Hard luck to our Under 14’s who just came up short in the Division 1 North, Hurling Championship Final against St. Catherine's.
Full time score was Watergrasshill 1-8, St. Catherine’s 2-8.
This was a tough physical encounter in Ballygiblin, as two evenly matched teams when toe to toe to take the honours.
The tone of the first half was set inside the first minute as the Hill’s Mike O'Driscoll had to be replaced for a short period as he was in need of some running repairs to a head injury. It took all of 7 minutes for the first score of the game, and it came from a free by Sam Dennehy. Sam added a second again from a free to have the Hill lead two to no score, however it wasn’t long until St. Catherine’s registered their first score also from a placed ball in the 11th minute.
The game was very start stop for much of the first half as neither team gave an inch in their pursuit of getting the upper hand. It was tit for tat on the scoreboard as the Hill added two points from placed ball, again from Sam, while St. Catherine's added two from play to leave score 4-3 after 23 minutes. As the game entered the closing stages of the first half, St. Catherine’s levelled it up with a free and became the more industrious, adding another three points, two from play, while our boys hit a few wides. The score at halftime Watergrasshill 0-4, St. Catherine’s 0-7.
The second half started as the first ended with a wide from the Hill, but to be fair to the lads they kept their heads and worked hard. After two goal chances inside the first 5 minutes of the second half Liam Foley picked off a nice point after a goalmouth scramble.
From the resulting puck out, St. Catherine’s worked the ball up into the Hill half and a speculative puck goalwards was spilled and the was scrambled over the line by the St. Catherine’s corner forward and the first goal of the game to leave the score, Watergrasshill 0-5, St. Catherine’s 1-7. Liam Foley got the next score of the game with a nice point from play after great work by Michael O'Driscoll. As the game turned the halfway point of the second half, the Hill opened their goal account, with a great strike from Billy Ryan. This pulled the deficit back to a point, 1-6 to 1-7. St. Catherine’s got the next score, a point from play and then were awarded a penalty with 23 minutes of the second half gone. The resulting strike went wide of the mark, so the Hill trailed by one. Then in the 25th minute, a second goal for the Hill was whiskers away as the post kept it out. As the clock ticked into 30 minutes played, St. Catherine’s were awarded a free for an off the ball challenge, and struck over the resulting free to extend their advantage to two points. A minute later they once again engineered a free, 21 yards out and as our lads packed the square, St.Catherine's went short and went for goal. The ball ricocheted of a number of players and somehow fell over the line to give St. Catherine’s breathing space and a 2-8 to 1-7 lead. Our lads didn’t give up though, and despite deep in injury time they didn’t panic. Liam Foley showed great drive in engineering a goal chance, it was a long way out but still needed the goalie to save it and put it out for a 65. Once again we went for goal and after another scramble we got a shot away for a point which was the last score of the game. The ref allowed the puck out and despite plenty of encouragement from the St. Catherine’s supporters to blow it up, there was nine minutes of added time played, we just couldn’t get the required goal and eventually the clock did beat us and we came up short. Congrats St. Catherine’s, and hard luck to our lads on a truly valiant effort.
Particular thanks to Martin O'Riordan, Ger O'Brien, Mike Moore and Derek Casey who have given so much time to training this team this year and also over the years. We have enjoyed Féile success and seen the lads develop their skills. We look forward to future success with this wonderful coaching team and squad of players.
Squad: Fionn Fitzgerald, Ciarán Linehan, Cian Cronin-O'Neill, Coran O'Neill, Conor Hurley, Sam F+Dennehy,
Conor Krol, Ryan Loftus, Michael O'Driscoll, Ciarán O'Riordan, Liam Foley (Captain), Shane O'Callaghan, Bobby Kelleher, Ciarán O'Leary, Cathal O'Brien, Liam Casey, Rory Leahy, Donnagh Burke, David Moore, Darragh Ó Bric, Darragh Collins, Donnacha Forde, Conor O'Mahony, Dean Field, Ethan Bowman, Billy Ryan and Mike O'Riordan.