U10 Hurling Tournament in Ballyboden St. Enda’s Saturday 31 May.
Our boys blazed a trail for the Shelmaliers in one of the strongholds of Dublin hurling last Saturday winning out a brilliant hurling tournament involving teams from all over the country.
At Ballyboden’s magnificent grounds in Firhouse, we first lined out against the home team. This was end to end stuff. While the Shels completely dominated the first half, we turned over only a point up at half time. However we started the second half strongly and increased our lead, and although the home side rallied, the Shels prevailed in an exciting finish.
We next played Clontarf. Strangely enough Clontarf were beaten by everybody else but managed to beat us in a game in which we never got going.
Next up was Dunloy, who were a team of very stylish hurlers from Antrim. However we matched them all the way in terms of both skill and strength. Again it was a very tight affair but our boys pulled away in the end. It was a feature of all our games that when questions were asked of the team, they responded with great spirit and determination.
A fine victory over Naas saw us through to the final where we had to face the Kildare men again. The Shels went into an early lead and looked to be cruising but Naas came back to have the game level by half-time. However the issue was never in doubt in the second half as our boys sailed into a commanding lead and were never headed.
We had stars all over the field. The reliable Niall Hearne in the goal was very safe, while in front of him Aaron O’ Neill, Nathan Murphy and the outstanding Seán Kane repelled attack after attack. Further out the style and scoring power of Conor Hearne, the consistency of Craig Parker and the grit, determination and skill of Dan Campbell broke opposition hearts all day. In front of goal Kyle Roche was dangerous, while Liam Rockett was on fire all day.
This was a powerful performance by a fine team. Every boy played a full part, and every skill of the game was put on display. The parents, who watched all day in glorious sunshine, had a marvellous day out. Many thanks to the Ballyboden club who organised the day superbly.
Panel: Conor Hearne, Chris Cowman, Liam Rockett, Craig Parker, Aaron O’ Neill, Dan Campbell, Kevin Harte, Niall Hearne, Cillian Tobin, Jack Murphy, Adam Howlin, Nathan Murphy, Kyle Roche, Mark Power, Jamie Furlong, James Doyle, Seán Kane, Séamus Ronan John, Danny Harte.