ÉIRE ÓG GREYSTONES

Iomáint - Our Senior hurlers suffered what might euphemistically be described as a comprehensive defeat at the hands of neighbours Eiméadaigh Bhré in their recent Dacia Motors Senior Championship group game in Bray.

In mitigation it must be said that Éire Óg were without two of their players, Anto Byrne and Stephen Kelly.

However, it has to be admitted that while these players would have added significantly to the Éire Óg effort it is quite unlikely that the result would have been reversed by their presence.

Bré have been playing in the upper echelons of the Dublin hurling leagues and this was evidenced in their team play.

There was a great understanding between the players and they were very efficient at finding each other with their passes.

Add to that that the team included in its numbers quite a few lively athletes and skilful hurlers and one sees that they were very formidable opponents.

Almost from the throw-in Éire Óg were on the back-foot and with the score standing at 1-2 to 0-0 after 5 minutes the indication was of a long evening for the Greystones supporters.

At the quarter hour mark the scoreboard had a more respectable look 1-3 to 1-0 courtesy of a clever goal by the Pooch. Thanks to points from Michael Walsh, James Cranley and Peter Keane Bré were not fully out of sight at the three quarters mark. At that point, Éire Óg seemed to fall apart and Bré punished them with a deluge of scores.

Peil na gcailíní - To say the least, the outcome of neighbours Éire Óg’s u-16 championship match against Bré in Bré on Thursday evening was somewhat a surprise for our team’s management.

At this time of year with cailíní away on holidays etc., the assembly of underage squads is a logistical nightmare and so it was for the mentors of this group.

After the last training session for these players the management of the team were to be seen pulling out their hair as they scanned their squad list and crossed off unavailable player after player to the point of questioning the fulfilling of the fixture.

To the end of putting together the statutory 15 they promoted six from the u-14s of whom three had some experience at this level and three had not.

Bad news arrived as the squad gathered for departure. The flight of two of the