Under 10 Hurling Notes
13 October, 2008
This week we have reports from a number of recent hurling
matches. On Saturday last we travelled to Avondale for the last of
this years U10 hurling blitzes. These have been very enjoyable and
well organised throughout the year and you are usually guaranteed
good matches against a variety of clubs. As a special treat
Avondale organised a pipe band to lead all the teams in a parade
around the pitches. Before the first match started the band played
the national anthem and all the children joined in heartily
The reports come from the green team and their opposition were
ARP, Eire Og and Avondale. The rules in this blitz are ground
hurling first half and air hurling in the second half.
In the first game, with a heavy pitch underfoot the ground
hurling was slow until the lads from both teams improvised and
started to flick the ball into the air and strike it without taking
it into the hand and Philip Redmond bagged himself a hat trick of
goals with this method. Fintan O'Shea was unlucky not to convert a
couple of chances when put into possession inside the opposition
defence but he was denied by superb goalkeeping by ARP. In the
second half the Bray lads were shooting for points whereas the
opposition were working in for goal attempts and they got a couple
when our midfield didn't track back to help out our beleaguered
defence. Mark Kenny and Oisin Dougan were clearing large amounts of
attacks with strong performances by both lads. This match ended in
a draw with Philip taking the man of the match performance.
After a stern taking to from the mentors about not tracking back
the team took to the pitch for the second match against Eire Og. It
was like a new team as we dominated this match in midfield. Ryan
Hannon in goals boomed out his puckouts and Owen Duffy and Stephen
Finn mopped up almost everything that came their way. Owen's first
touch was particularly good in this match and he was striking off
both his left and right side to feed the forward line, which earned
him a man of the match performance. Our forward line of Ryan
(having moved out in the second half) and Evan Sweeney were very
impressive and free scoring in this match.
In the final match of the day we lined out against Avondale and
this was a very intense game of end-to-end action. The Bray lads
took an early lead when Owen fired in from the centre of the field
for Stephen to pounce and score the goalkeepers parried save. Liam
Carolan was a rock in defence and was issuing captain like
instructions to his fellow defenders to keep things tight. Oisin
blasted a number of sideline cuts right into the heart of the
opposition goalmouth to set up some goal opportunities. Stephen
Finn has grinding out a huge amount of possession in midfield and
twice was fouled. While Stephen received treatment from the magic
bottle Owen scored both frees. However we were caught out in the
last minute when Avondale scored a goal after a defensive mix up.
They then won possession from the puck out to poach another goal to
give them the narrowest of wins. Man of the match performance in
this match went to Stephen Finn.
To round off the day and to mark the final blitz of the year
each player received a medal that was presented by Wicklow captain
Jonathan O'Neill.
