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18 September 2009
The 2nd annual Abbey Stores U-14 hurling Tournament took place in Hennessy Park last Saturday in scorching sunshine. We were treated to some excellent hurling and very tight, competitive matches.... writes Mike Hogan.
All matches were 30 mins. duration, and , after the round robin, Callan and Mullinahone met in the Div.2 Final while Clooney/Quin and Liam Mellows qualified to meet in the Div.1 Final.
Callan (last year's Div.1 champions) overturned their earlier reversal to Mullinahone to take the Div.2 title with a storming 2nd half display. The Tipp. side were the sharper in the 1st half but Callan showed tremendous fitness after the break to see off the Mullinahone challenge by 7 points.
The host club was involved in four cracking matches.
Having gained a 5-point half-time lead in their 1st round game with Mullinahone, it took great rear-guard action to hold out the Tipp. boys in the closing 10 mins. and emerge with a 3-point win.
In round 2 the boys had to give way to Liam Mellows by the narrowest of margins in a very close contest. The sides had been level at half-time but a smashing 2nd half goal from the Galway side earned them their 2nd victory of the day. Still, our boys were happy enough that a win over Callan in round 3 would see them into the Div.1 final.
All seemed to be going to plan when Clooney/Quin led 1-1 to no score midway through the 1st half. Then the Kilkenny side hit 2 goals before the break to leave some concern in the Green and Red camp. Pat and Damien worked their magic during the interval and the home team came out 'all guns blazing' for the final 15 minutes. The scoreboard told the story of the 2nd half with Clooney/Quin hitting 4-4 without reply.
The final was an epic - well worthy of any championship final. Despite having already played almost two hours of hurling in intense heat, both teams played with great movement and vigour in a real 'end-to-end' game.
Our boys held a single point advantage at half-time and picked off some fine points in the 2nd half to finish up 4-point winners.
It was an excellent day's hurling with all the Clooney/Quin boys playing their part.
Ger O'Halloran presented the Abbey Stores Shield to our captain, Ronan O'Donnell, who, it must be said, made a fine acceptance speech.
Thanks to Abbey Stores for continuing to support underage hurling.
Results of all matches, with half-time scores in brackets:
Round 1: Clooney/Quin (1-5) 3-6: 4-0 (1-0) Mullinahone
Liam Mellows (1-7) 2-9: 0-3 (0-2) Callan
Round 2: Liam Mellows (0-1) 1-3: 0-5 (0-1) Clooney/Quin
Mullinahone (2-1) 3-5: 2-6 (1-5) Callan
Round 3: Liam Mellows (1-3) 2-5: 1-3 (0-3) Mullinahone
Clooney/Quin (1-1) 5-5: 2-0 (2-0) Callan
Div.2 Final: Callan (0-5) 3-9: 2-5 (1-4) Mullinahone
Div.1 Final: Clooney/Quin (0-5) 1-9: 2-2 (1-1) Liam Mellows
Callan (last year's Div.1 champions) overturned their earlier reversal to Mullinahone to take the Div.2 title with a storming 2nd half display. The Tipp. side were the sharper in the 1st half but Callan showed tremendous fitness after the break to see off the Mullinahone challenge by 7 points.
The host club was involved in four cracking matches.
Having gained a 5-point half-time lead in their 1st round game with Mullinahone, it took great rear-guard action to hold out the Tipp. boys in the closing 10 mins. and emerge with a 3-point win.
In round 2 the boys had to give way to Liam Mellows by the narrowest of margins in a very close contest. The sides had been level at half-time but a smashing 2nd half goal from the Galway side earned them their 2nd victory of the day. Still, our boys were happy enough that a win over Callan in round 3 would see them into the Div.1 final.
All seemed to be going to plan when Clooney/Quin led 1-1 to no score midway through the 1st half. Then the Kilkenny side hit 2 goals before the break to leave some concern in the Green and Red camp. Pat and Damien worked their magic during the interval and the home team came out 'all guns blazing' for the final 15 minutes. The scoreboard told the story of the 2nd half with Clooney/Quin hitting 4-4 without reply.
The final was an epic - well worthy of any championship final. Despite having already played almost two hours of hurling in intense heat, both teams played with great movement and vigour in a real 'end-to-end' game.
Our boys held a single point advantage at half-time and picked off some fine points in the 2nd half to finish up 4-point winners.
It was an excellent day's hurling with all the Clooney/Quin boys playing their part.
Ger O'Halloran presented the Abbey Stores Shield to our captain, Ronan O'Donnell, who, it must be said, made a fine acceptance speech.
Thanks to Abbey Stores for continuing to support underage hurling.
Results of all matches, with half-time scores in brackets:
Round 1: Clooney/Quin (1-5) 3-6: 4-0 (1-0) Mullinahone
Liam Mellows (1-7) 2-9: 0-3 (0-2) Callan
Round 2: Liam Mellows (0-1) 1-3: 0-5 (0-1) Clooney/Quin
Mullinahone (2-1) 3-5: 2-6 (1-5) Callan
Round 3: Liam Mellows (1-3) 2-5: 1-3 (0-3) Mullinahone
Clooney/Quin (1-1) 5-5: 2-0 (2-0) Callan
Div.2 Final: Callan (0-5) 3-9: 2-5 (1-4) Mullinahone
Div.1 Final: Clooney/Quin (0-5) 1-9: 2-2 (1-1) Liam Mellows
