U12 Hurlers v Rathkeale/Croagh/Kilfinny 20/06/2019
Neville shines in THRILLA in KILFINNA
Match Report by Declan O'Keeffe
Our U12 hurlers made the short trip to Croagh/ Kilfinny’s ground on Thursday last to seek revenge for a comprehensive loss to the same outfit in football one week earlier. In near perfect weather conditions for hurling on a brilliant playing field , there could be no excuses and our lads settled very quickly. While the opposition had some real talent across the field, the NCW boys were up for the battle and harried and hounded brilliantly making excellent blocks & hooks all over the field. Ashton Neville made the switch from his customary full back position to number 14 and it wasn’t long before his impact was felt as he was outstanding from the first whistle. With our backline proving very hard to breakdown and our midfield of Jack Gallagher & Paul Logue delivering good ball in , the full forward line were proving too hot to handle & the scoreboard was never idle for long. Declan O’Grady who started in goals was delivering pinpoint puck outs to our half forward line of Killian McAuliffe , Sean Fitzgerald & Darragh Doherty and this in turn meant that we were transferring the ball very quickly into the red zone for Ashton & Luke Scanlon to profit. Conor Lyons & Diarmuid Cremin in the full back line were dogged in every tackle and the Croagh lads had to work extremely hard for every score. NCW supporters were justified in their optimism when the referee blew up the first 15 minute period as we had high quality in the form of Rory Vaughan , Leon O’Flynn & Darragh O’Keeffe in reserve. All three were introduced & soon showed why they would normally be starters. Leon was his usual busy self around the middle of the field with Rory slotting in well in the back line and Darragh always posing a danger to the opposition when in possession. Evan Crowley, Darragh Tierney & Jake Ri Ri won practically every battle that came their way in the half back line and it looked like the NCW boys would run out easy winners until a few quick goals against us made for a nervy last third. Luckily for us Ashton wasn’t finished and by the time the referee reached for the final whistle he had totted up a brilliant 4-3 all from play to get us the win. These boys deserve a huge amount of praise for their display as they competed brilliantly for every ball throughout. Other scorers for us on the night were Paul Logue 1-0, Declan O’Grady 1-0, Sean Fitzgerald 1-0, Darragh O’Keeffe 1-0, Killian McAuliffe 0-1.
Team. Declan O’Grady, Conor Lyons, Diarmuid Cremin, Evan Crowley, Darragh Tierney, Jake Ri Ri, Paul Logue, Jack Gallagher, Sean Fitzgerald, Killian McAuliffe, Darragh Doherty, Luke Scanlon, Ashton Neville, Rory Vaughan, Leon O’Flynn, Darragh O’Keeffe.
