UNDER 8 & 10 HURLING

Warrenpoint U8 and U10 Hurlers trip to Shamrocks

On Saturday 22nd September Warrenpoint U8 and U10 hurlers made the short trip up to Newry’s Pairc an Esler for a hurling tournament expertly hosted by Shamrocks Hurling Club. This was only our second tournament at this age group this season so the mentors who turned up to supervise the kids were pleased with the turn out of both boys and girls, with Warrenpoint one of the few clubs able to field a team in both U8 and U10 sections of the tournament. The numbers are a testament to the work being carried out by Warrenpoint’s Caman Og and with sustained effort by all involved we hope to see the numbers attending the Caman Og and attending these hurling tournaments increase. It is crucial that Caman Og participants and parents understand that the best way to learn and develop the skills learned through the great practice put in during the summer is to play in these semi ‘competitive’ tournaments. We must also stress to parents how safe these tournaments are with qualified 1st aiders travelling with the team as well as those provided by the host club and full safety gear provided by Warrenpoint for those kids that don’t possess helmets.

The young point teams were among the first to arrive at the splendidly kept Pairc Essler and it was no surprise to see the kids take a direct route from the changing rooms straight into the newly erected stands. Indeed at times some U10 players seemed happier sitting in the stands watching the U8’s play than actually playing their own games.
Once we prised the players down from the stands the hurling got under way. First up were our U10’s against Portaferry, a tough start to the day but we welcomed back some ‘forgotten’ faces to the squad to bolster the team. Gerard Coughlin started in nets, despite protesting all morning that he would not set foot inside the small square, I’m not sure why he was so insistent on remaining out of nets as he put in a commanding display and kept what proved to be our only clean sheet of the tournament. In front of Gerry it was easy to see why he looked so confident as Brendan O Shea and Megan McManus kept the full back line tight and allowed Portaferry little space. Further up the field Michaela Fegan and Amy Freer completed an all camog half back line that showed great skill all day in defending and pushing forward.
In midfield we saw the first of three strong displays by Rouri Caldwell, as he provided an effective link between our defenders and forwards, Rouri even managed to score the winning goal. Rouri was ably assisted in this role all day by a combination of Conor Pyres and Cathal Fegan, between the three of them they tracked back as often as our defence was in trouble and helped set up numerous scoring chances for our forwards.
In left half forward and left corner forward we had another pair of camogs Silin Murphy and Geraldine Hughes who once they put on their helmets you would have struggled to distinguish them from their male counterparts as they went straight in for every sliotar showing no fear against their male opponents. The final position on the team went to young 8yr old Aidan McAteer who showing great skill heading towards goal and capped a fine display with the equalising score.
Next up for the U10’s was the formidable task against host club Shamrocks; unfortunately we suffered our first loss of the day to the talented Shamrock youngsters. In this game we rotated our team a bit and brought in Aaron O’Rielly to the forwards and took Gerry out into the half back line. Aaron and Gerry adapted quickly to the pace of the game and fought hard against a tough Shamrocks team who gave us little time on the slither. In the end all our players gave this game their all as would be expected against our local rivals, with some players coming up against school mates and even a few cousins lining out for Shamrocks. The result ended 1.1 to 0.0 but this result should be look at as an indicator of how much we have improved since our last tournament in Portaferry as during that tournament Shamrocks completely outplayed us and inflicted a heavy defeat on us.
The final game for the U10’s was against formidable opponents Ballygalget in the semi final of shield. Again we battled hard but the Ards lads had that bit more experience than us and ran out deserved winners. A squad rotation policy that would make Rafa Benitez proud was in use as we brought in Aidan again from the U8’s as well as Daniel Elwell and Stephen McLoughlin and switched our forwards, midfield and backs about so that everyone got a chance to play at least one game in as many positions as possible. A disappointing result to end the day for our U10’s but another gutsy display of skill and determination by all players.

