COMHGÁIRDEACHAS to Dan O\'Neill, Anto Byrne and Shane Nolan who were part of the Wicklow u-21 hurling team which was defeated by 1 point in the final of the u-21A Leinster Championship. The team\'s doing so well was no mean achievement as Kildare have become an important and improving force in hurling – their seniors having defeated Kerry in the final of the Christy Ring Cup.
WORLD RECORD ATTEMPT Éire Óg Greystones GAA Club is hosting an attempt on the world soloing record on Saturday 20th September. This is being organised to raise money for the development of juvenile facilities. We are inviting as many people as possible to get involved. The present record is 42 Km. For further information check out www.eireoggreystones.com or find us on https://www.facebook.com/pages/Eire-Og-Greystones-Juvenile. Sponsorship cards available from Kevin Healy or any of the coaches.
DISAPPOINTING Here one sits with pen poised over a sparkingly white sheet of paper which is impatient in its desire to be the bearer, to an eagerly awaiting public, of the goings-on of the club and its connections!! Disappointingly it has to be concluded that the club is moribund as the flow of information to the pen pusher has dried up. Promises of accounts of events which were to have taken place have not materialised. Did the activities not take place? Or was it that the promises were forgotten in the hustle and bustle of modern life?
SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP Memories of last year\'s defeat after a replay at the hands of Kiltegan were very much in Éire Óg minds as we travelled to Aughrim on Saturday week to play the same opposition in the 2nd round of the championship. Kiltegan were without their trump-card county player and ace goal-scorer Seánie Furlong so there was a cautious optimism among the Greystones following.
Signs early on seemed to justify this optimism as Éire Óg had built up a 2-2 to 0-2 lead by the 15th minute thanks to a well-taken goal by Sam Thompson and a Darren Hayden penalty. A seasider who arrived at this point was, on enquiring about the state of play, reassured that Éire Óg was in a good place. However, it was not long into the next 15 minutes until this 2 goal advantage lost its lustre of security.
Kiltegan began to gain the upper hand and knocked over 3 unanswered points in quick succession. This had us reaching for the worry beads and their handling became frenetic when the opposition shortly added a well-worked goal. During this quarter Éire Óg were restricted to a single score, a point by Conor Monaghan, and we went into the break a point behind on the score 1-7 to 2-3.
The 2nd half was anything but a scoring fest but this had its compensation in that it lent the game to being a tense affair with each score having the potential of being the winning one.
During this period Greystones were far from being at their best and one feared for their fate. They were lethargic of act and frustratingly, on too many occasions, allowed the opposition to be 1st to the ball. The writing would certainly have been on the wall for Éire Óg had Kiltegan made better use of their possession. Thankfully they didn\'t and, what would be described in normal circumstances as, \'a mere 2 points\' separated the teams with 10 minutes to go.
However with the manner in which this game was being played out these 2 points assumed an exaggerated magnitude and constituted what looked like a match-winning lead. What wonder then that the Éire Óg followers were in near despair. But luckily the game swung Greystones\' way for the last few minutes and a draw became tantalisingly close when Sam Thompson scored from play on the 58th minute. Into injury time and the I point gap is looking unbridgeable. Then with a minute left Éire Óg are awarded a free in a scoreable position. The \'bould\' Willie O\'Hagan steps up and as is his wont chooses to take the free from the hand. One buries one\'s head in one\'s lámha– one has little faith in the accuracy of shots taken in this manner – and only raises it again when the cheers of the Éire Óg followers signal a positive outcome.
Éire Óg won the replay by 7 points.
