So Close & Yet So Far - Swan Lose u16 Final Of All-Ireland Competition By The Minimum To be invited into the most prestigious All-Ireland u16 hurling competition late Thursday night and to get to the final of the competition with no specific preparation was great and on behalf of the u16 Management team I’d like to thank all players for their effort, honesty, workrate and never say die attitude. I’d also like to thank the parents and supporters who gathered at our clubhouse tonight to clap the u16s off the bus for their effort. The day started at 11am in Dr Cullen Park, Carlow where we played Clare kingpins, Sixmilebridge. After winning an array of underage titles in Clare in recent years, we knew that this was going to be a tough start. We raced into an early lead and never looked back. The hurling was physically tough but we stood up to the challenge and ran out winners. The next game started within 5 minutes of the first game finishing. Our opponents were Ballygiblin/Mitchelstown of Cork, who some of you might remember were the club that hosted Comeragh College’s recent Munster Hurling Final. Again we started brightly and got into our rhythm early on. At the final whistle we were 10 points ahead and looking good for qualification for the knockout stages. Our final group game was against our South Tipp rivals Killenaule. We hurled well once more and secured qualification for the Semi Final where we heard we would play the Wicklow County u16 team or Burgess of North Tipp. This game would be played in a different venue so it was time to pack our bags and head 200 yards down the road to Carlow Town Hurling Club. After a quick bite to eat and a stretch we were ready to play our Semi Final. Our opponents were Burgess of North Tipperary who came out of a tough group containing Wicklow, an Antrim team and a very impressive team from Armagh. This was the game where we really clicked. For a ten minute spell everything we tried worked. We got some great scores from a number of different players and our backs, forwards and midfield combined superbly. We won by nine points in the end. Unfortunately for us the final was played within 5 minutes of our semi-final ending whereas our opponents St John’s of Belfast had a slightly longer break between their semi-final and the final which ultimately stood to them as the final was coming to a close. In the final we played well, scored first and stayed in the lead until 2nd half injury time. We tried our hearts out but fatigue ultimately kicked in and we couldn’t hold onto our narrow lead. Unfortunately sport can be a cruel animal at times and today was one of those days with us losing the Final of this All-Ireland competition by just one point, which was scored 5 minutes into injury time. I purposely left out individual names in the reports of today’s games as it would be unfair to single any one player out. We had some great individual performances but every single player that travelled was superb with each of them playing a crucial role throughout the day. A lot of positives can be taken from today as we prepare for our u16 Championship in less than two weeks and once again I’d like to thank all players for their effort in what was a day they’ll remember for a long time. We’d like to congratulate St Johns of Belfast on their win, especially as they were beaten finalists last year. We’d also like to thank Carlow Town Hurling Club for inviting us into the competition and for organising such a good competition. In total 32 teams took part in the competition which had two finals. The four finalists contained one of the biggest clubs in Dublin City, Na Fianna, one of the biggest clubs in Cork City, Blackrock, the biggest club in Belfast City, St Johns and Carrick Swan.
Posted on: Sat, 29 Jun 2013 19:53:43 +0000
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