Venue: Rossa
Date: 13th September 2014
At last the Og’s championship day had arrived with a semi- final appearance against Rossa in the Nipper Quinn A.
The Og’s came into the game in a confident mood after great displays in the previous weeks against Ruairi Og’s, Portaferry and Carryduff. Unfortunately for the first 15 minutes of the game we were second to the ball and Rossa got several scores. Finally late in the first half we had several chances around the Rossa goal including hitting the post but we couldn’t get the sliotar over the line.
The players were reminded at half time that they had hurled better during the year and they needed to get closer to their opponents. There was also a couple of personnel changes and right from the throw the Og’s had upped their game with Andrew getting a goal in the early minutes of the game. The Og’s were now a different team and another 2 major scores from the stick of Sean, who was now playing in a more advanced position, brought us to within 2 scores of the Rossa but unfortunately our opponents got several late scores to book their place in the final.
Thanks go to both Johns, Darren, Gerard and Oliver for their help with the U12s during the year. Thanks to our players parents and family for their support not only today but travelling to venues all over Ulster and beyond this season. Finally well done to the 23 players who fielded today. For some of them I wish them the best of luck as they move on to U14s next year but for some of the players they will have several more attempts to get their hands on the Nipper Quinn Shield.
The season for the U12s started in the Eddie Irvine Centre in January and the North Antrim Leagues. This year we fielded 2 teams and were the only team in the competition to have a team graded in Div 1 and Div 2.
Before the league started there were challenge games against Naomh Moninne from Dundalk, Lavey and Na Magha in a County Derry blitz, Ballycastle which included an invite to the Antrim v Westmeath game, a North Antrim blitz at Cushendun , an Ulster blitz in magherafelt and a challenge game in monsoon conditions against Creggan. Our league campaign was excellent were we could have been crowded champions with any type of win against Rossa. Highlights of the campaign included a victory against St Johns and a great performance St Galls only losing by a point.
In preparation for today’s championship we had challenge games against Sean Treacys Lurgan, County Down sides Ballyvarley,Bredagh, Carryduff and Portaferry and a trip into the glens to play Ruairi Og’s. During all these games including today the players have shown their ability to play excellent hurling and I am sure I speak for all the coaching staff when I say how proud I am of the players during this season. Hopefully we can finish of the year with several other challenge games.
Brid Og Panel
Andrew
Brendan
Brian
Chris
Connla
Daire
Diarmaid
Dylan
Fintan
Gerard
Jack
Joe
JP
Luke
Martin
Niall
Oisin
Paudraig
Pearse
Ronan
Sean
Shane
Toirealach
