Our u13-14 boys played out the last of their in-house blitzes on Sunday. This week we were delighted that our senior manager Anthony Cunningham was there to coach one of the sides along with senior stalwart Paul Clarke. It was great to see Anthony’s son, Jay join in the games and he immediately settled in as if he had always been playing with the Gers!
The format meant 3 group games for each team followed by Cup and Shield finals. The games were all closely contested with both shield and Cup won by the minimum margin of a point.
Paul showed that Gareth Neacy and Paddy Hoey aren’t the only senior players with a flare for management as he guided his team to a one point victory in an exciting cup final with the runners up, managed by Joe Gibbons made a great fight back in the 2nd half. The Shield final was another very tight affair with the team managed by Declan Ward and Dave Broe just about holding off a late fight back by Anthony Cunningham’s team.
Anthony spoke to the boys after the games had finished and stressed the importance of listening to their coaches and working on their own to practice the skills. He also used the example of Down captain Kevin McKernan( who has coached at the Gers Skills camps) who could not get on the Burren team when he was 10-11 but continued to work hard on his game and has been one of Down’s top players over the last 10 years. The boys enjoyed the pizza that arrived afterwards and which disappeared very quickly!
Big thanks to Paul and Anthony on the day and to all the senior players that have coached during the November series.
@sportsdirectireland skills awards this week are:
Block: Joint – David Clune and Evyn O’Callaghan.
Tackling – Senan Rafferty dispossessing Oliver Begley(Not an easy task)
Tight Marking display – Mal Madine
Point scoring - Joint – Conal Duffy , Cillian Lynch and Maciek Dobros
Overall Defensive display – Matthew Messin
Points scored with Non-dominant foot – Odhran MacShane
Overall performance – Sean McKenna
High Fielding – Owen McGahon
Long passing – Ralph Tinsley out of defence in Shield final
Thank you also to our sponsors Sports Direct Ireland.
#WeAreGeraldines #NaGearaltaighAbu
Geraldines – Where Everyone Plays
