Leinster tests await
Eleven sides to take part in preliminary rounds
THE FINAL games in the Community Games outdoor and indoor team events took place last week, with four of them up for grabs on Sunday week.
The county has eleven teams which will now proceed to the preliminary rounds of the Leinster series.
They are Castlebridge-Crossabeg (Under-12 boys’ outdoor soccer), Taghmon (Under-13 boys’ and girls’ and Under-16 boys’ one wall handball), Rathgarogue-Cushinstown (Under-10 mixed Gaelic football and Under-14 Gaelic football), Kilanerin (Under-12 Gaelic football), BBBCR (Under-11 hurling), Glynn-Barntown (indoor boys’ Under-10 soccer), and Piercestown-Murrintown (Under-13 boys’ and girls’ rounders).
We wish all teams the very best of luck in the Leinsters. Kilkenny are at home to Carlow teams with Wexford going away to play the winners.
Those second round matches are to be played between June 5 and 19. The Leinster semi-finals and finals will be played in Carlow on Saturday, July 1.
The Under-12 boys’ outdoor soccer finalists were Castlebridge-Crossabeg and Glynn-Barntown.
In the semi-finals, Castlebridge-Crossabeg defeated Bree-Davidstown while Glynn-Barntown accounted for Craanford.
The final was played at the community field in Crossabeg, and it was a good game between two teams with very fine skills.
Although Castlebridge-Crossabeg won 4-0, Glynn-Barntown never gave up and gave it their all right to the final whistle. Paddy Connors put Castlebridge-Crossabeg into an early lead after about ten minutes and followed it up with yet another goal a short time later.
Cormac Mythen had a fine shot at goal to put the team 3-0 up at half-time. Glynn-Barntown had a couple of close calls on the Castlebridge-Crossabeg goal, but they came to nothing.
A final goal and hat-trick by Paddy Connors put paid to Glynn-Barntown’s chances and the final whistle blew shortly afterwards. The gold medal winners had a panel of Richard Barlow, Paddy Connors, Evan Cullen, Rory Davis, Chris Frawley, Shane Hall, Darragh Harris, Josh Kinsella, Ciarán Murphy, Cormac Mythen, Darragh O’Neill, Cillian O’Leary, Rian Ormonde, Noah Ryan, Harry Sherlock and Conor Somers.
The runners-up from Glynn-Barntown were represented by Shane Donovan, Cian Donovan, Darragh Bates, Mark Walsh, Liam Cooney, Oscar Ramsey, Colin Carley, Fionn Nolan, Tom Deevy, Cathal Sinnott, Craig Laffan, Tristan Cuddihy and Jack Connealy.
The Under-10 mixed football final was between Rathgarogue-Cushinstown and Bree-Davidstown. The game was only about 30 seconds into the first quarter when Rathgarogue-Cushinstown sent the ball crashing to the back of their opponents’ net, and a few minutes later they added yet another goal, following this up with a point on seven minutes.
Bree-Davidstown got their first score, a point, a few minutes later but Rathgarogue-Cushinstown added their own point in reply and they had most of the possession in this quarter to lead by 2-2 to 0-1.
In the second quarter, Rathgarogue-Cushinstown continued as it the first and added a goal in the fourth minute. Play was very much even for both teams in this quarter and Rathgarogue-Cushinstown led by 3-2 to 0-1.
Rathgarogue-Cushinstown added another goal in the third minute of the third quarter, with Bree-Davidstown adding a point seconds later and yet another point on four and a half minutes.
They got their first goal on eight minutes but Rathgarogue-Cushinstown added their fifth goal with two minutes remaining and finished off this quarter with their sixth goal. The final score in this section was 6-3 to 1-3.
The final quarter started with a quick goal by Bree-Davidstown, with their opponents adding a point in the third minute. Bree-Davidstown got the final score with a goal from good work from one end of the pitch to the other.
The final whistle blew and Rathgarogue-Cushinstown were the winners on a 7-3 to 3-3 scoreline. The winners were represented by Jack Murphy (0-1), David Kent (1-0), Pádraig Devereux, Seán O’Brien (3-1), Austin Mooney, Peter Somers, Billy Meehan, Lorcan Kelly, Oisín Kavanagh (0-1), Dara O’Neill (1-0), Max Murphy, Conor Rochford (1-0), Jamie Moran, Joseph McCarthy, Daniel Blyth (1-0) and Shane Cummins.
