CAMOGIE Last Saturday the club hosted the All-County u-8 and u-10 camogie blitzes. Considering that this is Éire Óg's 1st year fielding a camogie team this has to be considered somewhat of a privilege eventhough our hosting of the event is a bit of a faute de mieux – the Ballinakill Centre of Excellence was not available (sin scéal eile). The number of clubs attending exceeded that anticipated so there was a frantic rescheduling of games.
The beautiful summerlike morning had everyone in a good mood and with 4 pitches available the glitches were soon ironed out and the games were run off rapidly and without a hitch. In the event it turned out to be a great festival of camogie with teams from Arklow, Aughrim,Avondale, Carnew, Glenealy and Éire Óg participating.
Éire Óg fielded both at u-8 and u-10 with 25 girls participating. The u-8s played Glenealy, Avondale and Carnew with mentors on the day, Ronan Mellet and Mark Barry, delighted with the girls' performance.
The u-10s played Glenealy, Avondale and Aughrim. All 3 games were hugely enjoyable spectacles for parents and coaches alike. Mentors on the day, Maeve Webster and Ciarán Goff, were also very pleased with the progress the girls have shown.
Huge thanks to all involved and especially to the mothers and fathers who helped with the catering – Sinéad, Alison and Orla.
It has been a good 1st year with player numbers growing steadily throughout the season. With numbers still rising it is hoped that the club will be able to field at u-8, u-10 and u-12 next year.
U-14 GIRLS FOOTBALL Our u-14girls lost to Valleymount, 5-10 to 2-10, in the Wicklow B-Final in An Tóchar on Saturday. Looking at the scoreline one could be forgiven for concluding that this was a one-sided game, with the Éire Óg girls playing very much second fiddle. Such an inference couldn't be further from the truth for, in fact, this was a hotly contested ding-dong contest.
The only significant difference between the teams lay in the ability to turn opportunities into scores. At this level, one or two good players on a team can have an inordinate role in the outcome of a match and so it was on Saturday. Valleymount had an exceptional player in the forwards and our girls just did not have the experience to nullify her influence. Therein, more or less, lay the cause of our defeat.
The score at the break was 4-6 to 1-6 in Valleymount's favour, and this in spite of our having marginally more of the play throughout the first half. Éire Óg had a great start to the game and after ten minutes led 1-3 to no score. Ach mo bhrón; Greystones' ability to take scores all but disappeared at this juncture and, on top of that, the seasiders conceded three goals in a short period immediately afterwards. One felt then that the point of no return had been reached.
However, nil desperandum; it turned out that it was no time to despair, for this team's resolve was not going to let it give up without a fight and it was a revitalised Greystones that took to the field on the resumption.
The exchanges thereafter could not have been more even. This was reflected on the scoreboard, with both sides adding just 1-4 to their totals in the second half.
It says something about the match when even in the deflation of defeat the Éire Óg mentors Séamus Ahern, Ray McTeague and Michael Moore could say that it was a great game of football. An assessment with which, incidentally, the referee concurred, describing it as one of the better games he had refereed. The mentors also enthused about the huge effort put in by their charges, saying they could not see how they could have done more.
The management further expressed itself delighted with the improvement in the girls' football over the season – particularly in their last two games – and in the way they were gelling as a team.
This match marks the end of the season for both the u-12 and u-14 teams but training on Thursdays at 6.30pm continues while the weather allows.