Over to the U8’s, expertly managed by Aileen Freer all day. These youngsters provide perhaps the most pleasing aspect thus far for Warrenpoint’s Caman Og Academy. These kids will forever be the first ‘crop’ of Caman Og participants to progress up the age groups and hopefully represent Warrenpoint for many years to come at various levels in hurling where we wish to see all participants develop their skills further.
Just like the U10’s our U8’s had a mixed day in terms of results winning two games, losing another by a single score and unfortunately being outplayed by Antrim’s St Endas. But the improvement in performances since our first tournament in Portaferry, just 2 weeks ago, was clearly evident.

The U8’s had to wait until our second game to record our first win of the day against Bredagh after narrowly losing by 1 score against Ballycran in our 1st game – again similar to the U10’s this should be viewed as a sign of improvement as Ballycran beat us by a large score when we first encountered them 2 weeks ago. In our victory against Bredagh we had great performances in the forwards by Darragh McConville and Meegan McGivern with both getting on the score sheet, while Nathan Free was full of movement in midfield, ably assisted by our wee U10 star Aidan. In defence Joey Beggs, Shaneen McGivern and Kirsty Fegan, making her 1st ever start, were in excellent form by holding a good Bredagh attack to one score. Next up were a strong Antrim side, St Endas, where we unfortunately fell short.
The Under U 8’s ended their day with a great result by beating the same opposition that our U10’s started against, Portaferry. The team by this stage was strengthened by the arrival of Lawrence McManus who showed no signs of missing the first 3 games by fitting straight into the defence and frustrating the Portaferry attack on numerous occasions. Up front Matthew Cole, Nial McParland and Jamie Lee were a constant threat for the Portaferry defence in the process scoring 3 goals between them.

And so the team departed for the bus and the scenic route home to miss the road works coming into Warrenpoint, the extra time on the bus left the mentors in no doubt that all the effort put into the day had been worth while as the players were in upbeat mood discussing their days hurling.

A big thank you must again go out to Fellow mentors Aileen and Liz, all parents who were able to attend and cheer on their kids, the Shamrocks Hurling Club who hosted an excellent tournament and again the Caman Og sponsors Grafton Recruitment without their support the academy would not have been possible and so participation in the tournament would not have been possible.

Damien McConville
Academy mentor

 

Warrenpoint make the big boat trip to Portaferry

Portaferry Blitz,Saturday 25th August, Portaferry

On Saturday past Warrenpoint’s youngsters made the long journey north into County Down and towards Portaferry in the Ards peninsula for what was for many of the enthused boys and girls their first taste of competitive hurling since they began learning the skills of the game back just a few short months ago at Warrenpoint’s Caman Og Academy, although to listen to the talk on the way up you wouldn’t have guessed that this was their first taste of competitive action as all the talk was about getting a trip on the ferry across from Strangford!

Our numbers may have been touching on the small side but credit must be given to all who turned up, especially those U8’s that were dedicated enough to lend the U10’s a hand in order raise their numbers up to the desired level to complete their fixtures.
Considering it was the first competitive outing for many of our Caman Ogs we were delighted to accept the invitation of the Portaferry club to attend their tournament which enabled us to play against quality opposition such as our hosts, Ballycran and Bredagh at U8 level and Shamrocks at U10 level.

As for the actual games themselves each team got to play 3 games in each section which meant plenty of hurling during a well organised day.

The Warrenpoint U 8’s played 3 games against accomplished hurling clubs Portaferry, Ballycran and Bredagh, for our youngsters to have played against such quality opponents at such a young age will surly help them to develop the skills they have spent the past few months learning at St. Peters Caman Og hurling Academy.