The silver medal winners were represented by Tiarnan Walsh, Darragh O’Regan, Conor Rochford, Cillian Murphy, Eoin O’Farrell, Ben Kavanagh (1-0), Bill Blyth (01), James Killeen, Darragh Kirwan (0-1), Seán Vaughan (1-0), Ollie Treacy, Tom Dunne (1-0), Nathan Doyle,James Breen, Laurence Cloke and Charlie Kehoe.
It was good to see a few teams back in action in the one wall handball events. Taghmon and Castlebridge-Crossabeg have always had a great record and history in handball, with many good wins over the years.
In the Under-13 boys’ category, Castlebridge-Crossabeg ‘B’ were in Taghmon to play their ‘B’ team. In the singles match Bobby Doyle of Taghmon defeated Castlebridge-Crossabeg’s Joshua Roche 18-5, 16-4.
Adam Murphy and Shane Kelly (Castlebridge-Crossabeg) defeated Calvin Kehoe and Morgan Walsh (Taghmon) 11-12, 10- 9, 13- 4. In the final singles game, Jack Murphy (Taghmon) beat Killian Buckley 18-2, 9- 6.
Taghmon went through to the county final which was played in Castlebridge, where their opponents were the local Castlebridge-Crossabeg ‘A’ side. Taghmon proved to be the stronger side and they took the singles game comfortably, but the locals came back at them in the doubles games and were more evenly balanced.
Taghmon then took the final singles game to clinch the county title. Well done to the team of Craig Banville, Bobby Doyle, Calvin Kehoe, Aaron Maloney, Jack Murphy and Morgan Nash-Colfer. Castlebridge-Crossabeg had Niall Cullen, Eamon Moran, Robert Lambert, Adam Murphy, Jack Purcell and Ros Walker on their panel.
In the Under-16 category, Taghmon had two teams in action with Castlebridge-Crossabeg providing one team. In the semi-final, Taghmon took on Castlebridge-Crossabeg.
In the singles match, Mark Doyle of Taghmon defeated Joe Devereux 15-4, 19- 3. Conor Murphy and his partner from Taghmon defeated Mikey Connors and Ciarán Hearne 20-6, 17-4, 19-2, while Quentin Kehoe from Taghmon accounted for David Doyle 16-7, 8-11.
The county final featured two teams from Taghmon. The winners of the semi-final came through, defeating their second team. Congratulations to the winners who were represented by Kevin Banville, Kyle Barnwell, Mark Doyle, Quentin Kehoe, Cody Meyler and Conor Murphy, and the runners-up featured Maurice Cogley,Conor Foley, Ben Furlong, Darren Meyler and Liam Winters.
Taghmon will also have a girls’ Under-13 team in action in Leinster, having had no match in the county.
The county final of the boys’ Under-10 indoor soccer competition was held recently in Enniscorthy and was contested by Glynn-Barntown and Bree-Davidstown.
The game was only about half a minute under way when Oisín McDonagh sent the ball to the back of the net for Glynn-Barntown, and they added four more goals in the first-half to take a commanding 5-0 interval lead.
Bree-Davidstown fought back bravely in the second-half with Glynn-Barntown adding their sixth goal after about 40 seconds into the resumption of play. Bree-Davidstown saved a penalty a few minutes later before Glynn-Barntown tagged on another goal.
Glynn-Barntown missed a penalty a few minutes later and Bree-Davidstown saved a penalty in the dying moments. This was a very polished and strong performance by the winning team from Glynn-Barntown, and well done to Bree-Davistown who continued to give it their all right up to the final whistle.
The goal scorers for Glynn-Barntown were Oisín McDonagh, Alfie Whelan (three) and Rory Goff (three). Referee for the match was Adrian Carr.
The panel for Glynn-Barntown featured Cian Donovan, Rory Goff, Callum Kennedy, Billy Martin, Oisín McDonagh, Billy Walsh, Alfie Whelan, Oscar Ramsey and Kevin Whelan, and the gallant runners-up from Bree-Davidstown were represented by Cian Doyle, Nathan Doyle, Cathal Ennis, Conn Fraser, Cathal Kelly, Sam Kirwan, Dylan Martin and Ollie Treacy.
Other teams going through to the Leinster preliminary rounds (without having played in the county) include the Piercestown-Murrintown girls’ and boys’ Under-13 rounders teams, the Taghmon Under-13 girls’ one-wall handball, BBBCR Under-11 hurling, Kilanerin Under-12 girls’ football, and Rathgarogue-Cushinstown Under-14 girls’ football.
The county athletic finals will take place at The Hub in Enniscorthy on Sunday, June 25. Areas are reminded to have their entries online by May 31.
Make sure you get your entries up online, so as not to disappoint your children.