“Award, award, photo, photo” the immortal words of the famous Fr. Ted character, Fr. Jack Hackett. Indeed there were awards and photos, cakes ‘n’ tea too, no Miss.Doyle but we did have the two Pats to look after us.
It was a great night for all who attended, the 14’s turned out in force with some of our 12’s and 16’s also present. Any night you hand out County Medals is a great night and it was made all the sweater by the presence of the GAA’s Young Hurler of The Year Cathal Barrett. Morgan our Juvenile Chairman took us back through the year and the 14’s path to the final, “From the team that couldn’t score, to the team that couldn’t stop.” The progress made in that football Championship was a credit to all involved.
The county final was something very special, even if it did cause many a heart to stop more than once. We went behind, came back, went ahead they came back, halftime draw. We raced ahead, but St.Pats dug deep and credit due, they took the game to extra time. Thankfully a period of dominance saw us take a lead we fought hard to see it give us that unforgettable win. We will soon have the full match report from that game.
Our 14’s hurling started good in fact too good, with no team coming close to stopping us in the group stages, players got complacent. Moycarkey had revenge in their nostrils and gave it everything, while Gaels were a little off colour. Hitting the post, missed opportunities, all in all a day where there was more to be learned than regretted. That’s sport, there will always be another game.
Our U12’s
We then recalled how our U12’s lost out by inches on reaching a County Football Final after a Steven Carroll shot came back off the inside of the post and out behind the goal keeper. It was a crushing defeat losing 3.03 to 1.08. It left a bad taste in the mouth after a superb first Mid U12 football title. The players played with style and discipline, which will help them as they progress through the age groups and onto ‘B’ next year.
On the hurling side the 12’s were moved up to ‘B’ grade and despite losing most of their games they only lost by a point to Upperchurch/Drombane in the quarter-final. The Shield was where a lot of our best hurling was played. Again in the ‘B’ grade we held our own winning our fair share of games, including an absorbingly tense game in Holycross, where a narrow victory earned a quarter final spot v Gortnahoe. This was again an excellent game played in Gortnahoe, a tight first half where we just shaded it, led to some nervous moments, but we soon established a lead and booked our place in the semi-final. It was a hard task against a Moyne team fresh off the back of a County U14 ‘B’ win. The level of hooking, blocking and sheer determination from Gaels will live long in the memory. Moyne won out on the day with a three gap, but rest assured there is more to come from Thurles Gaels U14 next year .
Our U16’s
Had a hard year that started off so well, we contested in the ‘B’ football. Winning our first game easily and only missing out by the odd score on a couple of occasions. The Hurling results look bad, but the players know themselves we had a young team and the courage those players showed will always be remembered. In particular the game in Kickham Park, not one player let the team down.
