U14 Football Chamionship Semifinal

Our U14 football season came to a disappointing end in the East Division Championship semifinal at Donoughmore on Monday night. In a one sided first half, with the assistance of the wind, a physically stronger Donoghmore side ,built up an unassailable lead of 7-12 to 0-1. At half time our lads regrouped and to their great credit decided collectively to “give it a go” for the second half. This display of passion and bravery inspired those who travelled to watch, and our supporters became fully involved, gave great encouragement, and took a great deal of pride and enjoyment from the “character building” second half display from all of our 16 players. Whilst we did have some advantage from the wind, Donoghmore did not ease off, and they had 3 players booked, as they responded to the greater intensity which we brought to our second half performance. In the second half we outscored Donoghmore 1-7 to 1-3 and salvaged some pride and enjoyment, from what overall was a disappointing last game of the season for this team. Final score was 8-15 to 1-8. We wish Donoghmore well in the Championship final.

Overall we can look back at this season with some pride. For those born in 1997 we had no competitive games last season, and from this low base we built a panel of 31 players (13-Born 1997 and 18 Born 1998). Our policy for this team has been to play those born in 1997 first, regardless of experience, and no doubt some of these players have risen to the challenge. We had 7 league games, a run of 3 championship games, and an All Ireland Feile Peil festival in which 27 of the 30 players participated in 3 games. Our club hosted Hertfordshire U14 Footballers. We had some great victories (Ballygarvan, Brian Dillons, Aghinagh, Bride Rovers, Castlelyons and Cloyne) and several other games where victory was within our reach (Bride Rovers, Aghabullogue, Cill na Martra, Canovee and Hertfordshire). We look like we will finish 4^th (mid table) in our division, and have reached the championship semifinal. Strangely we have had victories against some of the better teams, and defeats against some of the weaker teams and perhaps this highlights best the opportunity that there is within this team. We have not had players consistently attend training and attend games, and this is visible in our inconsistent results. Looking forward to next year we believe that if we can get that little bit of extra commitment, and a little luck, we can look forward to another enjoyable season, and maybe, an even more successful overall result.