Setanta Ceatharlach Hurling

Setanta Ceatharlach Hurling/Camogie Club, Carlow Town

ON THE HURLING PITCH (EXTRACT FROM SETANTA CEATHARLACH AGM 2018 – SECRETARY’S ANNUAL REPORT BY LEO MCGOUGH).

U-6: Ah with these wee warriors it is mostly about having fun, to them every match is an All-Ireland final, kind of, but if the cat had kittens the kitten might take precedence to the All-Ireland final! Still in the fun environment provided in the Setanta nursery these children acquire hurling and camogie skills, the ball-on-the-rope, the tyres all useful props to hone striking skills while the bean bags and the cones and the adults chasing them around are also part of the plan! Numbers can vary here, early retirements and dramatic come-backs the norm, but there is always a healthy number remaining as the boys enjoyed four ‘big match’ outings, travelling to Ballinkillen for the poignant ‘Forever Friends Blitz’, to Carlow Town for a cluster blitz and, of course, to Netwatch Cullen Park, our County Grounds, where the rite of passage that is running out of the tunnel onto the green sward remains a big hit with the kids. We also hosted our own fun blitz in the Pres. The girls participated in those boys blitz too as well as enjoying a half-dozen Go Games outings provided by the Camogie Board including Finals Day in CTHC. Norah Kiely, aka Fairy Godmother, Ronan Brown, Deirdre Nolan, Catherina Ryan, Keith Carey, Dympha O’Neill, Padraic Kenny, Gary McGrath and a few other parents ensured the u6s were well looked after. Quantity and Quality alright here!

U-8: Good numbers here meant that for Go Games outings, of which there were 10, Setanta were able to field two teams and both teams were well able to mix it with the opposition, the coaching of PJ Farrell, Gareth Walsh, Katherina Kinsella and Darren McCormack ensuring the boys skill levels and competitive instincts were well honed. Ok, results here are ‘frowned upon’ though, should you ask the mentors and the young lads themselves they will be able to whisper the score! As well as the Go Games outings the U-8s were invited to the Naomh Brid Field Day Blitz in the Super Bowl while we again, thanks to Gareth Walsh’s organisational ability, hosted our own blitz, a memorable day in the Pres. Quantity and Quality alright here too!

U-10: With 3 sets of twins on board, the U-10 numbers are off to a good start! Mentors Eamon Bates and Padraic Deane worked in tandem to get the best out of this group who were busy on the Go Game circuit, often having enough for two teams, while the trip to famed Mount Sion in Waterford city was a highlight of the year, clashing ash with Munster opposition is something Setanta don’t do on a regular basis! Again ‘results’ are not the bottom line here, improving skill levels, improving field craft, improvement in tackling, hooking, blocking all more important but said improvements also help to improve results. And proof of this improvement was that many of the U-10s graduated to playing with the U-11-and-a-halves and played a huge role in their Mini-League success. Quantity and Quality alright here too!

U-11.5: Our only team, apart from the u6s, to play in Netwatch Cullen Park this year but the U-11- and-a-halves game was on the Festival of Hurling Finals Day, effectively a County final and a county final our lads won 1-11 to 2-4, the accumulation of 11 white flags particularly satisfying. Oh, sorry, the official final score, as were all score lines in this competition, was 0-1 to 0-0! You see the organisers, rightly so, sought to protect the teams beaten badly from ridicule. Setanta were involved in no such one-sided games, indeed we won 8 of our 10 league outings, drew another and lost just once, finishing top of the table and qualifying for the Division 2A final, a marvellous achievement. Said final v St Mullins, as previously stated, was won in style with joint-managers Daragh McCarthy and Barry Geoghegan having their troops well primed on the day, both acknowledging the coaching impact of U-10 mentors Eamon Bates and Padraic Deane as well U-13 mentors Liam Treacy and Conor Whelan. You see, the one-off U-11.5, caused a logistics problem as regards training so the U11.5 group, apart from a few sessions with Adrian Corcoran close to the final, didn’t train as a unit, the younger boys training with the 10s, the older with the 13s. Late in the year this group were invited into an U-11 Blitz in Clonad, Co Laois, with whom Pat Ahern's brother Liam is deeply involved. Wins over Portlaoise and Borris-in-Ossory/Kilcotton and a narrow defeat to Clonkill of Westmeath shows that these boys can mix it outside the county. Yes, these U-11-and-half boys as U-13s next year have pucks of potential. Quantity and Quality in abundance here!

