up we have Plunketts on Tuesday 30th of April. They are playing in AHL5 vs Cuala who are competing in AHL7 so we expect a far stiffer test.
First ever win in Senior Hurling for Syls
SHC B St Sylvesters 0-14 Nmh Barróg 0-10 In our first ever game in Senior Hurling Syls defeated neighbours Nmh Barróg in a lively enough game in Broomfield. Defensively we were excellent all through holding a useful looking Barróg forward line to two or three points from play and never leaving Hillary exposed. Midfield looked more balanced with the two O'Flynns but up front we relied mostly on frees from Martin Ormonde fron Casey's ball winning efforts.
Six National Hurling League medals for Syls
NHL3A Final Fingal 1-09 Donegal 1-05 Although low scoring it was a fairly comfortable win for Fingal to gain promotion to NHL2B in 2014 against the likes of Meath, Roscommon, Down,Armagh, Mayo. All six Syls players played a significant part in the win - Hillary with two important late saves, Graham and Alan Morris in a very steady full line, Andrew and Kev O'Flynn on top in the middle and Killian very busy coming off the bench early in the second half.
Minor hurlers lose to Boden
MHL2 St Sylvesters 1-07 Ballyboden St Endas 4-07 Couple of softish goals against and a couple of top class saves by the Boden keeper were the difference in Broomfield. Simon Owens, Killian Haverty and Shane Nangle in particular were excellent and overall we competed all over the field but a few little things made the difference.
Junior Hurlers start well
AHL6 Syls 2-17 Civil Service 3-9 Impressive start to the season for our Junior hurlers, with 11 different names on the scoreboard and all our scores coming from play. Next up we host Cuala in the Junior C championship on Sunday 21st of April.
Great win for hurlers in league opener
AHL3 St Sylvesters 0-17 St Vincents 2-08 Really gutsy display by the hurlers, short a number of regulars and losing Andrew and Kevin to injury during the game, we held up strong at the back and took enough of our chances. Dara Flats and Ronan Kennedy were magnificent at the back., Killinan O'Flynn had a really busy time in the middle contributing a few excellent points while David Casey was the pick of the forwards.
Fingal reach NHL3A Final with 6 Syls onboard
Congratulations to Fingal reaching the NHL £A Final next week after 2-11 to 1-09 win over Donegal. Five Syls players started (Alan, Hillary, Graham, Killian and Andrew) and Kev came in before half time. I'll post the fixture
Syls hurlers in Croker win with Fingal
There were six Syls hurlers involved in the Fingal NHL3 win over Fermanagh in Croke Park last evening, Cillian and Kevin O'Flynn making their debuts I think, Alan Morris, Hillary and Andrew with Graham Morris also on the bench. Hill16.ie report attached.
Teamwork does it for Syls
Great turnout Saturday morning to cleanup and paint the dressingrooms and around, well done to all the lads and to Joe Boyne for organising - Francine, Liz, Bren and Aileen also provided a fine lunch. I think we'll call this The First Annual Dressingroom Cleanup, isn't that right Joe.
Inter hurlers battle to win by one
Corn Ceitin Tight one point win against a battling Thos Davis in Broomfield. Continuing the 'Band of Brothers' theme we had three Morris's in defense with Derek putting in a brave performance in goal and Graham and Alan manning the left flank.
Stan Murray-Hession leads Fullen Gaels to Croker
Stan, a past pupil of the hurling school of Mick Lynch, Danny O’Connor, Jim Wardick and, of course, Noel Murray-Hession is leading his team, Fullen Gaels Manchester, to Croke Park this weekend in the All Ireland Junior Club Final. Syls get a mention in the article below . . . It is a very proud day for the Murray-Hessions and our only slight regret is that Hillary is going there to support him and not face him had Syls Hurlers progressed that far . . . what a day, occasion that would have been!
New hurling coach - Eamonn Clancy
Good news on the hurling front is that Eamonn Clancy has come on board as coach for to help us in our first foray into senior championship. Originally from St Vincents, Eamonn represented Dublin at all levels (I remember him at full back in the '83 minor final) and was also a selector on the minor team in the All Ireland final in 2012. We will continue the successful approach by Tommy Naughton last year encouraging all the hurlers from minor up to come together, at least for some of our sessions. Best of luck to Eamonn and well done to Lenny, Pat, Declan for working hard over the last few months to bring this about.
Fingal in Keogh Cup action
Andrew Richardson and Alan Morris were in action with Fingal in the Keogh Cup against a DCU side that included a few Galway seniors. Fingal were very competitive throughout, finished up 3-15 0-14 for DCU .
Team management news
Management for minorA football and junior 2 are not yet finalised for 2013 and Ciaran Goan is looking for candidates. I hear Gabby is going to give the senior football another year, Paul Clarke is staying on as trainer and Niall 'Giddy' Guiden is joining the team along with Ciaran Sweeney and Tom Kirrane. Joe Boyne has come on board to manage the Inter footballers with Ciaran Meehan, Cathal O'Donnell and Conor Dunne also on the team - thanks to Brendan and Declan for a few great years. I haven't heard about a hurling trainer to replace Tommy Naughton (there's definitely only one Tommy Naughton and he could never be replaced . . . ) but Leonard, Pat, Jim and Danny are all staying on. Declan and Shane will continue to work with the junior1 team in AFL6 and Tricky and Mick Murray. Shay and Padraig Quinn take the minor Bs while Fergus Byrne, Bernard Boran, Mel and Ronan will take the minor hurlers. Best of luck to all and thanks for making the effort.
Great awards night - I think Nicky scored a new career in radio
Put simply, it was a smashing event, full house, flawless organisation, great craic and we managed to celebrate and honour many of our achievements in 2010. Micháel Gaffney who almost single handedly saved our bacon, Sinead's All Star and All Ireland success, Gary's All Ireland (and Niamh McEvoy's of course), Airy Cleere's marvelous summary of our football journey, Brian Danaher having the craic with Marty Morrissey and the highlight for all was Nicky Cleere walking to the stage to take the Personality of the Year Award. He didn't stop there, he kept us amused with his comments on the past year, the support he has received from all sports, his brothers and family and his challenge to the footballers he lead so well for so long - Win the Championship. Marty asked Nicky to join him on the Saturday Show on RTE - we'll let you know.
Syls celebrate 2011 in style
Well Sylvesters, You dun it again. Another great night out, some very well deserved awards and recognition for our players, words of encouragement from the great Pillar Caffrey and Dublin Chairman Andy Kettle, and the usual top class organisation from Eddie Sullivans committee and the Grand Hotel. Aonghus McAnally compered and amused us and thanks to John Keenan for the pictures and the flawless presentation.
Hurlers brave miserable conditions on Stephens Day
Thirty five hardy souls braved the cold wet conditions of St Stephens Day for their annual hurling outing. A good mix from Cooney to Mikey, from Hoyne to Jockser, a few returning travellers and lots in between. The highlight was the team picture . . . someone said 'wait for Jim', hobbling up the field on crutches . . . 'no, let's move the team to Jim' . . . and, so they did. Well done lads.
Congratulations to Ballymun Kickhams
A very impressive display by our neighbours Ballymun to beat favourites Portlaois and become Leinster Champions. Congratulations also to Offaly's Kilcormack Killoughy, another minnow from the Faithful County, winning the hurling over Oulart.