Éire Óg Greystones
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Weekly Notes - 26th October 2005

• The autumn sun wore a summer mask and induced some spectators to strip to shirt sleeves.
• The magnificent surroundings resplendent in the deep green of the fir intermingled with the gold and russet of the shedding deciduous trees
• A large gathering of spectators with their flags and favours adding their splash of colour
• Two hurling games replete with skill and never-say-die endeavour and which, over their duration, by turn entranced, enchanted, enraptured, fascinated and captivated on-lookers.

The games: the u-12 and u-16 county hurling championship finals with Bray Emmets being our opponents in both. We were victorious in neither. A cause to be downcast? Not at all; indeed no crêpe of mourning appeared on Éire Óg arms, rather was the après match mood one of joy: not the ebullient joy of victory but the quiet joy of pride, the pride of seeing our players giving of their all and adding lustre to the club’s blue and white with their exemplary sportsmanship.

While victory may be the spur it is not the all and when their natural disappointment will have passed the players will derive enormous satisfaction from the realisation that they were members of the first teams from Greystones to have reached ‘A’ hurling finals.

In the u-12 match Bray were off to a flyer and by half-time the only question remaining was the margin of our defeat. We had not scored and a deficit of cricket proportions appeared to be on the cards. However, this was reckoning without the spirit and pride of our players who, like the village school master, showed that "e’en tho’ vanquished" they were well able "to argue still" and instilled with a little more savoir faire from the interval talk they closed down the more effective of the opponents and even out scored Bray for more than twenty minutes of the second period.

Dan O’Neill again played well in goal and Darren Gammell coped well with a strong full-forward. Andrew Walsh and Shane Nolan (he scored three magnificent points from 65s) came to terms admirably with their unaccustomed roles. Gary Elliot improved greatly as the game went on and scored a wonderful point from a difficult position. Karl Devin was his usual reliable effective self at midfield. Justin O’Brien (the Wexford genes, no doubt) showed some lovely touches and Kevin Byrne in the corner also caught the eye.

All in all a great performance agus táimid go léir uaibhreach as bhur n-iarracht.

The intensity and nip and tuck nature of the first half of the u-16 match had spectators so much in thrall that the sound of the closing whistle was greeted almost universally with the remark: "I can’t believe thirty minutes have passed". Half-time score: 0-7 to 0-7. Unfortunately the intermission had a detrimental effect on Éire Óg’s momentum and Bray knocked over three points without reply early in the second half. Éire Óg struggled to catch up and were dealt a killer blow in the form of a messy scrambled goal seven minutes from the end.

The margin at match-end was six points which does not in any way do justice to the Éire Óg effort. Thanks to the back division in which Fintan Donnelly and Keith Nolan starred Bray had far fewer clear-cut goal opportunities then Éire Óg. We were denied by a lack of experience up front and by a fantastic reaction save by the Bray goalie. We also spurned two opportunities of points from frees when the margin was only three points.

Daniel O’Connor, Conor Grennan and Leon Hargan worked hard and gave their opposite numbers little room for manoeuvre. Phelim Byrne played his heart out at centre-field and delivered some great ball. Scott Smullen played well at centre-back. Paul Sutton, a consummate hurler, delighted with his skills and intelligent play. Martin Joyce and Daniel Salmon were prominent among the forwards.

We were delighted to hear that John ‘The Sheriff’ Redmond is home again after a stint in hospital. We wish him a speedy return to full health.