U-14 County Final 2013
Kilmallock v Mungret Sunday 6th October 2013 Throw in 5.15 pm
On Sunday, October 6th, we played the final of the U-14 hurling championship. Our opponents were Mungret and the venue was Bruff.
This was the culmination of a long season and we had trained very hard for this game. We had already played Mungret twice this season and had won on both occasions, so we were optimistic of landing the title, which Kilmallock had not won since 2001.
We lost the toss and were forced to play with a strong wind in the first half. The first exchanges in the game were even enough, although it was noticeable that Mungret were gaining a foothold around the middle of the field. It was decided to bring Dave Woulfe out from his full forward position to stem the tide. We settled again and with Gearoid Barry on top of his game at full forward, the Mungret full back line found themselves under pressure. We scored a goal from the penalty spot after Gearoid was fouled, but we never really kicked on and found ourselves leading by only 5 points at half time, on a score line of 1:7 to 0:5. At half time the lads were told to keep their heads up and keep plugging away, but on the resumption, Mungret got off to the proverbial flyer and we had to make several positional switches to get back into the game. The lads knuckled down and we again started to threaten the Mungret goals, with vital scores coming from Dave Woulfe and Liam English. This was a ding dong battle and could have gone any way. We found ourselves a point down on the stroke of full time and after great approach play from David Woulfe, he squared for Liam English to bat the ball into the Mungret net. The celebrations on the sideline were incredible as we thought we had won the game. However, a minute and a half later Mungret broke from midfield and somehow worked the ball into the back of our net. We didn’t have time to feel sorry for ourselves and tried in vain for an equalising point. We had committed players forward in the cause of this equaliser, leaving gaps behind us which Mungret exploited and scored again with another breakaway goal.
This was like a dagger to the heart and we couldn’t recover. When the ref blew the full time whistle, our boys were totally devastated. Mungret were probably the better team on the day, but we had come agonisingly close to victory.
This bunch of boys are totally dedicated to Kilmallock hurling, and their day will surely come. When it does, it will be appreciated even more because this heartbreak will drive them on. The mentors, Mike Houlihan, Bernie Savage, Donal Barry, John Woulfe and Jimmy Savage would like to express their appreciation to the players and their families for the dedication shown throughout the year.
Tiocfaidh ár lá
Team : Sean Barrett, David O’Connor, Andrew Finn, Sean Donegan, Aidan Enright, David Carroll, Dylan O’Brien, Michael Donegan, Liam English, Padraig O’Connor, Joseph O’Donnell, Lorcan Casey, Gearoid Barry, David Woulfe, Timmy Roche, Seamus Connery, Thomas Savage, Conal Houlihan, Shane Enright, Michael O’Donnell, Conor Hanley, Josh O’Mahony, Seamus Bulaeir.
This was a great match with great commitment shown from both sets of players. The Kilmallock lads did themselves proud and with a little bit of luck could have won the match. Well done also to the team mentors – Mike Houlihan, Bernie Savage, Donal Barry, John Woulfe and Jimmy Savage.