A weekend to remember!
Éire Óg enjoy superb trip
WEEKS of training, fundraising and preparation had all led up to Friday, June 23. High expectations followed the team due to the previous years success. The team bus filled with players and coaches and left the club at 12.30pm, cheered off by a sea of parents and spectators. An air of excitement filled the bus. We were headed for Kilanny Geraldines GAA Club on the border of Monaghan and Louth.
We arrived at the club at 3.30pm having stopped on the way for a brief dinner.
We were welcomed with open arms which helped us to settle in to game mode for our first match of the weekend. We were scheduled to play the Louth champions O’ Raghallaigh’s at 5pm.
It was a tough start but a goal just before half time put us back in contention. A strong wind at our backs at the restart gave the team confidence and we pushed on to become convincing winners. Final score: 6-5 to 2-2.
We claimed victory in our second match of the Friday against local club Clann na nGael, by playing attractive football, with another great overall team performance. We were then introduced to our host families.
I was hosted by the Gartlands, whose son Thomas was to play against us the following Saturday morning for Kilanny Geraldines. Although Thomas scored a goal against us, it wasn’t to be enough as our physicality proved the difference.
On to Iniskeen that afternoon for our quarter-final fixture against Carlow champions Rathvilly. Undoubtedly these were the best GAA facilities we had ever played on. The team put in a huge effort, for our best performance of the weekend. Once we got ahead some resolute defending and an early goal in the second half shut out the opposition giving us a 1-7 to 0-5 win.
We celebrated the win by heading on a trip to Adventure Centre ‘Lake Muckno’. We splashed around in the lakes, kayaking, bridge jumping and water sliding. Everyone had a blast and it was a great team bonding experience.
That evening we returned to our host club Kilanny where players and parents alike were greeted with hot food and music.
The club then made a wonderful presentation to Éire ÓG where each player was presented with a plaque to remember their Féile weekend experience in Monaghan.
Unfortunately, on Sunday morning, we lost our semi-final against eventual winners St. Joseph’s from Clare. It was a disappointing result because we didn’t reach our true potential for this match.
Apart from that result the weekend was just great craic. Every single player had an amazing experience and will be a weekend we will cherish for the rest of our lives.
Huge thank you to our host club Kilanny Geraldines who made the weekend very enjoyable and came to support us in our quarter-final and semi-final matches. Big thanks to all the parents who helped to fundraise for the team and those who came to support over the weekend.
Thanks to the hard work of the managers Maurice, Peter and Tadgh.
Our squad for the weekend was: Sean O’Neil, Patrick Byrne, Patrick O’Conell, Neil Burke, Colm Shortt, Max Scully, Conor O’Donovan, Gerhard Zdunek, Charlie Leahy, Shay O’keeffe, Joseph Prendergast, James Nicholson, Roy Byrne, Fionn Melia, Colm Condon, Oisin Shanahan, Ben Hogan, Emmet Gulliver, Darragh Rushe, Dylan Maher, Ruari Parker, Kevin Booth, Cian O’Liongaigh, Kevin Kelly, Spencer O’Connor, Daniel Leahy, Sean Mcgrainor, Callum Archer.