ÉIRE ÓG GREYSTONES

Three Éire Óg hurlers played a part for Wicklow against Carlow in the semi-final of the Christy Ring Cup in Network Dr. Cullen Park on Saturday. Dual star Stephen ‘Chester’ Kelly (who captained the footballers against Louth in the Leinster Championship next day), and Peter Keane both of whom featured on the starting 15 at full-back and half-forward respectively while Anto Byrne was introduced approaching half-time to reduce the team’s physical deficit.

The Cill Mantáin followers were under no illusions as to their team’s chances of coming away with a victory. A comparison of the CVs of both teams would have revealed that Wicklow lagged well behind the hosts in both class and achievement and it is the nature of hurling that it allows class differences to be fully realised on the scoreboard. So outcomes, except when differences are marginal, follow closely the form book.

The seaside county’s fans’ pessimism was reinforced on hearing that Christy Moorehouse, captain and star performer, was unavailable because of injury.

It is an unfortunate phenomenon that at the moment there is a paucity of ‘big’men (fir móra) on both the county’s hurling and football panels and this had a part in its undoing in each of last weekend’s games.

It did not take long for Carlow to reveal that its reputation was no fake news; they dominated from the throw-in and demonstrated a worrying accuracy over a wide range of distances and angles. 13 minutes into the game Cill Mantáin were 0-6 to 0-1 behind and a heavy defeat seemed inevitable. A goal for Wicklow in one of their rare score-threatening excursions in the 1st half gave a deceptive respectability to the half-time score.

Thankfully the Garden county men returned to the fray with a renewed spirit and a determined frame of mind and began to show some of the form which had brought them to that stage of the competition. This was reflected in the fact that they were outscored by only a single point (0-9 to 1-5) in the 2nd period.

Éire Óg has an equal opportunity philosophy and promotes its sports of iomáint and peil even-handedly to both males and females. At present much work is being done at juvenile level to ensure that both camogie and peil na gcailíní will be set on solid foundations within the club.

Camogie up to u-14 is moving along nicely and among the fruits of its mentors’ labours was the inclusion of the 3 Éire Óg players, Gráinne, Siobhán and Aisling, in one of the two Wicklow u-14 teams which were involved in a recent inter-county blitz in Portlaoise.

U-12 The team’s management is to be complimented on its choice of strip for these girls which is seen to good effect on the club’s Facebook page. The squad has taken part in both blitzes and league games. To date the cailíní have played 2 games, against Donard and Kiltegan, in the league and have shown themselves not to be out of their depth against these well-established camogie clubs. Before the opening of the league the u-12s had played a very enjoyable and instructive game against Arklow Rocks, a club which also has a long history in the wielding of the camán.

The u-8 and u-10 interclub competitions are played according to the Go-Games format which places the emphasis on enjoyment over competitiveness and on team play over individual showboating. During the last month teams at these levels took part in 2 of these fun-filled blitzes: at home when they hosted Glenealy, Bré Emmets and Kilcoole and in Kilcoole when the same clubs plus Annacurra and St Pats took part.

PEIL fé 16: The Blessington u-16 girls paid their return Div.2 league-game visit to Na Clocha Liatha on Weds. evening last. The previous match had been a closely contested affair and our lassies had considered themselves lucky to have come away with a 2 point victory. The excitement of this game carried over to Weds’ encounter but on this occasion the visitors took home the spoils after a hugely dramatic last few minutes. A minute remains on the clock, Éire Óg has possession deep in Blessington territory and their supporters are counting out the anxiety-prolonged seconds to the final whistle. Disaster! The ball is turned over and is passed rapidly and uninterruptedly from Blessington player to Blessington player the length of the field to be finally delivered to the back of the Éire Óg net. The shock knocked our ladies completely off their guard and they allowed the kick-out ball to be collected cleanly by Blessington hands which had the immediate consequence of Éire Óg conceding another goal. The loss of Katie Lawless through injury close to the break when Éire Óg were beginning to get on top, nudged the scales in the opposition’s favour.

LOTTO..Nos. drawn on Monday 22nd were 12, 15, 22, 26. Pota Óir on Mon 29th was €6800.