By John Dineen
On Saturday 14th September Carrigaline GAA club hosted their annual Daithi O Donovan Memorial Hurling Tournament.
This is a u11 hurling tournament held in the memory of the club’s past President, Daithi O Donovan. Daithi was a legend within the club, an accomplished player who played for Carrigaline, Carrigdhoun and Cork with distinction. To generations of hurlers Daithi was known as a great supporter being present at many matches of all grades, more often than not joined by his loving wife, May.
The tournament was first held in 2013 when Daithi’s sons, John and Tony put up the trophy and since then the tournament has grown to be big day in the club calendar and a major occasion for the u11 hurling team every year.
This year we were joined by teams from Bishopstown, Blarney and Nemo Rangers. The format of the tournament is each club must field two 11 a side teams. The clubs play each other over two ten minute halves and the aggregate score across the two pitches deciding the winner of the match. The beauty of this format is that both teams have to be of equal ability which leads to lots of game time for all players and in turn leads to a very competitive format in the competition itself.
The teams took to the pitches after 1pm to begin their warm ups and it was clear that excitement was building throughout the groups. Four pitches were laid on the club’s pitch 1 and 2, as we neared the 1.30pm throw in time it was clear the teams were ready. The four clubs stood to attention on the main pitch for Amhran na Bhfiann and from their they took to their pitches.
In the first set of games it was Carrigaline v Bishopstown and Nemo Rangers v Blarney.
The exchanges were tense all teams rose to the occasion. When the final whistle was blown, Carrigaline and Blarney had got off to a winning start. Next up it was Carrigaline v Nemo Rangers and Blarney v Bishopstown. In the second game players were more relaxed and the standard of hurling was excellent across all pitches. This was the way for the rest of the afternoon with scores coming from a variety of players, Jake Forde, Jack O Regan, Billy Aherne and Eoin Dineen to name but a few. Carrigaline got the win, as did Blarney at the end of the second games. As we headed to game 3 it was known that Carrigaline would play Blarney in the cup final and Bishopstown would play Nemo in the shield final. How and ever these teams played each other in the final group games. Carrigaline took a comfortable win over the 2 pitches against Blarney and Bishopstown beat Nemo.
The finals took centre stage on the main pitch and by the time the shield final threw in at 3.15pm there was a good crowd of people from the club surrounding the pitches with the player’s parents and coaches to watch the games. After keeping in touch throughout the game, Nemo eventually ran out of road and Bishopstown took the win securing the shield.
The final between Carrigaline and Blarney threw in at 4pm. After playing each other in the last group game, both teams lined out against the other side in the final. The standard was high and the final was a far tighter affair, Blarney brought a huge improvement and really put it up to Carrigaline. Cillian Farrelly scored a cracking goal to get team 2 off to a flying start. Blarney answered with a goal, this was followed by a goal and a point from Ben Gaffney. Blarney struck back with 2 points. On the other pitch George Murphy scored a rocket of the goal leaving Carrigaline leading by 2 points. However Blarney were not finished and scored a late goal to take the lead by a point. Adam Daly pulled off a heroic double save to keep team 2 noses in front.
When the hooter sounded to end the games on both pitches it left the aggregate score of Carrigaline 3-3 to Blarney 3-2. Following a tense 30 seconds where the scores across both pitches were checked, once word reached the Carrigaline lads that they had come out on top by a point there were scenes of wild celebrations within the group.
Next up was the announcement of player of the Tournament which was picked by the referees on the day. The decision was unanimous and the trophy was presented to Ben Gaffney who was outstanding all through the day. The Daithi o Donovan Cup was presented by Tony O Donovan to Carrigaline Joint Captains Harry O Grady and Billy Aherne.
A great day was had by all and memories were made that will last a lifetime. Special thanks to the management of Lidl Carrigaline who supported the event with refreshments for the players and also to the parents of the players who made sandwiches and cakes to feed all the teams.
Comments