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Weekly Notes - 13th December 2006Between presentations and discos, hurling and lottos, last week was a hectic one for the club with personnel resources being stretched to their elastic limits. The next week promises little respite. The cry is up "roll on Christmas"!In the hope that mud thrown often enough sticks, we remind you for the umpteenth time that
Tuesday night was Juvenile Presentation night "and what a night it was, it really was such a night". The spacious clubhouse hall was packed to the rafters long before the great man was due. When he did arrive he was accorded a great welcome. And Micko did not disappoint. One had to be impressed by his no-nonsense children-centred approach and by the manner in which he held his youthful audience captive for the duration of the ceremony. A lifelong abstainer, seventy two years old with an enthusiasm and dynamism which would border on exceptional in a man of forty, he is a wonderful advertisement for the sensible-drink, no-drugs message he endeavoured to get across to the young people present. Micko was generous with his time and proved to be an affable and entertaining guest at the post-ceremony cup of tea. Fearaimíd buíochas mór also to Michael Neary who presented the hurling trophies, to the mentors, to those who provided the refreshments and to all the others who contributed to making the night such a success. A really wonderful and proud occasion for the club.
A special presentation was made to Paul Sutton in recognition of the 10-4 he accumulated between the semi-final and final of the Leinster Schools Championship.
The u-14 players made a presentation to Ronan Sweeney. This was in recognition of the tremendous effort Ronan and his management team had put into their very successful campaign. The u-16 hurlers are County B champions, and deservedly so if their display against Glenealy in the final on Sunday is anything to go by. In fact, their connections feel that, but for a bit of ill-luck on the injury front, they had the potential to be strong contenders for the A title. Sunday's weather was decidedly inimical to the playing of good hurling - a strong diagonal wind blew from the south-west and underfoot conditions were far from ideal. Yet the standard was surprisingly high with both sides producing plenty of good hurling. Daniel O'Connor controlled matters in the full-back line and Leon Hargan was a rock at centre-back while Jack Tanner was particularly effective on the wing. Phelim Byrne was back to his best at centre-field and contributed those important points which ended a long period of insecure stalemate after the interval. Marty Byrne scored a truly inspirational point from all of 70m and John Deeney grabbed the two insurance goals. It is the beauty of team sport that a team's success is never exclusively due to its stars, and its unheralded foot-soldiers are vital to its cause. In this context, the contributions of Mark Doran in goals, Conor Finn, Nicky Fisher, Dean Healy, Eoin Kinsella and Robert Martin are very deserving of mention. These players, through their commitment and efforts played their part on the road to this victory. Daniel Salmon, at full-forward, was chosen Man of the Match - a wonderful achievement when one considers that Daniel suffered a serious leg injury in last year's minor final which had him sidelined for much of the year. |
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