U-13: As U-12 Division 2 champions of 2017, the new U-13 grade introduced in 2018 effectively involved Setanta attempting to retain their title. There was, though, one important difference: girls were not eligible to play U-13 and girls had played a vital role in the U-12 success. Setanta had beaten Myshall in the ’17 U-12 final, Setanta again beat Myshall in the 2018 U-13 round 1, a great victory in the Pres in front of a vocal home crowd but the return leg in Myshall saw the home side rack up a big win. When the league section was complete our record read Played 10, Won 6, Drew 0, Lost 4, Points 12, enough to finish third and book a semi-final place with … Myshall! That semi-final took place in the Fenagh Training Centre on a wet September Saturday afternoon and it was a testament to our improved place in the pecking order that Myshall, traditional giants, brought a sizeable support. A few years ago, a match v Setanta would have seen only the team and mentors travel. We had a big travelling support ourselves there that day, a vocal crowd too! It was, for players so young, an incredible game, do-or-die stuff, hard fought, skilful. When the final whistle sounded it was 2-6 to 2-4 … in Myshall’s favour. But, you know, in many ways this performance gave rise to more hope for the future than the ’17 final result, for in going forward to U-15 and U-17 it will be boys becoming men that will be required. Liam Treacy was a passionate lead coach, incurring a harsh suspension for one incident which was reduced on appeal. He was well supported by Conor Whelan and the duo put a huge amount of thought and planning into their campaign. Quantity and Quality in abundance here too.

U-14: Despite the advent of the new odd-age age-groups in 2018 the GAA, in their wisdom, decided to leave Feile na nGael at U-14 and thereby created a ‘bastard’ competition, if you’ll forgive the term, as no club had an actual U-14 team apart from for Feile. We decided that the U-13 management along with Mick Mackey from U-15 would take charge but with the competition having a March setting little preparation was possible though we had a good semi-final win over Naomh Brid in the Pres before losing the toss for the final venue and then losing the Sunday morning final to neighbours Carlow Town. Quantity, as in lack of actual 14-year-olds, was a problem, quality suffered due to early season setting.

U-15: “How much does it mean to you and how much energy are you willing to put into it” the Setanta players were asked before the U-15 Division 2 semi-final. With 15 minutes to go in rainlashed Fenagh that evening the sides were level and we appeared to be in with a genuine chance of victory. Alas a spree of Carlow Town goals ended our dream and if ever a final score line - 7-8 to 0-9 - didn’t do the losers justice this was it. Mind you, we could have been out of the competition in April as having failed to re-fix our opening round fixture with Naomh Brid inside the 10-day rule - due to double-leg cup semi-final soccer commitments for several our panel - Coiste na nÓg kindly turned a blind eye to the second-round game v Tullow slipping outside the 10-day rule too. Beating Tullow in Tullow with 11 players was a baby step but an important step and a tipsy turvy campaign continued with a bad day at the office v Carlow Town in Carlow Town followed by back-to-back wins over southern foe, Mount Leinster Rangers and St Mullins, victories repeated when we journeyed to SETANTA CEATHARLACH AGM 2018 – SECRETARY’S ANNUAL REPORT Borris and St Mullins. Coupled with another win over Tullow (a fortunate one) and a high-octane performance in a high scoring defeat to Carlow Town in the Pres as well as a gutsy second half show v Naomh Brid when a man down, the campaign saw Setanta into the semi-final. Must confess to an insider’s knowledge of this team as along with Mick Mackey, Tommy Corcoran and Fergal Murphy I coached and cajoled the boys and I have to say that in an involvement with hurling dating back nigh on half a century this year with those U-15s was among the most enjoyable. Remember too this was the oldest hurling team we have ever fielded for an entire season - we had one abortive U-16 campaign a few years ago - and hopefully this 2018 U-15 championship will serve as a stepping stone to fielding our first ever minor team (U-17). in 2019. Quantity improved as the year went on (17 togged for the semi-final), Quality improved too, these boys love their hurling and worked hard.