With a great stretch to the length of our days in White’s Cross, activity has really stepped up for all those playing in the club – be they 4 years or 40!

To give a glimpse of just how busy things are here we report on what the club was up to on the weekend of March 21st to 23rd.

On the Friday evening, the weekly training for the Under 7s and 8s continued on the astro-turf at the club’s grounds. On Saturday morning, it was the U5s and 6s, both boys and girls, that were first out of the traps – they trained in the Upper Glanmire Community Sports Hall from 10am to 11am as they had been doing throughout February and March.

Taking advantage of the long evenings this group are now reverting to the great outdoors and will commence training on Friday evenings at 6pm at White’s Cross.

Out early also on this particular Saturday morning was our team of litter pickers, who partnered up with Upper Glanmire Community Association, to clean up the roads in our locality – over 100 bags of rubbish were gathered in this latest sweep.

A huge area was covered - from Buck Leary's Cross to the Community Centre, down Barry's Lane, up Ballyphilip Lane, from the Community Centre to White's Cross, from White's Cross all the way in to Mervue (Ballyvolane) and in the other direction to the Blackman Bar, down past Kilcully Cemetery, back the Black Bog road, from White's Cross all the way back to Templemichael Bridge and as far as our club’s grounds. The area covered was quite something – remember there is a ditch on either side of the road!

On Saturday afternoon, at a sun soaked White’s Cross, our U11 footballers had their opening football league game against Blarney winning out impressively on a 4-5 to 2-2 scoreline.

On Sunday morning there was a flurry of early morning activity at the club’s grounds as our U11, 12, 13 and 14 squads gathered to be whisked away by bus to Nemo Rangers complex for a team bonding day. After engaging in a two hour coaching clinic at Trabeg they headed to Páirc Úí Rinn and watched the Cork versus Tipperary National Hurling League encounter.

This proved the one disappointing aspect of a most enjoyable day with Tipp coming from 9 points down to defeat Cork with a late surge – Ardfinnan native Michelle Whooley who accompanied our youngsters was seen to have the biggest of smiles leaving the stadium!

Our junior hurlers were also out on this particular Sunday morning – they have now two wins from two after a 2-12 to 1-12 victory over St Vincent's. Kevin Buckley proved the star of the show in this encounter – operating at full forward he racked up 2-9 of our side’s tally.

Elsewhere on the Sunday, our U16 footballers travelled to Grenagh where they also had a good win defeating Grenagh by 8-10 to 3-6. Corey Cambridge was on fire in this encounter clocking up 3-5.

Considering that in the previous seven days White’s Cross had spent a weekend bag-packing at the store of our great supporter’s Ryan’s SuperValu, Glanmire and had also taken part in the St Patrick’s Day parade, it is fair to say that it’s hard to keep up with all that is going on in White’s Cross GAA!

OUR ROVING REPORTER

It was a great start to the U12 football season for our team, under the stewardship of Mark Twomey and Richard Kelleher, with a final score line of White’s Cross 5-8 to St Colman’s 2-2

Playing against a strong wind in the first half there was some outstanding play in the full back line from Eolan Dill and Ethan Ryan stopping St Colman’s from getting a foothold in the game. The halfback line of Sean Twomey, Luke Murphy and Harry Buckley also contributed strongly never letting the St Colman forwards settle. The loss of Ethan Ryan was a blow but Danny Linehan slotted in well to help bolster the defence.

Luckily for White’s Cross Luke Kelleher in goal was in outstanding form making two fantastic saves. Some strong midfield play from Senan Ryan and Brendan Quain helped White’s Cross take control of the game. Harry Coughlan linked up well with Patrick Harrington to set him up for White’s Cross’ first goal of the day.

Assisted by strong play from the midfield and half forwards White’s Cross continued to dominate with Stephen Whooley contributing a well worked goal for a half-time scoreline of White’s Cross 2-1 St Colman’s 0-2.

St Colman’s fought back strongly at the start of the second half scoring two quick goals. It was during this period that our backs really showed their worth holding out against constant pressure from St. Colman’s. In particular a goal saving block by Sean Twomey helped stem the tide. White’s Cross then rallied with good passing allowing the team to register some well taken scores and secure the momentum in the game.

The introduction early in the second half of our young and upcoming U11’s Robert Docherty, Jack Collins and Eli Hurley showed how they were more than able to hold their own at this level. Their contribution was vital as we had lost Ethan Ryan and Harry Coughlan to injury at this point. The substitutes settled well and contributed strongly as White’s Cross took control of the game and worked towards a well deserved victory.

So a good start to the season for the U12s and special mention must go on the day to Daniel Kelleher who was on fire scoring 2-6 with some especially well taken points in the second half.

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