Brid Og were invited to field in the annual Pat Sheehan memorial P6 hurling tournament hosted by Saint Gall’s.
The Og’s were drawn in Group A which included Belfast sides Rossa, Saint John’s together with County Down side Bredagh and we knew we would have to hurl well to get into the Cup Competition.
Our first game was against Rossa and as usual we started a bit sluggish but got
across the line with a 2 point victory. Our second league game was against the Whiterock side and our opponents took the lead with a goal when we were making some changes to the team formation. This score seemed to kick start the Og’s into gear and they responded with a great goal of their own. At the final whistle the scoring was 1:0 to 1:0 but the Og’s were rewarded with the victory as their earlier pressure had resulted in several 65’s being counted.
With 2 victories the Og’s were in a strong position and they played some great hurling to win the group with a 2:0 to 0:2 victory against South Belfast side Bredagh.
Topping Group A meant we were graded in the Cup competition and our quarter final opponents would be the second place team in group C. This was a very tight group as well with Saint Enda’s pipping Portaferry. We had played Saint Enda’s recently at go games played at Musgrave and we knew to expect a
physical confrontation. Playing with the wind the Og’s could not take advantage and Saint Enda’s went into half time with a one point lead. Our players were reminded that it was now a knockout competition and we had to raise our game or we were out. Late in the game the score was 0:2 to 0:1 to Saint Enda’s and when time was running we thought we had taken the lead when a powerful strike of the sliotar appeared to beat the keeper only for our man behind the post to call it wide to the disappointment of our sideline.
Fortunately the Og’s support didn’t have long to wait for the green flag to be raised as on our next attack we scored a major to take the lead in the game. With seconds to go the tension was rising on the sidelines but great defending from the team meant we were through to the semi – final.
Our reward for beating Saint Enda’s was a semi final place against the tournaments highest scorers County Derry side Lavey to the delight of neutral Ciaran. Our players were asked to dig deep again and at half time the Og’s had only conceded a single pointed score and now had the advantage of the wind.
Unfortunately we couldn’t change our possession into scores whereas Lavey added another 2 points to their tally. Late in the game the Og’s were awarded a free which was powerfully struck but saved by the excellent Lavey keeper the rebound resulted in a goal mouth frenzy of pulling of sticks but unfortunately the sliotar inched wide to the dismay of the Brid Og players and support. Lavey’s poc out was greeted with the final whistle and this signalled our elimination from the tournament.
Brid Og Panel
Conlan, Conor, Daniel, Dara, David, Finlay, Jack, Niall, Owen, Pearse, Thomas, Zack
Thanks
I would like to thank Dave, Eugene and Saint Gall’s for organising this great juvenile hurling competition. I would like to thank Ciaran, Gavin and John for helping with the team and the sizeable Brid Og support and I hope they enjoyed the days hurling. Finally well done to the players who topped their group and conceded the least scores against the cup winners Lavey. It must be remembered that this is still a very young team with several P5s and a P4 player and for most of these games they had to compete against bigger physical teams.
Thanks to Darren for compiling the report
