U14s

Ballyhooly are the North Cork U14 hurling champions for 2013. They overcame Croke Rovers in a dangerously close encounter last Friday night in Liscarroll. It was a low scoring contest as the teams were so well matched that neither side got chances to make a break. There was never more than one point between the teams until the final minutes.

Croke Rovers were on the scoreboard first with a free after 5 minutes, to which Diarmuid Linehan replied with a 65 in the 7th minute and a free in the 13th. Croke Rovers claimed two more points from play before half-time, while Conor McClean added a point for Ballyhooly; this left the sides with three points apiece at the break.

Ballyhooly never really fired up in the first half. However, the work done meant only 3 points were conceded by Gearoid Roche and the full-backs, Tom Crowley and Eoin Buckley, and captain, Fraech McGrath, and fellow half-backs, Diarmuid Linehan and Michael O’Connor, made sure a very strong Croke Rovers half forward line weren’t given the chance to do their job. Unfortunately, some scoring opportunities were missed by Ballyhooly in the first half but they were still in contention and they were all well aware that there was more work to be done.

The second half began in the same dogged fashion until the 10th minute when Ballyhooly started to lift their game. They seemed to be in control all over the place, leading Ben Prendergast and Seamus Roche to take two lovely points from play. The half-forwards, Dylan Walshe, Conor McClean and Ben Prendergast, were particularly prominent where they were winning play and creating opportunities.

The full-forwards, John Roche, Emmett O’Riordan, plus Dylan Collins, who came on in the second half, kept their end of the bargain and stayed plugging away creating problems for Croke Rovers throughout the game.

As the clock was running down, Ballyhooly made changes to their formation in the hope of getting that all important opportunity to go through and come it did, in the form of Diarmuid Linehan who drove home the winning goal in the 28th minute.

Croke Rovers kept battling and our commiserations go to them as it’s always hard to loose such a close game. The glory, however, was to go Ballyhooly’s way and Fraech McGrath was the man to take hold of the trophy.

Wins like this don’t just happen and the lads have worked hard to get here, so well done to you all and thanks for all the enjoyment you’ve given all of us who follow you.

Thanks also to the huge number of supporters who travelled on the night, your encouragement at the end really helped the boys over the line. Thanks to Bride Rovers for making their jerseys available to us, to Steven Lynch and Christy Morrissey of Rebel Óg North for their kind words and to Ned Duggan and John O’Keeffe for the photography. Thanks to Liz and Richard O’Gorman of The Roundy House for the food and drink.

A county semi-final will be the next step in this competition so hopefully the winning streak can continue.

Team and scorers: Gearoid Roche, Tom Crowley, Eoin Buckley, Fraech McGrath, Diarmuid Linehan (1-3, 0-3 frees), Michael O’Connor, Seamus Roche (0-1), Dylan Walshe, Conor McClean (0-1), Ben Prendergast (0-1), John Roche, Emmett O’Riordan, Dylan Collins, Tommy Barrett and Matthew O’Connor.

U12s

On Saturday, 22nd June our U12 panel were invited to participate in the Dermot Sheehan Memorial Trophy (U13 hurling) in Castletownroche against Shanballymore, Glanworth and Castletownroche. Ballyhooly’s first match was a semi-final against Castletownroche which was a keenly fought contest, Ballyhooly coming out on top in what was a very close game.

In the final Ballyhooly were against Glanworth who had overcome Shanballymore in the other semi-final. Ballyhooly put in a very strong first half performance in the final and built a big lead, however, Glanworth came back strong in the second half. With a late rally however, Ballyhooly held on to win. It was an honour for Ballyhooly captain, Gearoid Roche, to accept the trophy from his cousin TJ Sheehan. Ballyhooly are very proud to have won this trophy.

We would like to thank the Sheehan family and Castletownroche Juvenile GAA Club for inviting us to such a well run competition.

The U12 panel finished the first round of their hurling and football league campaigns over the last week, we now await seeding for the next round of the league which starts again after a short break.

U10s

The U10 panel participated in a football blitz in Killavullen last week. There was a great turnout of players with a full squad of players. In the spirit of Go Games all Ballyhooly players available got equal playing time and in different positions. All played great football. So a good night overall. Ballyhooly will be hosting a football blitz this week, please watch out for texts for details on same.

U8s

Ballyhooly U8s competed in an U8 hurling blitz in Fermoy Saturday morning. We had 16 players on the day and all got to play and showcase their skills. All players are improving as they progress through the year. A number of players will be attending cúl camp next week in Killavullen, there are still places available for anyone interested. The U8s had games with Newtownshandrum, Kilworth and Clyda.

USED CLOTHING APPEAL

Ballyhooly Juvenile GAA Club are running an ongoing used clothing appeal to raise funds for the club. Please bring all your unwanted used clothing, shoes, bed linen etc to any training session, all bags can be stored.

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