U12 Hurling League Round 2

09/05/19 NCW vs Monagea

Match Report by Declan O'Keefe

Last Thursday evening saw the visit of Monagea to what can only be described as a carpet like Newcastle West pitch. Great credit must go to Neilus, Seanie & their team for producing what must be one of the best hurling surfaces in the country presently. 23 players made themselves available & thanks must go to all parents for your great support. Previous tussles with this Monagea side left us in no doubt as to the mammoth task we had in front of us. Based on our first outing of the year a few weeks ago we were under no illusions that this could prove to be a very long evening indeed. Monagea settled very quickly and soon had the scoreboard ticking over as expected. Lessons have been learned by this group in the past fortnight however & some of the lackluster play we saw last time out was nowhere to be seen. Captain Darragh Tierney gave a Declan Hannon like performance throughout the 45 minute period at centre back with some eye catching fielding applauded by supporters of both sides in the stand. These Monagea boys are a classy outfit though & proved very hard to stop. Sean Fitzgerald in goals was called into action early & as the sliotar headed towards the top corner he flung himself & his hurley to his right deflecting the ball out for a 65 with a brilliant save. Tournafulla great Pat Horgan acting as umpire beside him could only nod his head in admiration. Darragh O’Keeffe got us off the mark in the second 15 minute period with a very well taken point off his left before Luke Scanlon found the back of the net with a typical poachers instinct, doubling on a moving ball that was destined to be flagged wide. A rasper into the corner of the net from Paul Logue & a well taken Darragh Tierney goal meant that we were probably the better team in the second period. Monagea came out all guns blazing in the final period however & pulled away before Darragh O’Keeffe rounded off the scoring for us with a great goal after racing away from his marker to finish in the top corner. A special mention must also go to Cormac Noonan for taking on goal duties in the second and third periods making some fine saves & clearances. If these boys keep listening to their coaches & most importantly practicing at home, I have no doubt that they will wear the black jersey with distinction for years to come.

Team. Sean Fitzgerald, Rory Vaughan, Ashton Neville, Jack Gallagher, Cillian McAuliffe, Conor Lyons, Luke Scanlon, Cormac Noonan, Darragh O’Keeffe, Mark Healy, Diarmuid Cremin, Jake Ri Ri, Darragh Tierney, Darragh O’Doherty, Declan O’Grady, Sean Lyons, Leon O’Flynn, Paul Logue, Pakie Ryan, Adam Nolan, Robert O’Grady, Evan Crowley, Christopher O’Doherty.