Éire Óg Greystones
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Weekly Notes - 15th November 2006

The conversation among our followers and mentors as we stood about during the presentation was surprisingly upbeat and positive. A parent encapsulated the feelings of the Éire Óg gathering when he remarked that, even though we had suffered a comprehensive defeat, there were many less enjoyable ways of spending a few dark November hours.

The team is managed by Mossie Gaskin aided by Martin Nolan and Gerry Walsh. After the match Martin Nolan had a very-much-on- the-bright-side take on the team's championship odyssey. This, he emphasised, was, after all, the A County Final and to have reached it was no mean feat. It means that we are, arguably, - Carnew, Glenealy and ourselves are much of a level - the 2nd best team in the county. Our wish going into the final, he said, was that our team would acquit itself well, for, in reality we had accepted that our victory over Glenealy in the semi-final would probably rank as the pinnacle of the team's achievement for the year. The excellent goalkeeping of James Nolan in that match had much to do with our win.

We were all proud of the boys' efforts on the field - seven (eligible again next year) subs were used in the course of the game to acquaint them with the heat of championship hurling - and more importantly with their demeanour after the game. They took their comprehensive defeat - a hard pill for them to swallow - on the chin, congratulated the victors, chose to "let the dead past bury its dead" and moved on. Their talk was immediately of next year and of goals to be aimed at; at the after-match reception in the clubhouse they turned down the opportunity of a sos (a rest) and voted unanimously to return to training on Tuesday night. They extend an invitation to hurlers with birthdays in 1993 or later to join them. An attitude which delighted their mentors. Their forbearance in defeat and their outlook thereafter were exactly the qualities of Homeric heroes viz. "heroes are not those who win, rather are they those who do not crumble under adversity and who face the next challenge with courage and determination".

Seeing Paul Sutton among the spectators reminded one that the column had not as yet acknowledged his outstanding performance in St. Davids win over Mountmellick (8-4 to 4-14) in the semi-final of the Leinster Schools hurling championship. Paul scored 6-4 of St. Davids total - a feat few are likely to surpass or even to emulate. St. Davids play in the final of this competition on Friday in Arklow.

Meanwhile on the other side of the mountains, in the deep recesses of Kilbride, the Intermediates were involved in a covert operation (it was a fairly well kept secret!) against the locals. It escapes me as to what the significance of last Sunday's game was - the labyrinthine ways of the 2006 Intermediate league are beyond my understanding. Pé ar bith é (anyway) our lads won by 3 points. They proffer as excuses for their less than convincing performance the earlier involvement of James Leonard, Darren Hayden (0-3), Craig Smullen and Seán Horan in county training and also the heaviness of the underfoot conditions! Patrick Taylor (1-1), Conor Monaghan (0-3) and Decky Hogan (0-2) were the other scorers. Decky claimed to have been rootless, or was it ruthless (definitely not supported by his 0-2), in front of goal - a problem of articulation? He also wanted us all to be aware that he had scored 0-2 in each of his last three games.