Our U8 team equipped themselves well from the first game against Portaferry where we were defeated by a score line of 8 goals to 4. As this was the first game the team had played at this level it was no surprise that we fell behind to early goals but the team showed character to battle back to leave it a close finish, and but for some unlucky finishing by Shaneen McGivern, Matthew Cole and Niall McParland we could have been closer. Our midfield battled hard and must have covered every blade of grass between them. In defence we were hit for goals early in the game but after we found our feet Darragh McConville, Jamie Lee McClelland and Joey Beggs began to play to their potential while Rory Rafferty showed great skill in nets, particularly from his puck outs.
Scores for Warrenpoint were Matthew Bell 2 goals, Niall McParland 1 goal and Megan McGivern 1 goal.

Next up for us were the highly skilful Ballycran side, here unfortunately we were taught a lesson in stylish hurling and clinical finishing, even at such a young age Ballycran perhaps showed us the amount of effort that they put in and that we must put in if we meet this same team in the future. In defence of our youngsters the management completely changed the team around to that which played against Portaferry with our defenders all switching with our forwards, Rory Rafferty coming out of nets to play in midfield and Mark Hughes making his first start of the day.

Our 3rd game saw us come up against Belfast side Bredagh who offered us stiff opposition on which to end our day of hurling, thankfully our young team learned their lessons from the first two outings and we found the victory that we craved.
Again another ‘new looking’ ‘Point team took to the field with the inclusion of young camogie players Silin Murphy and Amy Freer. All our players played out of their skin in our final game; perhaps they knew that a return journey on the ferry was only a matter of minutes away for them and a plentiful supply of crisps and drinks were on offer! Up front the scores for us were Rory Rafferty and Niall McParland with 2 goals apiece, leaving Niall top ‘Point scorer on the day with 4 goals, the two boys were ably assisted by young camog Sheenan McGivern who was unlucky not to add her name to the score sheet. In midfield Nathan Freer returned this time partnered by Darragh McConville with both full of running. In defence Matthew Cole, Amy Freer and Megan McGivern stood up to the constant threat of Bredagh’s attack.

In the three games Warrenpoint showed great skill and determination and battled hard against all three opponents and the management hope that the good work continues by all players at this age group throughout the winter in time to return to the academy next spring.

Unfortunately during the day our U10’s did not enjoy the same levels of success as the U8 team. We travelled up to Portaferry with the bare minimum for a team due to a mix up with team members with regards the departure time, and even then we were relaying on our U 8’s to lend a hand and fulfil our numbers. Praise must go to all the U8’s that did participate for the U10’s in what was for some an extremely tiring day, but on the positive side it enabled our youngsters play all the more hurling. All our U10’s performed extremely well against well drilled and highly skilful teams from Ballycran and Newry Shamrocks and with a bit more training and a few of our older lads back there is no reason why we can not put in improved displays against the same opposition in the remaining tournaments this autumn. Particular mention must go to James McParland and Cathal Feegan who battle hard in midfield while Megan McGivern, Mark Hughes and Rory Rafferty worked tirelessly up front and were unlucky not to score despite their lack of chances. Amy Freer, Silin Murphy and Michaela Fegan ‘manned’ the backline and blunted the threat of our opponent’s often dangerous forwards.
All in all this turned out to be an invaluable days hurling for all our kids and we can only hope that they take away both positives and negatives from their experience and use them to build on for future tournaments.

Special thanks must go to all those who helped out during the day. Mentors Eugene McConville, Martin Patterson, Barry Hannah, Liam Rice, Liz McGivern and Aileen Freer all travelled along to lend their support and help and it is greatly appreciated.  Thanks also to Noel Sands and the Portaferry Club for hosting the event so splendidly.

Of course our appreciation must also go to Grafton Recruitment for their generous and much needed sponsorship throughout the year for the Caman Og Academy and on behalf of St. Peters we again would like to thank them for this and hope it continues long into the future.

Panel
Rory Rafferty
Joey Beggs
Mark Hughes
Silin Murphy
Michaela Fegan
Cathal Fegan
Amy Freer
Nathan Freer
Matthew Cole
Megan McGivern
Darragh McConville
Niall McParland
James McParland
Jamie Lee McClelland
Shaneen McGivern

 

Report by Damien McConville, Academy Mentor